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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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At least 163 records · Page 9
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS2004

Extra Solar Planetary Imaging Coronagraph and Science Requirements for the James Webb Telescope Observatory

1) Extra solar planetary imaging coronagraph. Direct detection and characterization of Jovian planets, and other gas giants, in orbit around nearby stars is a necessary precursor to Terrestrial Planet Finder 0 in order to estimate the probability of Terrestrial planets in our stellar neighborhood. Ground based indirect methods are biased towards large close in Jovian planets in solar systems unlikely io harbor Earthlike planets. Thus to estimate the relative abundances of terrestrial planets and to determine optimal observing strategies for TPF a pathfinder mission would be desired. The Extra-Solar Planetary Imaging Coronagraph (EPIC) is such a pathfinder mission. Upto 83 stellar systems are accessible with a 1.5 meter unobscured telescope and coronagraph combination located at the Earth-Sun L2 point. Incorporating radiometric and angular resolution considerations show that Jovians could be directly detected (5 sigma) in the 0.5 - 1.0 micron band outside of an inner working distance of 5/D with integration times of -10 - 100 hours per observation. The primary considerations for a planet imager are optical wavefront quality due to manufacturing, alignment, structural and thermal considerations. pointing stability and control, and manufacturability of coronagraphic masks and stops to increase the planetary-to- stellar contrast and mitigate against straylight. Previously proposed coronagraphic concepts are driven to extreme tolerances. however. we have developed and studied a mission, telescope and coronagraphic detection concept, which is achievable in the time frame of a Discovery class NASA mission. 2) Science requirements for the James Webb Space Telescope observatory. The James Webb Space Observatory (JWST) is an infrared observatory, which will be launched in 201 1 to an orbit at L2. JWST is a segmented, 18 mirror segment telescope with a diameter of 6.5 meters, and a clear aperture of 25 mA2. The telescope is designed to conduct imaging and spectroscopic observations from 0.6-27 microns. The primary mirror find and understand predicted first light objects, observe galaxies back to their earliest precursors so that we can understand their growth and evolution, unravel the birth and early evolution of stars and planetary systems, and study planetary systems and the origins of life. In this paper we discuss the science goals for JWST in the context of the performance requirements they levy on the observatory.

Clampin, Mark↗
NASA NTRS1994

High-Resolution Gamma-Ray Imaging Measurements Using Externally Segmented Germanium Detectors

Fully two-dimensional gamma-ray imaging with simultaneous high-resolution spectroscopy has been demonstrated using an externally segmented germanium sensor. The system employs a single high-purity coaxial detector with its outer electrode segmented into 5 distinct charge collection regions and a lead coded aperture with a uniformly redundant array (URA) pattern. A series of one-dimensional responses was collected around 511 keV while the system was rotated in steps through 180 degrees. A non-negative, linear least-squares algorithm was then employed to reconstruct a 2-dimensional image. Corrections for multiple scattering in the detector, and the finite distance of source and detector are made in the reconstruction process.

spectroscopy gamma ray germanium sensor nucleosynt↗
NASA NTRS2009

FPGA-Based Networked Phasemeter for a Heterodyne Interferometer

A document discusses a component of a laser metrology system designed to measure displacements along the line of sight with precision on the order of a tenth the diameter of an atom. This component, the phasemeter, measures the relative phase of two electrical signals and transfers that information to a computer. Because the metrology system measures the differences between two optical paths, the phasemeter has two inputs, called measure and reference. The reference signal is nominally a perfect square wave with a 50- percent duty cycle (though only rising edges are used). As the metrology system detects motion, the difference between the reference and measure signal phases is proportional to the displacement of the motion. The phasemeter, therefore, counts the elapsed time between rising edges in the two signals, and converts the time into an estimate of phase delay. The hardware consists of a circuit board that plugs into a COTS (commercial, off-the- shelf) Spartan-III FPGA (field-programmable gate array) evaluation board. It has two BNC inputs, (reference and measure), a CMOS logic chip to buffer the inputs, and an Ethernet jack for transmitting reduced-data to a PC. Two extra BNC connectors can be attached for future expandability, such as external synchronization. Each phasemeter handles one metrology channel. A bank of six phasemeters (and two zero-crossing detector cards) with an Ethernet switch can monitor the rigid body motion of an object. This device is smaller and cheaper than existing zero-crossing phasemeters. Also, because it uses Ethernet for communication with a computer, instead of a VME bridge, it is much easier to use. The phasemeter is a key part of the Precision Deployable Apertures and Structures strategic R&D effort to design large, deployable, segmented space telescopes.

