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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 NTRS1976

Physical properties of the Martian surface from the Viking 1 lander - Preliminary results

Examination of the erosion of the surface of Mars caused by the descent engines of the Viking 1 lander indicates that the soil is stronger and/or denser than the 'lunar nominal' soil (an artificially produced soil with a particle size distribution similar to results for lunar soils obtained by Apollo 11) used in preflight site alteration tests. There is further evidence to suggest that the finer grains are not as small as those of the lunar nominal material, and that the soil under the lander footpads is relatively stiff. The crater, depressions, and ejecta associated with the impact of a latch pin which fell from the surface sampler are consistent with terrestrial soils with very low cohesions, small grain size, and a density of 1.2 to 1.7 g/cu cm.

Shorthill, R. W.↗
NASA NTRS1979

The natural resources inventory system ASVT project

The hardware/software and the associated procedures for a natural resource inventory and information system based on the use of LANDSAT-acquired multispectral scanner digital data is described. The system is designed to derive land cover/vegetation information from LANDSAT data and geographically reference this information for the production of various types of maps and for the compilation of acreage by land cover/vegetation category. The system also provides for data base building so that the LANDSAT-derived information can be related to information digitized from other sources (e.g., soils maps) in a geographic context in order to address specific applications. These applications include agricultural crop production estimation, erosion hazard-reforestation need assessment, whitetail deer habitat assessment, and site selection. The system is tested in demonstration areas located in the state of Mississippi, and the results of these application demonstrations are presented. A cost-efficiency comparison of producing land cover/vegetation maps and statistics with this system versus the use of small-scale aerial photography is made.

Joyce, A. T.↗
NASA NTRS2012

Optical Characterisation of Suspended Particles in the Mackenzie River Plume (Canadian Arctic Ocean) and Implications for Ocean Colour Remote Sensing

Climate change significantly impacts Arctic shelf regions in terms of air temperature, ultraviolet radiation, melting of sea ice, precipitation, thawing of permafrost and coastal erosion. Direct consequences have been observed on the increasing Arctic river flow and a large amount of organic carbon sequestered in soils at high latitudes since the last glacial maximum can be expected to be delivered to the Arctic Ocean during the coming decade. Monitoring the fluxes and fate of this terrigenous organic carbon is problematic in such sparsely populated regions unless remote sensing techniques can be developed and proved to be operational. The main objective of this study is to develop an ocean colour algorithm to operationally monitor dynamics of suspended particulate matter (SPM) on the Mackenzie River continental shelf (Canadian Arctic Ocean) using satellite imagery. The water optical properties are documented across the study area and related to concentrations of SPM and particulate organic carbon (POC). Robust SPM and POC : SPM proxies are identified, such as the light backscattering and attenuation coefficients, and relationships are established between these optical and biogeochemical parameters. Following a semi-analytical approach, a regional SPM quantification relationship is obtained for the inversion of the water reflectance signal into SPM concentration. This relationship is reproduced based on independent field optical measurements. It is successfully applied to a selection of MODIS satellite data which allow estimating fluxes at the river mouth and monitoring the extension and dynamics of the Mackenzie River surface plume in 2009, 2010 and 2011. Good agreement is obtained with field observations representative of the whole water column in the river delta zone where terrigenous SPM is mainly constrained (out of short periods of maximum river outflow). Most of the seaward export of SPM is observed to occur within the west side of the river mouth. Future work will require the validation of the developed SPM regional algorithm based on match-ups with field measurements, then the routine application to ocean colour satellite data in order to better estimate the fluxes and fate of SPM and POC delivered by the Mackenzie River to the Arctic Ocean.

Mackenzie River plume↗
NASA NTRS2014

Image Analysis Based Estimates of Regolith Erosion Due to Plume Impingement Effects

Characterizing dust plumes on the moon's surface during a rocket landing is imperative to the success of future operations on the moon or any other celestial body with a dusty or soil surface (including cold surfaces covered by frozen gas ice crystals, such as the moons of the outer planets). The most practical method of characterizing the dust clouds is to analyze video or still camera images of the dust illuminated by the sun or on-board light sources (such as lasers). The method described below was used to characterize the dust plumes from the Apollo 12 landing.

Regolith Erosion↗
NASA NTRS1982

Two Mars years of surface changes seen at the Viking Landing sites

An analysis of the spectrophotometric properties of the new dust deposited at the Viking Lander 1 site indicates that the new deposits are the same as the bright red material that only partially covered the site at the beginning of the mission. Certain areas of the Viking 1 site also showed an increase in contrast during the second year. The contrast increase is thought to be due to the partial removal of the recently deposited dust cover by high-velocity winds. What is more, a small soil slump occurred near the base of a boulder lying about 25 m from the lander. It is noted that whereas no obvious erosion has been detected at the Viking 2 site, periodic removal of the dust cover at this site is implied by the abundance of rocks at the site.

