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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 487 records · Page 27
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1952

An Experimental Investigation of Transonic Flow Past Two-Dimensional Wedge and Circular-Arc Sections Using A Mach-Zehnder Interferometer

Report presents the results of interferometer measurements of the flow field near two-dimensional wedge and circular-arc sections of zero angle of attack at high-subsonic and low-supersonic velocities. Both subsonic flow with local supersonic zone and supersonic flow with detached shock wave have been investigated. Pressure distributions and drag coefficients as a function of Mach number have been obtained. The wedge data are compared with the theoretical work on flow past wedge sections of Guderley and Yoshihara, Vincenti and Wagner, and Cole. Pressure distributions and drag coefficients for the wedge and circular-arc sections are presented throughout the entire transonic range of velocities.

Bryson, Arthur Earl, Jr↗
NASA NTRS2014

Structure and Evolution of the Lunar Procellarum Region as Revealed by GRAIL Gravity Data

The Procellarum region is a broad area on the nearside of the Moon that is characterized by low elevations, thin crust, and high surface concentrations of the heat-producing elements uranium, thorium, and potassium. The Procellarum region has been interpreted as an ancient impact basin approximately 3200 km in diameter, though supporting evidence at the surface would have been largely obscured as a result of the great antiquity and poor preservation of any diagnostic features. Here we use data from the Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory (GRAIL) mission to examine the subsurface structure of Procellarum. The Bouguer gravity anomalies and gravity gradients reveal a pattern of narrow linear anomalies that border the Procellarum region and are interpreted to be the frozen remnants of lava-filled rifts and the underlying feeder dikes that served as the magma plumbing system for much of the nearside mare volcanism. The discontinuous surface structures that were earlier interpreted as remnants of an impact basin rim are shown in GRAIL data to be a part of this continuous set of quasi-rectangular border structures with angular intersections, contrary to the expected circular or elliptical shape of an impact basin. The spatial pattern of magmatic-tectonic structures bounding Procellarum is consistent with their formation in response to thermal stresses produced by the differential cooling of the province relative to its surroundings, coupled with magmatic activity driven by the elevated heat flux in the region.

Procellarum↗
NASA NTRS1992

Origin of orbital debris impacts on Long Duration Exposure Facility's (LDEF) trailing surfaces

Orbital debris tracked by the US Space Command is mostly in near circular orbit around the Earth. If small debris were in the same types of orbits, there would be very few orbital debris impacts on the Long Duration Exposure Facility's (LDEF's) trailing surfaces. However, at least 15 percent of the impacts found on the trailing A03 gold surface was found to be orbital debris impacts. This measurement suggests that the orbital distribution of small debris is not the same as that of larger debris. Although this is not a total surprise, since modelling of satellite breakups has predicted different distributions, it does raise questions as to what types of orbits could be responsible for these impacts. A model was developed to explain these LDEF results. The model calculates the expected debris impact crater distribution around LDEF, as a function of debris orbital parameters. The results show that only low inclination and highly elliptical orbits could be responsible for these impacts. The most common object left in this type of orbit is an orbital transfer stage, used by the US and ESA to place objects into geosynchronous orbit, and inclinations near 28 and 7 degrees for the US and ESA, respectively. Even large fragments from satellites, which break up in these types of orbits, are difficult to observe from the ground; consequently, little is known about the number and characteristics of breakups in these orbits. The LDEF data suggest that these objects are breaking up. The LDEF data also suggest that the ratio of the contribution of small debris from this type of orbit to the contribution from circular orbits is about an order of magnitude larger than the same ratio for debris tracked by the US Space Command.

