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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 325 records · Page 18
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1975

Trade study for water and waste management concepts. Task 7: Support special analysis

Cost analyses and tradeoff studies are given for waste management in the Space Station, Lunar Surface Bases, and interplanetary space missions. Crew drinking water requirements are discussed and various systems to recycle water are examined. The systems were evaluated for efficiency and weight savings. The systems considered effective for urine water recovery were vapor compression, flash evaporation, and air evaporation with electrolytic pretreatment. For wash water recovery, the system of multifiltration was selected. A wet oxidation system, which can process many kinds of wastes, is also considered.

Source record↗
NASA NTRS1964

Astronomy briefing news release

Observations of new spectral regions, astronomical objects from interplanetary space, and determination of gravitational and physical earth shape from geodetic satellites

GEODETIC SATELLITE↗
DOE OSTI2016

Solar energetic particle anisotropies and insights into particle transport

As solar energetic particles (SEPs) travel through interplanetary space, their pitch-angle distributions are shaped by the competing effects of magnetic focusing and scattering. Measurements of SEP anisotropies can therefore reveal information about interplanetary conditions such as magnetic field strength, topology, and turbulence levels at remote locations from the observer. Onboard each of the two STEREO spacecraft, the Low Energy Telescope (LET) measures pitch-angle distributions for protons and heavier ions up to iron at energies of about 2-12 MeV/nucleon. Anisotropies observed using LET include bidirectional flows within interplanetary coronal mass ejections, sunward-flowing particles when STEREO was magnetically connected to the back side of a shock, and loss-cone distributions in which particles with large pitch angles underwent magnetic mirroring at an interplanetary field enhancement that was too weak to reflect particles with the smallest pitch angles. Unusual oscillations in the width of a beamed distribution at the onset of the 23 July 2012 SEP event were also observed and remain puzzling. We report LET anisotropy observations at both STEREO spacecraft and discuss their implications for SEP transport, focusing exclusively on the extreme event of 23 July 2012 in which a large variety of anisotropies were present at various times during the event.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2015

CORONAL SOURCES, ELEMENTAL FRACTIONATION, AND RELEASE MECHANISMS OF HEAVY ION DROPOUTS IN THE SOLAR WIND

The elemental abundances of heavy ions (masses larger than He) in the solar wind provide information about physical processes occurring in the corona. Additionally, the charge state distributions of these heavy ions are sensitive to the temperature profiles of their respective source regions in the corona. Heavy ion dropouts are a relatively new class of solar wind events identified by both elemental and ionic charge state distributions. We have shown that their origins lie in large, closed coronal loops where processes such as gravitational settling dominate and can cause a mass-dependent fractionation pattern. In this study we consider and attempt to answer three fundamental questions concerning heavy ion dropouts: (1) 'where are the source loops located in the large-scale corona?'; (2) 'how does the interplay between coronal processes influence the end elemental abundances?'; and (3) 'what are the most probable release mechanisms'? We begin by analyzing the temporal and spatial variability of heavy ion dropouts and their correlation with heliospheric plasma and magnetic structures. Next we investigate the ordering of the elements inside dropouts with respect to mass, ionic charge state, and first ionization potential. Finally, we discuss these results in the context of the prevailing solar wind theories and the processes they posit that may be responsible for the release of coronal plasma into interplanetary space.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2014

Evidence of electron acceleration around the reconnection X-point in a solar flare

