Engineering topics
Publications and source records attributed to Shapiro, R..
Titan's atmosphere produces a wealth of organic products from methane and nitrogen. These products, deposited on the surface in liquid and solid form, may interact with surface ices and energy sources to produce compounds of exobiological interest. Additional information is contained in the original extended abstract.
Saturn's largest moon Titan has a cold, very dense nitrogen atmosphere rich in methane and the hydrocarbon and nitride products of methane photolysis. Sources of energy for atmospheric chemistry include solar ultraviolet radiation, Saturn magnetospheric particles, and galactic cosmic rays. The chemistry of Titan's atmosphere, while interesting from the point of view of planetary photochemistry, is largely free radical driven and therefore not particularly suited to the synthesis of polymeric biomolecules or even their precursors. However, the nature of Titan's atmosphere, in particular its redox state (hydrogen escapes rapidly and is under abundant compared to in the giant planets), and the presence of a variegated surface make consideration of surface chemistry on Titan interesting from an astrobiological viewpoint. Additional information is contained in the original extended abstract.
Originally conceived to be the future operational weather satellite, the Nimbus series of seven satellites became the work horse and experimental backbone of the NASA/NOAA space research program. Early problems in developing the attitude control system and proving its operational characteristics in the simulated space environment are discussed. The program proved itself many times over; contributing substantially to the scientific knowledge of atmospherics and weather. As application/research vehicles, the seven Nimbus spacecraft were used for the development, test and application of a variety of new and advanced meteorological and geophysical remote sensing instruments and associated data transmission and processing techniques.
In surveying the Nimbus series, attention is given to the early problems encountered in developing the Attitude Control System and in proving its operational characteristics in a simulated space environment. A table summarizing the experiments carried out with Nimbus satellites is included. Data from the Nimbus satellites are being used in oceanography, hydrology, geology, geomorphology, geography, cartography, agriculture, and meteorology.
Statistical evidence is presented that strongly suggests the existence of a real relationship between solar geomagnetic disturbance and the subsequent behavior of the 700-mbar contour height difference between 20 and 55 deg N. No acceptable physical mechanisms are as yet available to explain the observations.
The Northern Hemisphere 700 mb contour heights from 20 N to 70 N for the period 1947-1970 are studied in conjunction with 272 key days, where the daily increase of the Ci index equals or exceeds 1.0. The superposed epoch method is applied from 33 days before to 66 days after the key day for a variety of zonal and meridional indices. It is shown that the 700 mb height difference between 20 N and 55 N increases significantly in winter 4 days following geomagnetic disturbance (in summer a less prominent but statistically significant increase is found 2 days earlier). The effect is most clear in winter in the quadrant 90-175 W and corresponds to a 7% increase in the mean geostrophic westerly flow. The statistical significance of the results is established by applying Student's t-test to the difference of each daily mean from the continuum.
Power spectra and cross spectra of surface pressure variations in polar regions compared to solar emission, noting Antarctic-Arctic relationship
Tropospheric periodic responses to chromospheric flares, analyzing stations atmospheric pressure power spectra
Long range nutritional potential of chemically defined liquid diet for squirrel monkeys
Nimbus 2 flight evaluation and engineering report covering launch through orbit 5275
Metabolism data from chemically defined low residue diet for small primates
Nimbus satellite - advanced vidicon camera subsystem - cloud pictures