Kessler, Donald J.↗
NASA NTRS2018

NICER Discovers the Ultracompact Orbit of the Accreting Millisecond Pulsar IGR J17062-6143

We present results of recent Neutron Star Interior Composition Explorer (NICER) observations of the accreting millisecond X-ray pulsar (AMXP) IGR J17062-6143 that show that it resides in a circular, ultracompact binary with a 38-minute orbital period. NICER observed the source for 26 kiloseconds over a 5.3-day span in 2017 August, and again for 14 and 11 kiloseconds in 2017 October and November, respectively. A power spectral analysis of the August exposure confirms the previous detection of pulsations at 163.656 Hertz in Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer (RXTE) data, and reveals phase modulation due to orbital motion of the neutron star. A coherent search for the orbital solution using the Z squared method finds a best-fitting circular orbit with a period of 2278.21 seconds (37.97 minutes), a projected semimajor axis of 0.00390 lt-s (Localization Test Statistic), and a barycentric pulsar frequency of 163.6561105 Hertz. This is currently the shortest known orbital period for an AMXP. The mass function is 9.12 times 10 (sup minus 8) solar mass, presently the smallest known for a stellar binary. The minimum donor mass ranges from approximately 0.005 to 0.007 times the solar mass for a neutron star mass from 1.2 to 2 times the solar mass. Assuming mass transfer is driven by gravitational radiation, we find donor mass and binary inclination bounds of 0.0175-0.0155 times the solar mass and 19 degrees less than i less than 27.5 degrees, where the lower and upper bounds correspond to 1.4 and 2 times the solar mass neutron stars, respectively. Folding the data accounting for the orbital modulation reveals a sinusoidal profile with fractional amplitude 2.04 plus or minus 0.11 percent (0.3-3.2 kiloelectronvolts).

Strohmayer, T. E.↗
NASA NTRS1980

Effect of wing location and strakes on stability and control characteristics of a monoplanar circular missile with low-profile tail fins at supersonic speeds

A wind tunnel test was conducted at Mach numbers from 1.70 to 2.86 to extend the aerodynamic data base for wing tail effect on stability and control characteristics of monoplanar missiles. The results are summarized to show the effects of tail fin dihedral angle, wing location, and nose body strakes. The results indicate that an increase in tail fin dihedral angle produces positive increments in directional stability that allow greater trimmed lift coefficient values (maneuver potential) to be obtained. An increase in wing tail gap for the Mach number range reduces the aerodynamic center travel and produces reductions in directional stability at the lower angles of attack. A change in wing height (vertical location) strongly influences the angle of attack at which pitch up and the most directional stability occur. The addition of strakes to the baseline configuration increases directional stability, which allows a significant increase in stable trimmed maneuver capability. The tail fins of the baseline configuration are effective in producing roll and yaw control that are accompanied by favorable yaw and roll, respectively.

Blair, A. B., Jr.↗
NASA NTRS1986

Upwind Navier-Stokes solutions for separated periodic flows

The application of an upwind implicit approximate factorization Navier-Stokes algorithm to highly separated flow is described. Using both the thin-layer and complete forms of the Navier-Stokes equations, the low Reynolds number laminar flow around a circular cylinder with periodic shedding is solved. The effect of grid density, grid extent, and time step on the Strouhal number is shown. Results from both sets of equations agree within the experimental data band. Unsteady, laminar flow computations around inclined plates and separated airfoils are also described. Strouhal numbers agree to within 5 percent of experiments for inclined plates. Differences between the complete equations and the thin-layer approximation for separated periodic flows are discussed. Computations of an impulsively started circular cylinder and airfoil yield time-accurate flowfield shapes in good agreement with experimental flow visualizations. The turbulent computation of an airfoil at a high angle-of-attack is massively separated, but shows no evidence of periodicity.

Rumsey, C. L.↗
NASA NTRS1991

High resolution lunar radar studies: Preliminary results

High resolution radar data for the lunar surface were acquired over 14 sites in June and November 1990 using the new 10 MHz data taking system at the Arecibo Observatory. The raw data collected for each site covers an area approximately 100 by 400 km and will be processed using delay-Doppler techniques into images of backscatter cross section with three fo four independent looks. All observations transmitted a circularly polarized signal and both senses of circular polarization were received containing the polarized and depolarized component of the backscatter signal. The relative power in these two polarizations provides useful information on properties of the surface, in particular surface roughness. The effort to date focused on the initial data analysis with new software written to perform a full synthetic aperture focusing on the raw radar data. This analysis will involve the use of complementary high resolution optical and topographic data sets to aid interpretation of surface scattering mechanisms.