Particle acceleration is one of the most significant features that are ubiquitous among space and cosmic plasmas. It is most prominent during flares in the case of the Sun, with which huge amounts of electromagnetic radiation and high-energy particles are expelled into the interplanetary space through acceleration of plasma particles in the corona. Though it has been well understood that energies of flares are supplied by the mechanism called magnetic reconnection based on the observations in X-rays and EUV with space telescopes, where and how in the flaring magnetic field plasmas are accelerated has remained unknown due to the low plasma density in the flaring corona. We here report the first observational identification of the energetic non-thermal electrons around the point of the ongoing magnetic reconnection (X-point), with the location of the X-point identified by soft X-ray imagery and the localized presence of non-thermal electrons identified from imaging-spectroscopic data at two microwave frequencies. Considering the existence of the reconnection outflows that carries both plasma particles and magnetic fields out from the X-point, our identified non-thermal microwave emissions around the X-point indicate that the electrons are accelerated around the reconnection X-point. Additionally, the plasma around the X-point was also thermally heated up to 10 MK. The estimated reconnection rate of this event is ∼0.017.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2015

TRIGGER OF A BLOWOUT JET IN A SOLAR CORONAL MASS EJECTION ASSOCIATED WITH A FLARE

Using the multi-wavelength images and the photospheric magnetograms from the Solar Dynamics Observatory, we study the flare that was associated with the only coronal mass ejection (CME) in active region (AR) 12192. The eruption of a filament caused a blowout jet, and then an M4.0 class flare occurred. This flare was located at the edge of the AR instead of in the core region. The flare was close to the apparently “open” fields, appearing as extreme-ultraviolet structures that fan out rapidly. Due to the interaction between flare materials and “open” fields, the flare became an eruptive flare, leading to the CME. Then, at the same site of the first eruption, another small filament erupted. With the high spatial and temporal resolution Hα data from the New Vacuum Solar Telescope at the Fuxian Solar Observatory, we investigate the interaction between the second filament and the nearby “open” lines. The filament reconnected with the “open” lines, forming a new system. To our knowledge, the detailed process of this kind of interaction is reported for the first time. Then the new system rotated due to the untwisting motion of the filament, implying that the twist was transferred from the closed filament system to the “open” system. In addition, the twist seemed to propagate from the lower atmosphere to the upper layers and was eventually spread by the CME to the interplanetary space.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2014

Multi-spacecraft observations of recurrent {sup 3}He-rich solar energetic particles

We study the origin of {sup 3}He-rich solar energetic particles (<1 MeV nucleon{sup –1}) that are observed consecutively on STEREO-B, Advanced Composition Explorer (ACE), and STEREO-A spacecraft when they are separated in heliolongitude by more than 90°. The {sup 3}He-rich period on STEREO-B and STEREO-A commences on 2011 July 1 and 2011 July 16, respectively. The ACE {sup 3}He-rich period consists of two sub-events starting on 2011 July 7 and 2011 July 9. We associate the STEREO-B July 1 and ACE July 7 {sup 3}He-rich events with the same sizeable active region (AR) producing X-ray flares accompanied by prompt electron events, when it was near the west solar limb as seen from the respective spacecraft. The ACE July 9 and STEREO-A July 16 events were dispersionless with enormous {sup 3}He enrichment, lacking solar energetic electrons and occurring in corotating interaction regions. We associate these events with a small, recently emerged AR near the border of a low-latitude coronal hole that produced numerous jet-like emissions temporally correlated with type III radio bursts. For the first time we present observations of (1) solar regions with long-lasting conditions for {sup 3}He acceleration and (2) solar energetic {sup 3}He that is temporarily confined/re-accelerated in interplanetary space.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2014

HOW TO FIND METAL-RICH ASTEROIDS

The metal content of asteroids is of great interest, not only for theories of their origins and the evolution of the solar system but, in the case of near-Earth objects (NEOs), also for impact mitigation planning and endeavors in the field of planetary resources. However, since the reflection spectra of metallic asteroids are largely featureless, it is difficult to identify them and relatively few are known. We show how data from the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE)/NEOWISE thermal-infrared survey and similar surveys, fitted with a simple thermal model, can reveal objects likely to be metal rich. We provide a list of candidate metal-rich NEOs. Our results imply that future infrared surveys with the appropriate instrumentation could discover many more metal-rich asteroids, providing valuable data for assessment of the impact hazard and the potential of NEOs as reservoirs of vital materials for future interplanetary space activities and, eventually perhaps, for use on Earth.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2017

