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NASA NTRS1996

Visualization of High Latitude Ion Upflow in Support of the Image Mission

The study of the magnetosphere is a 400 year old science that began with the publication by Gilbert, in 1600, of his hypotheses that the Earth was a giant magnet. Since then we have learned many things about the magnetosphere, particularly in the last 40 years of the space age, but we still have many unanswered questions. In spite of the many thousands of observations of this system we still lack a global understanding of how it works. This is due to its large size and tenuous nature that mean that any measurement made of the fields or particles involved only give one a knowledge of the local conditions at a given time. To gain a global perspective through such observations would require the simultaneous operation of thousands of satellites spread throughout the magnetospheric system in addition to observations made on the ground. Such a program would be impractical at least from financial considerations. What is needed for the advancement of magnetospheric physics is to develop the same capabilities that astrophysicists, solar physicists and meteorologists have been using for years --- the ability to stand back from the object under study and see it in its entirety. The challenge for doing this for the magnetosphere is that the particle densities are very low and the material is, for the most part, not luminous. In the last 25 years several ideas have been proposed that would allow at least the imaging of certain portions of the magnetosphere. These include imaging of the plasmasphere through the resonant scattering of solar 304 A from He+ ions, imaging of various hot plasma populations (i.e. the ring current, plasmasheet, upflowing ionospheric ions, etc.) from the neutral atoms that result when ions of these populations charge exchange with the hydrogen geocorona, and imaging the aurora at various wavelengths in the far ultraviolet. In addition, a novel technique for probing various boundaries in the magnetosphere by bouncing low frequency radio waves off of them has been extensively studied. Such a technique is analogous to the way the under water world can be probed with sonar. About five years ago NASA convened a science working group to study the possibility of flying a magnetospheric imaging mission. This resulted in a number of proposals for such a mission, one of which was selected to be the first MIDEX mission, to be launched in early 2000. The mission is called IMAGE (Imager for Magnetopause to Aurora Global Exploration) and its P.I. is J. Burch at SwRI. The IMAGE spacecraft will carry imagers to view the plasmasphere, aurora, ring current, inner plasmasheet, and upflowing ionospheric ions as well as a radio sounder to probe the location, shape and dynamics of the magnetopause, plasmapause, etc. Between its selection last April and the non advocacy mission review, which takes place next spring, the IMAGE teams needs to further refine the design of the mission and its instruments. The theory and modeling (T&M) subgroup of this team has the task of demonstrating what kind of images the instruments on IMAGE will see as well as showing that useful scientific information can be extracted from such images. As a central element to the efforts of the T&M subgroup we have decided to simulate and create synthetic images for the magnetic cloud event of October, 1995. In this event a large cloud, with high plasma densities and strong magnetic fields, ejected from the sun collided with the earth's magnetosphere triggering a three day period of intense magnetic storms and substorms. This event was observed from a number of different spacecraft and on the ground so we have a good data set to work with. In our work we will place the IMAGE spacecraft in the magnetosphere on its proposed orbit, with its proposed instruments, to see what it would see had it been there. Existing models of the plasmasphere, ring current and magnetopause will be run for this event to give the structures for the imaging instruments. There are several models which are lacking and which need to be developed. These include a model for the cusp, the inner plasmasheet and the upflowing ions. My task this summer was to develop the upflowing ion model and use it to create synthetic images.

Wilson, Gordon R.↗

NASA NTRS1997

The Identification of Two Different Spectral Types of Pulses in Gamma-Ray Bursts

It is shown in this study that two different types of spectral emission are generally produced in gamma-ray bursts. A subset of bursts is identified that exhibits a marked lack of fluence above 300 keV, and these bursts are shown to have luminosities about an order of magnitude lower than bursts with significant fluence above 300 keV. The bursts lacking emission above 300 keV exhibit an effectively homogeneous intensity distribution. In addition, it is shown that both types of emission are common in many bursts, demonstrating that a single source object is capable of generating both of them. These results strongly favor a gamma-ray burst source object that produces two different types of emission with varying degrees of superposition. The impact of this behavior is strong enough that it affects the properties of the burst intensity distribution, as well as the burst spectral characteristics.

