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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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At least 235 records · Page 13
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1982

Experimental stress analysis of a thin-walled pressurized torus loaded by contact with a plane

It is pointed out that pneumatic tires have a large effect on the overall landing characteristics of an aircraft. The dynamic response upon landing and steering are crucial to the safety of the vehicle and the occupants. The present investigation has the objective to compare experimentally determined strains on an inner tube in contact with a flat plate with numerical values obtained on the basis of a finite element prediction, taking into account an employment of the Structural Analysis of General Shells (STAGS). The obtained results suggest that the clamped boundary condition utilized in the STAGS calculation is not exactly simulated by the employed test setup.

Hill, D. E.↗
NASA NTRS1982

First evidence for a Europa plasma torus

The evidence from the Pioneer 10 plasma analyzer that plasma derived from Europa was present in the Jovian magnetosphere in December 1973 is summarized. Plasma detected between 1900 UT and 2100 UT on December 3, 1973, reveals a number of significant phenomena near the expected position of Europa's L shell. Mass addition to the magnetospheric plasma is indicated by a local increase in density apparently superimposed on the density gradient of Iogenic plasma. This increase in plasma density is unlike any phenomenon observed when the spacecraft is near a lunar L shell. The density shows fluctuations that make possible an estimate of the net outflow speed of magnetospheric ions per Jovian rotation. A radial flow speed in 1973 of 0.37 km/s from the Pioneer data is made, together with an estimate of 1 km/s in 1979 from Voyager 2 data, thus indicating a significant change.

Intriligator, D. S.↗
NASA NTRS1987

Far-infrared detection of a circumstellar dust torus around Sharpless 106

High angular resolution scans at 42 and 95 microns have been obtained of the far-infrared source associated with S106. Using maximum entropy deconvolution techniques it is found that the far-IR-emitting dust appears to be distributed in a toroidal shape around the central star.This result is similar to the morphology implied to millimeter line and continuum mapping on a variety of size scales.

Harvey, Paul M.↗
NASA NTRS1987

Sulfur in vacuum - Sublimation effects on frozen melts, and applications to Io's surface and torus

Vacuum sublimation effects on solid sulfur yield a form of the element that is white at room temperature, is fluffy in texture, and forms on frozen sulfur in vacuum through differential evaporation of molecular species in the solid. This vacuum sulfur should exist in large quantity on Io, if the solid free sulfur there has solidified from a melt; a sulfur volcanism model for Io is accordingly developed on this basis which implies that the color and spectra of different sulfur regions of Io could indicate their relative crystallization ages and cooling histories. The flux of sublimating hotspot sulfur appears consistent with estimated turnover rates of the Io surface.

Nash, Douglas B.↗
NASA NTRS1989

The physical state of the obscuring torus in Seyfert galaxies

Calculations are presented describing the ionization, chemical, and thermal state of molecular material in the obscuring tori close to the nuclei of many Seyfert galaxies. These are unusual molecular clouds: their electron fractions are about .001 and their temperatures are about 1000 K. Cooling is accomplished primarily by radiation of NIR H2 lines and FIR CO lines. High-J (C-12)(O-16) rotational lines should eventually be detectable from the nearer Seyfert galaxies. Medium-J lines due to (C-13)(O-16) and (C-12)(O-18) as well as (C-12)(O-16) should also be strong. Because ordinary molecular clouds are weak in these lines, the nuclear CO emissions can be distinguished from CO emission farther out in the host galaxy's disk.

Krolik, Julian H.↗
NASA NTRS1990

Structure and evolution of irradiated accretion disks. I - Static thermal equilibrium structure. II - Dynamical evolution of a thermally unstable torus

The thermal equilibrum structure and dynamical behavior of externally irradiated accretion disks are investigated. For radiative disks only the surface layer is heated, while for convective disks the heat penetrates deeply into the disk. For sufficiently strong radiation and given irradiation flux F(irr), the disk is completely stabilized against thermal instabilities of the sort invoked to explain dwarf novae. For moderately strong irradiation there is still an unstable branch in the thermal equilibrium curve. In typical soft X-ray transients, the disk is unstable against the dwarf-nova type instability. Fixed F(irr) on accretion disk annuli reduces the amplitude and the quiescent times and increases the outburst duration of the resultant light curves. Varying F(irr) in proportion to the mass accretion rate at the disks's inner edge results in light curves with a plateau in the decay from outbursts. In the case when irradiation is suddenly switched on, a temperature inversion results which leads to the formation of an accretion corona.

