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At least 523 records · Page 29

A disk about PSR 1957+20?

Although the PSR 1957+20 binary system displays a large orbital period derivative, radio observations of the ablated wind from the companion reveal a low free electron density. If the orbital period derivative provides a true indication of the mass loss rate, then the ablated material must be overwhelmingly neutral or largely confined to a narrow region about the orbital plane. However, the companion's high orbital velocity, the observed turbulence in the eclipsing wind, and the energy density of the pulsar's spin-down radiation conspire to make a neutral evaporate unlikely. Radio, optical and infrared observations are shown to suggest that the companion to PSR 1957+20 is bloated, perhaps approaching the size of its Roche lobe. The wind off the companion is most probably a low velocity flow which does not travel far from the orbital plane.

Fruchter, A. S.↗

Treatability Study of Pentaborane(9)

Procedures for the safe destruction of liquid pentaborane(9), B5H9, by solvolysis were investigated. The objective of the study was to establish the optimum conditions for a pilot plant operation that would use water, or alcohol, or water-alcohol mixtures as the solvolysis reagent. Small amounts of B5H9 sprayed from a syringe will not necessarily enflame, nor will a small pool on a spot plate. Therefore, a procedure was developed to reproducibly demonstrate the flammability of B5H9. In these tests every sample of neat B5H9 ignited and burned with a very sooty flame till the sample was consumed. The spontaneous self-ignition of B5H9 was quenched by the addition of small concentrations of ethers THF (tetrahydrofuran) or DME (1,2-dimethoxy ethane). It was found that ten percent (volume) of either provided total quenching with a large margin of safety. When these stabilized solutions were exposed to air, they decomposed and evaporated leaving a residue that was identified by nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) analysis as boric acid. Most of the laboratory solvolysis experiments used the 90 percent B5H9, 10 percent THF solution. This mixture was safer to handle and its solvolysis reactivity was virtually identical to that of 100 percent B5H9. Reaction rates were analyzed by measurement of hydrogen evolved during the solvolysis reactions. In terms of the minimum overall complete reaction time, the data indicate that 50/50 alcohol/water is the optimum solvolysis reagent. This reaction produced a mixture of boric acid, B(OH)3, and triethoxyborane, B(OEt)3[Et = C2H5], and mixed exchange derivatives thereof.

McDonald, Joseph K.↗

Grain boundary mobility in anion doped MgO

Certain anions OH(-), F(-) and Gl(-) are shown to enhance grain growth in MgO. The magnitude of their effect decreases in the order in which the anions are listed and depends on their location (solid-solution, second phase) in the MgO lattice. As most anions exhibit relatively high vapor pressures at sintering temperatures, they retard densification and invariably promote residual porosity. The role of anions on grain growth rates was studied in relation to their effect on pore mobility and pore removal; the atomic process controlling the actual rates was determined from observed kinetics in conjunction with the microstructural features. With respect to controlling mechanisms, the effects of all anions are not the same. OH(-) and F(-) control behavior through creation of a defect structure and a grain boundary liquid phase while Cl(-) promotes matter transport within pores by evaporation-condensation. Studies on an additional anion, S to the minus 2nd power gave results which were no different from undoped MgO, possibly because of evaporative losses during hot pressing. Hence, the effect of sulphur is negligible or undetermined.

Kapadia, C. M.↗

Membrane-Based Water Evaporator for a Space Suit

A membrane-based water evaporator has been developed that is intended to serve as a heat-rejection device for a space suit. This evaporator would replace the current sublimator that is sensitive to contamination of its feedwater. The design of the membrane-based evaporator takes advantage of recent advances in hydrophobic micropore membranes to provide robust heat rejection with much less sensitivity to contamination. The low contamination sensitivity allows use of the heat transport loop as feedwater, eliminating the need for the separate feedwater system used for the sublimator. A cross section of the evaporator is shown in the accompanying figure. The space-suit cooling loop water flows into a distribution plenum, through a narrow annulus lined on both sides with a hydrophobic membrane, into an exit plenum, and returns to the space suit. Two perforated metal tubes encase the membranes and provide structural strength. Evaporation at the membrane inner surface dissipates the waste heat from the space suit. The water vapor passes through the membrane, into a steam duct and is vented to the vacuum environment through a back-pressure valve. The back-pressure setting can be adjusted to regulate the heat-rejection rate and the water outlet temperature.