Pendleton, G. N.↗

NASA NTRS1997

The Identification of Two Different Spectral Types of Pulses in Gamma-Ray Bursts

Pendleton, G. N.↗

NASA NTRS1998

Mid-Latitude versus Polar-Latitude Transitional Impact Craters: Geometric Properties from Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter (MOLA) Observations and Viking Images

One intriguing aspect of martian impact crater morphology is the change of crater cavity and ejecta characteristics from the mid-latitudes to the polar regions. This is thought to reflect differences in target properties such as an increasing presence of ice in the polar regions. Previous image-based efforts concerning martian crater morphology has documented some aspects of this, but has been hampered by the lack of adequate topography data. Recent Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter (MOLA) topographic profiles provide a quantitative perspective for interpreting the detailed morphologies of martian crater cavities and ejecta morphology. This study is a preliminary effort to quantify the latitude-dependent differences in morphology with the goal of identifying target-dependent and crater modification effects from the combined of images and MOLA topography. We combine the available MOLA profiles and the corresponding Viking Mars Digital Image Mosaics (MDIMS), and high resolution Viking Orbiter images to focus on two transitional craters; one on the mid-latitudes, and one in the North Polar region. One MOLA pass (MGS Orbit 34) traverses the center of a 15.9 km diameter fresh complex crater located at 12.8degN 83.8degE on the Hesperian ridge plains unit (Hvr). Viking images, as well as MOLA data, show that this crater has well developed wall terraces and a central peak with 429 m of relative relief. Three MOLA passes have been acquired for a second impact crater, which is located at 69.5degN 41degE on the Vastitas Borealis Formation. This fresh rampart crater lacks terraces and central peak structures and it has a depth af 579 m. Correlation between images and MOLA topographic profiles allows us to construct basic facies maps of the craters. Eight main units were identified, four of which are common on both craters.

Matias, A.↗

NASA NTRS1999

Life of Pennzane and 815Z-Lubricated Instrument Bearings Cleaned with Non-CFC Solvents

This report takes the form of two papers: (1) "Life of Pennzane and 815Z-Lubricated Instrument Bearings cleaned with Non-CFC Solvents" and (2) a published paper, entitled "Instrument bearing life with NON-CFC cleaners". Abstract for paper # 1 : Bearings used in spacecraft mechanisms have historically been cleaned with chlorofluorocarbon CFC-1 13 (Freon) solvents and lubricated with a perfluorinated polyalkylether (PFPE) oils like 815-Z. Little full-scale bearing life test data exists to evaluate the effects of the newer class environmental-friendly bearing cleaners or improved synthetic hydrocarbon space oils like Pennzane. To address the lack of data, a cooperative, bearing life test program was initiated between NASA, Lockheed Martin and MPB. The objective was to obtain comparative long-term, life test data for flight-quality bearings, cleaned with non-CFC solvents versus CFC-1 13 under flight-like conditions with two space oils. A goal was to gain a better understanding of the lubricant surface chemistry effects with such solvents. A second objective was to obtain well-controlled, full-scale bearing life test data with a relatively new synthetic oil (Pennzane), touted as an improvement to Bray 815Z, an oil with considerable space flight history. The second paper, which serves as an attachment, is abstracted below: Bearings used in spacecraft mechanisms have historically been cleaned with chlorofluorocarbon CFC-113 (Freon) solvents and lubricated with a perfluorinated polyalkylether (PFPE) oils like 815-Z. Little full-scale bearing life test data exists to evaluate the effects of the newer class environmental-friendly bearing cleaners or improved synthetic hydrocarbon space oils like Pennzane. To address the lack of data, a cooperative, bearing life test program was initiated between NASA, Lockheed Martin and MPB. The objective was to obtain comparative long-term, life test data for flight-quality bearings, cleaned with non-CFC solvents versus CFC-1 13 under flight-like conditions with two space oils. A goal was to gain a better understanding of the lubricant surface chemistry effects with such solvents. A second objective was to obtain well-controlled, full-scale bearing life test data with a relatively new synthetic oil (Pennzane), touted as an improvement to Bray 815Z, an oil with considerable space flight history.

