Engineering topics

Moses, S. L.

Publications and source records attributed to Moses, S. L..

At least 19 records

NASA NTRS2004

An Infrared Telescope for Planet Detection and General Astrophysics

NASA plans to launch a Terrestrial Planet Finder (TPF) mission in 2014 to detect and characterize Earth-like planets around nearby stars, perform comparative planetology studies, and obtain general astrophysics observations. During our recently completed a TPF Mission Architecture study for NASA/JPL we developed the conceptual design for a 28-meter telescope with an IR Coronagraph that meets these mission objectives. This telescope and the technology it embodies are directly applicable to future Far-IR and Submillimeter space missions. The detection of a 30th magnitude planet located within 50 milli-arc-seconds of a 5th (Visual) magnitude star is an exceptionally challenging objective. Observations in the thermal infrared (7-17 microns) are somewhat easier since the planet is "only" 15(sup m) fainter than the star at these wavelengths, but many severe challenges must still be overcome. These challenges include: 1. Designing a coronagraph for star:planet separations less than or equal to lambda/D. 2. Developing the deployment scheme for a 28m space telescope that can fit in an existing launch vehicle payload fairing. 3. Generating configuration layouts for the IR telescope, coronagraph, spacecraft bus, sunshade, solar array, and high-gain antenna. 4. Providing: Structural stability to within 10 microns to support the optics. Thermal control to achieve the necessary structural stability, as well as providing a stable (approx. 30K) thermal environment for the optics. Dynamics isolation from potential jitter sources. 5. Minimizing launch mass to provide the maximum payload for the science mission Interfacing to an EELV Heavy launch vehicle, including acoustic and stress loads for the launch environment. 6. Identifying the key technologies (which can be developed by 2009) that will enable TPF mission to be performed. 7. Generating a manufacturing plan that will permit TPF to be developed at a reasonable cost and schedule. Many of these design challenges result in inherently conflicting requirements on the design of TPF. Drawing on our experience with large space telescopes such as the Chandra X-ray Observatory and the Next Generation Space Telescope, we have created a conceptual design for TPF that successfully meets these challenging requirements. This paper describes our solution to these challenges.

Lillie, C. F.↗

NASA NTRS1994

On the absence of plasma wave emissions and the magnetic field orientation in the distant magnetosheath

In early September, 1983 ISEE-3 made a long traversal of the distant dawnside magnetosheath starting near x = -150 R(sub E) downstream. The distant magnetosheath often contains moderately intense plasma wave emissions at frequencies from several hundred Hz to 5 kHz. However, over time scales of many days, a clear correlation exists between the occurrence of the plasma waves and the cone angle (theta(sub xB)) between the magnetic field and the plasma flow velocity (x-direction). For theta(sub xB) large (small), the plasma wave amplitudes are near background (high). Sudden (less than 1 minute) changes in the local magnetic field orientation produce correspondingly sudden changes in the wave amplitudes. Statistically, the wave amplitudes decrease continuously with increasing theta(sub xB).

Coroniti, F. V.↗

NASA NTRS1994

Space Experiments with Particle Accelerators: SEPAC

The Space Experiments with Particle Accelerators (SEPAC), which flew on the Atmospheric Laboratory for Applications and Science (ATLAS) 1 mission, used new techniques to study natural phenomena in the Earth's upper atmosphere, ionosphere and magnetosphere by introducing energetic perturbations into the system from a high power electron beam with known characteristics. Properties of auroras were studied by directing the electron beam into the upper atmosphere while making measurements of optical emissions. Studies were also performed of the critical ionization velocity phenomenon.