Rao, Shanti↗
NASA NTRS2012

The ISS as a Testbed for Future Large Astronomical Observatories: The OpTIIX Demonstration Program

Future large (diameters in excess of approx. 10 m) astronomical observatories in space will need to employ advanced technologies if they are to be affordable. Many of these technologies are ready to be validated on orbit and the International Space Station (ISS) provides a suitable platform for such demonstrations. These technologies include low-cost, low-density, highly deformable mirror segments, coupled with advanced sensing and control methods. In addition, the ISS offers available telerobotic assembly techniques to build an optical testbed that embodies this new cost-effective approach to assemble and achieve diffraction-limited optical performance for very large space telescopes. Given the importance that NASA attaches to the recommendations of the National Academy of Sciences "Decadal Survey" process, essential capabilities and technologies will be demonstrated well in advance of the next Survey, which commences in 2019. To achieve this objective, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), NASA Johnson Space Center (JSC), NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), and the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) are carrying out a Phase A/B study of the Optical Testbed and Integration on ISS eXperiment (OpTIIX). The overarching goal is to demonstrate well before the end of this decade key capabilities intended to enable very large optical systems in the decade of the 2020s. Such a demonstration will retire technical risk in the assembly, alignment, calibration, and operation of future space observatories. The OpTIIX system, as currently designed, is a six-hexagon element, segmented visual-wavelength telescope with an edge-to-edge aperture of 1.4 m, operating at its diffraction limit,

Burdick, G.↗
NASA NTRS2019

Demonstration of Multi-Star Wavefront Control for WFIRST, Habex, and LUVOIR

Coronagraphic instruments will enable direct imaging of dim planetary companions around nearby stars. The majority of nearby FGK stars are located in multi-star systems, including the Alpha Centauri stars, which may represent the best quality targets available for spectroscopic characterization due to their proximity and brightness. However, a binary system exhibits additional leakage from the o -axis companion star that may be brighter than the target exoplanet. Multi-Star Wavefront Control (MSWC) is a wavefront-control technique that allows simultaneous suppression of starlight of both stars in a binary system. MSWC would thus enable direct imaging of circumstellar planets in binary star systems such as Alpha Centauri. MSWC is compatible with a wide suite of planned coronagraphic instruments for future space missions. As part of the technology demonstration e orts for MSWC, the rst milestone results are presented here demonstrating (via computer simulations), high-contrast imaging capabilities of multi-star systems for several instruments including: [1] the upcoming WFIRST and its CGI demonstrator, [2] the HABitable Worlds EXplorer (Habex) mission concept, [3] the segmented Large UV/Optical/IR (LUVOIR) mission concept, and [4] a small-aperture Alpha Centauri direct-imager mission concept. For each of these missions, a baseline coronagraph option planned for the mission will be adopted and instrument baseline performance will be compared for single-star wavefront control.

Sirbu, Dan↗
NASA NTRS1994

Segmentation Of Multifrequency Complex-Amplitude SAR Data

Several mathematical models and associated algorithms implement method of segmenting multifrequency, highly speckled, high-resolution, complex-amplitude (amplitude and phase) synthetic-aperture-radar (SAR) digitized image into regions, within each of which radar backscattering characteristics are similar or homogeneous from place to place. Typically, each region represents different type of terrain or other surface; e.g., forest, agricultural land, sea ice, or water. Method of segmentation of SAR scene into regions is product of generalization, to multifrequency case, of single-frequency method described in "Algorithms for Segmentation of Complex-Amplitude SAR Data" (NPO-18524).

