Vision during manned booster operation Final report

Retinal images and accomodation control mechanism under conditions of space flight stres

Middle Atmosphere of the Southern Hemisphere (MASH) Global meteor observations system (GLOBMET) Solar Spectral Irradiance Measurements (SSIM) Global Observations and Studies of Stratospheric Aerosols (GOSSA): Progress with the MASH project

The aim of the MASH project is to study the dynamics of the middle atmosphere in the Southern Hemisphere, emphasizing inter-hemispheric differences. Both observational data and data from simulations with numerical models are being used. It is intended that MASH will be complemented by parallel studies on the transport and photochemistry of trace species in the Southern Hemisphere. Impetus for such studies has come from the unexpected finding of a springtime ozone hole over Antarctica. A summary of recent progress with the MASH project is given. Data from polar orbiting satellites are used to discuss the large scale circulation found in the Southern Hemisphere at extratropical latitudes. Comparisons are made with that of the Northern Hemisphere. Particular attention is paid to the springtime final warming, the most spectacular large scale phenomenon in the statosphere of the Southern Hemisphere. The circulation before and after this event has to be taken into account in theories for the formation and subsequent disappearance of the ozone hole

Constructing spatial representations from narratives and non-narrative descriptions: Evidence from 7-year-olds

Although narratives often contain detailed descriptions of space and setting and readers frequently report vividly imagining these story worlds, evidence for the construction of spatial representations during narrative processing is currently mixed. In the present study, we investigated 7 year old children's ability to construct spatial representations of narrative spaces and compared this to the ability to construct representations from non-narrative descriptions. We hypothesized that performance would be better in the narrative condition, where children have the opportunity to construct a multi-dimensional situation model built around the character's motivations and actions. Children listened to either a narrative that included a character traveling between 5 locations in her neighbourhood or a description of the same 5-location neighbourhood. Those in the narrative condition significantly outperformed those in the description condition in constructing the layout of the neighbourhood locations. Moreover, regression analyses revealed that whereas performance on the narrative version was predicted by narrative comprehension ability, performance on the description version was predicted by working memory ability. These results suggest the possibility that building spatial representations from narratives and non-narratives may engage different cognitive processes

Conceptual design study of a 5 kilowatt solar dynamic Brayton power system using a dome Fresnel lens solar concentrator

The primary project objective was to generate a conceptual design for a nominal 5 kW solar dynamic space power system, which uses a unique, patented, transmittance-optimized, dome-shaped, point-focus Fresnel lens as the optical concentrator. Compared to reflective concentrators, the dome lens allows 200 times larger slope errors for the same image displacement. Additionally, the dome lens allows the energy receiver, the power conversion unit (PCU), and the heat rejection radiator to be independently optimized in configuration and orientation, since none of these elements causes any aperture blockage. Based on optical and thermal trade studies, a 6.6 m diameter lens with a focal length of 7.2 m was selected. This lens should provide 87 percent net optical efficienty at 800X geometric concentration ratio. The large lens is comprised of 24 gores, which compactly stow together during launch, and automatically deploy on orbit. The total mass of the microglass lens panels, the graphite/epoxy support structure, and miscellaneous hardware is about 1.2 kg per square meter of aperture. The key problem for the dome lens approach relates to the selection of a space-durable lens material. For the first time, all-glass Fresnel lens samples were successfully made by a sol-gel casting process

Toxicity of pyrolysis gases from wood

The toxicity of the pyrolysis gases from nine wood samples was investigated. The samples of hardwoods were aspen poplar, beech, yellow birch, and red oak. The samples of softwoods were western red cedar, Douglas fir, western hemlock, eastern white pine, and southern yellow pine. There was no significant difference between the wood samples under rising temperature conditions, which are intended to simulate a developing fire, or under fixed temperature conditions, which are intended to simulate a fully developed fire. This test method is used to determine whether a material is significantly more toxic than wood under the preflashover conditions of a developing fire

Measured performance of the new University of California gamma ray telescope

The design of the new medium energy balloon-borne gamma ray telescope is discussed. This telescope is sensitive to 1-30 MeV gamma rays. The results of the initial calibration are described. The position and energy resolutions of 32 plastic and NaI(Tl) scintillator bars, each 100 cm long are discussed. The telescope's measured angular and energy resolutions as a function of incident angle are compared with detailed Monte Carlo calculations at 1.37, 2.75 and 6.13 MeV. The expected resolutions are 5 deg FHWM and 8% at 2.75 MeV. The expected area-efficiency is 250 cm

