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OMI/Aura Level 1B VIS Zoom-in Geolocated Earthshine Radiances 1-orbit L2 Swath 13x12 km V003
nasa-test-0.demo.socrata.com | Last Updated 2015-07-20T04:54:21.000ZThe Level-1B (L1B) Radiance Product OML1BRVZ (Version-3) from the Aura-OMI is now available (http://disc.gsfc.nasa.gov/Aura/OMI/oml1brvz_v003.shtml) to public from the NASA GSFC Earth Sciences Data and Information Services Center (GES DISC). OMI calibrated and geolocated radiances for the channels in the UV1 (264-311 nm), UV2 (307-383 nm)and VIS(349-504) regions, spectral irradiances, calibration measurements, and all derived geophysical atmospheric products are archived at the NASA Goddard DAAC. (The shortname for this OMI Level-1B Product is OML1BRVZ) The lead algorithm scientist for this product is Dr. Marcel Dobber from the KNMI. The OMI Level 1B Visible Radiance Zoom-in Product OML1BRVZ contains geolocated Earth view spectral radiances from the VIS channel detectors in the wavelength range of 349 to 504 nm. The product contains the measurements that are taken once a month using the spatial zoom-in measurement modes (30 pixels covering 750 km swath width). In spatial zoom in mode the nadir ground pixel size is 13 x 12 km2 and measurements are available only for the wavelengths 306 to 432 nm. OML1BRVZ files are stored in EOS Hierarchical Data Format (HDF-EOS 2.4) which is based on HDF4. The radiance for the earth measurements (also referred as signal) and its precision are stored as a 16 bit mantissa and an 8-bit exponent. The signal can be computed using the equation: signal = signal_mantissa x 10 exponent . For the precision, the same exponent is used as for the signal. Each file contains data from the day lit portion of an orbit (~53 minutes) and is roughly 570 MB in size. There are approximately 14 orbits per day.
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Planning for Planetary Science Mission Including Resource Prospecting Project
nasa-test-0.demo.socrata.com | Last Updated 2015-07-20T05:33:43.000ZAdvances in computer-aided mission planning can enhance mission operations and science return for surface missions to Mars, the Moon, and beyond. While the innovations envisioned by this program are broadly applicable, they serve an immediate and urgent need for missions to prospect for volatiles at the lunar poles (i.e., the NASA Lunar Resource Prospector Mission, currently in Phase A). These missions must be rapid and precise, covering multiple kilometers in approximately 10-12 Earth days to complete mission objectives in one lunar light cycle. This calls for the ability to drive intentionally and efficiently to precise drilling destinations. Polar operations encounter low angle lighting; this creates shadows which confront robot operations with challenges in power production, thermal control, and operator situational awareness. This demands robust path planning for efficient mission planning and execution. The proposed work develops a computer-aided mission planning tool that balances the competing demands of efficient routes, scientific information gain, and rover constraints (e.g., kinematics, communication, power, thermal, and terrainability) to generate and analyze optimized routes between sequences of locations. Planner-computed statistics about the set of viable paths enable mission planners, scientists, and operators to efficiently select routes considering a range of priorities including risk, duration, and science return. This planner will serve an invaluable role in preplanning missions and as a tool for rapidly understanding the impact of changes in mission profile during the mission execution.
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Low Noise Millimeter Wave LNA Project
nasa-test-0.demo.socrata.com | Last Updated 2015-07-20T05:24:11.000ZThe Phase I effort will result in a low noise MMIC G-Band amplifier the covers the entire 165 to 193GHz frequency range. The amplifier will be designed using a 50nm MHEMT that has already been developed by BAE Systems that enables the state-of-the-art performance to be achieved. The innovative amplifier design will have a gain of 20dB, a noise figure of less than 6dB(~4dB, an input output VSWR of less than 2:1. In addition, the MHEMT has the added advantage of having lower noise power stability and 1/f noise than InP devices. A balanced amplifier is the primary approach while a single ended unit will be investigated for missions that require reduced bandwidths. The MMIC amplifier will be designed to be inserted into a waveguide housing for additional and environmental testing in a Phase II program. At completion of the Phase II program, the amplifier will be capable of being space qualified for NASA missions.
