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NASA NTRS1997

Experiments in Aircraft Roll-Yaw Control using Forebody Tangential Blowing

Advantages of flight at high angles of attack include increased maneuverability and lift capabilities. These are beneficial not only for fighter aircraft, but also for future supersonic and hypersonic transport aircraft during take-off and landing. At high angles of attack the aerodynamics of the vehicle are dominated by separation, vortex shedding and possibly vortex breakdown. These phenomena severely compromise the effectiveness of conventional control surfaces. As a result, controlled flight at high angles of attack is not feasible for current aircraft configurations. Alternate means to augment the control of the vehicle at these flight regimes are therefore necessary. The present work investigates the augmentation of an aircraft flight control system by the injection of a thin sheet of air tangentially to the forebody of the vehicle. This method, known as Forebody Tangential Blowing (FTB), has been proposed as an effective means of increasing the controllability of aircraft at high angles of attack. The idea is based on the fact that a small amount of air is sufficient to change the separation lines on the forebody. As a consequence, the strength and position of the vortices are altered causing a change on the aerodynamic loads. Although a very effective actuator, forebody tangential blowing is also highly non-linear which makes its use for aircraft control very difficult. In this work, the feasibility of using FTB to control the roll-yaw motion of a wind tunnel model was demonstrated both through simulations and experimentally. The wind tunnel model used in the experiments consists of a wing-body configuration incorporating a delta wing with 70-degree sweep angle and a cone-cylinder fuselage. The model is equipped with forebody slots through which blowing is applied. There are no movable control surfaces, therefore blowing is the only form of actuation. Experiments were conducted at a nominal angle of attack of 45 degrees. A unique apparatus that constrains the model to two degrees-of-freedom, roll and yaw, was designed and built. The apparatus was used to conduct dynamic experiments which showed that the system was unstable, its natural motion divergent. A model for the unsteady aerodynamic loads was developed based on the basic physics of the flow and results from flow visualization experiments. Parameters of the aerodynamic model were identified from experimental data. The model was validated using data from dynamic experiments. The aerodynamic model completes the equations of motion of the system which were used in the design of control laws using blowing as the only actuator. The unsteady aerodynamic model was implemented as part of the real-time vehicle control system. A control strategy using asymmetric blowing was demonstrated experimentally. A discrete vortex method was developed to help understand the main physics of the flow. The method correctly captures the interactions between forebody and wing vortices. Moreover, the trends in static loads and flow structure are correctly represented. Flow visualization results revealed the vortical structure of the flow to be asymmetric even for symmetric flight conditions. The effects of blowing, and roll and yaw angles on the flow structure were determined. It is shown that superimposing symmetric and asymmetric blowing has a linearizing effect on the actuator characteristics. Transient responses of roll and yaw moments to step input blowing were characterized, and their differences were explained based on the physical mechanisms through which these loads are generated.

Pedreiro, Nelson↗

NASA NTRS1942

The Effect of Large Angles of Yaw on the Accuracy of Wing-Tip Yawmeters

The present method used by the NACA for the measurement of sideslip angles in flight involves the use of a device called the yawmeter. The operation of this instrument depends on the motion of a free-swinging vane which, mounted ahead of the wing tip, alines itself with the local wind direction. Because of the flow pattern about the airplane, the local wind direction at the yaw vane may be slightly different from the direction of the relative wind and the yaw-vane readings may be in error. This error is corrected by using half the difference between the readings of two vanes, one on each wing, for unyawed flight as a calibration constant. It is possible, however, that, because of the change in location of the vane with respect to the flow pattern at large angles of yaw, the constant obtained for unyawed flight may not apply. The present report covers power-off tests made in the free-flight tunnel to check the validity of this method.

Golden, Jacob↗

NASA NTRS2023

Investigating Potential Causes for the Prediction of Spurious Magnetopause Crossings at Geosynchronous Orbit in MHD Simulations

During intense geomagnetic storms, the magnetopause can move in as far as geosynchronous orbit, leaving the satellites in that orbit out in the magnetosheath. Spacecraft operators turn to numerical models to predict the response of the magnetopause to solar wind conditions, but the predictions of the models are not always accurate. This study investigates four storms with a magnetopause crossing by at least one GOES satellite, using four magnetohydrodynamic models at NASA's Community Coordinated Modeling Center to simulate the events, and analyzes the results to investigate the reasons for errors in the predictions. Two main reasons can explain most of the erroneous predictions. First, the solar wind input to the simulations often contains features measured near the L1 point that did not eventually arrive at Earth; incorrect predictions during such periods are due to the solar wind input rather than to the models themselves. Second, while the models do well when the primary driver of magnetopause motion is a variation in the solar wind density, they tend to overpredict or underpredict the integrated Birkeland currents and their effects during times of strong negative interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) Bz, leading to poorer prediction capability. Coupling the MHD codes to a ring current model, when such a coupling is available, generally will improve the predictions but will not always entirely correct them. More work is needed to fully characterize the response of each code under strong southward IMF conditions as it relates to prediction of magnetopause location.