A Large-scale Plume in an X-class Solar Flare

Ever-increasing multi-frequency imaging of solar observations suggests that solar flares often involve more than one magnetic fluxtube. Some of the fluxtubes are closed, while others can contain open fields. The relative proportion of nonthermal electrons among those distinct loops is highly important for understanding energy release, particle acceleration, and transport. The access of nonthermal electrons to the open field is also important because the open field facilitates the solar energetic particle (SEP) escape from the flaring site, and thus controls the SEP fluxes in the solar system, both directly and as seed particles for further acceleration. The large-scale fluxtubes are often filled with a tenuous plasma, which is difficult to detect in either EUV or X-ray wavelengths; however, they can dominate at low radio frequencies, where a modest component of nonthermal electrons can render the source optically thick and, thus, bright enough to be observed. Here we report the detection of a large-scale “plume” at the impulsive phase of an X-class solar flare, SOL2001-08-25T16:23, using multi-frequency radio data from Owens Valley Solar Array. To quantify the flare’s spatial structure, we employ 3D modeling utilizing force-free-field extrapolations from the line of sight SOHO /MDI magnetograms with our modeling tool GX-Simulator. We found that a significant fraction of the nonthermal electrons that accelerated at the flare site low in the corona escapes to the plume, which contains both closed and open fields. We propose that the proportion between the closed and open fields at the plume is what determines the SEP population escaping into interplanetary space.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2016

ELECTRON ACCELERATION BY CASCADING RECONNECTION IN THE SOLAR CORONA. II. RESISTIVE ELECTRIC FIELD EFFECTS

We investigate electron acceleration by electric fields induced by cascading reconnections in current sheets trailing coronal mass ejections via a test particle approach in the framework of the guiding-center approximation. Although the resistive electric field is much weaker than the inductive electric field, the electron acceleration is still dominated by the former. Anomalous resistivity η is switched on only in regions where the current carrier’s drift velocity is large enough. As a consequence, electron acceleration is very sensitive to the spatial distribution of the resistive electric fields, and electrons accelerated in different segments of the current sheet have different characteristics. Due to the geometry of the 2.5-dimensional electromagnetic fields and strong resistive electric field accelerations, accelerated high-energy electrons can be trapped in the corona, precipitating into the chromosphere or escaping into interplanetary space. The trapped and precipitating electrons can reach a few MeV within 1 s and have a very hard energy distribution. Spatial structure of the acceleration sites may also introduce breaks in the electron energy distribution. Most of the interplanetary electrons reach hundreds of keV with a softer distribution. To compare with observations of solar flares and electrons in solar energetic particle events, we derive hard X-ray spectra produced by the trapped and precipitating electrons, fluxes of the precipitating and interplanetary electrons, and electron spatial distributions.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2017

MINIFILAMENT ERUPTION AS THE SOURCE OF A BLOWOUT JET, C-CLASS FLARE, AND TYPE-III RADIO BURST

We report a strong minifilament eruption associated with Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite C1.6 flare and WIND type-III radio burst. The minifilament, which lies at the periphery of active region 12259, is detected by H α images from the New Vacuum Solar Telescope. The minifilament undergoes a partial and then a full eruption. Simultaneously, two co-spatial jets are successively observed in extreme ultraviolet images from the Solar Dynamic Observatory . The first jet exhibits a typical fan-spine geometry, suggesting that the co-spatial minifilament is possibly embedded in magnetic fields with a fan-spine structure. However, the second jet displays blowout morphology when the entire minifilament erupts upward, leaving behind a hard X-ray emission source in the base. Differential emission measure analyses show that the eruptive region is heated up to about 4 MK during the fan-spine jet, while up to about 7 MK during the blowout jet. In particular, the blowout jet is accompanied by an interplanetary type-III radio burst observed by WIND /WAVES in the frequency range from above 10 to 0.1 MHz. Hence, the minifilament eruption is correlated with the interplanetary type-III radio burst for the first time. These results not only suggest that coronal jets can result from magnetic reconnection initiated by erupting minifilaments with open fields, but also shed light on the potential influence of minifilament eruption on interplanetary space.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2016