Burch, J. L.↗

NASA NTRS1994

On the Absence of Plasma Wave Emissions and the Magnetic Field Orientation in the Distant Magnetosheath

In early September, 1983, ISEE-3 made a long traversal of the distant dawnside magnetosheath starting near x= -150 Re downstream.

plasma↗

NASA NTRS1993

Plasma waves downstream of weak collisionless shocks

In September 1983 the International Sun Earth Explorer 3 (ISEE 3) International Cometary Explorer (ICE) spacecraft made a long traversal of the distant dawnside flank region of the Earth's magnetosphere and had many encounters with the low Mach number bow shock. These weak shocks excite plasma wave electric field turbulence with amplitudes comparable to those detected in the much stronger bow shock near the nose region. Downstream of quasi-perpendicular (quasi-parallel) shocks, the E field spectra exhibit a strong peak (plateau) at midfrequencies (1 - 3 kHz); the plateau shape is produced by a low-frequency (100 - 300 Hz) emission which is more intense behind downstream of two quasi-perpendicular shocks show that the low frequency signals are polarized parallel to the magnetic field, whereas the midfrequency emissions are unpolarized or only weakly polarized. A new high frequency (10 - 30 kHz) emission which is above the maximum Doppler shift exhibit a distinct peak at high frequencies; this peak is often blurred by the large amplitude fluctuations of the midfrequency waves. The high-frequency component is strongly polarized along the magnetic field and varies independently of the lower-frequency waves.

Coroniti, F. V.↗

NASA NTRS1993

ICE/ISEE plasma wave data analysis

This report is one of the final processing of ICE plasma wave (pw) data and analysis of late ISEE 3, ICE cometary, and ICE cruise trajectory data, where coronal mass ejections (CME's) were the first locus of attention. Interest in CME's inspired an effort to represent our pw data in a condensed spectrogram format that facilitated rapid digestion of interplanetary phenomena on long (greater than 1 day) time scales. The format serendipitously allowed us to also examine earth-orbiting data from a new perspective, invigorating older areas of investigation in Earth's immediate environment. We, therefore, continued to examine with great interest the last year of ISEE 3's precomet phase, when it spent considerable time far downwind from Earth, recording for days on end conditions upstream, downstream, and across the very weak, distant flank bow shock. Among other motivations has been the apparent similarity of some shock and post shock structures to the signatures of the bow wave surrounding comet Giacobini-Zinner, whose ICE-phase data we revisited.

Greenstadt, E. W.↗

NASA NTRS1993

The quasiperpendicular environment of large magnetic pulses in Earth's quasiparallel foreshock - ISEE 1 and 2 observations

ULF waves in Earth's foreshock cause the instantaneous angle theta-B(n) between the upstream magnetic field and the shock normal to deviate from its average value. Close to the quasi-parallel (Q-parallel) shock, the transverse components of the waves become so large that the orientation of the field to the normal becomes quasi-perpendicular (Q-perpendicular) during applicable phases of each wave cycle. Large upstream pulses of B were observed completely enclosed in excursions of Theta-B(n) into the Q-perpendicular range. A recent numerical simulation included Theta-B(n) among the parameters examined in Q-parallel runs, and described a similar coincidence as intrinsic to a stage in development of the reformation process of such shocks. Thus, the natural environment of the Q-perpendicular section of Earth's bow shock seems to include an identifiable class of enlarged magnetic pulses for which local Q-perpendicular geometry is a necessary association.

Greenstadt, E. W.↗

NASA NTRS1992

Observations of plasma waves in the solar wind interaction region of Comet Giacobini-Zinner at high time resolution

High-time-resolution spectra of plasma wave emissions detected in the interaction region of Comet Giacobini-Zinner with the solar wind reveal a wave phenomenology much more complicated than first reported. Spectra often exhibit three or more independent peaks, which become more prominent the deeper into the interaction region the spacecraft traversed. The main peaks correspond to whistler emissions below the electron cyclotron frequency, a midfrequency peak near the maximum Doppler shift frequency for waves with k lambda(D) = 1, a high-frequency peak above the Doppler shift maximum frequency, and electron plasma oscillations at the plasma frequency. Similar multipeaked spectra are also observed downstream from weak shocks at Earth, which suggests that the plasma wave generation mechanisms responsible need not require particle populations created by photoionization.