Rignot, Eric J.↗
DOE OSTI2026

Deep Learning and Photogrammetric Reconstruction for Automated Crack Detection and Dimensional Measurement in Mining Operations

Surface crack detection and dimensional measurement at active mining sites present significant safety and operational challenges. Manual inspection methods are labor-intensive, spatially incomplete, and expose personnel to hazardous environments, while existing automated approaches have been developed primarily for concrete civil infrastructure and have not been validated on the complex, variable surfaces characteristic of mining environments. This dissertation presents an automated pipeline that integrates deep learning semantic segmentation with Structure-from-Motion photogrammetry to detect surface cracks and measure their aperture, length, and vertical displacement from standard RGB imagery acquired during routine Uncrewed Aerial Vehicle (UAV) survey operations, without requiring additional sensor hardware or manual measurement. The pipeline combines a U-Net architecture with an EfficientNet-B0 encoder, pretrained on the SDNET2018 concrete crack dataset and fine-tuned on a mining-specific dataset spanning laboratory concrete specimens, coal refuse impoundment embankments, and post-blast limestone quarry benches. Photogrammetric reconstruction is performed using COLMAP Structure-from-Motion and Multi-View Stereo, with crack segmentation masks projected into the reconstructed point cloud to enable three-dimensional vertical displacement measurement through local plane fitting and bimodal surface detection. The pipeline was validated across 36 controlled laboratory specimens at three imaging distances and four vertical displacement levels, achieving aperture measurement RMSE of 0.047 cm and R² of 0.954, and vertical displacement RMSE of 0.140 cm and R² of 0.966, against independent caliper measurements. Field application at a coal refuse impoundment in southwestern Pennsylvania detected 71 crack components across the embankment crest, with a dominant longitudinal crack exhibiting aperture values reaching 28 cm and a 95th percentile vertical displacement of 35.53 cm, consistent in magnitude and spatial distribution with simultaneously acquired LiDAR-derived estimates. Application across four post-blast limestone quarry bench datasets in California successfully characterized blast-induced fracture networks at ground sampling distances ranging from 0.59 to 1.23 cm/pixel, with detected crack geometries physically consistent with observable surface conditions at each site. The results demonstrate that deep learning-based crack detection and photogrammetric measurement can be integrated into routine UAV inspection workflows at mining sites, providing repeatable, scalable, and quantitative crack characterization across surface types, crack scales, and displacement magnitudes not previously addressed in the literature. The pipeline requires no dedicated surveying equipment beyond the UAV platforms already deployed at mine sites for survey and monitoring purposes, supporting practical adoption within existing operational workflows.

Crack detection, Dimensional Measurement↗
DOE OSTI2020

A novel sector mass spectrograph design for high-order coded aperture Mass Spectrometry with stigmatic aberration correction

Previous works experimentally demonstrated that the application of spatially-coded apertures to simple sector mass spectrographs can result in increased signal intensity while maintaining spectral resolution comparable to that of a conventional slit aperture.[Chen, E.X., et al.: J Am Soc Mass Spectr. 26, 1633 (2015)][Russell, Z.E., et al.: J Am Soc Mass Spectr. 26, 248 (2015)] This spatial coding technique was later applied to a double-focusing Mattauch-Herzog mass spectrograph, and shown to be generally compatible with the architecture.[Russell, Z.E., et al.: J Am Soc Mass Spectr. 27, 1 (2016)] However, the achieved signal gain was limited by the spatial size of the electric sector gap. In this work, we introduce a modified version of the Mattauch-Herzog mass spectrograph with a wide-gap electric sector that is enabled by a novel, segmented-electrode approach, and show via simulation that this modified architecture alone (without aperture coding) achieves a 1.8x improvement in mass resolving power compared to a conventional Mattauch-Herzog spectrograph of equivalent size. Further, simulation of an aperture-coded version of the instrument supports a predicted signal strength increase of 50x with minimal loss of aperture clarity on the sensor due to the increased open area of the high-order coded aperture which can be passed.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗
NASA NTRS2013

Advanced Dispersed Fringe Sensing Algorithm for Coarse Phasing Segmented Mirror Telescopes

