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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 343 records · Page 19
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1988

The einstein equivalence principle, intrinsic spin and the invariance of constitutive equations in continuum mechanics

The invariance of constitutive equations in continuum mechanics is examined from a basic theoretical standpoint. It is demonstrated the constitutive equations which are not form invariant under arbitrary translational accelerations of the reference frame are in violation of the Einstein equivalane principle. Furthermore, by making use of an analysis based on statistical mechanics, it is argued that any frame-dependent terms in constitutive equations must arise from the intrinsic spin tensor and are negligible provided that the ratio of microscopic to macroscopic time scales is extremely small. The consistency of these results with existing constitutive theories is discussed in detail along with possible avenues of future research.

Speziale, Charles G.↗
NASA NTRS1988

Cosmology and particle physics

The interplay between cosmology and elementary particle physics is discussed. The standard cosmology is reviewed, concentrating on primordial nucleosynthesis and discussing how the standard cosmology has been used to place constraints on the properties of various particles. Baryogenesis is discussed, showing how a scenario in which the B-, C-, and CP-violating interactions in GUTs provide a dynamical explanation for the predominance of matter over antimatter and for the present baryon-to-photon ratio. It is shown how the very early dynamical evolution of a very weakly coupled scalar field which is initially displaced from the minimum of its potential may explain a handful of very fundamental cosmological facts which are not explained by the standard cosmology.

Turner, Michael S.↗
NASA NTRS1987

MHD aspects of magnetotail dynamics

The equations of ideal MHD represent the conservation of mass, momentum, and energy; thus, MHD must, in some broad sense, provide a correct description of large-scale structure of the earth's magnetosphere. However, steady-state, ideal MHD (the simplest description) allows only a static interaction between the solar wind and the magnetosphere. Hence an MHD theory of magnetospheric dynamics must involve unsteady flow turbulence, such as might be generated by Kelvin-Helmholtz turbulence at the magnetopause, and dissipative transport, such as reconnection, which violates ideal MHD. This brief review summarizes recent theoretical efforts to explore and extend the early MHD magnetospheric models of Axford and Petschek. Analytic calculations show that steady convection in the magnetotail is nearly impossible. Global magnetospheric simulations exhibit substorm reconnection phenomena for southward IMF and predict a novel convection pattern for northward IMF. Reconnection simulations show plasmoid formation and field-aligned current flows in the tail. The Kelvin-Helmholtz instability can provide a strong anomalous viscosity which can drive the viscous convection system.

Coroniti, F. V.↗
NASA NTRS1987

The mission operations planning assistant

The Mission Operations Planning Assistant (MOPA) is a knowledge-based system developed to support the planning and scheduling of instrument activities on the Upper Atmospheric Research Satellite (UARS). The MOPA system represents and maintains instrument plans at two levels of abstraction in order to keep plans comprehensible to both UARS Prinicpal Investigators and Command Management personnel. The hierarchical representation of plans also allows MOPA to automatically create detailed instrument activity plans from which spacecraft command loads may be generated. The MOPA system was developed on a Symbolics 3640 computer using the ZETALISP and ART languages. MOPA's features include a textual and graphical interface for plan inspection and modification, recognition of instrument operational constraint violations during the planning process, and consistency maintenance between the different planning levels. This paper describes the current MOPA system.

Schuetzle, James G.↗
NASA NTRS1988

Moisture interaction and stability of ZOT (Zinc Orthotitanate) thermal control spacecraft coating

Two of the many performance requirements of the zinc orthotitanate (ZOT) ceramic thermal control paint covering parts of the Jupiter-bound Galileo spacecraft are that it be sufficiently electrically conductive so as to prevent electrostatic discharge (ESD) damage to onboard electronics and that it adhere to and protect the substrate from corrosion in terrestrial environments. The bulk electrical resistivity of ZOT on an aluminum substrate was measured over the ranges 22 C to 90 C and 0 percent RH to 100 percent RH, and also in soft (10 (minus 2) Torr) and hard (10 (minus 7) Torr) vacuums. No significant temperature dependence was evident, but measured resistivity values ranged over 9 orders of magnitude: 10 to the 5th power ohm-cm at 100 percent RH greater than 10 to the 12th power ohm-cm in a hard vacuum. The latter value violates the ESD criterion for a typical 0.019 cm thick coating. The corrosion study involved exposing typical ZOT substrate combinations to two moisture environments - 30 C/85 percent RH and 85 C/85 percent RH - for 2000 hours, during which time the samples were periodically removed for front-to-back electrical resistance and scratch/peel test measurements. It was determined that the ZOT/Al and ZOT/Mg systems are stable (no ZOT delamination), although some corrosion (oxide formation) and resistivity increases observed among the ZOT/Mg samples warrant that exposure of some parts to humid environments be minimized.

