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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 433 records · Page 24

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NASA NTRS1975

Electron impact ionization of Io's sodium emission cloud

The geometry of the sodium cloud associated with Io (Jupiter I) indicates that the lifetime of the neutral sodium atoms is an order of magnitude less than the photoionization lifetime. We suggest that ionization by thermal plasma electrons in the Jovian magnetosphere is the dominant Na loss process. Using plasma densities deduced from Pioneer 10 measurements, the lifetime and density distributions are calculated for Na and other species which may be present in the cloud around Io. Electron ionization of Na is found to be an order of magnitude faster than photoionization, in agreement with the lifetime deduced from Na cloud observations.

Carlson, R. W.↗

NASA NTRS1976

High-latitude troughs and the polar cap boundary

OGO 6 observations of troughs in the thermal plasma densities in the topside ionosphere are discussed. Ion mass spectrometer measurements were correlated with energetic electron detector and electric field measurements. It is shown that the variation of ion composition at high latitudes is complex and frequently characterized by mid-latitude and high-latitude density depression. Prominent high-latitude troughs in the atomic ion (H, He, O) distributions were seen to lie frequently near the polar cap boundary. This indicates that these troughs are unrelated to the plasmapause which is found on closed magnetic field lines away from the trapping boundary. The production of the high-latitude troughs is shown to be related to enhancements in the soft electron flux and/or to the convection electric field.

Grebowsky, J. M.↗

NASA NTRS1977

Small scale turbulence in the Crab Nebula: Evidence of lower hybrid parametric instabilities driven by the pulsar wave

Strong small scale turbulence is observed in the Crab Nebula from the temporal pulse broadening data. It is shown that the strong 30 Hz pulsar wave can parametrically excite instabilities near the lower hybrid frequency in the thermal plasma of the Crab Nebula with a characteristic wavelength of the order of the scale size a of the turbulence observed. These instabilities provided a coupling mechanism between the pulsar wave and the Nebula plasma.

Lee, L. C.↗

NASA NTRS1978

The diffuse component of the cosmic X-radiation

The A-2 experiment on HEAO-1 is specifically developed to study the diffuse radiation of the entire X-ray sky over a wide bandwidth, covering both the soft X-ray emission from nearby regions of the galaxy and the isotropic hard X-radiation indicative of remote extragalactic origins. A partial conclusion from the experiment is that a hot thermal plasma, on a scale comparable to that of the universe, may be the principal source of hard X-radiation characteristic of the extragalactic sky. Some key features of this background were defined.

Boldt, E. A.↗

NASA NTRS1976

Single crystal and polycrystalline GaAs solar cells using AMOS technology

A description is given of current technology for fabricating single AMOS (antireflection-coated metal oxide semiconductor) solar cells, with attention given to thermal, plasma, and anodic oxidation, native oxide stripping, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy results. Some preliminary results are presented on the chemistry and electrical characterization of such cells, and the characteristics of cells fabricated on sliced polycrystalline GaAs wafers are examined. Consideration is also given to the recrystallization of evaporated Ge films for use as low-cost substrates for polycrystalline GaAs solar cells.

Stirn, R. J.↗

NASA NTRS1978

Origin and evolution of the radio emission from immediate postoutburst supernovae

Several models for the radio emission from immediate postoutburst supernovae are examined under the assumption that the expanding remnant consists of a homogeneously mixed distribution of relativistic particles, magnetic field, and thermal plasma. The evolutionary models are: (1) an adiabatic expansion model; (2) a model incorporating the existence of a central pulsar; and (3) variations on the first two models in which relativistic electrons are accelerated either instantaneously or over an extended period of time and in which ionization, bremsstrahlung, synchrotron, Compton, and expansion losses are explicitly included. The character of the radio emission expected from these models is quite dissimilar. Whereas in adiabatic expansion models the emission is expected to increase slowly and become most intense at high frequencies, in models involving a central pulsar the emission should increase rapidly with a maximum flux density that is the same at all frequencies. The theoretical evolution of the radio emission for each model is compared with observations of SN 1970g.

