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NASA NTRSDate not supplied

A Decade of Mineralogical Discoveries in Gale Crater, Mars from the CheMin XRD Instrument

Curiosity landed in Gale crater in August 2012 and has traversed ~28 km through sedimentary rocks that comprise the lower slopes of a ~5 km-high mound, informally known as Mount Sharp, to investigate depositional/diagenetic environments and potential habitability. Orbital visible/short-wave infrared spectra revealed some strata on lower Mount Sharp contain mineral assemblages that are indicative of water-rock interactions (1-3), with sulfate-bearing units overlying phyllosilicate-bearing units. This mineralogical succession may mark the beginning of the transition from a relatively wet/warm to a very dry/cold Mars (e.g., 1, 4). Thirty-five powdered rock samples have been analyzed by the CheMin XRD instrument to evaluate mineralogical changes within the stratigraphic section. Curiosity began studying the strata that show mineralogical signatures from orbit in 2018, with the investigation of Vera Rubin ridge. Here, we describe the mineralogical diversity in these strata using X-ray diffraction data collected by the CheMin instrument. We report on the mineral assemblages from: 1) Hematite-rich Vera Rubin ridge; 2) Smectite-rich Glen Torridon region that progresses from tri- to di-octahedral phyllosilicate; 3) Transition unit from smectite to sulfate-bearing rocks with lower layers dominated by Ca-sulfates. We will present hypotheses explaining the changes in mineralogy throughout the strata, including changes in depositional environment, diagenetic reactions with saline groundwater, and groundwater-lake water interactions (e.g., 5-7). Continued exploration of sulfate-rich rocks will elucidate this environmental transition above the phyllosilicate-rich sediments.

V M Tu↗
NASA NTRS1990

Global pressure relaxation for laminar two-dimensional internal flow

This study extends the reduced Navier-Stokes (RNS) global pressure relaxation procedure developed by Rubin and co-workers for external flow to internal flow applications. The streamwise pressure gradient is split into a backward-differenced or initial value component, as in boundary layer marching, and a forward-differenced or boundary value component that represents the elliptic downstream effects. The streamwise convection terms are upwind-differenced and all other streamwise derivatives are backward-differenced. A standard boundary layer marching technique imbedded in a conventional line relaxation technique is obtained. For compressible flow the pressure iteration determines the interior flow interaction as well as the inlet mass flux that is consistent with the outflow pressure boundary condition. Results have been computed for incompressible flow in both rectangular and curved channels, and for subsonic compressible flow in the simulation of an aerofoil in a wind tunnel. Converged solutions were obtained over a range of Reynolds numbers generating small to moderately large separation bubbles.

Rosenbaum, D.↗
NASA NTRS2003

High Cooling Rates of Type-II Chondrules: Limited Overgrowths on Phenocrysts Following the Final Melting Event

In a study of type-II chondrules in Y81020 Wasson and Rubin (2003) described three kinds of evidence indicating that only minor (4-10 m) olivine growth occurred following the final melting event: 1) Nearly all (>90%) type-II chondrules in CO3.0 chondrites contain low-FeO relict grains; overgrowths on these relicts are narrow, in the range of 2-12 m. 2) Most type-II chondrules contain small (10-20 m) FeO-rich olivine grains with decurved surfaces and acute angles between faces indicating that the grains are fragments from an earlier generation of chondrules; the limited overgrowth thicknesses following the last melting event are too thin to disguise the shard-like nature of these small grains. 3) Most type-II chondrules contain many small (<20 m) euhedral or subhedral phenocrysts with central compositions that are much more ferroan than the centers of the large phenocrysts; their small sizes document the small amount of growth that occurred following the final melting event.We have additional data on chondrules in Y81020 and Semarkona, and we have reinterpreted observations of Jones (1990). The striking feature of this chondrule is the large number of tiny fragments. The chondrule precursor initially consisted of crushed olivine.