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Including the effects of a harsh radiation environment in the simulation and design of nanoelectronic devices and circuits Project
nasa-test-0.demo.socrata.com | Last Updated 2015-07-20T05:31:59.000ZNanoelectronic devices, and circuits based on such devices, are expected to be more susceptible to the effects of radiation than the previous generation of devices and circuits. Circuits that can operate in harsh radiation environments are essential components of commercial satellite communications systems, space exploration vehicles, and national defense systems. Hence there is a critical need to understand and quantify the effects of radiation on the present and next generation of nanoelectronic circuits, and to develop methods to render such circuits insensitive to radiation. In this project we intend to identify and characterize (as a function of device dimension if possible) the deleterious effects of radiation on nanoscale devices. More importantly, we intend to build on the standard models, which describe the effects of radiation, and develop software that would enable the modeling and simulation of radiation effects. First we will consider conventional nanoelectronic devices --- that is those where charge transport is based on the usual principles of drift and diffusion. Then a tool for the effects of radiation on single electron transistors and amplifiers (including those based on carbon nanotubes) would also be developed. Using the software, methods to mitigate the effects of radiation by rad-hard designs will be examined.
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Wide Temperature Range DC-DC Boost Converters for Command/Control/Drive Electronics Project
nasa-test-0.demo.socrata.com | Last Updated 2015-07-20T05:23:03.000ZWe shall develop wide temperature range DC-DC boost converters that can be fabricated using commercial CMOS foundries. The boost converters will increase the low voltage supply (~ 0.7 to 3V) of an advanced CMOS integrated circuit to the higher values (3-10V) required for integrated command/control/drive electronics for sensors, actuators and instrumentation. The high voltage capability is a result of our patented, CMOS compatible transistor technology that is radiation tolerant (TID>1 MRad), SEL immune and capable of wide temperature range operation (-196C to +150C). This new transistor technology has been demonstrated at multiple foundries and advanced device models are available for circuit design and simulation. The DC-DC boost converters will be integrated directly with the CMOS components to provide a single chip solution, greatly reducing the number of active and passive components that would otherwise be required. By allowing enhanced voltage operation in future CMOS technology nodes we will be avoiding many of the obsolescence problems facing NASA missions that are dependent upon commercial electronics. The circuits will be designed to operate in low temperature environments that experience wide temperature swings such as those found on the moon, Mars, Titan, Europa and comets.
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Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) Hazardous Waste Site Polygon Data, 1996
nasa-test-0.demo.socrata.com | Last Updated 2015-07-19T07:26:48.000ZThe Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) Hazardous Waste Site Polygon Data, 1996 consists of 2042 polygons for selected hazardous waste sites that were compiled in January 1996. The Hazardous Waste Site ATSDR layer was created by linking HAZ_SITES_ATSDR_BASE with additional data. Most polygons represent sites considered for cleanup under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA or Superfund). Typical sites are either on the EPA National Priorities List (NPL) or are being considered for inclusion on the NPL. This dataset is distributed by the Columbia University Center for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN). (Suggested Usage: To provide a polygon dataset of hazardous waste sites in the United States, which can be used to identify nearby populations and assess their potential risk)
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Modular, Fault-Tolerant Electronics Supporting Space Exploration Project
nasa-test-0.demo.socrata.com | Last Updated 2015-07-20T05:26:45.000ZModern electronic systems tolerate only as many point failures as there are redundant system copies, using mere macro-scale redundancy. Fault Tolerant Electronics Supporting Space Exploration (FTESSE) creates an electronic design paradigm using reprogrammable FPGAs to create swappable Circuit Object Blocks (COBs) ? analogous to software objects ? for the first time enabling redundancy on a micro-scale. The result is an increased tolerance of point failures by several orders of magnitude over traditional approaches. In the FTESSE approach, FPGAs are partitioned into COBs (groups of gates), each performing a specific function. Bad areas can be mapped like the bad sector data on a disk drive, enabling COBs to be placed in areas of working gates to recover system performance. Hardware tested during Phase I verified point failures could be introduced into an example circuit and corrected. As in the Phase I model, circuits to be monitored reside on a Slave FPGA, and a Master FPGA monitors outputs of all COBs, sensing faults and mapping non-working gates on the Slave FPGA. The Master is a rad-hard, triple mode redundancy (TMR) FPGA, but the Slaves need not be, opening the doors to higher performance applications while maintaining high levels of fault tolerance.
