159 research outputs found
Upcoming planetary missions and the applicability of high temperature superconductor bolometers
Planetary missions to Mars and beyond can last 11 years and longer, making impractical the use of stored cryogens. Passive radiative coolers and single-stage mechanical coolers remain possibilities. CRAF and CASSINI, both using the newly developed Mariner Mark 2 spacecraft, will be the next outer planet missions after Galileo; they are intended to provide information on the origin and evolution of the solar system. CRAF is a cometary rendezvous mission slated for a 1994 launch. CASSINI has been chosen by ESA and will be launched by a Titan 4/Centaur in 1996. It will fly by Jupiter in 2000, inject an ESA-supplied probe into Titan in 2002, and take data in Saturn orbit from 2002 to 2006. NASA/Goddard is currently developing a prototype Fourier transform spectrometer (CIRS) that will be proposed for the CASSINI mission. The baseline infrared detectors for CIRS are HgCdTe to 16 microns and Schwarz-type thermopiles from 16 to 1000 microns. The far infrared focal plane could be switched from thermopiles to high temperature superconductor (HTS) bolometers between now and 1996. An HTS bolometer could be built using the kinetic inductance effect, or the sharp resistance change at the transition. The transition-edge bolometer is more straightforward to implement and initial efforts at NASA/Goddard are directed to that device. A working device was made and tested in early 1989. It also has somewhat elevated noise levels below 100 Hz. Upcoming efforts will center on reducing the time constant of the HTS bolometer by attempting to deposit an HTS film on a diamond substrate, and by thinning SrTiO3 substrates. Attempts will be made to improve the film quality to reduce th 1/f noise level, and to improve the thermal isolation to increase the bolometer sensitivity. An attempt is being made to deposit good-quality HTS films on diamond films using an MOCVD technique
Can chickens empower women? Perceptions from chicken producers in peri-urban and rural Ethiopia
l/f Noise in the Superconducting Transition of a MgB2 Thin Film
The noise voltage spectral density in the superconducting transition of a MgB2 thin film on a SiN-coated Si thick substrate was measured over the frequency range 1 Hz-to-1 KHz. Using established bolometer noise theory the theoretical noise components due to Johnson, 1/f(excess) and phonon noise are modeled to the measured data. It is shown that for the case of a MgB2 thin film in the vicinity of the mid-point of transition, coupled to a heat sink via a fairly high thermal conductance (approximately equal to 10(sup -1) W/K)) that the measured noise voltage spectrum is 1/f limited and exhibits lit dependence with a varying between 0.3 and 0.5 in the measured frequency range. At a video frame rate frequency of 30 Hz the measured noise voltage density in the film is approximately equal to 61 nV /the square root of HZ, using this value an upper limit of electrical NEP approximately equal to 0.67pW / the square root of Hz is implied for a practical MgB2 bolometer operating at 36.1 K
2D Array of Far-infrared Thermal Detectors: Noise Measurements and Processing Issues
A magnesium diboride (MgB2) detector 2D array for use in future space-based spectrometers is being developed at GSFC. Expected pixel sensitivities and comparison to current state-of-the-art infrared (IR) detectors will be discussed
Spatial analysis in multi-environment trials of malt barley in Ethiopia
Selection of superior genotypes and measuring heritability are some of
the basic objectives of plant breeding. For this purpose, plant
breeders grow crops across environments. Understanding the pattern of
response across environments is an integral component of selection of
superior and stable genotypes. The objective of this study was to
improve selection strategies in barley breeding of Ethiopia through
modeling spatial field trend. A set of multi-environment trials (MET)
data from the national variety trial series conducted over four years,
was taken from the Ethiopian Barley Breeding Programme, spanning stages
from early generation to national variety trial testing for yield, was
used in this study. The trials were analysed in a linear mixed model