Loewenthal, Stuart↗

NASA NTRS1999

A Design Heritage-Based Forecasting Methodology for Risk Informed Management of Advanced Systems

The development of next generation systems often carries with it the promise of improved performance, greater reliability, and reduced operational costs. These expectations arise from the use of novel designs, new materials, advanced integration and production technologies intended for functionality replacing the previous generation. However, the novelty of these nascent technologies is accompanied by lack of operational experience and, in many cases, no actual testing as well. Therefore some of the enthusiasm surrounding most new technologies may be due to inflated aspirations from lack of knowledge rather than actual future expectations. This paper proposes a design heritage approach for improved reliability forecasting of advanced system components. The basis of the design heritage approach is to relate advanced system components to similar designs currently in operation. The demonstrated performance of these components could then be used to forecast the expected performance and reliability of comparable advanced technology components. In this approach the greater the divergence of the advanced component designs from the current systems the higher the uncertainty that accompanies the associated failure estimates. Designers of advanced systems are faced with many difficult decisions. One of the most common and more difficult types of these decisions are those related to the choice between design alternatives. In the past decision-makers have found these decisions to be extremely difficult to make because they often involve the trade-off between a known performing fielded design and a promising paper design. When it comes to expected reliability performance the paper design always looks better because it is on paper and it addresses all the know failure modes of the fielded design. On the other hand there is a long, and sometimes very difficult road, between the promise of a paper design and its fulfillment; with the possibility that sometimes the reliability promise is not fulfilled at all. Decision makers in advanced technology areas have always known to discount the performance claims of a design to a degree in proportion to its stage of development, and at times have preferred the more mature design over the one of lesser maturity even with the latter promising substantially better performance once fielded. As with the broader measures of performance this has also been true for projected reliability performance. Paper estimates of potential advances in design reliability are to a degree uncertain in proportion to the maturity of the features being proposed to secure those advances. This is especially true when performance-enhancing features in other areas are also planned to be part of the development program.

Maggio, Gaspare↗

NASA NTRS1997

The Identification of Two Different Spectral Types of Pulses in Gamma-Ray Bursts

It is shown in this study that two different types of spectral emission are generally produced in gamma-ray bursts. A subset of bursts is identified that exhibits a marked lack of fluence above 300 keV, and these bursts are shown to have luminosities about an order of magnitude lower than bursts with significant fluence above 300 keV. The bursts lacking emission above 300 keV exhibit an effectively homogeneous intensity distribution. In addition it is shown that both types of emission are common in many bursts, demonstrating that a single source object is capable of generating both of them. These results strongly favor a gamma-ray burst source object that produces two different types of emission with varying degrees of superposition. The impact of this behavior is strong enough that it is affecting the properties of the burst intensity distribution, as well as the burst spectral characteristics.

Pendleton, G. N.↗

NASA NTRS1999

Contamination Effects on EUV Optics

During ground-based assembly and upon exposure to the space environment, optical surfaces accumulate both particles and molecular condensibles, inevitably resulting in degradation of optical instrument performance. Currently, this performance degradation (and the resulting end-of-life instrument performance) cannot be predicted with sufficient accuracy using existing software tools. Optical design codes exist to calculate instrument performance, but these codes generally assume uncontaminated optical surfaces. Contamination models exist which predict approximate end-of-life contamination levels, but the optical effects of these contamination levels can not be quantified without detailed information about the optical constants and scattering properties of the contaminant. The problem is particularly pronounced in the extreme ultraviolet (EUV, 300-1,200 A) and far (FUV, 1,200-2,000 A) regimes due to a lack of data and a lack of knowledge of the detailed physical and chemical processes involved. Yet it is in precisely these wavelength regimes that accurate predictions are most important, because EUV/FUV instruments are extremely sensitive to contamination.