Moses, S. L.↗

NASA NTRS1992

Plasma wave observations at Neptune

Phenomena detected by the plasma wave instrument during the Voyager 2 flyby of Neptune are reviewed. Particular attention given to radio emissions, electron plasma oscillations in the solar wind upstream of the bow shock, electrostatic electron cyclotron waves and upper hybrid resonance (UHR) waves, whistler mode noise, and dust impacts. The radio emissions which occur in a broad range of about 5 to 50 kHz are considered to be generated by mode conversion from UHR waves at the magnetic equator. The inner magnetosphere has relatively low plasma wave intensities (less than 100 microV/m). Many small micron-sized dust particles which were detected striking the spacecraft had the maximum impact rate of about 280 impacts per sec at the bound ring plane crossing, and about 110 impacts per sec at the outbound ring plane crossing. Most of the particles were concentrated in a dense disk, about one thousand km thick, near the equatorial plane.

Gurnett, D. A.↗

NASA NTRS1992

Plasma wave profiles of earth's bow shock at low Mach numbers - ISEE 3 observations on the far flank

A survey of selected crossings far downstream from the subsolar shock is presented in which the overall plasma wave (PW) behavior of a selected set of nearly perpendicular crossings and another set of limited Mach number but broad geometry are delinated. The result is a generalizable PW signature, or signatures, of low Mach number shocks and some likely implications of those signatures for the weak shock's plasma physical processes on the flank. The data are found to be consistent with the presence of ion beam interactions producing noise ahead of the shock in the ion acoustic frequency range. The presence or absence, and the amplitudes, of PW activity are explainable by the presence or absence of a population of upstream ions controlled by the component of the interplanetary magnetic field normal to the solar wind flow.

Greenstadt, E. W.↗

NASA NTRS1991

Possible wave amplitudes in shocks in the solar corona - Predictions for Solar Probe

Terrestrial shock measurements are scaled to coronal parameters to demonstrate the need for improvements for the Solar Probe instrumentation. A model of coronal shock is presented to estimate corresponding shock parameters, and a comparison is made with ISEE 3 crossings to examine terrestrial bow shock and wave activity downstream. The turbulence in the magnetosheath is scaled to predict the specific range of amplitudes and frequencies of wave regions that the Solar Probe can encounter. The high velocity of the spacecraft at perihelion constrains the potential application of present instrumentation. In order to properly characterize the coronal shocks the Solar Probe requires instrumentation that can detect shock-generated Alfven waves Doppler-shifted to frequencies of a few kHz.

Moses, S. L.↗

NASA NTRS1991

Weak, quasiparallel profiles of earth's bow shock - A comparison between numerical simulations and ISEE 3 observations on the far flank

Over 200 crossings of the distant downwind flanks of earth's magnetosonic bow shock by ISEE 3 included many cases of weak, or low Mach number, quasi-parallel shocks. A consistent feature of the magnetic field profiles was the presence of large amplitude, near periodic to irregular transverse oscillations downstream from even the weakest Q-parallel shocks. Large downstream perturbations with whistler-like features similar to those of the observations appear in 1D simulations when the Alfven Mach number M(A) is greater than 2.5 but not when M(A) = 2.1. The observed cases with downstream waves also occurred when M(A) is greater than about 2.5, suggesting the importance of the Alfven as opposed to magnetosonic Mach number in determining the signature of weak, Q-parallel shocks.

Greenstadt, E. W.↗

NASA NTRS1991

A mysterious plasma wave emission and the determination of plasma densities in Neptune's inner magnetosphere

One of the strongest plasma wave signals observed during the Voyager 2 encounter with Neptune is a narrowband emission between 3.0 and 4.3 kHz that was detected over a period of roughly 2 hours around closest approach. The emission occurs below the electron cyclotron frequency and the low-frequency cutoff of the radio continuum radiation. Of the naturally occurring signals in the earth's auroral zone and in Jupiter's magnetosphere this emission most resembles trapped Z mode waves found near the left-hand cutoff frequency. Using this identification, a plasma density profile is obtained that is independent of the plasma temperature. These densities greatly exceed those measured by the plasma science instrument on Voyager but are lower than estimates based on other models of Neptunian plasma wave phenomenology. If this wave mode is not a natural emission, it might arise from an unusual interaction of the spacecraft with the cold, dense ambient plasma.