Mon, Gordon R.↗
NASA NTRS1988

Optimal post-experiment estimation of poorly modeled dynamic systems

Recently, a novel strategy for post-experiment state estimation of discretely-measured dynamic systems has been developed. The method accounts for errors in the system dynamic model equations in a more general and rigorous manner than do filter-smoother algorithms. The dynamic model error terms do not require the usual process noise assumptions of zero-mean, symmetrically distributed random disturbances. Instead, the model error terms require no prior assumptions other than piecewise continuity. The resulting state estimates are more accurate than filters for applications in which the dynamic model error clearly violates the typical process noise assumptions, and the available measurements are sparse and/or noisy. Estimates of the dynamic model error, in addition to the states, are obtained as part of the solution of a two-point boundary value problem, and may be exploited for numerous reasons. In this paper, the basic technique is explained, and several example applications are given. Included among the examples are both state estimation and exploitation of the model error estimates.

Mook, D. Joseph↗
NASA NTRS1988

Flight motor set 360L001 (STS-26R), volume 1

The NASA space shuttle flight STS-26R, launched at 11:37.00.009 a.m. EDT on 29 Sep. 1988, used the redesigned solid rocket motors (RSRM) 360LOO1A and 360LOO1B. Evaluation of the ground environment instrumentation (GEI) data recorded prior to flight showed: (1) no launch commit criteria violations, (2) that the field joint heater and aft skirt thermal conditioning systems performed adequately, and (3) that the GEI data showed good agreement with thermal model predictions. Evaluation of the developmental flight instrumentation (DFI) revealed excellent agreement with both the predicted and required ballistic specifications. All parameters were well within the CEI specification requirements including propellant burn rates, specific impulse values, and thrust imbalance. Recorded strain values also indicated satisfactory radial growth and stress levels, as well as verification of adequate safety factors. Postflight inspection of the insulation, seals, case, and nozzles showed overall excellent performance. Some thermal DFI protective cork was missing, and inoperative field joint vent valves on the thermal protection cork allowed water entry into the field joints upon splashdown. Evaluation of these anomalies, as well as complete evaluation of all RSRM components, is presented.

Ricks, Glen A.↗
NASA NTRS1988

Impact, and its implications for geology

The publication of seminal texts on geology and on meteoritics in the 1790s, laid the groundwork for the emergence of each discipline as a modern branch of science. Within the past three decades, impact cratering has become universally accepted as a process that sculptures the surfaces of planets and satellites throughout the solar system. Nevertheless, one finds in-depth discussions of impact processes mainly in books on the Moon or in surveys of the Solar System. The historical source of the separation between meteoritics and geology is easy to identify. It began with Hutton. Meteorite impact is an extraordinary event acting instantaneously from outside the Earth. It violates Hutton's principles, which were enlarged upon and firmly established as fundamental to the geological sciences by Lyell. The split between meteoritics and geology surely would have healed as early as 1892 if the investigations conducted by Gilbert (1843-1918) at the crater in northern Arizona had yielded convincing evidence of meteorite impact. The 1950s and 1960s saw a burgeoning of interest in impact processes. The same period witnessed the so-called revolution in the Earth Sciences, when geologists yielded up the idea of fixed continents and began to view the Earth's lithosphere as a dynamic array of horizontally moving plates. Plate tectonics, however, is fully consistent with the geological concepts inherited from Hutton: the plates slowly split, slide, and suture, driven by forces intrinsic to the globe.

Marvin, Ursula B.↗
NASA NTRS1989

Predicted energy shifts for 'paronic' helium

It has been shown by Greenberg and Mohapatra (1987) that it is possible to construct a local relativistic quantum field theory which admits small violations of the Pauli exclusion principle, by introducing paronic states which obey para-Fermi statistics of order 2. Paronic shifts are calculated for the low-lying states of helium to aid in the design of experiments either to detect paronic helium, or place upper limits on its possible existence.