Tveekrem, J.↗

NASA NTRS1999

Icehouse Effect: A Polar Autumn and Winter Cooling Trend

The icehouse effect is a hypothesized polar climate trend toward cooling (or lack of warming) in response to greenhouse warming of adjacent lower latitudes. When greenhouse warmed air from lower latitudes moves over ice and snow, it generates a stronger, more stable, cappino, inversion than in a parallel case without greenhouse warming. Because the degree of decoupling between vertically adjacent air masses is directly dependent on the strength of the inversion, the capping inversion acts somewhat analogously to the walls and roof of the icehouse of generations past. What is inside the icehouse, namely the cold polar atmospheric boundary layer (ABL) air, is preserved by the "insulation" or decoupling, provided by the warm air aloft. Observations over the Arctic Ocean have shown an unexpected lack of any detectable surface warming trend over the past 40 years. This finding strongly contradicts climate model predictions that polar regions should show the strongest effect of greenhouse warming. It also stands in contrast to the consensus reached by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), that human caused greenhouse warming is now detectable globally. One might ask: Are these Arctic observations wrong? Or, if right, is there a plausible physical explanation for them? The published observations mentioned above used about 50,000 soundings over the Arctic Ocean. Here I present a novel analysis of ALL available Arctic rawinsonde data north of 65N--a total of more than 1.1 million soundings. The analysis confirms the previously published result: There is indeed a slight climate-cooling trend in the vast majority of the data. Importantly, there are also select conditions (very strong and very weak stability of the ABL) which show a consistent, strong Arctic warming trend. It is the juxtaposition of these warming and cooling trends which defines a unique "icehouse signature" for which an explanation can be sought.

Wetzel, Peter J.↗

NASA NTRS1999

New Generation Lidar Technology and Applications

Lidar has been a tool for atmospheric research for several decades. Until recently routine operational use of lidar was not known. Problems have involved a lack of appropriate technology rather than a lack of applications. Within the last few years, lidar based on a new generation of solid state lasers and detectors have changed the situation. Operational applications for cloud and aerosol research applications are now well established. In these research applications, the direct height profiling capability of lidar is typically an adjunct to other types of sensing, both passive and active. Compact eye safe lidar with the sensitivity for ground based monitoring of all significant cloud and aerosol structure and the reliability to operate full time for several years is now in routine use. The approach is known as micro pulse lidar (MPL). For MPL the laser pulse repetition rate is in the kilohertz range and the pulse energies are in the micro-Joule range. The low pulse energy permits the systems to be eye safe and reliable with solid state lasers. A number of MPL systems have been deployed since 1992 at atmospheric research sites at a variety of global locations. Accurate monitoring of cloud and aerosol vertical distribution is a critical measurement for atmospheric radiation. An airborne application of lidar cloud and aerosol profiling is retrievals of parameters from combined lidar and passive sensing involving visible, infrared and microwave frequencies. A lidar based on a large pulse, solid state diode pumped ND:YAG laser has been deployed on the NASA ER-2 high altitude research aircraft along with multi-spectral visible/IR and microwave imaging radiometers since 1993. The system has shown high reliability in an extensive series of experimental projects for cloud remote sensing. The retrieval of cirrus radiation parameters is an effective application for combined lidar and passive sensing. An approved NASA mission will soon begin long term lidar observation of atmospheric structure from space. The Geoscience Laser Altimeter System (GLAS) of the Earth Observing System is scheduled for deployment in the 2001 time frame. GLAS is both a cloud and aerosol lidar and a surface altimeter, principally for monitoring of polar ice sheets. The GLAS instrument is based on all solid state lasers operating at 40 Hz and high efficiency, solid state detectors. The design lifetime is three to five years. Data from the GLAS mission is expected to revolutionize some aspects of our understanding of the global distribution of cloud and aerosols for global climate prediction.

Spinhirne, James D.↗

NASA NTRS1998

Baseline Observations of Hemispheric Sea Ice with the Nimbus 7 Scanning Multichannel Microwave Radiometer

The Scanning Multichannel Microwave Radiometer (SMMR) on board the NASA Nimbus 7 satellite was designed to obtain data for sea surface temperatures (SSTs), near-surface wind speeds, sea ice coverage and type, rainfall rates over the oceans, cloud water content, snow water equivalent, and soil moisture. In this paper, I shall emphasize the sea ice observations and mention briefly some important SST observations. A prime factor contributing to the importance of SMMR sea ice observations lies in their successful integration into a long-term time series, presently being extended by observations from the series of Special Sensor Microwave/Imager (SSMI) on board the DOD/DMSP F8, Fl1, and F12 satellites. This currently constitutes a 19-year data set. Almost half of this was provided by the SMMR. Unfortunately, the 4-year data set produced earlier by the single-channel Electrically Scanned Microwave Radiometer (ESMR) was not successfully integrated into the SMMR/SSMI data set. This resulted primarily from the lack of an overlap period to provide intersensor adjustment, but also because of the large difference between the algorithms to produce ice concentrations and large temporal gaps in the ESMR data. The lack of overlap between the SeaSat and Nimbus 7 SMMR data sets was an important consideration for also excluding the SeatSat one, but the spatial gaps especially in the Southern Hemisphere daily SeaSat observations was another. The sea ice observations will continue into the future by means of the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer (AMSR) on board the ADEOS II and EOS satellites due to be launched in mid- and late-2000, respectively. Analysis of the sea ice data has been carried out by a number of different techniques. Long-term trends have been examined by means of ordinary least squares and band-limited regression. Oscillations in the data have been examined by band-limited Fourier analysis. Here, I shall present results from a novel combination of Principal Component analysis and the recently-developed Empirical Mode Decomposition (EMD). In this method, the data are first separated into spatial and temporal parts, and then the temporal parts of the first few PCs are broken into intrinsic modes by the EMD method.