magnetopause↗

NASA NTRS1985

Finite-time arbitrary-motion unsteady cascade airfoil theory for helicopter rotors in hover

A complete and detailed derivation of finite-time arbitrary-motion cascade theory is presented for both Laplace and frequency domains. This theory includes the effect of returning wakes for both single- and multibladed rotors. The generalized cascade lift-deficiency function (CLDF) is shown to be consistent with the generalized Theodorsen lift-deficiency function when the wake spacing approaches infinity or when the reduced frequency tends to infinity. This function predicts correct zero-reduced-frequency limit. Accurate and efficient numerical procedures are presented for the evaluation of the CLDF. Numerical examples comparing the CLDF with Loewy's lift deficiency function in frequency domain are presented. Accurate Pade approximants of the CLDF are constructed using a Bode-plot approach which allows for complex poles.

Dinyavari, M. A. H.↗

NASA NTRS2011

Constraint Embedding Technique for Multibody System Dynamics

Multibody dynamics play a critical role in simulation testbeds for space missions. There has been a considerable interest in the development of efficient computational algorithms for solving the dynamics of multibody systems. Mass matrix factorization and inversion techniques and the O(N) class of forward dynamics algorithms developed using a spatial operator algebra stand out as important breakthrough on this front. Techniques such as these provide the efficient algorithms and methods for the application and implementation of such multibody dynamics models. However, these methods are limited only to tree-topology multibody systems. Closed-chain topology systems require different techniques that are not as efficient or as broad as those for tree-topology systems. The closed-chain forward dynamics approach consists of treating the closed-chain topology as a tree-topology system subject to additional closure constraints. The resulting forward dynamics solution consists of: (a) ignoring the closure constraints and using the O(N) algorithm to solve for the free unconstrained accelerations for the system; (b) using the tree-topology solution to compute a correction force to enforce the closure constraints; and (c) correcting the unconstrained accelerations with correction accelerations resulting from the correction forces. This constraint-embedding technique shows how to use direct embedding to eliminate local closure-loops in the system and effectively convert the system back to a tree-topology system. At this point, standard tree-topology techniques can be brought to bear on the problem. The approach uses a spatial operator algebra approach to formulating the equations of motion. The operators are block-partitioned around the local body subgroups to convert them into aggregate bodies. Mass matrix operator factorization and inversion techniques are applied to the reformulated tree-topology system. Thus in essence, the new technique allows conversion of a system with closure-constraints into an equivalent tree-topology system, and thus allows one to take advantage of the host of techniques available to the latter class of systems. This technology is highly suitable for the class of multibody systems where the closure-constraints are local, i.e., where they are confined to small groupings of bodies within the system. Important examples of such local closure-constraints are constraints associated with four-bar linkages, geared motors, differential suspensions, etc. One can eliminate these closure-constraints and convert the system into a tree-topology system by embedding the constraints directly into the system dynamics and effectively replacing the body groupings with virtual aggregate bodies. Once eliminated, one can apply the well-known results and algorithms for tree-topology systems to solve the dynamics of such closed-chain system.

Woo, Simon S.↗

NASA NTRS1982

Correction of lunar seismograms for instrumental and near-surface effects and constraints on the velocity structure of the lunar interior

Long-period lunar seismograms were studied with the aim of identifying consistent sets of direct shear and secondary wave arrivals, thus constraining the velocities in the lunar mantle and the depths of the velocity discontinuities. Two velocity models were used to locate the natural impacts and the shallow moonquakes and to obtain the travel time residuals. Seismic sections were made of the radial, transverse, and vertical components of ground motion for impacts, shallow, and deep moonquakes in order to search for consistent sets of secondary wave arrivals. No conclusive set of secondary arrivals could be recognized on the seismic sections and thus the velocities and depths of the velocity discontinuities cannot be severely constrained by secondary arrivals. It is likely that the crust is thinner than 50 km and that a first-order discontinuity separates the upper and lower crust at a depth of between 20 and 30 km.