framework. Then, fitting a one-stage model for MET data, including a
correlated spatial process for field trend within each trial, and
combining a factor analytic (FA) model for genotype by environment
interaction was conducted. The genetic correlations from this MET
analysis were then used to cluster the environments based on their
similarity. Performance of genotypes across these environmental
clusters indicate broad (Bekoji-2005 and Bekoji-2004) and specific
adaptation (Sgonder-2007 and Sgonder-2006) of genotype to certain types
of environments. In addition, analysis of this historical MET data shed
light on how breeding programme design can be improved to capture
responses across the target population of environments, as it can
inform the adequacy of the current number of barley grown areas in
Ethiopia and the improvement in measuring heritability.La s\ue9lection de g\ue9notypes sup\ue9rieurs et la mesure de
l\u2019h\ue9ritabilit\ue9 font partie des objectifs fondamentaux
de la s\ue9lection v\ue9g\ue9tale. Dans ce but, les
selectionneurs de plantes font pousser des cultures dans tous les
environnements. Comprendre le mod\ue8le de r\ue9ponse dans les
environnements fait partie int\ue9grante de la s\ue9lection de
g\ue9notypes sup\ue9rieurs et stables. L\u2019objectif de cette
\ue9tude \ue9tait d\u2019am\ue9liorer les strat\ue9gies de
s\ue9lection dans l\u2019\ue9levage d\u2019orge en \uc9thiopie
en mod\ue9lisant la tendance des champs spatiaux. Un ensemble de
donn\ue9es d\u2019essais multi-environnementaux (MET) de la
s\ue9rie d\u2019essais de vari\ue9t\ue9s nationaux men\ue9s
sur quatre ans a \ue9t\ue9 tir\ue9 du Programme de s\ue9lection
\ue9thiopien de l\u2019orge, qui couvre les stades de la
premi\ue8re g\ue9n\ue9ration aux essais de vari\ue9t\ue9s
nationaux pour le rendement, a \ue9t\ue9 utilis\ue9 dans cette
\ue9tude. Les essais ont \ue9t\ue9 analys\ue9s dans un cadre de
mod\ue8le mixte lin\ue9aire. Ensuite, on a ajust\ue9 un
mod\ue8le en une \ue9tape pour les donn\ue9es MET, y compris un
processus spatial corr\ue9l\ue9 pour la tendance de terrain dans
chaque essai, et combin\ue9 un mod\ue8le d\u2019analyse
factorielle (FA) pour une interaction g\ue9notype par environnement.
Les corr\ue9lations g\ue9n\ue9tiques de cette analyse MET ont
ensuite \ue9t\ue9 utilis\ue9es pour regrouper les environnements
en fonction de leur similarit\ue9. La performance des g\ue9notypes
de ces groupes environnementaux indique une adaptation large
(Bekoji-2005 et Bekoji-2004) et sp\ue9cifique (Sgonder-2007 et
Sgonder-2006) \ue0 certains types d\u2019environnements. En outre,
l\u2019analyse de ces donn\ue9es MET historiques a permis de mieux
comprendre comment am\ue9liorer la conception du programme de
s\ue9lection pour capturer les r\ue9ponses dans la population
vis\ue9e d\u2019environnements, car elle peut contribuer \ue0
l\u2019ad\ue9quation du nombre actuel de zones de culture
d\u2019orge en \uc9thiopie et \ue0 l\u2019am\ue9lioration de la
mesure d\u2018 h\ue9ritabilit\ue9
Thermal Radiometer Signal Processing Using Radiation Hard CMOS Application Specific Integrated Circuits for Use in Harsh Planetary Environments
Thermal radiometers such as proposed for the Europa Clipper flyby mission require low noise signal processing for thermal imaging with immunity to Total Ionizing Dose (TID) and Single Event Latchup (SEL). Described is a second generation Multi- Channel Digitizer (MCD2G) Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC) that accurately digitizes up to 40 thermopile pixels with greater than 50 Mrad (Si) immunity TID and 174 MeV-sq cm/mg SEL. The MCD2G ASIC uses Radiation Hardened By Design (RHBD) techniques with a 180 nm CMOS process node
MgB2 Thin-Film Bolometer for Applications in Far-Infrared Instruments on Future Planetary Missions
A SiN membrane based MgB2 thin-film bolometer, with a non-optimized absorber, has been fabricated that shows an electrical noise equivalent power of 256 fW/square root Hz operating at 30 Hz in the 8.5 - 12.35 micron spectral bandpass. This value corresponds to an electrical specific detectivity of 7.6 x 10(exp 10) cm square root Hz/W. The bolometer shows a measured blackbody (optical) specific detectivity of 8.8 x 10(exp 9) cm square root Hz/W, with a responsivity of 701.5 kV/W and a first-order time constant of 5.2 ms. It is predicted that with the inclusion of a gold black absorber that a blackbody specific detectivity of 6.4 x 10(exp 10) cm/square root Hz/W at an operational frequency of 10 Hz, can be realized for integration into future planetary exploration instrumentation where high sensitivity is required in the 17 - 250 micron spectral wavelength range
