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At least 379 records · Page 21

Non-Coalescence in Microgravity: Science and Technology

In this project we examine non-coalescence and non-wetting phenomena driven by either thermocapillary convection or forced motion of one surface relative to the other. In both cases, the non-coalescence or non-wetting is enabled by the existence of a lubricating layer of gas that exists to keep the two surfaces in question from coming into contact with one another. Recent progress has been made on several fronts: 1) measurement of the vibrational modes of pinned droplets; 2) development of an apparatus for the measurement of the frictional forces associated with a non-wetting droplet sliding over a solid surface; 3) measurements of the failure modes for non-wetting droplets and the influence of static electric charge on failure-, and 4) numerical simulation of a two-dimensional non-wetting droplet revealing a possible explanation for why the phenomenon has not been able to be observed using water as the droplet liquid. Issue 1) above is of relevance to the use of non-wetting droplets as positioning mechanisms and vibration dampers in a microgravity environment; issue 2) relates to the use of non-wetting droplets as nearly 'frictionless' bearings in low-load applications. Understanding of the failure modes identified in 3) is of importance to any potential application and the numerical simulations conducted under 4) allow us to obtain information about these systems that is currently not available through experimentation Each of these topics will be discussed briefly during the presentation.

Neitzel, G. Paul↗

National Educators' Workshop: Update 2002 - Standard Experiments in Engineering, Materials Science, and Technology

This document contains a collection of experiments presented and demonstrated at the National Educators' Workshop: Update 2002 held in San Jose, California, October 13-16,2002. This publication provides experiments and demonstrations that can serve as a valuable guide to faculty who are interested in useful activities for their students. The material was the result of years of research aimed at better methods of teaching technical subjects. The experiments developed by faculty, scientists, and engineers throughout the United States and abroad add to the collection from past workshops. They include a blend of experiments on new materials and traditional materials.

Prior, Edwin J.↗

Non-Coalescence in Microgravity: Science and Technology

Non-coalescence of two bodies of the same liquid and the suppression of contact between liquid drops and solid surfaces (nonwetting) has been studied through a pair of parallel investigations being conducted at the Georgia Institute of Technology and the Microgravity Research and Support (MARS) Center in Naples, Italy. Both non- coalescence and nonwetting may achieved by either: i) exploiting the mechanism of thermocapillary convection to drive a lubricating film of surrounding gas (air) into the space between the two liquid free surfaces (non-coalescence) or between the drop free surface and the solid (nonwetting); or ii) using the otherwise forced motion of the solid (or one liquid) surface to generate the lubricating film. These, and other types of related phenomena are discussed in our recent review article (Neitzel GP, Dell'Aversana P. 2002. Noncoalescence and nonwetting behavior of liquids. Annual Review of Fluid Mechanics 34: 267-89). This project was a continuation of earlier research on this subject and includes the possible uses of non-coalescing/wetting systems in technological applications.

Neitzel, G. Paul↗

Science and technology results from the OSS-1 payload on the Space Shuttle

The OSS-1 Payload of nine experiments was carried on the STS-3 Space Shuttle flight in March of 1982. The OSS-1 Payload contained four instruments that evaluated specific aspects of the Orbiter's environment, including the levels of particulate, gaseous and electromagnetic emissions given off by the Orbiter, and the interactions between the Orbiter and the surrounding plasma. In addition to these environmental observations, these instruments performed scientific investigations in astronomy and in space plasma physics, including active experiments in electron beam propagation. Other experiments were in the areas of solar physics, plant growth, micrometeorite studies and the technology of actively controlled heat pipes. We present the initial results from these experiments, with some implications of these results for future operation of space experiments from the Shuttle payload bay. One major result was the unexpected discovery of a faint surface-induced optical glow created near the Shuttle surfaces by impacts of ambient atmospheric atoms and molecules.

short duration↗

National Educators' Workshop: Update 2003. Standard Experiments in Engineering, Materials Science, and Technology

The 18th Annual National Educators Workshop [NEW:Update 2003] was a part of NASA Langley s celebration of the Centennial of Controlled, Powered Flight by Orville and Wilbur Wright on December 17, 1903. The conference proceedings from NEW:Update 2003 reflect the Flight 100 theme by first providing a historic perspective on the remarkable accomplishments of the Wright Brothers. The historical perspective set the stag for insights into aeronautics and aerospace structures and materials now and into the future. The NEW:Update 2003 proceedings provide valuable resources to educators and students in the form of visuals, experiments and demonstrations for classes/labs at levels ranging from precollege through college education.