Segment mirror phasing, a critical step of segment mirror alignment, requires the ability to sense and correct the relative pistons between segments from up to a few hundred microns to a fraction of wavelength in order to bring the mirror system to its full diffraction capability. When sampling the aperture of a telescope, using auto-collimating flats (ACFs) is more economical. The performance of a telescope with a segmented primary mirror strongly depends on how well those primary mirror segments can be phased. One such process to phase primary mirror segments in the axial piston direction is dispersed fringe sensing (DFS). DFS technology can be used to co-phase the ACFs. DFS is essentially a signal fitting and processing operation. It is an elegant method of coarse phasing segmented mirrors. DFS performance accuracy is dependent upon careful calibration of the system as well as other factors such as internal optical alignment, system wavefront errors, and detector quality. Novel improvements to the algorithm have led to substantial enhancements in DFS performance. The Advanced Dispersed Fringe Sensing (ADFS) Algorithm is designed to reduce the sensitivity to calibration errors by determining the optimal fringe extraction line. Applying an angular extraction line dithering procedure and combining this dithering process with an error function while minimizing the phase term of the fitted signal, defines in essence the ADFS algorithm.

Spechler, Joshua A.↗
NASA NTRS1986

Comparison of large aperture telescopes with parabolic and spherical primaries

Quasi-Cassegrain-type four-mirror telescopes are compared to conventional two-mirror Cassegrain telescopes for use as high performance, very large aperture space telescopes. Spherical and parabolic primaries with continuous as well as segmented surfaces are considered. Imaging characteristics and misalignment sensitivities serve as the principal criteria of comparison. The evaluation shows that parabolic primaries yield superior wide-field performance, whereas spherical primaries hold distinct advantages regarding manufacturability and regarding certain alignment aspects in the case of segmentation.

Korsch, D.↗
NASA NTRS1993

High-resolution imaging gamma-ray spectroscopy with externally segmented germanium detectors

Externally segmented germanium detectors promise a breakthrough in gamma-ray imaging capabilities while retaining the superb energy resolution of germanium spectrometers. An angular resolution of 0.2 deg becomes practical by combining position-sensitive germanium detectors having a segment thickness of a few millimeters with a one-dimensional coded aperture located about a meter from the detectors. Correspondingly higher angular resolutions are possible with larger separations between the detectors and the coded aperture. Two-dimensional images can be obtained by rotating the instrument. Although the basic concept is similar to optical or X-ray coded-aperture imaging techniques, several complicating effects arise because of the penetrating nature of gamma rays. The complications include partial transmission through the coded aperture elements, Compton scattering in the germanium detectors, and high background count rates. Extensive electron-photon Monte Carlo modeling of a realistic detector/coded-aperture/collimator system has been performed. Results show that these complicating effects can be characterized and accounted for with no significant loss in instrument sensitivity.

Callas, J. L.↗
NASA NTRS1994

A comparison between using incoherent or coherent sources to align and test an adaptive optical telescope

The concept in the initial alignment of the segmented mirror adaptive optics telescope called the phased array mirror extendable large aperture telescope (Pamela) is to produce an optical transfer function (OTF) which closely approximates the diffraction limited value which would correspond to a system pupil function that is unity over the aperture and zero outside. There are differences in the theory of intensity measurements between coherent and incoherent radiation. As a result, some of the classical quantities which describe the performance of an optical system for incoherent radiation can not be defined for a coherent field. The most important quantity describing the quality of an optical system is the OTF and for a coherent source the OTF is not defined. Instead a coherent transfer function (CTF) is defined. The main conclusion of the paper is that an incoherent collimated source and not a collimated laser source is preferred to calibrate the Hartmann wavefront sensor (WFS) of an aligned adaptive optical system. A distant laser source can be used with minimum problems to correct the system for atmospheric turbulence. The collimation of the HeNe laser alignment source can be improved by using a very small pin hole in the spatial filter so only the central portion of the beam is transmitted and the beam from the filter is nearly constant in amplitude. The size of this pin hole will be limited by the sensitivity of the lateral effect diode (LEDD) elements.