Ungar, Eugene K.↗

The Global Seasonal Relationship Between Satellite-Observed Cold Pools and Rainfall

Convective cold pools are important modulators of the onset and evolution of deep convection in the tropics. This work leverages a dataset derived from the Advanced Scatterometer (ASCAT) satellite instrument by Garg et al. (2020) to quantify seasonal variations in cold pool activity and their relationship to deep convection across tropical ocean basins. The dataset identifies gradient features (GFs) in the surface wind field, which have been shown to serve as reliable proxies for the boundaries of atmospheric cold pools. We examine the relationship between GFs and climatologies of precipitation, column relative humidity (CRH), and bulk vertical wind shear. We also collocate GFs with precipitation and CRH. High GF frequency, precipitation, and CRH coincide in many regions of the tropics, consistent with our understanding of the physical connections between precipitation and cold pool generation. On the other hand, climatological bulk wind shear is often low in convective regions, and there is a weak inverse correlation between GF frequency and bulk wind shear, while our prior expectation might have been that shear promotes cold pool formation. Compared to GF frequency, GF size shows a weaker relationship with the convective environment, with some of the largest GF sizes occurring at lower CRH values for a given rainfall rate. In a few exceptional regions and seasons, such as the Indian Ocean in northern hemisphere summer, the region of greatest precipitation does not coincide with the region of greatest GF frequency. These cases also have very high seasonal mean CRH, suggesting that in these regions cold pool formation is suppressed by reduced evaporation of precipitation.

Convective cold pools↗

Chondrites and the Protoplanetary Disk, Part 3

Contents include the following: Ca-, Al-Rich Inclusions and Ameoboid Olivine Aggregates: What We Know and Don t Know About Their Origin. Aluminium-26 and Oxygen Isotopic Distributions of Ca-Al-rich Inclusions from Acfer 214 CH Chondrite. The Trapping Efficiency of Helium in Fullerene and Its Implicatiion to the Planetary Science. Constraints on the Origin of Chondritic Components from Oxygen Isotopic Compositions. Role of Planetary Impacts in Thermal Processing of Chondrite Materials. Formation of the Melilite Mantle of the Type B1 CAIs: Flash Heating or Transport? The Iodine-Xenon System in Outer and Inner Portions of Chondrules from the Unnamed Antarctic LL3 Chondrite. Nucleosynthesis of Short-lived Radioactivities in Massive Stars. The Two-Fluid Analysis of the Kelvin-Helmholtz Instability in the Dust Layer of a Protoplanetary Disk: A Possible Path to the Planetesimal Formation Through the Gravitational Instability. Shock-Wave Heating Model for Chonodrule Formation: Heating Rate and Cooling Rate Constraints. Glycine Amide Hydrolysis with Water and OH Radical: A Comparative DFT Study. Micron-sized Sample Preparation for AFM and SEM. AFM, FE-SEM and Optical Imaging of a Shocked L/LL Chondrite: Implications for Martensite Formation and Wave Propagation. Infrared Spectroscopy of Chondrites and Their Components: A Link Between Meteoritics and Astronomy? Mid-Infrared Spectroscopy of CAI and Their Mineral Components. The Origin of Iron Isotope Fractionation in Chondrules, CAIs and Matrix from Allende (CV3) and Chainpur (LL3) Chondrites. Protoplanetary Disk Evolution: Early Results from Spitzer. Kinetics of Evaporation-Condensation in a Melt-Solid System and Its Role on the Chemical Composition and Evolution of Chondrules. Oxygen Isotope Exchange Recorded Within Anorthite Single Crystal in Vigarano CAI: Evidence for Remelting by High Temperature Process in the Solar Nebula. Chondrule Forming Shock Waves in Solar Nebula by X-Ray Flares. Organic Globules with Anormalous Nitrogen Isotopic Compositions in the Tagish Lake Meteorite: Products of Primitive Organic Reactions. Yet Another Chondrule Formation Scenario. CAIs are Not Supernova Condensates. Microcrystals and Amorphous Material in Comets and Primitive Meteorites: Keys to Understanding Processes in the Early Solar System. A Nearby Supernova Injected Short-lived Radionuclides into Our Protoplanetary Disk. REE+Y Systematics in CC and UOC Chondrules. Meteoritic Constraints on Temperatures, Pressures, Cooling Rates, Chemical Compositions, and Modes of Condensation in the Solar Nebula. The I-Xe Record of Long Equilibration in Chondrules from the Unnamed Antarctic Meteorite L3/LL3. Early Stellar Evolution.