Stacy, Nicholas J. S.↗
NASA NTRS1947

Preliminary Tests in the Supersonic Sphere

This report presents preliminary data obtained in the Langley supersonic sphere. The supersonic sphere is essentially a whirling mechanism enclosed in a steel shell which can be filled with either air or Freon gas. The test models for two-dimensional study are of propeller form having the same plan form and diameter but varying only in the airfoil shape and thickness ratio. Torque coefficients for the 16-006, 65-110, and the 15 percent thick ellipse models are presented, as well as pressure distributions on a circular-arc supersonic airfoil section having a maximum thickness of 10 percent chord at the 1/3-chord position. Torque coefficients were measured in both Freon and air on the 15 percent thick ellipse, and the data obtained in air and Freon are found to be in close agreement. The torque coefficients for the three previously mentioned models showed large differences in magnitude at tip Mach numbers above 1, the model with the thickest airfoil section having the largest torque coefficient. Pressure distribution on the previously mentioned circular-arc airfoil section are presented at Mach numbers of 0.69, 1.26, and 1.42. At Mach numbers of 1.26 and 1.42 the test section is in the mixed flow region where both subsonic and supersonic speeds occur on the airfoil. No adequate theory has been developed for this condition of mixed flow, but the experimental data have been compared with values of pressure based on Ackeret's theory. The experimental data obtained at a Mach number of 1.26 on the rear portion of the airfoil section agree fairly well with the values calculated by Ackeret's theory. At a Mach number of 1.42 a larger percentage of the airfoil is in supersonic flow, and the experimental data for the entire airfoil agree fairly well with the values obtained using Ackeret's theory.

Baker, John E.↗
NASA NTRS2012

N(50) Crater Retention Ages for an Expanded Inventory of Lunar Basins: Evidence for an Early Heavy Bombardment and a Late Heavy Bombardment?

LOLA topography and LOLA-derived crustal thickness data provide evidence for a population of impact basins on the Moon that is likely a factor 2 larger than the classical lists based on photogeology. Frey (2012) determined N(50) crater retention ages (CRAs) for 83 candidate basins > 300 km in diameter by counting LOLA-identified craters superimposed over the whole area of the basins. For some basins identified in topography or model crustal thickness it is not possible to unambiguously identify the crater rim as is traditionally done. Also, Quasi-Circular Depressions (QCDs) > 50 km in diameter are recognizable in the mare-filled centers of many basins. Even though these are not apparent in image data, they likely represent buried impact craters superimposed on the basin floor prior to mare infilling and so should be counted in determining the age of the basin. Including these as well as the entire area of the basins improves the statistics, though the error bars are still large when using only craters > 50 km in diameter. The distribution of N(50) CRAs had two distinct peaks which did not depend on whether the basins were named (based on photogeology) or recognized first in topography or crustal thickness data. It also did not depend on basin diameters (both larger and smaller basins made up both peaks) and both peaks persisted even when weaker candidates were excluded. Burgess (2012, unpublished data) redid the counts for 85 basins but improved on the earlier effort by adjusting the counting area where basins overlap. The two peak distribution of N(50) ages was confirmed, with a younger peak at N(50) ~ 40-50 and an older peak at N(50) ~ 80-90 (craters > 50 km diameter per million square km). We suggest this could represent two distinct populations of impactors on the Moon: one producing an Early Heavy Bombardment (EHB) that predates Nectaris and the second responsible for the more widely recognized Late Heavy Bombardment (LHB).

