Engineering topics
Publications and source records attributed to Foreman, J. C..
A method of optimum orbital averaging was employed to study the long range accuracy potential of polar orbiting applications satellites. This approach involved the determination of the boundary conditions of one set of differential equations of motion by adjusting the initial conditions in a least square sense with the use of data generated by another set of differential equations of motion.
For some satellites the NASA Prediction Bulletins are the only means available to the general user for obtaining orbital information. A computational interface between the information given in the NASA Prediction Bulletins and standard orbit determination programs is provided. Such an interface is necessary to obtain accurate orbit predictions. The theoretical considerations and their computational verification in this interface modelling are presented. This analysis was performed in conjunction with satellite aided search and rescue position location experiments where accurate orbits of the Amateur Satellite Corporation (AMSAT) OSCAR-6 and OSCAR-7 spacecraft are a prerequisite.
The paper discusses the analysis of the radial and cross track errors of artificial earth satellites in terms of the interference of two one-dimensional celestial mechanical wave trains. The resulting equations for these tracking errors describe the behavior of the uncertainties in the orbital parameters as oscillatory in nature, with a rapidly oscillating term, which is a function of the sum of the observed and computed orbital frequencies, modulated in amplitude by a slowly varying oscillation. This latter term is itself a function of either the difference between these orbital frequencies or between the values of the computed and observed right ascensions, depending upon whether it is the radial or cross track case under consideration. Results indicate that the cross track calculation describes the behavior of uncertainties in the right ascension of the ascending node and the inclination, while the radial calculation gives information on uncertainties in the semi-major axis, the eccentricity, and the argument of perigee.
The three stable states of matter and the corresponding phase transitions were obtained with a single model. Patterned after Lennard-Jones and Devonshires's theory, a simple cubic lattice model containing two fcc sublattices (alpha and beta) is adopted. The interatomic potential is taken to be the Lennard-Jones (6-12) potential. Employing the cluster variation method, the Weiss and the pair approximations on the lattice gas failed to give the correct phase diagrams. Hybrid approximations were devised to describe the lattice term in the free energy. A lattice vibration term corresponding to a free volume correction is included semi-phenomenologically. The combinations of the lattice part and the free volume part yield the three states and the proper phase diagrams. To determine the coexistence regions, the equalities of the pressure and Gibbs free energy per molecule of the coexisting phases were utilized. The ordered branch of the free energy gives rise to the solid phase while the disordered branch yields the gas and liquid phases. It is observed that the triple point and the critical point quantities, the phase diagrams and the coexistence regions plotted are in good agreement with the experimental values and graphs for argon.