Guinness, E. A.↗
NASA NTRS2013

Validation of Proposed Metrics for Two-Body Abrasion Scratch Test Analysis Standards

Abrasion of mechanical components and fabrics by soil on Earth is typically minimized by the effects of atmosphere and water. Potentially abrasive particles lose sharp and pointed geometrical features through erosion. In environments where such erosion does not exist, such as the vacuum of the Moon, particles retain sharp geometries associated with fracturing of their parent particles by micrometeorite impacts. The relationship between hardness of the abrasive and that of the material being abraded is well understood, such that the abrasive ability of a material can be estimated as a function of the ratio of the hardness of the two interacting materials. Knowing the abrasive nature of an environment (abrasive)/construction material is crucial to designing durable equipment for use in such surroundings. The objective of this work was to evaluate a set of standardized metrics proposed for characterizing a surface that has been scratched from a two-body abrasion test. This is achieved by defining a new abrasion region termed Zone of Interaction (ZOI). The ZOI describes the full surface profile of all peaks and valleys, rather than just measuring a scratch width. The ZOI has been found to be at least twice the size of a standard width measurement; in some cases, considerably greater, indicating that at least half of the disturbed surface area would be neglected without this insight. The ZOI is used to calculate a more robust data set of volume measurements that can be used to computationally reconstruct a resultant profile for de tailed analysis. Documenting additional changes to various surface roughness par ameters also allows key material attributes of importance to ultimate design applications to be quantified, such as depth of penetration and final abraded surface roughness. Further - more, by investigating the use of custom scratch tips for specific needs, the usefulness of having an abrasion metric that can measure the displaced volume in this standardized manner, and not just by scratch width alone, is reinforced. This benefit is made apparent when a tip creates an intricate contour having multiple peaks and valleys within a single scratch. The current innovation consists of a software- driven method of quantitatively evaluating a scratch profile. The profile consists of measuring the topographical features of a scratch along the length of the scratch instead of the width at one location. The digitized profile data is then fed into software code, which evaluates enough metrics of the scratch to reproduce the scratch from the evaluated metrics. There are three key differences between the current art and this innovation. First, scratch width does not quantify how far from the center of the scratch damage occurs (ZOI). Second, scratch width does not discern between material displacement and material removal from the scratch. Finally, several scratches may have the same width but different zones of interactions, different displacements, and different material removals. The current innovation allows quantitative assessment of all three.

Street, Kenneth W., Jr.↗
NASA NTRS2004

Granular Material Flows with Interstitial Fluid Effects

The research focused on experimental measurements of the rheological properties of liquid-solid and granular flows. In these flows, the viscous effects of the interstitial fluid, the inertia of the fluid and particles, and the collisional interactions of the particles may all contribute to the flow mechanics. These multiphase flows include industrial problems such as coal slurry pipelines, hydraulic fracturing processes, fluidized beds, mining and milling operation, abrasive water jet machining, and polishing and surface erosion technologies. In addition, there are a wide range of geophysical flows such as debris flows, landslides and sediment transport. In extraterrestrial applications, the study of transport of particulate materials is fundamental to the mining and processing of lunar and Martian soils and the transport of atmospheric dust (National Research Council 2000). The recent images from Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft dramatically depict the complex sand and dust flows on Mars, including dune formation and dust avalanches on the slip-face of dune surfaces. These Aeolian features involve a complex interaction of the prevailing winds and deposition or erosion of the sediment layer; these features make a good test bed for the verification of global circulation models of the Martian atmosphere.

Hunt, Melany L.↗
NASA NTRS2007

Granular Mechanics and Surface Systems Lab

The cratering of sand under gas jets is observed to further understanding of soil in hopes to further understand lunar soil. Lunar soil is important to understand because it is causing problems with the materials taken into space including the shuttle. Lunar soil is not rounded like beach sand. Lunar soil is sharp like little particles of glass, and some times when blown they can hook on to one another and become bigger particles. The experiments are designed to help to understand some of the basic physics in how the shuttle jets will interact with lunar soil and how to control the lunar soil. These experiments investigate the diameter of the gas jet and the size of the sand grains to determine how these parameters affect the erosion rate and the cratering processes. Therefore, the experiments preformed will point out what is dependent and what is independent.