Wasson, John T.↗
NASA NTRS2020

The Stratigraphy of Central and Western Butte and the Greenheugh Pediment Contact

The Greenheugh pediment at the base of Aeolis Mons (Mt. Sharp), which may truncate units in the Murray formation and is capped by a thin sandstone unit, appears to represent a major shift in climate history within Gale crater. The pediment appears to be an erosional remnant of potentially a much more extensive feature. Curiosity’s traverse through the southern extent of Glen Torridon (south of Vera Rubin ridge) has brought the rover in contact with several new stratigraphic units that lie beneath the pediment. These strata were visited at two outcrop-forming buttes (Central and Western butte- both remnants of the retreating pediment) south of an orbitally defined boundary marking the transition from the Fractured Clay-bearing Unit (fCU) and the fractured Intermediate Unit (fIU). Here we present preliminary interpretations of the stratigraphy within Central and Western buttes and propose the Western butte cap rocks do not match the pediment capping unit.

Bryk, A. B.↗
NASA NTRS2022

Geology and Stratigraphic Correlation of the Murray and Carolyn Shoemaker Formations Across the Glen Torridon Region, Gale Crater, Mars

The Glen Torridon (GT) region within Gale crater, Mars, occurs in contact with the southern side of Vera Rubin ridge (VRR), a well-defined geomorphic feature that is comparatively resistant to erosion. Prior to detailed ground-based investigation of GT, its geologic relationship with VRR was unknown. Distinct lithologic subunits within the Jura member (Murray formation), which forms the upper part of VRR, made it possible to be also identified within GT. This indicates that the strata pass across the geomorphic divide between regions. Furthermore, the cross-bedded lower part of the overlying Knockfarril Hill member (Carolyn Shoemaker formation) also occurs within both VRR and GT. Correlation of both units demonstrates that the strata form a continuous stratigraphic succession regardless of large-scale geomorphic expression. The lithologic change from mudstone (Jura member) to cross-bedded sandstone (Knockfarril Hill member) heralds a significant shift in paleoenvironment from lacustrine to fluvial. The upper part of the Knockfarril Hill member consists of interbedded mudstone and sandstone that transitions to the overlying finely laminated mudstone of the Glasgow member, and a return to lacustrine deposition. In GT, the Stimson formation unconformably overlies the Glasgow member, where it demarks the southern boundary of GT. Contacts for each stratigraphic unit were defined and transferred to a high-resolution image base to make a geologic map and cross sections perpendicular to the NE strike. Stratal dips cannot exceed 2° NW to retain the positions of stratigraphic units in the locations they are exposed throughout GT.

C. M. Fedo↗
NASA NTRS1978

Gas flow in the barred spiral galaxy NGC 5383

Line-of-sight gas velocities calculated from a numerical hydrodynamical model of a barred spiral galaxy are compared with the observations and models made by Peterson, Rubin, Ford, and Thonnard of the gas flow in NGC 5383. The hydrodynamical model provides a somewhat better fit to the observations of NGC 5383 than does their symmetric, warped-disk model. It is argued that the basic model appropriate to understanding the gas motions in barred spiral galaxies is not circular rotation but rather a characteristic elliptical pattern of flow.

Huntley, J. M.↗
NASA NTRS1979

Isophotometry of the nuclei of M31 and M51

Isophotic contour maps derived from blue plates confirm the change in position angle as a function of distance from the center of M31 in the red region reported by Peterson, Ford, and Rubin (1977). The techniques used for M31 were then applied to a study of M51, for which similar results were obtained for the nuclear region. The spiral arms of M51 were traced for an additional half turn near the center of the galaxy.

Feibelman, W. A.↗
NASA NTRS1982

Analysis of the ultraviolet spectrum of RWT 152 - A subluminous O star with a main-sequence visual spectrum

Observations of luminous early-type stars provide one of the most sensitive ways to detect the low density gas of the interstellar medium. As part of an ongoing program studying the gas in the galactic halo, stars believed to be outside the plane of the Milky Way have been observed. In the interest of studying the halo gas in additional directions, a search has been conducted for candidate stars which are bright enough to be observable with the International Ultraviolet Explorer Satellite (IUE) high dispersion mode and far enough from the galactic plane to provide a long line of sight through the halo gas. One such star is star 152 in the catalog of Rubin, Westpfahl, and Tuve (1974), which is called RWT 152 in the investigation. The IUE spectra of RWT 152 were obtained and analyzed. It appears that RWT 152 is not a young massive star, but rather a low mass object in an advanced stage of evolution.