Prior, Edwin J.↗

National Educators' Workshop: Update 2003. Standard Experiments in Engineering, Materials Science, and Technology

The 18th Annual National Educators Workshop [NEW:Update 2003] was a part of NASA Langley s celebration of the Centennial of Controlled, Powered Flight by Orville and Wilbur Wright on December 17, 1903. The conference proceedings from NEW:Update 2003 reflect the Flight 100 theme by first providing a historic perspective on the remarkable accomplishments of the Wright Brothers. The historical perspective set the stag for insights into aeronautics and aerospace structures and materials now and into the future. The NEW:Update 2003 proceedings provide valuable resources to educators and students in the form of visuals, experiments and demonstrations for classes/labs at levels ranging from precollege through college education.

Prior, Edwin J.↗

Using the Web to Bring Space Science and Technology Down To Earth

At JPL, the World-Wide Web has become an invaluable educational outreach mechanism. In the area of space flight mission operations, for example, we have been able to make publicly accessible two workbooks found to be of much wider interest than their original internal training purposes would have suggested.

astronomy educational material↗

Solar Probe Plus: Report of the Science and Technology Definition Team

Solar Probe+ will be an extraordinary and historic mission, exploring what is arguably the last region of the solar system to be visited by a spacecraft, the Sun s outer atmosphere or corona as it extends out into space. Approaching as close as 9.5 RS* (8.5 RS above the Sun s surface), Solar Probe+ will repeatedly sample the near-Sun environment, revolutionizing our knowledge and understanding of coronal heating and of the origin and evolution of the solar wind and answering critical questions in heliophysics that have been ranked as top priorities for decades. Moreover, by making direct, in-situ measurements of the region where some of the most hazardous solar energetic particles are energized, Solar Probe+ will make a fundamental contribution to our ability to characterize and forecast the radiation environment in which future space explorers will work and live.

Source record↗

SIM Planetquest Science and Technology: A Status Report

Optical interferometry will open new vistas for astronomy over the next decade. The Space Interferometry Mission (SIM-PlanetQuest), operating unfettered by the Earth's atmosphere, will offer unprecedented astrometric precision that promises the discovery of Earth-analog extra-solar planets as well as a wealth of important astrophysics. Results from SIM will permit the determination of stellar masses to accuracies of 2% or better for objects ranging from brown dwarfs through main sequence stars to evolved white dwarfs, neutron stars, and black holes. Studies of star clusters will yield age determinations and internal dynamics. Microlensing measurements will present the mass spectrum of the Milky Way internal to the Sun while proper motion surveys will show the Sun's orbital radius and speed. Studies of the Galaxy's halo component and companion dwarf galaxies permit the determination of the Milky Way's mass distribution, including its Dark Matter component and the mass distribution and Dark Matter component of the Local Group. Cosmology benefits from precision (1-2%) determination of distances to Cepheid and RR Lyrae standard candles. The emission mechanism of supermassive black holes will be investigated. Finally, radio and optical celestial reference frames will be tied together by an improvement of two orders of magnitude. Optical interferometers present severe technological challenges. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, with the support of Lockheed Martin Advanced Technology Center (LM ATC) and Northrop Grumman Space Technology (NGST), has addressed these challenges with a technology development program that is now complete. The requirements for SIM have been satisfied, based on outside peer review, using a series of laboratory tests and appropriate computer simulations: laser metrology systems perform with 10 picometer precision; mechanical vibrations have been controlled to nanometers, demonstrating orders of magnitude disturbance rejection; and knowledge of component positions throughout the whole test assembly has been demonstrated to the required picometer level. Technology transfer to the SIM flight team is now well along.