Gloersen, Per↗

NASA NTRS1999

In-Situ Production of Solar Power Systems for Exploration

Current proposals for developing an extended human presence, beyond space stations, on the Moon and Mars increasingly consider the processing of non-terrestrial materials essential for keeping the Earth launch burden reasonable. Utilization of in-situ resources for construction of lunar and Mars bases will initially require assessment of resource availability followed by the development of economically acceptable and technically feasible extractive processes. In regard to materials processing and fabrication the lower gravity level on the Moon (0.125 g) and Mars (0.367 g) will dramatically change the presently accepted hierarchy of materials in terms of specific properties, a factor which must be understood and exploited. Furthermore, significant changes are expected in the behavior of liquid materials during processing. In casting, for example, mold filling and associated solidification processes have to be reevaluated. Finally microstructural development and therefore material properties, presently being documented through on-going research in microgravity science and applications, needs to be understood and scaled to the reduced gravity environments. One of the most important elements of a human planetary base is power production. Lunar samples and geophysical measurements returned by the Apollo missions provide detailed data on the composition and physical characteristics of the lunar materials and environment. Based on this knowledge and extrapolations of terrestrial industrial experience it is clear that several types of solar-to-electric converters can be manufactured on the Moon. It is conceivable that well over 90% of a solar-to- electric power system could be made from lunar materials. Production and utilization of photovoltaic devices for solar energy production on Earth is primarily driven by the market economy. On Earth a production plant for photovoltaic devices is intimately linked to the planets massive industrial base. A selection of off the shelf refined materials are available as well as cheap fast transportation on demand. The processes takes place (except for the few seconds reprieve in shot towers etc.) under one gravity, with solar radiation significantly modulated by weather, and under conditions where one atmosphere is free and high vacuum is cumbersome and expensive. Off Earth, on lunar or Mars bases, the cost of photovoltaic power is driven by transport costs - Earth launch, deep space transport, landing on the planetary surface. Thus there is a premium for processes that are materials self-sufficient or for closed loop in-situ processes. The lack of differentiated ores on the Moon, and lack of explored minerals on Mars and interplanetary space give a premium to universal/non-ore-specific mineral extractive processes. Initially a semiconductor/photovoltaic production facility will build on no conveniently located industrial base, further increasing the premium on closed loop self sufficient processes.

Curreri, Peter A.↗

NASA NTRS1999

Mercury's Magnetosphere

Among the major discoveries made by the Mariner 10 mission to the inner planets was the existence of an intrinsic magnetic field at Mercury with a dipole moment of approx. 300 nT R(sup 3, sub M). This magnetic field is sufficient to stand off the solar wind at an altitude of about 1 R(sub M) (i.e. approx. 2439 km). Hence, Mercury possesses a 'magnetosphere' from which the so]ar wind plasma is largely excluded and within which the motion of charged particles is controlled by the planetary magnetic field. Despite its small size relative to the magnetospheres of the other planets, a Mercury orbiter mission is a high priority for the space physics community. The primary reason for this great interest is that Mercury unlike all the other planets visited thus far, lacks a significant atmosphere; only a vestigial exosphere is present. This results in a unique situation where the magnetosphere interacts directly with the outer layer of the planetary crust (i.e. the regolith). At all of the other planets the topmost regions of their atmospheres become ionized by solar radiation to form ionospheres. These planetary ionospheres then couple to electrodynamically to their magnetospheres or, in the case of the weakly magnetized Venus and Mars, directly to the solar wind. This magnetosphere-ionosphere coupling is mediated largely through field-aligned currents (FACs) flowing along the magnetic field lines linking the magnetosphere and the high-latitude ionosphere. Mercury is unique in that it is expected that FACS will be very short lived due to the low electrical conductivity of the regolith. Furthermore, at the earth it has been shown that the outflow of neutral atmospheric species to great altitudes is an important source of magnetospheric plasma (following ionization) whose composition may influence subsequent magnetotail dynamics. However, the dominant source of plasma for most of the terrestrial magnetosphere is the 'leakage'of solar wind across the magnetopause and more direct entry through the northern and southern cusps. Although Mariner 10 did not return plasma composition measurements, the Hermean magnetosphere should be ideal for measuring the manner and rate of solar wind plasma entry due to the lack of strong internal atmospheric sources. Finally, the solar wind conditions experienced by Mercury as it orbits the Sun at 0.31 to 0.47 AU are quite different from those typically encountered by the Earth. This may allow for new understanding of the external factors affecting the transfer of mass, momentum and energy from the solar wind to planetary magnetospheres. This article provides a brief overview of what is now known about Mercury's magnetosphere and why it is a priority target for future planetary missions.