Ebbets, D. C.↗
NASA NTRS1987

Automatic creation of object hierarchies for ray tracing

Various methods for evaluating generated trees are proposed. The use of the hierarchical extent method of Rubin and Whitted (1980) to find the objects that will be hit by a ray is examined. This method employs tree searching; the construction of a tree of bounding volumes in order to determine the number of objects that will be hit by a ray is discussed. A tree generation algorithm, which uses a heuristic tree search strategy, is described. The effects of shuffling and sorting on the input data are investigated. The cost of inserting an object into the hierarchy during the construction of a tree algorithm is estimated. The steps involved in estimating the number of intersection calculations are presented.

Goldsmith, Jeffrey↗
NASA NTRS1988

A study of Upgren 1

Upgren and Rubin (1965) have suggested that a small group of bright F stars, in the direction of the galactic north pole, may be the remnant of an old cluster. The multichannel astrometric photometer (MAP) has been used to determine the parallaxes of six of the candidate stars with an average precision of 1.1 thousandths of an arcsecond (1.1 mas). The derived distances are, as suggested, similar, and an unusual space density of F stars seems indicated. However, the derived space velocities indicate that the proposed cluster is composed of members of two dynamically different groups.

Gatewood, George↗
NASA NTRS1989

Multibody dynamics: Modeling component flexibility with fixed, free, loaded, constraint, and residual modes

The assumed-modes method in multibody dynamics allows the elastic deformation of each component in the system to be approximated by a sum of products of spatial and temporal functions commonly known as modes and modal coordinates respectively. The choice of component modes used to model articulating and non-articulating flexible multibody systems is examined. Attention is directed toward three classical Component Mode Synthesis (CMS) methods whereby component normal modes are generated by treating the component interface (I/F) as either fixed, free, or loaded with mass and stiffness contributions from the remaining components. The fixed and free I/F normal modes are augmented by static shape functions termed constraint and residual modes respectively. A mode selection procedure is outlined whereby component modes are selected from the Craig-Bampton (fixed I/F plus constraint), MacNeal-Rubin (free I/F plus residual), or Benfield-Hruda (loaded I/F) mode sets in accordance with a modal ordering scheme derived from balance realization theory. The success of the approach is judged by comparing the actuator-to-sensor frequency response of the reduced order system with that of the full order system over the frequency range of interest. A finite element model of the Galileo spacecraft serves as an example in demonstrating the effectiveness of the proposed mode selection method.

Spanos, John T.↗
NASA NTRS1990

Selection of component modes for the simulation of flexible multibody spacecraft

This paper describes a procedure for the selection of component modes employed in discretization of component deformation in a flexible multibody spacecraft. The emphasis is placed on the selection of modes which adequately represent the interaction of the various on-board control systems with the vehicle structural flexibility. The method combines the component mode synthesis approaches of Craig-Bampton (1968), MacNeal (1971) and Rubin (1975), and Benfield-Hruda (1971) with the modal balancing method of Moore (1981) and Gregory (1984). The procedure, which is applicable to both articulating and nonarticulating systems, was used to develop a low-order model of the three-body articulating Galileo spacecraft.

Spanos, John T.↗
NASA NTRS1990

The Hawaii Imaging Fabry-Perot Interferometer (HIFI)

At Mauna Kea Observatory, researchers conducted optical, imaging spectrophotometric studies of selected active galaxies using both the Canada-France-Hawaii 3.6m and University of Hawaii 2.2m telecopes (Tully, Bland and Cecil 1988). To maximize spatial resolution, researchers select galaxies independent of luminosity but known to possess interesting morphologies or high-velocity, extranuclear ionized gas (Walker 1968; Rubin and Ford 1968). They study both the large-scale patterns produced in IR-luminous, starburst systems (e.g., M82, NGC 253, NGC 6240) and those with compact, but spatially extended, circumnuclear, narrow line regions (e.g., M51, NGC 1068, NGC 4151). Current studies are restricted to the optical (SII), (NII) and (OIII) lines and the brightest Balmer recombination lines. These lines are, in principle, sufficient to constrain the dynamical structure and dominant excitation mechanism of the ionized component.