Marscher, A. P.↗

NASA NTRS1979

Space environmental interactions with spacecraft surfaces

Environmental interactions are defined as the response of spacecraft surfaces to the charged-particle environment. These interactions are divided into two broad categories: spacecraft passive, in which the environment acts on the surfaces and spacecraft active, in which the spacecraft or a system on the spacecraft causes the interaction. The principal spacecraft passive interaction of concern is the spacecraft charging phenomenon. The spacecraft active category introduces the concept of interactions with the thermal plasma environment and Earth's magnetic fields, which are important at all altitudes and must be considered the designs of proposed large space structures and space power systems. The status of the spacecraft charging investigations is reviewed along with the spacecraft active interactions.

Stevens, J. N.↗

NASA NTRS1979

Thermal structure and major ion composition of the Venus ionosphere - First RPA results from Venus orbiter

Pioneer Venus in situ measurements of thermal plasma quantities were obtained by a retarding potential analyzer. Evidence for significant solar wind heating of the ionosphere and indications that the ionosphere is close to diffusive equilibrium are reported. Information on ionopause height, the ionospheric particle pressures at the ionopause, and the measured ratio of ionospheric scale height to ionopause ratio is presented.

Knudsen, W. C.↗

NASA NTRS1979

Retarding potential analyzer for the Pioneer-Venus Orbiter Mission

The retarding potential analyzer on the Pioneer-Venus Orbiter Mission has been designed to measure most of the thermal plasma parameters within and near the Venusian ionosphere. Parameters include total ion concentration, concentrations of the more abundant ions, ion temperatures, ion drift velocity, electron temperature, and low-energy (0-50 eV) electron distribution function. To accomplish these measurements on a spinning vehicle with a small telemetry bit rate, several functions, including decision functions not previously used in RPA's, have been developed and incorporated into this instrument. The more significant functions include automatic electrometer ranging with background current compensation; digital, quadratic retarding potential step generation for the ion and low-energy electron scans; a current sampling interval of 2 ms throughout all scans; digital logic inflection point detection and data selection; and automatic ram direction detection. Extensive numerical simulation and plasma chamber tests have been conducted to verify adequacy of the design for the Pioneer Mission.

Knudsen, W. C.↗

NASA NTRS1980

Heavy ions in Jupiter's environment

The extended atmosphere of the Jupiter system consists of atoms and ions of heavy elements. This material originates on the satellite Io. Energy is lost from the thermal plasma in collisionally excited optical and ultraviolet emission. The juxtaposition of Earth and spacecraft measurements provide insight concerning the underlying processes of particle transport and energy supply.

Brown, R. A.↗

NASA NTRS1980

A study of the Jovian forbidden line S II nebula at high spectral resolution

Observations of forbidden line S II 6716-6731 A emissions from the Jovian magnetosphere have been carried out with a PEPSIOS spectrometer at the Hale 5 m telescope. Spectral resolving power was sufficient to resolve the forbidden line S II line widths. From measured 6716-6731 A doublet ratios and spectral line widths a thermal plasma is found characterized by temperatures about 2 x 10 to the 4th K and electron densities about 2000 cu cm. The source of forbidden line S II emissions was centered within a toroidal region of radius 5 Jupiter radii (inside the orbit of Io), with tight latitudinal confinement near the equilibrium equator for ions in the tilted corotating Jovian magnetic field, and significant long-lived longitudinal structure.

Trauger, J. T.↗

NASA NTRS1980

Primary energy release

The physical processes by which the magnetic energy of a solar active region is converted to other forms of energy in the appearance of a solar flare are discussed. Observations of the secondary manifestations of flare energy release, such as thermal plasmas and energetic particle emissions, are presented, with particular attention given to the temporal variations of flare radiation, the various forms of energy release, flare energy density, flare locations and sizes, energy distributions and H alpha, hard X-ray and microwave burst events. Current models of the primary energy release process are surveyed, and the models of Spicer (1976, 1977), which explains rapid flare energy release in terms of multiple tearing modes causing reconnection in sheared magnetic fields, and Uchida and Sakurai (1976, 1978), which attributes primary energy release to dynamic collapse caused by the interchange instability of the neutral sheet, are examined in detail.