Pilot weather advisor

The results of the work performed by ViGYAN, Inc., to demonstrate the Pilot Weather Advisor cockpit weather data system using a broadcast satellite communication system are presented. The Pilot Weather Advisor demonstrated that the technical problems involved with transmitting significant amount of weather data to an aircraft in-flight or on-the-ground via satellite are solvable with today's technology. The Pilot Weather Advisor appears to be a viable solution for providing accurate and timely weather information for general aviation aircraft

Polar ozone

The observation and interpretation of a large, unexpected ozone depletion over Antarctica has changed the international scientific view of stratospheric chemistry. The observations which show the veracity, seasonal nature, and vertical structure of the Antarctic ozone hole are presented. Evidence for Arctic and midlatitude ozone loss is also discussed. The chemical theory for Antarctic ozone depletion centers around the occurrence of polar stratospheric clouds (PSCs) in Antarctic winter and spring; the climatology and radiative properties of these clouds are presented. Lab studies of the physical properties of PSCs and the chemical processes that subsequently influence ozone depletion are discussed. Observations and interpretation of the chemical composition of the Antarctic stratosphere are described. It is shown that the observed, greatly enhanced abundances of chlorine monoxide in the lower stratosphere are sufficient to explain much if not all of the ozone decrease. The dynamic meteorology of both polar regions is given, interannual and interhemispheric variations in dynamical processes are outlined, and their likely roles in ozone loss are discussed

Application of the Tor Vergata Scattering Model to L Band Backscatter During the Corn Growth Cycle

At the USDA's Optimizing Production Inputs for Economic and Environmental Enhancement (OPE3) experimental site in Beltsville, Maryland, USA) a field campaign took place throughout the 2002 corn growth cycle from May 10th (emergence of corn crops) to October 2nd (harvest). One of the microwave instruments deployed was the multi-frequency (X-, C- and L-band) quad-polarized (HH, HV, VV, VH) NASA GSFC/George Washington University (GWU) truck mounted radar. During the field campaign, this radar system provided once a week fully polarized C- and L-band (4.75 and 1.6 GHz) backscatter measurements from incidence angle of 15, 35, and 55 degrees. In support of microwave observations, an extensive ground characterization took place, which included measurements of surface roughness, soil moisture, vegetation biomass and morphology. The field conditions during the campaign are characterized by several dry downs with a period of drought in the month of August. Peak biomass the corn canopies was reached on July 24th with a total biomass of approximately 6.5 kg/sq m. This dynamic range in both soil moisture and vegetation conditions within the data set is ideal for the validation of discrete medium vegetation scattering models. In this study, we compare the L band backscatter measurements with simulations by the Tor Vergata model (ferrazzoli and Guerriero 1996). The measured soil moisture, vegetation biomass and most reliably measured vegetation morphological parameters (e.g. number of leaves, number of stems and stem height) were used as input for the Tor Vergata model. The more uncertain model parameters (e.g. surface roughness, leaf thickness) and the stem diameter were optimized using a parameter estimation routine based on the Levenberg-Marquardt algorithm. As cost function for this optimization, the HH and VV polarized backscatter measured and stimulated by the TOR Vergata model for incidence angle of 15, 35, and 55 degrees were used (6 measurements in total). The calibrated Tor Vergata model simulations are in excellent agreement with the measurements of Root Mean Squared Differences (RMSD's) of 0.8, 0.9 and 1.4 dB for incidences of 15, 35 and 55 degrees, respectively. The results from this study that a physically based scattering model with the appropriate parameterization can accurately simulate backscatter measurements and, as such, have the potential of being used for the retrieval of biophysical variables (e.g. soil moisture and vegetation biomass)

Development of SMAP Mission Cal/Val Activities

The Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) mission is a NASA directed mission to map global land surface soil moisture and freeze-thaw state. Instrument and mission details are shown. The key SMAP soil moisture product is provided at 10 km resolution with 0.04cubic cm/cubic cm accuracy. The freeze/thaw product is provided at 3 km resolution and 80% frozen-thawed classification accuracy. The full list of SMAP data products is shown