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Electronics Modeling and Design for Cryogenic and Radiation Hard Applications Project
nasa-test-0.demo.socrata.com | Last Updated 2015-07-20T05:16:28.000ZWe are developing CAD tools, models and methodologies for electronics design for circuit operation in extreme environments with a focus on very low temperature and radiation effects. These new tools will help enable NASA to design next generation electronics especially for planetary projects including the Europa Jupiter System Mission. The new models and tools will be directly incorporated into industry standard CAD products to ensure their usability and extend their applicability to extreme environments. Such capabilities will significantly improve reliability, performance and lifetime of electronics that are used for space missions. This will be achieved through the development of novel compact and distributed device modeling capabilities for radiation-hard and extreme temperature instrument design, as well as techniques for circuit design that help to predict the vulnerability of circuits to degradation and upset from radiation. Research and development is indicating that standard bulk silicon CMOS and SOI processes operate well under these extreme conditions so that there is little need for NASA to commit to large expenditures for exotic materials. Models and CAD tools are relatively inexpensive as compared to fabrication costs; thus the results of this project should provide a very large return on investment.
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Photonic antenna enhanced middle wave and longwave infrared focal plane array with low noise and high operating temperature Project
nasa-test-0.demo.socrata.com | Last Updated 2015-07-20T05:33:59.000ZPhotodetectors and focal plane arrays (FPAs) covering the middle-wave and longwave infrared (MWIR/LWIR) are of great importance in numerous NASA applications, including earth remote sensing for carbon-based trace gases, Lidar mapping for earth resource locating, and environment and atmosphere monitoring. Existing MWIR/LWIR photodetectors have a low operating temperature of below 77K. The requirement for cryogenic cooling systems adds cost, weight and reliability issues, making it unsuitable for satellite remote sensing applications. This STTR project aims to develop a new plasmonic photonic antenna coupled MWIR/LWIR photodetector and FPA with significantly enhanced performance and a high operating temperature. In Phase I, we developed a preliminary plasmonic photonic antenna enhanced MWIR/LWIR photodetector and demonstrated significant enhancement in photodetectivity and operating temperature. Antenna directivity is also tested and agrees with the simulation. The phase I results not only demonstrated the feasibility of achieving high performance MWIR/LWIR photodetector using the proposed innovation, but also show its promising potentials for high operating temperature FPA development. Motivated by the successful feasibility demonstration and the promising potentials, in this STTR Phase II project, we will develop a prototype of the plasmonic photonic antenna enhanced MWIR/LWIR FPA with a high operating temperature and demonstrate its earth remote sensing capability.
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Low Cost Variable Conductance Heat Pipe for Balloon Payload Project
nasa-test-0.demo.socrata.com | Last Updated 2015-07-20T05:08:14.000ZWhile continuously increasing in complexity, the payloads of terrestrial high altitude balloons need a thermal management system to reject their waste heat and to maintain a stable temperature as the air (sink) temperature swings from as cold as -90<SUP>o</SUP>C to as hot as +40<SUP>o</SUP>C. Currently, constant conductance, copper-methanol heat pipes are utilized on balloon payloads to remove the waste heat. It would be desirable to use a Variable Conductance Heat Pipe (VCHP) instead, to allow the thermal resistance to increase under cold operating or cold survival environment conditions, keeping the instrument section warm. In spacecraft, thermal management is achieved using axially-grooved aluminum-ammonia heat pipes and VCHPs, which are relatively expensive to manufacture and validate. Advanced Cooling Technologies, Inc. (ACT) is proposing a low-cost VCHP based on smooth-bore, thin-wall stainless steel tubing, with either methanol or pentane as working fluids, that is capable of passively maintaining a relatively constant evaporator (payload) temperature while the sink temperature varies between -90<SUP>o</SUP>C and +40<SUP>o</SUP>C. The thin wall will be much lighter and will provide much better temperature control due to its higher thermal resistance, while the combination of working fluid and envelope material result in a heat pipe that is much less expensive to manufacture than standard grooved aluminum heat pipes. Spacecraft VCHPs normally have the gas reservoir at the end of the condenser, and maintain its temperature with electrical heaters. The proposed VCHP moves the reservoir near the evaporator, eliminating the need for electrical power to control the temperature. Preliminary calculations show that either system, methanol based or pentane based, is capable of meeting the thermal performance requirements. For both the pentane and methanol systems, the evaporator (payload) temperature varies less than 6<SUP>o</SUP>C while the heat sink temperature varies from 90<SUP>o</SUP>C to +40<SUP>o</SUP>C.