Kahler, S.↗

NASA NTRS1981

The retarding ion mass spectrometer on dynamics Explorer-A

An instrument designed to measure the details of the thermal plasma distribution combines the ion temperature-determining capability of the retarding potential analyzer with the compositional capabilities of the mass spectrometer and adds multiple sensor heads to sample all directions relative to the spacecraft ram directions. The retarding ion mass spectrometer, its operational modes and calibration are described as well as the data reduction plan, and the anticipated results.

Chappell, C. R.↗

NASA NTRS1981

Very low frequency waves stimulated by an electron accelerator in the auroral ionosphere

The sounding rocket, Polar 5, carrying a 10 keV electron accelerator in a mother-daughter configuration and other diagnostic instruments, was launched into a slightly disturbed ionosphere with weak auroral activity on February 1, 1976 from Northern Norway to study VLF wave phenomena. The rocket trajectory crossed two auroral regions: one, between 86 and 111 s flight time, and a secondary region between 230 and 330 s. The daughter, carrying the accelerator, was separated axially from the mother in a forward direction at an altitude of 90 km. The VLF experiment, carried by the mother payload, recorded both electromagnetic and electrostatic waves. The receiving antenna was an electric dipole, 0.3 m tip-to-tip, oriented 90 degrees to the rocket spin axis. The onboard particle detector recorded increased electron fluxes in the two auroral regions. A double peaked structure was observed in the fluxes of 4-5 and 12-27 keV electrons within the northern auroral form. The number density of thermal plasma varied during the flight, with maximum density within the main auroral region. To the north of this aurora a slow, steady decrease in the density was observed, with no enhancement in the region of the second aurora.

Holtet, J. A.↗

NASA NTRS1981

Heavy ions in Jupiter's environment

The extended atmosphere of the Jupiter system consists of heavy-element atoms and ions. This material originates on the satellite Io. Energy is lost from the thermal plasma in collisionally-excited optical and ultraviolet emission. The juxtaposition of earth and spacecraft measurements provide insight concerning the underlying processes of particle transport and energy supply.

Brown, R. A.↗

NASA NTRS1981

Monte Carlo simulation of charged particles upstream of the earth's bow shock

A simple model of the earth's bow shock is presented and compared with ISEE-1 observations of diffuse ions upstream of the shock. Ion behavior is modeled in a test particle simulation using Monte Carlo techniques for a plane parallel shock at which cold solar wind ions are heated sufficiently to allow diffusion back upstream. Fitting of the model to the observations indicates that the diffusion coefficient must increase faster than linearly with velocity, and provides an upper limit to the acceleration efficiency defined as the proportion of incoming solar wind ions accelerated and observed upstream. Results suggest that astrophysical shocks are capable of accelerating ions directly from the thermal plasma without the need for a distinct preenergizing injection stage.

Ellison, D. C.↗

NASA NTRS1980

Operational status of the space test program P78-2 spacecraft and payloads

Operations of the P78-2 spacecraft and its 12 payloads, which attempt to measure the buildup and breakdown of charge on various spacecraft components and to characterize the natural environment at synchronous altitudes, are summarized. Launch procedures, orbit alignment, and eclipse seasons are reviewed. The spacecraft configuration and subsystems are described. Catastrophic payload failures are reported: the SC6 (AFGL Thermal Plasma Analyzer) failed due to an excessive power draw in the electron step generator. The SC7 (NASA/MSFC Light Ion Mass Spectrometer) internal power supply failed. Lesser payload failures, including SC2 probe biasing, SC4-1 pulsed mode, and SC4-2 neutralizer are discussed.

Osgood, R. N.↗

NASA NTRS1981

Spectroscopy from 2 to 200 keV

The astrophysical processes responsible for line and continuum emission in the spectra range 2 keV to 200 keV are examined from the viewpoint of designing a spectrometer which would operate in this regime. Phenomena considered include fluorescent line radiation in X-ray binaries, magnetically shifted iron lines and cyclotron emission from neutron star surfaces, line emission from cosmically abundant elements in thermal plasmas, and nuclear deexcitation lines in fresh nucleosynthetically produced matter. An instrument consisting of a approximately 10 sq cm array of planar germanium detectors surrounded by a large sodium-iodide anticoincidence shield is described and projected background rates and sensitivities are considered. A sample observing program for a two-day shuttle-based mission is included as an example of the wide range of scientific questions which could be addressed by such an instrument.

Helfand, D. J.↗