Source record↗

Laboratory studies of binary salt CVD in combustion gas environments

A flash-evaporation technique is used to obtain vapor deposition characteristics for the binary alkali sulfates K2SO4 + Na2SO4 at 1 atm above 1100 K. The experimental equipment and techniques are described, and preliminary results are reported which indicate that this experimental technique meets most of the research requirements for studying multicomponent systems of current interest. The various deposition rate effects of introducing additives and the relevant inferences of condensate composition are presented, and the theoretical implications are discussed. It is concluded that alkali sulfate deposition and vaporization in combustion environments are inevitably influenced by chemical reactions such as hydroxide formation, and that solution nonideality is important even for homologous alkali-salt mixtures.

Liang, Baishen↗

Microencapsulation and Electrostatic Processing Method

Methods are provided for forming spherical multilamellar microcapsules having alternating hydrophilic and hydrophobic liquid layers, surrounded by flexible, semi-permeable hydrophobic or hydrophilic outer membranes which can be tailored specifically to control the diffusion rate. The methods of the invention rely on low shear mixing and liquid-liquid diffusion process and are particularly well suited for forming microcapsules containing both hydrophilic and hydrophobic drugs. These methods can be carried out in the absence of gravity and do not rely on density-driven phase separation, mechanical mixing or solvent evaporation phases. The methods include the process of forming, washing and filtering microcapsules. In addition, the methods contemplate coating microcapsules with ancillary coatings using an electrostatic field and free fluid electrophoresis of the microcapsules. The microcapsules produced by such methods are particularly useful in the delivery of pharmaceutical compositions.

Morrison, Dennis R.↗

Development of the seeding system used for laser velocimeter surveys of the NASA Low-Speed Centrifugal Compressor flow field

An atomizer-based system for distributing high-volume rates of seed material was developed to support laser velocimeter investigations of the NASA Low-Speed Centrifugal Compressor flow field. The seeding system and the major concerns that were addressed during its development are described. Of primary importance were that the seed material be dispersed as single particles and that the liquid carrier used be completely evaporated before entering the compressor.

Wasserbauer, Charles A.↗

A meteor-ablation model of the sodium and potassium layers

Recent results on meteor ablation are used as input to a model in which ablation (or evaporation) is the source and deposition on dust particles is the sink. The dust comes from recondensation of the rest of the meteor vapor. An excellent match is found to the observed characteristics of the sodium layer. It is argued that the high-latitude winter maximum of abundance (and layer height) is due to the much lower rate of ionization there and over the polar cap. The computations show the required factor of 4-5 and also match the height variation. To keep the ion density from being too large, downward electrodynamic transport at about 50 cm/sec must be invoked. The different behavior and low abundance of potassium require an additional sink. The one proposed is Penning ionization by metastable excited O2. Inherent in the model is that sodium and its compounds reside almost entirely on dust particles below 80 km. Large abundances in the free form at stratospheric heights are very unlikely and are not a good explanation of observed ambient ions.

Hunten, D. M.↗

Design and test of a pumped two-phase mounting plate

The design, fabrication, and testing of the full-scale development unit of a pumped two-phase mounting plate (TPMP) used in advanced two-phase spacecraft thermal control systems are described. The mounting plate is tested with R-11 in the evaporator mode for total heat loads of over 3000 watts and local heat fluxes over 4 W/sq cm, and in the condenser mode with condenser loads from 60 to 400 watts and inlet qualities from 8 to 94 percent. The calculated heat-transfer coefficients are between 0.66 and 1.0 W/sq cm/C and are nearly independent of the flow rate and heat load except at very low heat loads. It is shown that the TPMP can be run with inlet conditions down to 22 C subcooling without any significant gradients in the plate and that it performs well with nonuniform heat fluxes.

Grote, M. G.↗

Ignition and Combustion of Bulk Metals in a Microgravity Environment

Results of a study of heterogeneous and homogeneous combustion of metals in reduced gravity are presented. Cylindrical titanium and magnesium samples are radiatively ignited in pure-oxygen at 1 atm. Qualitative observations, propagation rates, and burning times are extracted from high-speed cinematography. Time-resolved emission spectra of gas-phase reactions are acquired with an imaging spectrograph. Lower propagation rates of the reacting mass on titanium and of ignition waves on magnesium are obtained at reduced gravity. These rates are compared to theoretical results from fire-spread analyses with a diffusion/convection controlled reaction. The close agreement found between experimental and theoretical propagation rates indicates the strong influence of natural-convection-enhanced oxygen transp6rt on burning rates. Lower oxygen flux and lack of condensed product removal appear to be responsible for longer burning times of magnesium gas-phase diffusion flames in reduced gravity. Spherically symmetric explosions in magnesium flames at reduced gravity (termed radiation-induced metal explosions, or RIME) may be driven by increased radiation heat transfer from accumulated condensed products to an evaporating metal core covered by a porous, flexible oxide coating. In titanium specimens, predominantly heterogeneous burning characterizes the initial steady propagation of the molten mass, while homogeneous gas-phase reactions are detected around particles ejected from the molten mixture. In magnesium specimens, band and line reversal of all the UV spectral systems of Mg and MgO are attributed to the interaction between small oxide particles and the principal gaseous emitters.