Frey, Herbert↗
NASA NTRS2016

Proximity Link Design and Performance Options for a Mars Areostationary Relay Satellite

Current and near-term Mars relay telecommunications services are provided by a set of NASA and ESA Mars science orbiters equipped with UHF relay communication payloads employing operationally simple low-gain antennas. These have been extremely successful in supporting a series of landed Mars mission, greatly increasing data return relative to direct-to-Earth lander links. Yet their relay services are fundamentally constrained by the short contact times available from the selected science orbits. Future Mars areostationary orbiters, flying in circular, equatorial, 1- sol orbits, offer the potential for continuous coverage of Mars landers and rovers, radically changing the relay support paradigm. Achieving high rates on the longer slant ranges to areostationary altitude will require steered, high-gain links. Both RF and optical options exist for achieving data rates in excess of 100 Mb/s. Several point designs offer a measure of potential user burden, in terms of mass, volume, power, and pointing requirements for user relay payloads, as a function of desired proximity link performance.

telecommunications↗
NASA NTRS2016

Proximity Link Design and Performance Options for a Mars Areostationary Relay Satellite

Current and near-term Mars relay telecommunications services are provided by a set of NASA and ESA Mars science orbiters equipped with UHF relay communication payloads employing operationally simple low gain antennas. These have been extremely successful in supporting a series of landed Mars mission, greatly increasing data return relative to direct-to-Earth lander links. Yet their relay services are fundamentally constrained by the short contact times available from the selected science orbits. Future Mars areostationary orbiters, flying in circular, equatorial, 1- sol orbits, offer the potential for continuous coverage of Mars landers and rovers, radically changing the relay support paradigm. Achieving high rates on the longer slant ranges to areostationary altitude will require steered, high-gain links. Both RF and optical options exist for achieving data rates in excess of 100 Mb/s. Several point designs offer a measure of potential user burden, in terms of mass, volume, power, and pointing requirements for user relay payloads, as a function of desired proximity link performance.

telecommunications↗
NASA NTRS1973

Observations of Jupiter at 13-cm wavelength during 1969 and 1971.

Radio observations of Jupiter have been carried out at Goldstone, CA at a wavelength of 13 cm during the oppositions of 1969 and 1971. In 1969, circular-polarization and total-flux measurements were made with a 64-m radio telescope. From May through October 1971, Jupiter's flux density was measured at weekly intervals with a 26-m antenna. The upper limit to the degree of circular polarization over the longitude ranges 10-100 deg and 160-250 deg System III (1957.0) is 1%; the flux data have been used to derive a magnetospheric rotation period which is approximately 0.37 sec longer than the IAU System III (1957.0). The flux-density data define beaming curves which are apparently different from 11-cm beaming curves measured in 1964. Jupiter's peak flux density decreased by 20% between 1964 and 1971, and 8% between 1969 and 1971.

Gulkis, S.↗
NASA NTRS1984

The angular distribution of infrared radiances emerging from broken fields of cumulus clouds

Infrared radiances were simultaneously measured from broken cloud fields over the eastern Pacific Ocean by means of the eastern and western geostationary satellites. The measurements were compared with the results of models that characterized the clouds as black circular cylinders disposed randomly on a plane and as black cuboids disposed in regular and in shifted periodic arrays. The data were also compared with the results obtained from a radiative transfer model that considered emission and scattering by a regular array of periodic cuboidal clouds. It was found that the radiances did not depend significantly on the azimuth angle; this suggested that the observed cloud fields were not regular periodic arrays. However, the dependence on zenith angle suggested that the clouds were not disposed randomly either. The implication of these measurements on the understanding of the transfer of infrared radiances through broken cloud fields is considered.

Naber, P. S.↗
NASA NTRS1984

Very large array observations of Jupiter's nonthermal radiation

The VLA has been used at 18 and 20 cm to obtain observational data on Jupiter at all rotational aspects in all four Stokes parameters, yielding maps of the total, linearly polarized and circularly polarized intensity with a resolution of 0.25 Jupiter radii. These maps reveal such previously undetected phenomena as an emission feature close to the planetary surface north and south of each of the two main radiation peaks. The emission from 1.8 to about 3 Jupiter radii from the planet's center is sharply confined to the magnetic equator.