Tuchman, Y.↗
NASA NTRS1991

Micrometeorite erosion of the man rings as a source of plasma in the inner Saturnian plasma torus

Micrometeorite bombardment is presently suggested to be a source of water molecules and molecular ions in the region between the outer edge of the main rings of Saturn and Encedalus, adding to those neutrals and plasma that are generated by the sputtering of icy satellites. In view of uncertainties concerning the magnitude and distribution of the ring source, an examination is conducted of limiting cases. The implications of such cases for the Cassini division are calculated, and a discussion of their possible relevance to the region's neutral and plasma cloud is presented.

Pospieszalska, M. K.↗
NASA NTRS1993

Excitation of positive ions by low-energy electrons - Relevance to the Io Torus

The importance of measuring electron-ion excitation cross sections in singly and multiply charged positive ions is outlined, and recent results for Mg II and O II ions are given using the JPL's electron energy-loss merged-beams apparatus. Theoretical comparisons are given with two five-state close-coupling calculations. The energy variation of the collision strength is fitted with a semiempirical analytic function which includes approximations to polarization, resonance, and exchange contributions. In O II, first spectra anywhere of electron excitation of the optically allowed transitions are presented. In addition, excitations of two low lying, optically forbidden transitions are detected for the first time.

Smith, Steven J.↗
NASA NTRS1993

Origin and maintenance of the oxygen torus in Saturn's magnetosphere

Observations of thermal ions in Saturn's inner magnetosphere suggest distributed local sources rather than diffusive mass loading from a source located further out. We suggest that the plasma is produced and maintained mainly by 'self-sputtering' of E ring dust. Sputtered particles are 'picked up' by the planetary magnetospheric field and accelerated to corotation energies (of the order of 8 eV/amu). The sputter yield for oxygen on ice at, for example, 120 eV is about 5, which implies that an avalanche of self-sputtering occurs. The plasma density is built up until it is balanced by local losses, presumably pitch angle scattering into the loss cone and absorption in the planet's ionosphere. The plasma density determines the distribution of dust in the E ring through plasma drag. Thus a feedback mechanism between the plasma and the E ring dust is established. The model accounts for the principal plasma observations and simultaneously the radial optical depth profile of the E ring.

Morfill, G. E.↗
NASA NTRS1994

Unstructured grids on SIMD torus machines

Unstructured grids lead to unstructured communication on distributed memory parallel computers, a problem that has been considered difficult. Here, we consider adaptive, offline communication routing for a SIMD processor grid. Our approach is empirical. We use large data sets drawn from supercomputing applications instead of an analytic model of communication load. The chief contribution of this paper is an experimental demonstration of the effectiveness of certain routing heuristics. Our routing algorithm is adaptive, nonminimal, and is generally designed to exploit locality. We have a parallel implementation of the router, and we report on its performance.

Bjorstad, Petter E.↗
NASA NTRS1994

Infrared spectroscopy of Seyfert 2 galaxies: A look through the obscuring Torus?

We present both high-resolution (R = 1260) and low-resolution (R = 345 and 425) J-band spectra of a sample of 15 Seyfert 2 galaxies. Our goal is to look for broad Pa beta lines, indicating broad-line regions which are hidden by dust from our view at optical wavelengths. Of the 15 objects studied here, three have broad Pa beta lines: MCG-05.23.16, Mrk 463E, and NGC 2992. Mrk 176 and NGC 5728 may also have weak broad lines. In NGC 5506, previously reported to have broad Pa beta and hydrogen alpha lines, we find that the Pa beta line profile is continuous and has the same shape as the nearby line (Fe II) lambda 1.2567, which should not have a broad component. We interpret these observations as gas from the narrow-line region (NLR) with no broad component. In NGC 5506, however, the NLR profiles become broader with increasing wavelength, indicating that highly reddened wings are becoming more readily visible at the longer wavelengths. We confirm the correlation of (O I) lambda 6300/hydrogen alpha and (Fe II) lambda 1.644/Br gamma (the latter transformed to (Fe II) lambda 1.2567/Pa beta to compare with our data) found by previous authors when comparing active galactic nuclei (AGNs), supernova remnants, starbursts, and H II regions. The correlation confirms that in all of these objects both (O I) lambda 6300 and the (Fe II) lines come from partially ionized regions in which hydrogen is mostly neutral. Comparison of the infrared optical depths with column depths determined from X-ray data show a general tendency for the objects with detected broad Pa beta to have lower X-ray columns.