Drake, G. W. F.↗
NASA NTRS1988

A knowledge-based approach to identification and adaptation in dynamical systems control

Artificial intelligence techniques are applied to the problems of model form and parameter identification of large-scale dynamic systems. The object-oriented knowledge representation is discussed in the context of causal modeling and qualitative reasoning. Structured sets of rules are used for implementing qualitative component simulations, for catching qualitative discrepancies and quantitative bound violations, and for making reconfiguration and control decisions that affect the physical system. These decisions are executed by backward-chaining through a knowledge base of control action tasks. This approach was implemented for two examples: a triple quadrupole mass spectrometer and a two-phase thermal testbed. Results of tests with both of these systems demonstrate that the software replicates some or most of the functionality of a human operator, thereby reducing the need for a human-in-the-loop in the lower levels of control of these complex systems.

Glass, B. J.↗
NASA NTRS1989

Turbulence modeling in noninertial frames of reference

The effect of an arbitrary change of frame on the structure of turbulence models is examined from a fundamental theoretical standpoint. It is proven, as a rigorous consequence of the Navier-Stokes equations, that turbulence models must be form invariant under arbitrary translational accelerations of the reference frame and should only be affected by rotations through the intrinsic mean vorticity. A direct application of the invariance property along with the Taylor-Proudman Theorem, material frame-indifference in the limit of two-dimensional turbulence and Rapid Distortion Theory is shown to yield powerful constraints on the allowable form of turbulence models. Most of the commonly used turbulence models are demonstrated to be in serious violation of these constraints and consequently are inconsistent with the Navier-Stokes equations in non-inertial frames. Alternative models with improved non-inertial properties are developed and some simple applications to rotating turbulent flows are considered.

Speziale, Charles G.↗
NASA NTRS1989

Straylight analysis of an aperture shade off-set from the SIRTF optical axis

Adoption of an aperture shade whose axis is offset from the optical axis of the SIRTF telescope has been proposed by Davis (1988). Moving the high side of the asymmetric (truncated) shade away from the optical axis can equalize the barrel baffle lengths illuminated by the aperture shade and reduce the dimensions of both the barrel baffle and aperture shade. The stray-light performance of this revised design is compared to that of the SIRTF baseline design, which uses a coaxial asymmetric aperture shade. Both designs incorporate a back focal distance of 100 cm and Davis's specifications for the primary and secondary cone baffles. Adoption of an offset aperture shade for SIRTF would slightly degrade its performance but would not violate any of the stray-light requirements. The SIRTF goal of natural-background-limited observations can be met with known blacks, Class 750 mirror contamination, and either aperture shade configuration.

Dinger, Ann St. Clair↗
NASA NTRS1989

Evolution of self-gravitating accretion disks in active galactic nuclei

The evolution of self-gravitating gaseous disks in active galactic nuclei on scales of about 10-1000 pc is investigated. Star formation is a plausible outcome of the Jeans instability operating in a disk which violates the criterion for local stability. Even a low efficiency of star formation would deplete the gaseous disk on a short time scale and create a flat stellar system. These systems can evolve (sphericalize) secularly by means of stellar encounters but this process appears to be too slow to be important. Such flattened stellar systems may be common in the circumnuclear regions of disk galaxies. Conventional viscosities are inefficient in building anew the accretion process even in a cosmological time. Strongly self-gravitating disks are unstable to global nonaxisymmetric modes, which can induce radial inflow of gas in a short dynamical time. The latter effect is studied in a separate paper.

Shlosman, Isaac↗
NASA NTRS1989

Spectral distortions of the cosmic microwave background

Recent experiments indicate that the spectrum of the cosmic microwave background deviates from a pure blackbody; here, spectral distortions produced by cosmic dust are considered. The main result is that cosmic dust in conjunction with an injected radiation field (perhaps produced by an early generation of very massive stars) can explain the observed spectral distortions without violating existing cosmological constraints. In addition, it is shown that Compton y-distortions can also explain the observed spectral shape, but the energetic requirements are more severe.

Adams, Fred C.↗
NASA NTRS1989

A semiempirical model for the red supergiant's wind in Zeta Aurigae systems

A semiempirical model for the wind in four Zeta Aur binary systems is developed, basing the analyses on the velocity function, nonthermal velocities, and upper limits to Ne/N(H) inferred from observations of the winds from the cool supergiants. The model assumes that the energy fluxes needed to drive the wind are supplied by Alfven waves, since the acoustic wave flux estimated from line broadening is too low. The damping scale length of the waves, is found to change from very small values near the star to larger values of the order of the local radius further out in the wind. The temperature structure and hydrogen ionization are derived for these models. Limits to the stellar magnetic field are found, as well as a necessary constraint for the existence of cool massive winds, suggesting that the dividing line in the H-R diagram is where this constraint is violated.