Common origin of kinetic scale turbulence and the electron halo in the solar wind – Connection to nanoflares

We summarize our recent studies on the origin of solar wind kinetic scale turbulence and electron halo in the electron velocity distribution function. Increasing observations of nanoflares and microscopic type III radio bursts strongly suggest that nanoflares and accelerated electron beams are common in the corona. Based on particle-in-cell simulations, we show that both the core-halo feature and kinetic scale turbulence observed in the solar wind can be produced by the nonlinear evolution of electron two-stream instability driven by nanoflare accelerated electron beams. The energy exchange between waves and particles reaches equilibrium in the inner corona and the key features of the turbulence and velocity distribution are preserved as the solar wind escapes into interplanetary space along open magnetic field lines. Observational tests of the model and future theoretical work are discussed.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
NASA NTRS1975

Theory of cosmic ray variations

The initial anisotropic and isotropic spaces of solar cosmic ray spreading in interplanetary space are compared with the results of direct observations in the region adjacent to the earth's orbit and with the results of explorations of the eleven-year and twenty-seven-day variations of the cosmic rays in more distant regions.

Dorman, L. I.↗
NASA NTRS1987

Studies of the interplanetary magnetic field: IMP's to Voyager

During the last two decades, spacecraft projects and individual experiments for which Frank McDonald was a leader have contributed very significantly to the current understanding of the structure of interplanetary space and the correlation between solar and interplanetary disturbances. Studies on the IMP, HELIOS, and Pioneer spin-stabilized spacecraft and the larger attitude-stabilized Voyager spacecraft have provided data sets from which the modern view of the heliosphere has evolved. That concept in which the inner solar system is shown to be dominated by individual streams associated with specific source regions on the Sun is illustrated. As these high-speed streams overtake the preexisting solar plasma, they coalesce and modify the characteristics so that at larger heliocentric distances, these disturbances appear as radially propagating concentric shells of compressed magnetic fields and enhanced fluctuations

Ness, Norman F.↗
NASA NTRS2008

Predicting Material Performance in the Space Environment from Laboratory Test Data, Static Design Environments, and Space Weather Models

Qualifying materials for use in the space environment is typically accomplished with laboratory exposures to simulated UV/EUV, atomic oxygen, and charged particle radiation environments with in-situ or subsequent measurements of material properties of interest to the particular application. Choice of environment exposure levels are derived from static design environments intended to represent either mean or extreme conditions that are anticipated to be encountered during a mission. The real space environment however is quite variable. Predictions of the on orbit performance of a material qualified to laboratory environments can be done using information on 'space weather' variations in the real environment. This presentation will first review the variability of space environments of concern for material degradation and then demonstrate techniques for using test data to predict material performance in a variety of space environments from low Earth orbit to interplanetary space using historical measurements and space weather models.

Minow, Josep I.↗
DOE OSTI2015

Perpendicular diffusion in the transport of solar energetic particles from unconnected sources: The counter-streaming particle beams revisited

In some solar energetic particle (SEP) events, a counter-streaming particle beam with a deep depression of flux at ∼90{sup ∘} pitch angle during the beginning phase is observed. Two different interpretations exist within the community to explain this interesting phenomenon. One explanation invokes the hypothesis of an outer reflecting boundary or a magnetic mirror beyond the observer. The other one considers the effect of perpendicular diffusion on the transport process of SEPs in interplanetary space. In this work, we revisit the problem of counter-streaming particle beams observed in SEP events and discuss the possible mechanisms responsible for the formation of this phenomenon. We clarify some results in previous works.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