Anderson, Richard↗
NASA NTRS1998

Minimization of Retinal Slip Cannot Explain Human Smooth-Pursuit Eye Movements

Existing models assume that pursuit attempts a direct minimization of retinal image motion or "slip" (e.g. Robinson et al., 1986; Krauzlis & Weisberger, 1989). Using occluded line-figure stimuli, we have previously shown that humans can accurately pursue stimuli for which perfect tracking does not zero retinal slip (Neurologic ARCO). These findings are inconsistent with the standard control strategy of matching eye motion to a target-motion signal reconstructed by adding retinal slip and eye motion, but consistent with a visual front-end which estimates target motion via a global spatio-temporal integration for pursuit and perception. Another possible explanation is that pursuit simply attempts to minimize slip perpendicular to the segments (and neglects parallel "sliding" motion). To resolve this, 4 observers (3 naive) were asked to pursue the center of 2 types of stimuli with identical velocity-space descriptions and matched motion energy. The line-figure "diamond" stimulus was viewed through 2 invisible 3 deg-wide vertical apertures (38 cd/m2 equal to background) such that only the sinusoidal motion of 4 oblique line segments (44 cd/m2 was visible. The "cross" was identical except that the segments exchanged positions. Two trajectories (8's and infinity's) with 4 possible initial directions were randomly interleaved (1.25 cycles, 2.5s period, Ax = Ay = 1.4 deg). In 91% of trials, the diamond appeared rigid. Correspondingly, pursuit was vigorous (mean Again: 0.74) with a V/H aspect ratio approx. 1 (mean: 0.9). Despite a valid rigid solution, the cross however appeared rigid in 8% of trials. Correspondingly, pursuit was weaker (mean Hgain: 0.38) with an incorrect aspect ratio (mean: 1.5). If pursuit were just minimizing perpendicular slip, performance would be the same in both conditions.

Stone, Leland S.↗
NASA NTRS2018

Laser Metrology for Ultra-Stable Space-Based Coronographs

Sensing starlight rejected from a coronagraph is essential in stabilizing the telescope pointing and wavefront drift, but performance is degraded for dim stars. Laser Metrology (MET) provides a different, complementary sensing method, one that can be used to measure changes in the alignment of the optics at high bandwidth, independent of the magnitude of the host star. Laser metrology measures changes in the separation of optical fiducial pairs, which can be separated by many meters. The principle of operations is similar to the laser metrology system used in LISA-Pathfinder to measure the in-orbit displacement between two test masses to a precision of ~10 picometers. In closed loop with actuators, MET actively maintains rigid body alignment of the front-end optics, thereby eliminating the dominant source of wavefront drift. In the case of a segmented, active primary mirror, MET provides six degrees of freedom sensing, replacing edge sensors. MET maintains wavefront control even during attitude maneuvers, such as slews between target stars, thereby avoiding the need to repeat time-consuming speckle suppression. These features can significantly improve the performance and observational efficiency of future large-aperture space telescopes equipped with internal coronagraphs. We evaluate MET trusses for various proposed monolithic and segmented space-based coronagraphs and present the performance requirements necessary to maintain contrast drift below 10^-11.