De Pater, I.↗
NASA NTRS1988

Performance of a class of parallel spread-spectrum code acquisition schemes in the presence of data modulation

An acquisition procedure for data-modulated direct-sequence spread-spectrum systems is investigated. The correlation time is partitioned into subintervals, and the integration results in these subintervals are noncoherently combined for detection. The tradeoff between noncoherent combining loss and data modulation degradation guides the optimum choice of the number of subintervals. Two forms of data modulation are considered, namely, the alternate-data and random-data cases. The parallel acquisition schemes discussed allow multiple code-phase offsets to be examined at each test. The circular state diagram approach is used to analyze the performances of these schemes. The theory presented is valid for a class of such parallel schemes.

Cheng, Unjeng↗
NASA NTRS1989

Design of the polarimeter for the Solar Activity Measurements Experiments (SAMEX) vector magnetograph

A design concept developed for a polarimeter on the vector magnetograph of the SAMEX satellite that would be very sensitive to solar vector magnetic fields is described. A description of the Poincare sphere is presented, along with the instrument scientific requirements, to provide an understanding of how the polarimeter design has been selected. It is shown that the design goal of a polarimetric sensitivity of 0.0001 can be achieved in the linear measurements using a hybrid analyzer. It is also noted that the systematic errors that produce linear crosstalk into the circular measurement will require the use of the redundant polarization measurements for in-flight calibrations and corrections of the data.

West, E. A.↗
NASA NTRS1989

Coronae on Venus observations and models of origin

The Venera 15/16 spacecraft revealed a number of features of unknown origin including coronae, elongate to circular structures with a complex interior surrounded by an annulus of concentric ridges. Eighteen coronae were identified in Venera 15/16 data of Venus; an additional thirteen possible coronae are found in Pioneer Venus and Arecibo data. Coronae, with maximum widths of 160 to over 650 km, are found primarily in two clusters in the Northern Hemisphere located to the east and west of Ishtar Terra. Another possible cluster is located in Themis Regio in the Southern Hemisphere. The majority of coronae are at least partially raised less than 1.5 km above the surrounding region, and over half are partially surrounded by a peripheral trough. A sequence of events for coronae has been determined through mapping. Prior to corona formation, regional compression or extension creates bands of lineaments along which coronae tend to later form. During the early stages of corona formation, relatively raised topography is produced by uplift and volcanic construction. The evolution of coronae and their general characteristics have been compared to two models of corona origin: hotspots and sinking mantle diapirs. In the hotspot or rising mantle diapir model, heating and melting at depth create uplift at the surface. Uplift is accompanied by central extension, facilitating volcanism. Gravitational relaxation of the uplifted region follows producing the compressional features within the annulus and the peripheral trough. Both models can predict the major characteristics and evolutionary sequence of coronae. The sinking diapir model does predict an early-time low and central compression as well as broadening and shallowing of the peripheral trough with time, all of which are not observed at current data resolution. In addition, the sinking mantle diapir mode predicts more simultaneous formation of the high topography, annulus and trough unlike the hotspot or rising mantle diapir mode. High resolution Magellan data will be used to distinguish between the two models of corona origin.

Stofan, E. R.↗
NASA NTRS1989

Characterization of thunderstorm induced Maxwell current densities in the middle atmosphere

Middle atmospheric transient Maxwell current densities generated by lightning induced charge perturbations are investigated via a simulation of Maxwell's equations. A time domain finite element analysis is employed for the simulations. The atmosphere is modeled as a region contained within a right circular cylinder with a height of 110 km and radius of 80 km. A composite conductivity profile based on measured data is used when charge perturbations are centered about the vertical axis at altitudes of 6 and 10 km. The simulations indicate that the temporal structure of the Maxwell current density is relatively insensitive to altitude variation within the region considered. It is also shown that the electric field and Maxwell current density are not generally aligned.

Baginski, Michael Edward↗