Slavin, J. A.↗

NASA NTRS1998

Key Issues for Aerospace Applications of Ceramic Matrix Composites

Ceramic matrix composites (CMC) offer significant advantages for future aerospace applications including turbine engine and liquid rocket engine components, thermal protection systems, and "hot structures". Key characteristics which establish ceramic matrix composites as attractive and often enabling choices are strength retention at high temperatures and reduced weight relative to currently used metallics. However, due to the immaturity of this class of materials which is further compounded by the lack of experience with CMC's in the aerospace industry, there are significant challenges involved in the development and implementation of ceramic matrix composites into aerospace systems. Some of the more critical challenges are attachment and load transfer methodologies; manufacturing techniques, particularly scale up to large and thick section components; operational environment resistance; damage tolerance; durability; repair techniques; reproducibility; database availability; and the lack of validated design and analysis tools. The presentation will examine the technical issues confronting the application of ceramic matrix composites to aerospace systems and identify the key material systems having potential for substantial payoff relative to the primary requirements of light weight and reduced cost for future systems. Current programs and future research opportunities will be described in the presentation which will focus on materials and processes issues.

Clinton, R. G., Jr.↗

NASA NTRS1999

Mars Surface Ionizing Radiation Environment: Need for Validation

Protection against the hazards from exposure to ionizing radiation remains an unresolved issue in the Human Exploration and Development of Space (HEDS) enterprise [1]. The major uncertainty is the lack of data on biological response to galactic cosmic ray (GCR) exposures but even a full understanding of the physical interaction of GCR with shielding and body tissues is not yet available and has a potentially large impact on mission costs. "The general opinion is that the initial flights should be short-stay missions performed as fast as possible (so-called 'Sprint' missions) to minimize crew exposure to the zero-g and space radiation environment, to ease requirements on system reliability, and to enhance the probability of mission success." The short-stay missions tend to have long transit times and may not be the best option due to the relatively long exposure to zero-g and ionizing radiation. On the other hand the short-transit missions tend to have long stays on the surface requiring an adequate knowledge of the surface radiation environment to estimate risks and to design shield configurations. Our knowledge of the surface environment is theoretically based and suffers from an incomplete understanding of the physical interactions of GCR with the Martian atmosphere, Martian surface, and intervening shield materials. An important component of Mars surface robotic exploration is the opportunity to test our understanding of the Mars surface environment. The Mars surface environment is generated by the interaction of Galactic Cosmic Rays (GCR) and Solar Particle Events (SPEs) with the Mars atmosphere and Mars surface materials. In these interactions, multiple charged ions are reduced in size and secondary particles are generated, including neutrons. Upon impact with the Martian surface, the character of the interactions changes as a result of the differing nuclear constituents of the surface materials. Among the surface environment are many neutrons diffusing from the Martian surface and especially prominent are energetic neutrons with energies up to a few hundred MeV. Testing of these computational results is first supported by ongoing experiments at the Brookhaven National Laboratory but equally important is the validation to the extent possible by measurements on the Martian surface. Such measurements are limited by power and weight requirements of the specific mission and simplified instrumentation by necessity lacks the full discernment of particle type and spectra as is possible with laboratory experimental equipment. Yet, the surface measurements are precise and a necessary requisite to validate our understanding of the surface environment. At the very minimum the surface measurements need to provide some spectral information on the neutron environment. Of absolute necessity is the precise knowledge of the detector response functions for absolute comparisons between the computational model of the surface environment and the detector measurements on the surface.