Branch, Melvyn C.↗

Better Weather Prediction and Climate Diagnostics Using Rainfall Measurements from Space

Progress in understanding of the role of water in global weather and climate is currently limited by our knowledge of the spatial and temporal variability of primary hydrological fields such as precipitation and evaporation. The Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) has recently demonstrated that use of microwave-based rainfall observations from space in data assimilation can provide better climate data sets and improve short-range weather forecasting. At NASA, we have been exploring non-traditional approaches to assimilating TRMM Microwave Imager (TMI) and Special Sensor Microwavehager (SSM/I) surface rain rate and latent heating profile information in global systems. In this talk we show that assimilating microwave rain rates using a continuous variational assimilation scheme based on moisture tendency corrections improves quantitative precipitation estimates (QPE) and related clouds, radiation energy fluxes, and large-scale circulations in the Goddard Earth Observing System (GEOS) reanalyses. Short-range forecasts initialized with these improved analyses also yield better QPE scores and storm track predictions for Hurricanes Bonnie and Floyd. We present a status report on current efforts to assimilate convective and stratiform latent heating profile information within the general variational framework of model parameter estimation to seek further improvements. Within the next 5 years, there will be a gradual increase in microwave rain products available from operational and research satellites, culminating to a target constellation of 9 satellites to provide global rain measurements every 3 hours with the proposed Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission in 2007/2008. Based on what has been learned from TRMM, there is a high degree of confidence that these observations can play a'major role in improving weather forecasts and producing better global datasets for understanding the Earth's water and energy cycle. The key to success is to adopt an integrated approach to retrieval, validation, modeling, and data assimilation in a coordinated end-to-end observation-application program.

Hou, Arthur↗

Testing and Results of Human Metabolic Simulation Utilizing Ultrasonic Nebulizer Technology for Water Vapor Generation

Life support technology must be evaluated thoroughly before ever being implemented into a functioning design. A major concern during that evaluation is safety. The ability to mimic human metabolic loads allows test engineers to evaluate the effectiveness of new technologies without risking injury to any actual humans. The main function of most life support technologies is the removal of carbon dioxide (CO2) and water (H2O) vapor. As such any good human metabolic simulator (HMS) will mimic the human body s ability to produce these items. Introducing CO2 into a test chamber is a very straightforward process with few unknowns so the focus of this particular new HMS design was on the much more complicated process of introducing known quantities of H2O vapor on command. Past iterations of the HMS have utilized steam which is very hard to keep in vapor phase while transporting and injecting into a test chamber. Also steam adds large quantities of heat to any test chamber, well beyond what an actual human does. For the new HMS an alternative approach to water vapor generation was designed utilizing ultrasonic nebulizers as a method for creating water vapor. Ultrasonic technology allows water to be vibrated into extremely tiny pieces (2-5 microns) and evaporate without requiring additional heating. Doing this process inside the test chamber itself allows H2O vapor generation without the unwanted heat and the challenging process of transporting water vapor. This paper presents the design details as well as results of all initial and final acceptance system testing. Testing of the system was performed at a range of known human metabolic rates in both sea-level and reduced pressure environments. This multitude of test points fully defines the systems capabilities as they relate to actual environmental systems testing.

Stubbe, Matthew↗

Space Suit Portable Life Support System Test Bed (PLSS 1.0) Development and Testing