Horvath, P.↗

NASA NTRS1989

Time-dependent calculation of a forced mixing layer using a k-epsilon turbulence model

A two-dimensional-dependent calculation of a forced turbulent mixing layer is reported. The approach employs a k-epsilon turbulence model to represent the effects of motions which are three dimensional or out of phase with the forcing cycle. Calculations that correspond to conditions of the measurements of Weisbrot (1984) and Weisbrot and Wygnanski (1988) indicate that the main features of the mixing layer development are captured by the computation. The effect of grid refinement on the computed result indicates the importance of adequate resolution of the near field in correctly reproducing the flow evolution. The inlet boundary condition, similarly, is shown to play a decisive role in determining subsequent development.

Macinnes, J. M.↗

NASA NTRS1990

Velocity and pressure fields associated with near-wall turbulence structures

Computer generated databases containing velocity and pressure fields in three-dimensional space at a sequence of time-steps, were used for the investigation of near-wall turbulence structures, their space-time evolution, and their associated pressure fields. The main body of the results were obtained from simulation data for turbulent channel flow at a Reynolds number of 180 (based on half-channel height and friction velocity) with a grid of 128 x 129 x and 128 points. The flow was followed over a total time of 141 viscous time units. Spanwise centering of the detected structures was found to be essential in order to obtain a correct magnitude of the associated Reynolds stress contribution. A positive wall-pressure peak is found immediately beneath the center of the structure. The maximum amplitude of the pressure pattern was, however, found in the buffer region at the center of the shear-layer. It was also found that these flow structures often reach a maximum strength in connection with an asymmetric spanwise motion, which motivated the construction of a conditional sampling scheme that preserved this asymmetry.

Johansson, Arne V.↗

NASA NTRS1994

In search of Nemesis

The parallax of all stars of visual magnitude greater than about 6.5 has already been measured. If Nemesis is a main-sequence star 1 parsec away, this requires Nemesis's mass to be less than about 0.4 solar masses. If it were less than about 0.05 solar masses its gravity would be too weak to trigger a comet storm. If Nemesis is on the main sequence, this mass range requires it to be a red dwarf. A red dwarf companion would probably have been missed by standard astronomical surveys. Nearby stars are usually found because they are bright or have high proper motion. However, Nemesis's proper motion would now be 0.01 arcsec/yr, and if it is a red dwarf its magnitude is about 10 - too dim to attract attention. Unfortunately, standard four-color photometry does not distinguish between red dwarfs and giants. So although surveys such as the Dearborn Red Star Catalog list stars by magnitude and spectral type, they do not identify the dwarfs. Every star of the correct spectral type and magnitude must be scrutinized. Our candidate list is a hybrid; candidate red stars are identified in the astrometrically poor Dearborn Red Star Catalog and their positions are corrected using the Hubble Guide Star Catalog. When errors in the Dearborn catalog make it impossible to identify the corresponding Hubble star, the fields are split so that we have one centering on each possible candidate. We are currently scrutinizing 3098 fields, which we believe contain all possible red dwarf candidates in the northern hemisphere. Since our last report the analysis and database software has been completely rebuilt to take advantage of updated hardware, to make the data more accessible, and to implement improved methods of data analysis. The software is now completed and we are eliminating stars every clear night.