astrometry↗

Solar Probe: Report of the Science and Technology Definition Team

The Solar Probe mission of the Living With a Star program will be a historic mission, flying into one of the last unexplored regions of the solar system, the Sun's atmoshpere or corona, for the first time. Approaching as close as 3 Rs above the Sun's surface, Solar Probe will employ a combination of in-situ measurements and imaging to achieve the mission's primary scientific goal: to understand how the Sun's corona is heated and how the solar wind is accelerated. Solar Probe will revolutionize our knowledge of the physics of the origin and evolution of the solar wind. Moreover, by making the only direct, in-situ measurements of the region where some of the deadliest solar energetic particles are energized, Solar Probe will make unique and fundamental contributions to our ability to characterize and forecast the radiation environment in which future space explorers will work and live.

Source record↗

Tools for Tomorrow's Science and Technology Workforce: MATE's 2006 ROV Competition Sets Students' Sights on Ocean Observing Systems

Teams participating in the 2006 ROV competition organized by the Marine Advanced Technology Education (MATE) Center and the Marine Technology Society's (MTS) ROV Committee experienced first-hand the scientific and technical challenges that many ocean scientists, technicians, and engineers face every day. The competition tasked more than 1,000 middle and high school, college, and university students from Newfoundland to Hong Kong with designing and building ROVs to support the next generation of ocean observing systems. Teaming up with the National Office for Integrated and Sustained Ocean Observations, Ocean. US, and the Ocean Research Interactive Observatory Networks (ORION) Program, the competition highlighted ocean observing systems and the careers, organizations, and technologies associated with ocean observatories. The student teams were challenged to develop vehicles that can deploy, install, and maintain networks of instruments as well as to explore the practical applications and the research questions made possible by observing systems.

OCEANOGRAPHERS↗

Developing Dual Polarization Applications For 45th Weather Squadron's (45 WS) New Weather Radar: A Cooperative Project With The National Space Science and Technology Center (NSSTC)

A new weather radar is being acquired for use in support of America s space program at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, NASA Kennedy Space Center, and Patrick AFB on the east coast of central Florida. This new radar includes dual polarization capability, which has not been available to 45 WS previously. The 45 WS has teamed with NSSTC with funding from NASA Marshall Spaceflight Flight Center to improve their use of this new dual polarization capability when it is implemented operationally. The project goals include developing a temperature profile adaptive scan strategy, developing training materials, and developing forecast techniques and tools using dual polarization products. The temperature profile adaptive scan strategy will provide the scan angles that provide the optimal compromise between volume scan rate, vertical resolution, phenomena detection, data quality, and reduced cone-of-silence for the 45 WS mission. The mission requirements include outstanding detection of low level boundaries for thunderstorm prediction, excellent vertical resolution in the atmosphere electrification layer between 0 C and -20 C for lightning forecasting and Lightning Launch Commit Criteria evaluation, good detection of anvil clouds for Lightning Launch Commit Criteria evaluation, reduced cone-of-silence, fast volume scans, and many samples per pulse for good data quality. The training materials will emphasize the appropriate applications most important to the 45 WS mission. These include forecasting the onset and cessation of lightning, forecasting convective winds, and hopefully the inference of electrical fields in clouds. The training materials will focus on annotated radar imagery based on products available to the 45 WS. Other examples will include time sequenced radar products without annotation to simulate radar operations. This will reinforce the forecast concepts and also allow testing of the forecasters. The new dual polarization techniques and tools will focus on the appropriate applications for the 45 WS mission. These include forecasting the onset of lightning, the cessation of lightning, convective winds, and hopefully the inference of electrical fields in clouds. This presentation will report on the results achieved so far in the project.

Roeder, W.P.↗

Using Game Development to Engage Students in Science and Technology

Game design workshops, camps and activities engage K-12 students In STEM disciplines that use game engine and development tools. Game development will have students create games and simulations that Will inspire them to love technology while learning math, physics, and,logic. By using tools such as Gamemaker, Alice, Unity, Gamesalad and others, students will get a sense of confidence and accomplishment creating games and simulations.

Wiacek, John↗