Bland, Jonathan↗
NASA NTRS1990

The polar-ring galaxies NGC 2685 and NGC 3808B (VV 300)

Polar-ring galaxies (PRG) are among the most interesting examples of interaction between galaxies. A PRG is a galaxy with an elongated main body surrounded by a ring (or a disk) of stars, gas, and dust rotating in a near-polar plane (Schweizer, Whitmore, and Rubin, 1983). Accretion of matter by a massive lenticular galaxy from either intergalactic medium or a companion galaxy is usually considered as an explanation of the observed structure of PRG. In the latter case there are two possibilities: capture and merging of a neighbor galaxy, and accretion of mass from a companion galaxy during a close encounter. Two PRG formation scenarios just mentioned are illustrated here by the results of our observations of the peculiar galaxies NGC 2685 and NGC 3808B.

Reshetnikov, V. P.↗
NASA NTRS1991

The Estherville mesosiderite - U-Pb, Rb-Sr, and Sm-Nd isotopic study of a polymict breccia

The U-Pb, Rb-Sr, and Sm-Nd isotopic systematics of the Estherville mesoderite were studied using analytical procedures and mass spectrometric techniques similar to those reported by Nakamura et al. (1976), Tatsumoto et al. (1987), and Premo et al. (1989) to analyze 21 separates of a 13-g Estherville clast, obtained either by handpicking or by using density and magnetic separation methods. The results on the Pb-Pb and U-Pb ages (about 4555 and about 4560 Ma, respectively) indicate that at least a part of the Estherville silicate fraction was formed early in the history of solar system. Younger Pb-Pb and U-Pb ages (about 4.43 Ga) were also obtained, confirming the heterogeneity of the Estherville mesoderite that is in agreement with the Wasson and Rubin (1985) suggestion of several generations of meteoritic impacts. The Sm-Nd and Rb-Sr ages were found to be close to 4.56 Ga.

Brouxel, M.↗
NASA NTRS1990

Investigation of two and three parameter equations of state for cryogenic fluids

Two-phase flows are a common occurrence in cryogenic engines and an accurate evaluation of the heat-transfer coefficient in two-phase flow is of significant importance in their analysis and design. The thermodynamic equation of state plays a key role in calculating the heat transfer coefficient which is a function of thermodynamic and thermophysical properties. An investigation has been performed to study the performance of two- and three-parameter equations of state to calculate the compressibility factor of cryogenic fluids along the saturation loci. The two-parameter equations considered here are van der Waals and Redlich-Kwong equations of state. The three-parameter equation represented here is the generalized Benedict-Webb-Rubin (BWR) equation of Lee and Kesler. Results have been compared with the modified BWR equation of Bender and the extended BWR equations of Stewart. Seven cryogenic fluids have been tested; oxygen, hydrogen, helium, nitrogen, argon, neon, and air. The performance of the generalized BWR equation is poor for hydrogen and helium. The van der Waals equation is found to be inaccurate for air near the critical point. For helium, all three equations of state become inaccurate near the critical point.

Jenkins, Susan L.↗
NASA NTRS1992

Residual flexibility test method for verification of constrained structural models

A method is presented for deriving constrained modes and frequencies from a model correlated to a set of free-free test modes and a set of measured residual flexibilities. The method involves a simple modification of the MacNeal and Rubin component mode representation to allow verification of a constrained structural model. Results for two spaceflight structures show quick convergence of constrained modes using an easily measurable set of free-free modes plus the residual flexibility matrix or its boundary partition. This paper further validates the residual flexibility approach as an alternative test/analysis method when fixed-base testing proves impractical.

Admire, John R.↗
NASA NTRS1992

A component modes projection and assembly model reduction methodology for articulated, multi-flexible body structures

A two-stage model reduction methodology, combining the classical Component Mode Synthesis (CMS) method and the newly developed Enhanced Projection and Assembly (EP&A) method is proposed in this research. The first stage of this methodology, called COmponent Mode Projection and Assembly model REduction (COMPARE) method, involves the generations of CMS mode sets, such as the MacNeal-Rubin mode sets. These mode sets are then used to reduce the order of each component model in the Rayleigh-Ritz sense. The resultant component models are then combined to generate reduced-order system models at various system configurations. A composite mode set which retains important system modes at all system configurations is then selected from these reduced-order system models. In the second stage, the EP&A model reduction method is employed to reduce further the order of the system model generated in the first stage. The effectiveness of the COMPARE methodology has been successfully demonstrated on a high-order, finite-element model of the cruise-configured Galileo spacecraft.

Lee, Allan Y.↗