Moses, S. L.↗

NASA NTRS1990

Comparison of plasma wave measurements in the bow shocks at Earth, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune

Plasma wave measurements from the Voyager 2 crossing of Neptune's bow shock are presented and compared with measurements from the bow shocks of Earth, Jupiter, Saturn, and Uranus. The wave amplitudes above 0.01fp, when normalized to the solar wind ion thermal energy density at each planet, are significantly higher at the outer planets than at Earth. Despite the differences in amplitude, the shock spectra of all the planets can be fitted to curves of similar form in this frequency range. The total normalized electric field energy densities exhibit an exponential dependence on ion thermal Mach number, Magnetosheath wave energies are comparable at all of the planets when normalized to the downstream plasma pressure.

Moses, S. L.↗

NASA NTRS1990

Z mode radiation in Jupiter's magnetosphere - The source of Jovian continuum radiation

Observations of Z-mode waves in Jupiter's magnetosphere are analyzed. The assumption that the frequency of the intensity minimum, which isolates the signal, corresponds to the electron plasma frequency provides a consistent interpretation of all spectral features in terms of plasma resonances and cutoffs. It is shown that the continuum radiation is composed of both left-hand and right-hand polarized waves with distinct cutoffs observed at the plasma frequency and right-hand cutoff frequency, respectively. It is found that the Z-mode peak frequency lies close to the left-hand cutoff frequency, suggesting that the observed characteristics of the emission are the result of wave reflection at the cutoff layer. Another distinct emission occurring near the upper hybrid resonance frequency is detected simultaneously with the Z mode. The entire set of observations gives strong support to the linear mode theory of the conversion of upper hybrid waves to continuum radiation mediated by the Z mode via the Budden radio window mechanism.

Barbosa, D. D.↗

NASA NTRS1989

Electrostatic waves in the bow shock at Uranus

Electrostatic emissions measured by the Voyager 2 plasma wave detector (PWS) during the inbound crossing of the Uranian bow shock are shown to differ in some aspects from the waves measured during bow shock crossings at Jupiter and Saturn. The wave amplitudes in the foot of the bow shock at Uranus are in general much lower than those detected at the other outer planets due to the unusually enhanced solar wind ion temperature during the crossing. This reduces the effectiveness of wave-particle interactions in heating the incoming electrons. Strong wave emissions are observed in the shock ramp that possibly arise from currents producing a Buneman mode instability. Plasma instrument (PLS) and magnetometer (MAG) measurements reveal a complicated shock structure reminiscent of computer simulations of high-Mach number shocks when the effects of anomalous resistivity are reduced, and are consistent with high ion temperatures restricting the growth of electrostatic waves.

Moses, S. L.↗

NASA NTRS1989

Dynamics of Mars' magnetosphere

If Mars has a small intrinsic magnetic moment, Mars' magnetosphere could vary on time scales of a few minutes due to reconnection with the solar wind magnetic field. The day-side magnetopause will be one or two reflected-ion Larmor radii from the bow shock. Substorms will have scale-times of about six minutes. Mars' high ionospheric conductance will virtually stop polar cap convection, and create a magnetic 'topological crisis' unless convecting magnetic flux finds a dissipative way to return to the day-side. The strong magnetic shear induced by magnetospheric convection above the ionosphere could be tearing unstable. The magnetic field might diffusively 'percolate' through the tearing layer. This shearing also draws field aligned currents from the ionosphere which could inject few KeV heavy ionospheric ions into the magnetotail.

Kennel, C. F.↗

NASA NTRS1988

Generation, saturation, and convection of electrostatic waves in Jupiter's shock foot

In this paper, a model is developed for the analysis of the electrostatic waves produced in the shock foot at Jupiter. It is shown that an ion beam instability involving the ions reflected at the shock ramp and the incoming solar-wind electrons produces waves at the observed frequencies and that saturation via orbit diffusion limits the waves to amplitudes near to what is observed. Results from a two-dimensional model of the reflected beam in the foot indicate that the waves propagate against the solar wind away from the shock ramp and are amplified up to their saturation amplitudes. The saturation results, combined with the electron temperature profile due to wave-particle interactions predicted by quasi-linear theory, reproduce a wave amplitude profile for the shock foot that is in reasonable agreement with the observations.

Moses, S. L.↗