Randle, Leah↗
NASA NTRS1977

Site Alteration Effects from Rocket Exhaust Impingement During a Simulated Viking Mars Landing. Part 2: Chemical and Biological Site Alteration

Chemical and biological alteration of a Mars landing site was investigated experimentally and analytically. The experimental testing was conducted using a specially designed multiple nozzle configuration consisting of 18 small bell nozzles. The chemical test results indicate that an engine using standard hydrazine fuel will contaminate the landing site with ammonia (50-500ppm), nitrogen (5-50ppm), aniline (0.01-0.5ppm), hydrogen cyanide (0.01-0.5ppm), and water. A purified fuel, with impurities (mostly aniline) reduced by a factor of 50-100, limits the amount of hydrogen cyanide and aniline to below detectable limits for the Viking science investigations and leaves the amounts of ammonia, nitrogen, and water in the soil unchanged. The large amounts of ammonia trapped in the soil will make interpretation of the organic analysis investigation results more difficult. The biological tests indicate that the combined effects of plume gases, surface heating, surface erosion, and gas composition resulting from the retrorockets will not interfere with the Viking biology investigation.

Husted, R. R.↗
NASA NTRS1998

Development of a Coupled Hydrological/Sediment Yield Model for a Watershed at Regional Level

Development of a hydrologic model for the study of environmental conservation requires a comprehensive understanding of individual-storm affecting hydrologic and sedimentologic processes. The hydrologic models that we are currently coupling are the Simulator for Hydrology and Energy Exchange at the Land Surface (SHEELS) and the Distributed Runoff Model (DRUM). SHEELS runs continuously to estimate surface energy fluxes and sub-surface soil water fluxes, while DRUM operates during and following precipitation events to predict surface runoff and peak flow through channel routing. The lateral re-distribution of surface water determined by DRUM is passed to SHEELS, which then adjusts soil water contents throughout the profile. The model SHEELS is well documented in Smith et al. (1993) and Laymen and Crosson (1995). The model DRUM is well documented in Vieux et al. (1990) and Vieux and Gauer (1994). The coupled hydrologic model, SHEELS/DRUM, does not simulate sedimentologic processes. The simulation of the sedimentologic process is important for environmental conservation planning and management. Therefore, we attempted to develop a conceptual frame work for coupling a sediment yield model with SHEELS/DRUM to estimate individual-storm sediment yield from a watershed at a regional level. The sediment yield model that will be used for this study is the Universal Soil Loss Equation (USLE) with some modifications to enable the model to predict individual-storm sediment yield. The predicted sediment yield does not include wind erosion and erosion caused by irrigation and snow melt. Units used for this study are those given by Foster et al. (1981) for SI units.

Rajbhandaril, Narayan↗
NASA NTRS2014

Detection of Nitric Oxide by the Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) Instrument Implications for the Presence of Nitrates

One of the main goals of the Mars Science Laboratory is to determine whether the planet ever had environmental conditions able to support microbial life. Nitrogen is a fundamental element for life, and is present in structural (e.g., proteins), catalytic (e.g., enzymes and ribozymes), energy transfer (e.g., ATP) and information storage (RNA and DNA) biomolecules. Planetary models suggest that molecular nitrogen was abundant in the early Martian atmosphere, but was rapidly lost to space by photochemistry, sputtering impact erosion, and oxidized and deposited to the surface as nitrate. Nitrates are a fundamental source for nitrogen to terrestrial microorganisms. Therefore, the detection of nitrates in soils and rocks is important to assess the habitability of a Martian environment. SAM is capable of detecting nitrates by their thermal decomposition into nitric oxide, NO. Here we analyze the release of NO from soils and rocks examined by the SAM instrument at Gale crater, and discuss its origin.

Navarro-Gonzalez, R.↗
NASA NTRS1978

Sputtering - Its relationship to isotopic fractionation on the lunar surface

Silicon, oxygen, sulfur and, possibly, potassium show systematic enrichment of heavier isotopes with increasing soil maturity, probably as a result of solar-wind sputtering, but such a pattern is not exhibited by solar wind-implanted species. Apparently sputter-erosion is not penetrating to their implantation depth, about 200 A. This suggests that sputtering on the moon is being impeded by deposition of vapor condensate following meteoritic impact. Although neither secular variation in the isotopic composition at the source of regolith carbon, probably the solar wind, nor isotopic fractionation of carbon after implantation in the regolith can be ruled out, carbon isotope systematics currently yield no evidence in support of either process.

Kerridge, J. F.↗
NASA NTRS1997

Conference on Early Mars: Geologic and Hydrologic Evolution, Physical and Chemical Environments, and the Implications for Life

Topics considered include: Geology alteration and life in an extreme environment; developing a chemical code to identify magnetic biominerals; effect of impacts on early Martin geologic evolution; spectroscopic identification of minerals in Hematite-bearing soils and sediments; exopaleontology and the search for a Fossil record on Mars; geochemical evolution of the crust of Mars; geological evolution of the early earth;solar-wind-induced erosion of the Mars atmosphere. Also included geological evolution of the crust of Mars.