Goodrich, Robert W.↗
NASA NTRS1997

IUE's View of Callisto: Detection of an SO2 Absorption Correlated to Possible Torus Neutral Wind Alterations

Observations taken with the International Ultraviolet Explorer (IUE) detected a 0.28 micron absorption feature on Callisto's leading and Jupiter-facing hemispheres. This feature is similar to Europa's 0.28 micron feature, however it shows no correlation with magnetospheric ion bombardment. The strongest 0.28 micron signature is seen in the region containing the Valhalla impact. This absorption feature also shows some spatial correlation to possible neutral wind interactions, suggestive of S implantation (rather than S(sub x)) into Callisto's water ice surface, Indications of possible temporal variations (on the 10% level) are seen at other wavelengths between the 1984-1986 and the 1996 observations.

Lane, Arthur L.↗
NASA NTRS2010

Jovian Plasma Torus Interaction with Europa: 3D Hybrid Kinetic Simulation. First results

The hybrid kinetic model supports comprehensive simulation of the interaction between different spatial and energetic elements of the Europa-moon-magnetosphere system with respect to variable upstream magnetic field and flux or density distributions of plasma and energetic ions, electrons, and neutral atoms. This capability is critical for improving the interpretation of the existing Europa flyby measurements from the Galileo orbiter mission, and for planning flyby and orbital measurements, (including the surface and atmospheric compositions) for future missions. The simulations are based on recent models of the atmosphere of Europa (Cassidy etal.,2007;Shematovichetal.,2005). In contrast to previous approaches with MHD simulations, the hybrid model allows us to fully take into account the finite gyro radius effect and electron pressure, and to correctly estimate the ion velocity distribution and the fluxes along the magnetic field (assuming an initial Maxwellian velocity distribution for upstream background ions).Non-thermal distributions of upstream plasma will be addressed in future work. Photoionization,electron-impact ionization, charge exchange and collisions between the ions and neutrals are also included in our model. We consider two models for background plasma:(a) with O(++) ions; (b) with O(++) and S(++) ions. The majority of O2 atmosphere is thermal with an extended cold population (Cassidyetal.,2007). A few first simulations already include an induced magnetic dipole; however, several important effects of induced magnetic fields arising from oceanic shell conductivity will be addressed in later work.

Lipatov, A. S.↗
NASA NTRS2013

Jovian Plasmas Torus Interaction with Europa. Plasma Wake Structure and Effect of Inductive Magnetic Field: 3D Hybrid Kinetic Simulation

The hybrid kinetic model supports comprehensive simulation of the interaction between different spatial and energetic elements of the Europa moon-magnetosphere system with respect to a variable upstream magnetic field and flux or density distributions of plasma and energetic ions, electrons, and neutral atoms. This capability is critical for improving the interpretation of the existing Europa flyby measurements from the Galileo Orbiter mission, and for planning flyby and orbital measurements (including the surface and atmospheric compositions) for future missions. The simulations are based on recent models of the atmosphere of Europa (Cassidy et al., 2007; Shematovich et al., 2005). In contrast to previous approaches with MHD simulations, the hybrid model allows us to fully take into account the finite gyroradius effect and electron pressure, and to correctly estimate the ion velocity distribution and the fluxes along the magnetic field (assuming an initial Maxwellian velocity distribution for upstream background ions). Photoionization, electron-impact ionization, charge exchange and collisions between the ions and neutrals are also included in our model. We consider the models with Oþ þ and Sþ þ background plasma, and various betas for background ions and electrons, and pickup electrons. The majority of O2 atmosphere is thermal with an extended non-thermal population (Cassidy et al., 2007). In this paper, we discuss two tasks: (1) the plasma wake structure dependence on the parameters of the upstream plasma and Europa's atmosphere (model I, cases (a) and (b) with a homogeneous Jovian magnetosphere field, an inductive magnetic dipole and high oceanic shell conductivity); and (2) estimation of the possible effect of an induced magnetic field arising from oceanic shell conductivity. This effect was estimated based on the difference between the observed and modeled magnetic fields (model II, case (c) with an inhomogeneous Jovian magnetosphere field, an inductive magnetic dipole and low oceanic shell conductivity).

Jovian magnetosphere↗