Carlson, S.↗

NASA NTRS2011

Solar Dynamics Observatory Guidance, Navigation, and Control System Overview

The Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) was designed and built at the Goddard Space Flight Center, launched from Cape Canaveral on February 11, 2010, and reached its final geosynchronous science orbit on March 16, 2010. The purpose of SDO is to observe the Sun and continuously relay data to a dedicated ground station. SDO remains Sun-pointing throughout most of its mission for the instruments to take measurements of the Sun. The SDO attitude control system (ACS) is a single-fault tolerant design. Its fully redundant attitude sensor complement includes sixteen coarse Sun sensors (CSSs), a digital Sun sensor (DSS), three two-axis inertial reference units (IRUs), and two star trackers (STs). The ACS also makes use of the four guide telescopes included as a part of one of the science instruments. Attitude actuation is performed using four reaction wheels assemblies (RWAs) and eight thrusters, with a single main engine used to provide velocity-change thrust for orbit raising. The attitude control software has five nominal control modes, three wheel-based modes and two thruster-based modes. A wheel-based Safehold running in the attitude control electronics box improves the robustness of the system as a whole. All six modes are designed on the same basic proportional-integral-derivative attitude error structure, with more robust modes setting their integral gains to zero. This paper details the final overall design of the SDO guidance, navigation, and control (GN&C) system and how it was used in practice during SDO launch, commissioning, and nominal operations. This overview will include the ACS control modes, attitude determination and sensor calibration, the high gain antenna (HGA) calibration, and jitter mitigation operation. The Solar Dynamics Observatory mission is part of the NASA Living With a Star program, which seeks to understand the changing Sun and its effects on the Solar System, life, and society. To this end, the SDO spacecraft carries three Sun-observing instruments: Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager (HMI), led by Stanford University; Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA), led by Lockheed Martin Space and Astrophysics Laboratory; and Extreme Ultraviolet Variability Experiment (EVE), led by the University of Colorado. The basic mission is to observe the Sun for a very high percentage of the 5-year mission (10-year goal) with long stretches of uninterrupted observations and with constant, high-data-rate transmission to a dedicated ground station to be located in White Sands, New Mexico. These goals guided the design of the spacecraft bus that will carry and service the three-instrument payload. Overarching design goals for the bus are geosynchronous orbit, near-constant Sun observations with the ability to fly through eclipses, and constant HGA contact with the dedicated ground station. A three-axis stabilized ACS is needed both to point at the Sun accurately and to keep the roll about the Sun vector correctly positioned with respect to the solar north pole. This roll control is especially important for the magnetic field imaging of HM I. The mission requirements have several general impacts on the ACS design. Both the AIA and HMI instruments are very sensitive to the blurring caused by jitter. Each has an image stabilization system (ISS) with some ability to filter out high frequency motion, but below the bandwidth of the ISS the control system must compensate for disturbances within the ACS bandwidth or avoid exciting jitter at higher frequencies. Within the ACS bandwidth, the control requirement imposed by AIA is to place the center of the solar disk no more than 2 arc sec, 3 , from a body-defined target based on one of the GTs that accompany the instrument. This body-defined target, called the science reference boresight (SRB), was determined from the postlaunch orientation of the GTs by averaging the bounding telescope boresights for pitch to get a pitch SRB coordinate, and by averaging the bounding boresights for yaw toet the yaw SRB coordinate. The location of this SRB in the 0.5-deg field-of-view for each GT then becomes the central target for each telescope; one GT is selected for use as the ACS controlling guide telescope (CGT) at any given time. Fine Sun-pointing is effected based on this SRB for all three instruments when the Sun is within the linear range of the CGT. In addition to limiting jitter, HMI science requires averaging several observations, making the instrument sensitive to low frequency motion that induces differential motion between each observation. This requires the spacecraft attitude to be stable about the roll axis to approximately 10 arcsec over a ten-minute period. Instrument calibrations require that the spacecraft point the SRB up to 2.5 degrees in pitch and yaw away from the center of the Sun, placing the Sun outside the field-of-view of the guide telescopes. In such instances, when the GTs cannot provide the definitive target for the ACS, on-board attitude determination combined with ephemeris prediction of the Sun direction must provide the definitive target. EVE is capable of observing the Sun with less dependence on attitude control. However, the ground data processing needs for calibrations result in the most strict attitude knowledge requirements for the mission: [35,70,70] arcsec, 3 , of knowledge with respect to the center of the solar disk. In addition to driving the ACS sensor selection, the knowledge requirements, which have their effect primarily during Inertial mode calibrations, drive the accuracy requirements for the solar ephemeris. The need to achieve and maintain geosynchronous orbit (GEO) drove the need for high-efficiency propulsive systems and appropriate attitude control. The main engine provided high specific impulse for the maneuvers to attain GEO, while the smaller ACS thrusters managed the disturbance torques of the larger engine and provided the capability for much smaller adjustment burns on orbit. SDO s large solar profile means that solar radiation pressure is a large torque disturbance, and the momentum buildup from this disturbance and the GEO altitude drives the ACS to use thrusters to manage vehicle momentum. The demanding data capture budget for the mission, however, requires SDO to avoid frequent thruster maneuvers, while concerns about on-orbit jitter restrict the maximum desired wheel speeds desired from the RWAs. The plan for on-orbit wheel speed and momentum management will be discussed as well as what is now being done in operation after the jitter environment was characterized. The SDO ACS hardware complement is single-fault tolerant. Two main processors carry virtually identical copies of the command and data handling and ACS software, and two identical attitude control electronics (ACE) boxes carry Coldfire processors with contingency ACS software and other hardware interface cards; the ACE structure allows reaction wheels to be commanded by the Sun-pointing Safehold independent of the Mil Std 1553 data bus. The sixteen Adcole CSSs are grouped into primary and backup sets of eight sensors, each set providing the ability to calculate a sun vector. Each set of eight eyes provides full 4 -steradian coverage. The Adcole DSS comprises an optics head and a separate electronics box providing a 1553 data interface. The electronics box is mounted inside the Faraday cage created by the spacecraft bus module. The DSS head with its 32- deg square FOV is mounted on the instrument module with its boresight along the spacecraft X axis, nearly aligned with the Sun during observations. Adcole has designed the DSS calibration parameters so that the accuracy is 0.24 arcminutes within 10 deg of the boresight, and diminishes to 3 arcminutes as the Sun moves towards the edges of its FOV . This DSS calibration scheme provides higher accuracy attitude determination over the range of the instrument calibration maneuvers.