Clifford, S. M.↗
NASA NTRS1973

Reflectance measurements for the detection and mapping of soil limitations

During 1971 and 1972 research was conducted on two fallow fields in the proposed Oahe Irrigation Project to investigate the relationship between the tonal variations observed on aerial photographs and the principal soil limitations of the area. A grid sampling procedure was used to collected detailed field data during the 1972 growing season. The field data was compared to imagery collected on May 14, 1971 at 3050 meters altitude. The imagery and field data were initially evaluated by a visual analysis. Correlation and regression analysis revealed a highly significant correlation and regression analysis revealed a highly significant correlation between the digitized color infrared film data and soil properties such as organic matter content, color, depth to carbonates, bulk density and reflectivity. Computer classification of the multiemulsion film data resulted in maps delineating the areas containing claypan and erosion limitations. Reflectance data from the red spectral band provided the best results.

Benson, L. A.↗
NASA NTRS1976

Colloquium on Water in Planetary Regoliths, Hanover, N.H., October 5-7, 1976, Proceedings

The papers abstracted in this volume deal with the occurrence, detection, and measurement of water on planetary bodies in the solar system; relevant aspects of the terrestrial water balance; the most probable status of water on other planetary bodies; and the methods of water detection and measurement available for consideration in designing planetary exploration missions. Topics include the water inventory for earth, high-energy protons as an early source of regolith water, the evolution of water on Mars, the chemical evolution of the Martian atmosphere by surface weathering, some geochemical aspects of excess volatiles on Mars, fluvial erosion on Mars, water in the outer solar system, and the stability of water on the Galilean satellites. Other papers discuss gamma-ray attenuation methods for determining the water content of soil, Viking biology-experiment results relevant to water on Mars, IR detection of water ice on satellite surfaces during the Mariner Jupiter/Saturn mission, electrical sounding of the lunar regolith, the detection of water on the moon and Mars by orbital gamma-ray spectroscopy, and the Viking Martian soil-water analyzer.

Bowen, S.L.↗
NASA NTRS1991

Applications of the EOS SAR to monitoring global change

The SAR employed by NASA's Earth Observing System (EOS) is a multifrequency multipolarization radar which can conduct global monitoring of geophysical and biophysical parameters. The present discussion of the EOS SAR's role in global monitoring emphasizes geophysical product variables applicable to global hydrologic, biogeochemical, and energy cycle models. EOS SAR products encompass biomass, wetland areas, and phenologic and environmental states, in the field of ecosystem dynamics; soil moisture, snow moisture and extent, and glacier and ice sheet extent and velocity, in hydrologic cycle studies; surface-wave fields and sea ice properties, in ocean/atmosphere circulation; and the topography, erosion, and land forms of the solid earth.

Schier, Marguerite↗
NASA NTRS1973

Application of ERTS-1 imagery to detecting and mapping modern erosion features, and to monitoring erosional changes, in southern Arizona

The author has identified the following significant results. ERTS-1 multispectral images have been used, without additional data, to prepare three maps at 1:1 million scale of the 18,000 sq. mi. project area: (1) modern (post-1890 A. D.) arroyos and channels; (2) types of stream channels; and (3) potential erodibility of soils; surficial deposits, and bedrock. Also completed was the collection and compilation of ground truth geologic, soil, and hydrologic data. Field studies to obtain ground control for the photointerpretive mapping include: (1) measurements, at many sites, of the depth, width, and channel characteristics of arroyos and gullies, and cross profiles of stream channels, flood plains, and Holocene terraces; and (2) stratigraphic measurements of the Holocene alluvial deposits. Significant conclusions from these extensive stratigraphic studies are: Slow deposition of sediment was the dominant process on stream lowlands throughout the project area for at least 2000 years prior to 1890 A.D. The deposition was broken by only two relatively brief and minor erosional episodes of regional importance, when channels no more than a third of the depth of modern channels were cut. The modern erosion has produced within about 80 years substantially more and larger arroyos than any erosion episode during the last 2000 years, and the end is not in sight.

Morrison, R. B.↗
NASA NTRS1975

Fault tectonics and earthquake hazards in the Peninsular Ranges, Southern California

The author has identified the following significant results. Thin sections of rock exposed along the San Diego River linear were prepared and determined to be fault breccia. Single band and ratio images of the western Mojave Desert were prepared from the multispectral scanner digital tapes. Subtle differences in color of soil and rock are enhanced on the ratio images. Two north-northeast trending linears (Horsethief Canyon and Pine Valley Creek) and an east-west linear (Pine Creek) were concluded to have resulted from erosion along well-developed foliation in crystalline basement rocks.

Merifield, P. M.↗