Moore, Dustin↗
NASA NTRS2012

Wavefront Compensation Segmented Mirror Sensing and Control

The primary mirror of very large submillimeter-wave telescopes will necessarily be segmented into many separate mirror panels. These panels must be continuously co-phased to keep the telescope wavefront error less than a small fraction of a wavelength, to ten microns RMS (root mean square) or less. This performance must be maintained continuously across the full aperture of the telescope, in all pointing conditions, and in a variable thermal environment. A wavefront compensation segmented mirror sensing and control system, consisting of optical edge sensors, Wavefront Compensation Estimator/Controller Soft ware, and segment position actuators is proposed. Optical edge sensors are placed two per each segment-to-segment edge to continuously measure changes in segment state. Segment position actuators (three per segment) are used to move the panels. A computer control system uses the edge sensor measurements to estimate the state of all of the segments and to predict the wavefront error; segment actuator commands are computed that minimize the wavefront error. Translational or rotational motions of one segment relative to the other cause lateral displacement of the light beam, which is measured by the imaging sensor. For high accuracy, the collimator uses a shaped mask, such as one or more slits, so that the light beam forms a pattern on the sensor that permits sensing accuracy of better than 0.1 micron in two axes: in the z or local surface normal direction, and in the y direction parallel to the mirror surface and perpendicular to the beam direction. Using a co-aligned pair of sensors, with the location of the detector and collimated light source interchanged, four degrees of freedom can be sensed: transverse x and y displacements, as well as two bending angles (pitch and yaw). In this approach, each optical edge sensor head has a collimator and an imager, placing one sensor head on each side of a segment gap, with two parallel light beams crossing the gap. Two sets of optical edge sensors are used per segment-to-segment edge, separated by a finite distance along the segment edge, for four optical heads, each with an imager and a collimator. By orienting the beam direction of one edge sensor pair to be +45 away from the segment edge direction, and the other sensor pair to be oriented -45 away from the segment edge direction, all six degrees of freedom of relative motion between the segments can be measured with some redundancy. The software resides in a computer that receives each of the optical edge sensor signals, as well as telescope pointing commands. It feeds back the edge sensor signals to keep the primary mirror figure within specification. It uses a feed-forward control to compensate for global effects such as decollimation of the primary and secondary mirrors due to gravity sag as the telescope pointing changes to track science objects. Three segment position actuators will be provided per segment to enable controlled motions in the piston, tip, and tilt degrees of freedom. These actuators are driven by the software, providing the optical changes needed to keep the telescope phased.

Redding, David C.↗
DOE OSTI2022

Super-resolution and segmentation deep learning for breast cancer histopathology image analysis

Traditionally, a high-performance microscope with a large numerical aperture is required to acquire high-resolution images. However, the images’ size is typically tremendous. Therefore, they are not conveniently managed and transferred across a computer network or stored in a limited computer storage system. As a result, image compression is commonly used to reduce image size resulting in poor image resolution. Here, we demonstrate custom convolution neural networks (CNNs) for both super-resolution image enhancement from low-resolution images and characterization of both cells and nuclei from hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) stained breast cancer histopathological images by using a combination of generator and discriminator networks so-called super-resolution generative adversarial network-based on aggregated residual transformation (SRGAN-ResNeXt) to facilitate cancer diagnosis in low resource settings. The results provide high enhancement in image quality where the peak signal-to-noise ratio and structural similarity of our network results are over 30 dB and 0.93, respectively. The derived performance is superior to the results obtained from both the bicubic interpolation and the well-known SRGAN deep-learning methods. In addition, another custom CNN is used to perform image segmentation from the generated high-resolution breast cancer images derived with our model with an average Intersection over Union of 0.869 and an average dice similarity coefficient of 0.893 for the H&E image segmentation results. Finally, we propose the jointly trained SRGAN-ResNeXt and Inception U-net Models, which applied the weights from the individually trained SRGAN-ResNeXt and inception U-net models as the pre-trained weights for transfer learning. The jointly trained model’s results are progressively improved and promising. We anticipate these custom CNNs can help resolve the inaccessibility of advanced microscopes or whole slide imaging (WSI) systems to acquire high-resolution images from low-performance microscopes located in remote-constraint settings.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗
NASA NTRS1996

Active Sonic Boom Control

A theory and simulation code are developed to study nonsteady sources as means to control sonic booms of supersonic aircraft. A key result is that the source of sonic boom pressure is not confined to the length of the aircraft but occupies an extensive segment of flight path. An aircraft in nonsteady flight functions as a synthetic aperture antenna, generating complex acoustic waves with no simple relation to instantaneous volume or lift distributions. The theory applies linear acoustics to slender nonsteady sources but requires no far field approximation. The solution for pressure contains a term not seen in Whitham's theory for sonic booms of distant supersonic aircraft. The term describes a pressure field that decays algebraically behind the Mach cone and, in the case of steady flight, integrates to a ground load equal to the weight of the aircraft. The algebraic term is separate from those that describe the sonic boom. Two nonsteady source phenomena are evaluated: periodic velocity changes (surge), and periodic longitudinal lift redistribution (slosh). Surge can attenuate a sonic boom and convert it into prolonged weak reverberation, but accelerations needed to produce the phenomenon seem too large for practical use. Slosh may be practical and can alter sonic booms but does not, on the average, result in boom attenuation. The conclusion is that active sonic boom abatement is possible in theory but maybe not practical

Crow, Steven C.↗