Kuin, N. P. M.↗
NASA NTRS1989

Flight Motor Set 360L003 (STS-29R)

The redesigned solid rocket motor (RSRM) flight set 360L003 was launched on March 13, 1989 as part of NASA space shuttle mission STS-29R. As was the case with flight sets 360L001 and 360L002 (STS-26R and STS-27R), both motors (360L003A and 360L003B) performed in an excellent manner. Evaluation of the ground environment instrumentation measurements verified thermal model analysis data and showed agreement with predicted environmental effects. The right-hand aft field joint primary heater failed during the countdown; the secondary heater was activated and performed as designed. All other field joint heaters and aft skirt thermal conditioning systems had no anomalies. Shuttle thermal imager infrared readings compared favorably with measured ground environment instrumentation data. No thermal launch commit criteria violations occurred at any time. Evaluation of the development flight instrumentation showed exceptional propulsion performance. All ballistic parameters closely matched the predicted values and were well within the required specification levels. Girth and biaxial strain gage measurements compared closely with corresponding gages on previous flight motors, static tests, and with preflight predictions. Adequate safety factors were verified. (Some ignition transient spiking was noted in a few girth gages; the spiking was determined not to be representative of actual case behavior, but an instrumentation phenomena.) The accelerometers again measured high vibration amplitude levels during the ignition transient and the reentry Max Q phases. Postflight inspection showed that all combustion gas was contained by the insulation in the field and case-to-nozzle joints. No anomalous insulation erosion patterns were found, and the seals that did directly contain motor pressure showed no heat effects, erosion, or blowby. All anomalies identified were a result of splashdown damage, with the exception of fretting in the case field joint interference (nonsealing) surfaces and a prelaunch field joint heater failure. The disposition of all anomalies and the complete results are reported.

Riehr, Glen A.↗
NASA NTRS1989

Impact of tether cutting on onboard navigation during the Tethered Satellite Mission-1

The first Tethered Satellite System mission (TSS-1) is manifested for Shuttle Flight STS-44 in January of 1991. The TSS mission presents a new challenge to engineers, requiring advanced guidance, navigation and control concepts. Current NASA flight rules require that the navigational state of the Orbiter at deorbit burn be known to an accuracy of 20 nautical miles. Response of the Shuttle crew to this contingency may involve cutting the tether prior to a complete retrieval. The degradation of the navigational state accuracy as modelled by Shuttle navigation system is examined. Responses to the loss of communication scenario are proposed for two cases. The first case examines navigational performance during a nominal attitude profile. The second case is identical to the first, with the inclusion of modelled tether electrodynamical forces. Comparisons of trajectories propagated from the onboard navigational state vector and a reference ephemeris state vector were performed, with the tether cut simulated at various points during the mission. Additionally, updates to the onboard navigational state via ground uplinks were provided prior to the assumed loss of communication. Through these comparisons, the onboard navigation state error was determined. Alternative responses result from efforts to minimize this error during the various phases of TSS-1 deployment. These results demonstrated existing NASA flight rules could be violated by cutting the tether, and suggests reponses to a loss of communications contingency to maintain a more accurate navigational state.

Pirker, Dana M.↗
NASA NTRS1989

Shuttle tethered operations: The effect on orbital trajectory and inertial navigation

The first full scale test of a large tethered satellite system is planned. The Orbiter will be linked to a 500 kg payload by a 20 km tether, an action with a profound effect on the trajectory of the Orbiter. For the first time in the history of the Shuttle program, the vehicle will conduct prolonged operations with the center of mass of the orbiting system a significant distance from the center of mass of the Space Shuttle Orbiter, a violation of the fundamental assumption made in both the Orbiter ground-based and onboard navigation software. Inertial navigation of tethered operations with the Shuttle is further complicated by the presence of non-conservative forces in the system: Reaction Control System (RCS) translational effects, atmospheric drag, and electro-magnetic dynamics. These can couple with the conservative tether dynamics effects, and degrade the navigation software performance. The primary effects are examined on the Orbiter's trajectory, coupling by conservative forces during tethered operations, and the impact of both on the ability to meet inertial navigation constraints. The impact of electrodynamics, different RCS control modes, commanded attitudes, and attitude deadbands are presented. Operational guidelines which optimize successful mission navigation, and necessary navigation constraints are discussed.

Lardas, Mark N.↗