Microbial faecal pollution of river water in a watershed of tropical Ethiopian highlands is driven by diffuse pollution sources
Journal of Water and HealthTropical communities in the developing world depend heavily on riverine systems for their socioeconomic development. However, these
resources are poorly protected from diffuse pollution, and there is a lack of quantitative information regarding the microbial pollution characteristics
of riverine water, despite frequently reported gastrointestinal diseases. The aim of our study was to apply faecal taxation (i.e., faecal
pellet counting in representative test areas to estimate the potential availability of diffuse pollution sources) in combination with a detailed
microbiological faecal pollution analysis in a riverine environment to elucidate the importance of diffuse pollution. To realize this approach,
ambient faecal pellets, a multiparametric data set for standard faecal indicator bacteria (SFIB), including Escherichia coli, Clostridium perfringens
spores and enterococci from catchment soil and river water, and a number of riverine water physicochemical variables were analysed
during a one-year cycle. We demonstrated that the abundance of ambient faecal pellets, which were consistently counted at reference sites
in the catchment, was associated with faecal pollution in the river water. Water SFIB, dissolved oxygen, nutrients, conductivity and total suspended
solids were strongly linked with the abundance of ambient faecal pellets in the river catchment, as demonstrated by principal
component analysis (PCA). Elevated concentrations of SFIB in the riverine water in the absence of rainfall also suggested the direct input
of faecal bacteria into the riverine water by livestock (e.g., during watering) and humans (e.g., during bathing). Statistical analyses further
revealed that the microbiological water quality of the investigated riverine water was not influenced by SFIB potentially occurring in the
soil. This study demonstrates the importance of diffuse faecal pollution sources as major drivers of the microbiological quality of riverine
water in the Ethiopian highlands. In addition, the new successfully applied integrated approach could be very useful for developing predictive
models, which would aid in forecasting riverine microbiological quality in tropical developing countriesinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio
A 0.18 micrometer CMOS Thermopile Readout ASIC Immune to 50 MRAD Total Ionizing Dose (SI) and Single Event Latchup to 174MeV-cm(exp 2)/mg
Radiation hardened by design (RHBD) techniques allow commercial CMOS circuits to operate in high total ionizing dose and particle fluence environments. Our radiation hard multi-channel digitizer (MCD) ASIC (Figure 1) is a versatile analog system on a chip (SoC) fabricated in 180nm CMOS. It provides 18 chopper stabilized amplifier channels, a 16- bit sigma-delta analog-digital converter (SDADC) and an on-chip controller. The MCD was evaluated at Goddard Space Flight Center and Texas A&M University's radiation effects facilities and found to be immune to single event latchup (SEL) and total ionizing dose (TID) at 174 MeV-cm(exp 2)/mg and 50 Mrad (Si) respectively
Technology for NASA's Planetary Science Vision 2050.
NASAs Planetary Science Division (PSD) initiated and sponsored a very successful community Workshop held from Feb. 27 to Mar. 1, 2017 at NASA Headquarters. The purpose of the Workshop was to develop a vision of planetary science research and exploration for the next three decades until 2050. This abstract summarizes some of the salient technology needs discussed during the three-day workshop and at a technology panel on the final day. It is not meant to be a final report on technology to achieve the science vision for 2050
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