A multi-year effort has been carried out at NASA-JSC to develop an advanced extra-vehicular activity Portable Life Support System (PLSS) design intended to further the current state of the art by increasing operational flexibility, reducing consumables, and increasing robustness. Previous efforts have focused on modeling and analyzing the advanced PLSS architecture, as well as developing key enabling technologies. Like the current International Space Station Extra-vehicular Mobility Unit PLSS, the advanced PLSS comprises three subsystems required to sustain the crew during extra-vehicular activity including the Thermal, Ventilation, and Oxygen Subsystems. This multi-year effort has culminated in the construction and operation of PLSS 1.0, a test bed that simulates full functionality of the advanced PLSS design. PLSS 1.0 integrates commercial off the shelf hardware with prototype technology development components, including the primary and secondary oxygen regulators, Ventilation Subsystem fan, Rapid Cycle Amine swingbed carbon dioxide and water vapor removal device, and Spacesuit Water Membrane Evaporator heat rejection device. The overall PLSS 1.0 test objective was to demonstrate the capability of the Advanced PLSS to provide key life support functions including suit pressure regulation, carbon dioxide and water vapor removal, thermal control and contingency purge operations. Supplying oxygen was not one of the specific life support functions because the PLSS 1.0 test was not oxygen rated. Nitrogen was used for the working gas. Additional test objectives were to confirm PLSS technology development components performance within an integrated test bed, identify unexpected system level interactions, and map the PLSS 1.0 performance with respect to key variables such as crewmember metabolic rate and suit pressure. Successful PLSS 1.0 testing completed 168 test points over 44 days of testing and produced a large database of test results that characterize system level and component performance. With the exception of several minor anomalies, the PLSS 1.0 test rig performed as expected; furthermore, many system responses trended in accordance with pre-test predictions.

Watts, Carly↗

A double-moment multiple-phase four-class bulk ice scheme, Part 1: Description

A detailed ice-phase bulk microphysical scheme has been developed for simulating the hydrometeor distributions of convective and stratiform precipitation in different large-scale environmental conditions. The proposed scheme involves 90 distinct microphysical processes, which predict the mixing ratios and the number concentrations of small ice crystals, snow, graupel, and frozen drops/hail, as well as the mixing ratios of liquid water on wet precipitation ice (snow, graupel, frozen drops). The number of adjustable coefficients has been significantly reduced in comparison with other bulk schemes. Additional improvements have been made to the parameterization in the following areas: (1) representing small ice crystals with nonzero terminal fall velocities and dispersive size distributions, (2) accurate and computationally efficient calculations of precipitation collection processes, (3) reformulating the collection equation to prevent unrealistically large accretion rates, (4) more realistic conversion by riming between different classes of precipitation ice, (5) preventing unrealistically large rates of raindrop freezing and freezing of liquid water on ice, (6) detailed treatment of various rime-splintering ice multiplication mechanisms, (7) a simple representation of the Hobbs-Rangno ice enhancement process, (8) aggregation of small ice crystals and snow, and (9) allowing explicit competition between cloud water condensation and ice deposition rates rather than using saturation adjustment techniques. For the purposes of conserving the higher moments of the particle distributions, preserving the spectral widths (or slopes) of the particle spectra is shown to be more important than strict conservation of particle number concentration when parameterizing changes in ice-particle number concentrations due to melting, vapor transfer processes (sublimation of dry ice, evaporation from wet ice), and conversion between different hydrometeor species. The microphysical scheme is incorporated into a nonhydrostatic cloud model in Part 2 of this study. The model performed well in simulating the radar and microphysical structures of a midlatitude-continental squall lines and a tropical-maritime squall system with minimal tuning of the parameterization, even though the vertical profiles of radar reflectivity differed substantially between these storms.

Ferrier, Brad Shoenberg↗

Chemisorption kinetics of hydrogen on evaporated iron films

An investigation is conducted of the kinetics of isothermal adsorption-desorption processes involving molecular hydrogen which is chemisorbed onto thin (20 to 50 A) polycrystalline Fe films at temperatures near 300 K. The results of the investigation indicate that chemisorption in the H2-Fe system occurs via a precursor state of molecularly adsorbed hydrogen. Contamination of the surface from unknown impurities in the gas phase is found to affect the number of available adsorption sites and to modify the prefactor for the absolute desorption rate constant for the precursor state.

Shanabarger, M. R.↗

Incorporation of an evaporative cooling scheme into a dynamic model of orographic precipitation

A simple evaporative cooling scheme was incorporated into a dynamic model to estimate orographic precipitation in mountainous regions. The orographic precipitation model is based on the transport of atmospheric moisture and the quantification of preciptable water across a 3D representation of the terrain from the surface up to 250 hPa. Advective wind fields are computed independently and boundary conditions are extracted from radiosonde data. Precipitation rates are obtained through calibration of a spatially distributed precipitation efficiency parameter. The model was applied to the central Sierra Nevada. Results show a gain of the order of 20% in threat-score coefficients designed to measure the forecast ability of the model. Accuracy gains are largest at high elevations and during intense storms associated with warm air masses.

Barros, Ana Paula↗