Wilson, J. W.↗

NASA NTRS2000

Processing Motion Signals in Complex Environments

Motion information is critical for human locomotion and scene segmentation. Currently we have excellent neurophysiological models that are able to predict human detection and discrimination of local signals. Local motion signals are insufficient by themselves to guide human locomotion and to provide information about depth, object boundaries and surface structure. My research is aimed at understanding the mechanisms underlying the combination of motion signals across space and time. A target moving on an extended trajectory amidst noise dots in Brownian motion is much more detectable than the sum of signals generated by independent motion energy units responding to the trajectory segments. This result suggests that facilitation occurs between motion units tuned to similar directions, lying along the trajectory path. We investigated whether the interaction between local motion units along the motion direction is mediated by contrast. One possibility is that contrast-driven signals from motion units early in the trajectory sequence are added to signals in subsequent units. If this were the case, then units later in the sequence would have a larger signal than those earlier in the sequence. To test this possibility, we compared contrast discrimination thresholds for the first and third patches of a triplet of sequentially presented Gabor patches, aligned along the motion direction. According to this simple additive model, contrast increment thresholds for the third patch should be higher than thresholds for the first patch.The lack of a measurable effect on contrast thresholds for these various manipulations suggests that the pooling of signals along a trajectory is not mediated by contrast-driven signals. Instead, these results are consistent with models that propose that the facilitation of trajectory signals is achieved by a second-level network that chooses the strongest local motion signals and combines them if they occur in a spatio-temporal sequence consistent with a trajectory. These results parallel the lack of increased apparent contrast along a static contour made up of similarly oriented elements.

Verghese, Preeti↗

NASA NTRS1998

Reverse Energy Cascade in Turbulent Weakly Ionized Plasmas

For systems far from equilibrium, the neglect of a role for viscous effects in turbulence may be generally inappropriate when the relaxation time for the molecular process approaches the local flow time (Orou et al. (1996)). Furthermore, for stationary collisional plasmas, the conventional Reynolds number is irrelevant under circumstances where the standard features of turbulence in ordinary gases are observed in the plasma (Johnson et al. (1987)). The current theoretical understanding of these turbulent phenomenon is particularly inadequate for turbulence associated with ionizing shock waves; generally speaking, thermodynamic, acoustic and pressure fluctuations are all seen as amplified across the shock wave followed by a dramatic decay (relaminarization) usually attributed to a lack of importance of viscosity in the turbulent regions. This decay would be accelerated when the flow speed is also reduced due to the importance usually given to the conventional Reynolds number (which is directly proportional to velocity) as a quality of turbulence index. However, evidence supporting this consensus is lacking. By contrast, recent evidence of vanishing triple correlations form De Silva et al. (1996) provides strong support for early theoretical speculation of inherently molecular effects in macroscopic turbulence in Tsuge (1974). This specifically suggests that the role of compressive effects ordinarily associated with the shock wave could be significantly muted by the existence of a strongly turbulent local environment. There is also more recent theoretical speculation (Frisch et al. (1984)) of an inherently and previously unsuspected non-dissipative nature to turbulence, with energy conservation being nurtured by reverse energy cascades in the turbulent fluctuation spectra. Furthermore, the role which might be played by fluctuations on quantum mechanical phenomena and variations in molecular parameters is completely unknown, especially of the sort which might be found in optical spectra. A determination of the role which changing turbulent parameters might play on optical signatures behind a reflected shock wave should therefore provide a useful tool for the evolution of theoretical models for turbulence.

Williams, Kyron↗

NASA NTRS2000

Putting the Aero Back into Aeroelasticity

The lack of progress in understanding the physics of rotorcraft loads and vibration over the last 30 years is addressed in this paper. As befits this extraordinarily difficult problem, the reasons for the lack of progress are complicated and difficult to ascertain. It is proposed here that the difficulty lies within at least three areas: 1) a loss of perspective as to what are the key factors in rotor loads and vibration, 2) the overlooking of serious unsolved problems in the field, and 3) cultural barriers that impede progress. Some criteria are suggested for future research to provide a more concentrated focus on the problem.

Bousman, William G.↗