Morgenstern, Wendy M.↗

NASA NTRS1993

Modeling ice streams: Derived quantities

The model addressed is a finite-element, map-plane, time-dependent, column-averaged continuity equation solver. The key to the fitting process involves the balance between ice motion dominated by flow in internal layers, and ice motion dominated by sliding at the bed. The fitting process involves an iterative process carried out in the time domain. Beginning with the portion of the ice sheet being modeled identical to the present ice sheet with uniform flow, sliding, and fraction specified at nominal values, the model monitors each nodal point surface elevation. As the calculated surface elevation deviates from the present surface, a correction proportional to the difference is applied to selected parameter sets. This correction is in a sense that would tend to improve the fit at the particular nodal point. A calculated surface elevation that was higher than the present surface would result in an increased fraction, which would tend to lower the calculated surface (if the flow or sliding constant were being used as the fitting parameter, they would be lowered to improve the fit). This process is allowed to proceed as long as is necessary for the situation to stabilize. Typically, this takes tens of thousands of model years, but the rate is dependent on other external forcings such as the accumulation rate. The primary result is that while a typical sample of ice streams from around Antarctica can be fitted quite reasonably using only the fraction of the velocity due to sliding, a different mechanism seems to be in play along the Siple Coast, where reduced sliding constants are required to attain a reasonable fit. Flow is more strongly channelized in this region, and velocities are, in general, higher than are observed in other regions. It is unlikely that the mechanism that controls the ice movement along the Siple Coast is exactly similar to the mechanisms in the other ice streams. The concept of deformable sediments and their contribution to the fast flow along the Siple Coast may have limited applicability to other Antarctic ice streams.

Fastook, James↗

NASA NTRS1994

Application of the coded long-pulse technique to plasma line studies of the ionosphere

Recently, the coded long-pulse radar technique was tested at Arecibo Observatory, Puerto Rico using photoelectron-enhanced plasma lines in the daytime ionosphere. The technique immediately proved to be a powerful diagnostic tool for studying natural ionospheric phenomena. Our initial observations indicate that extremely accurate measurements of absolute electron density (0.01 to 0.03% error bars) can be achieved with an altitude resolution of 150 m and a temporal resolution of approx. 2 s. In addition, the technique provides information about electron density structure within a 150-m altitude cell and yields parameters from which the energy spectrum of suprathermal electrons (equal to or greater than 5 eV) can be deduced. Our earliest measurements are used to illustrate applications of the coded long-pulse technique to several aeronomic/ionsospheric areas of current interest. These include studies of neutral wave motions in the lower thermosphere, measurements of ion composition in the F(sub 1) region/upper ionosphere, and investigations of electron-gas thermal balance and photoelectron energy loss processes. The technique can be utilized to examine irregularity formation in the F region, probe electron acceleration processes in ionospheric modification experiments, verify the magnetic field dependence of Langmuir wave damping, and more generally test higher order corrections suggested for the Langmuir dispersion relation. It is anticipated that the latter tests will facilitate measurements of ionospheric currents.

Djuth, Frank T.↗

NASA NTRS1970

Discrete control of linear distributed systems with application to the deformable primary mirror of a large orbiting telescope

One of the more significant technological problems associated with the orbital operation of large astronomical telescope's is the fabrication and maintenance of the primary mirror surface to the tolerance required for diffraction-limited performance. An interesting approach to the solution of this problem involves continuously measuring and automatically correcting the optical surface of a thin deformable mirror by means of discrete actuators located on its rear surface: The realization of diffraction-limited performance from a telescope in space by this method rests on the ability of the designer to achieve extremely accurate control of a highly complex, interacting, multivariable system. This paper presents the results of a detailed study of the discrete control of linear distributed systems with specific application to the design of a practical controller for a plant representative of a telescope primary mirror for an orbiting astronomical observatory. The problem of controlling the distributed plant is treated by employing modal techniques to represent variations in the optical figure. Distortion of the mirror surface, which arises primarily from thermal gradients, is countered by actuators working against a backing structure to apply a corrective force distribution to the controlled surface. Each displacement actuator is in series with a spring attached to the mirror by means of a pad intentionally introduced to restrict the excitation of high-order modes. Control is then exerted over a finite number (equal.to the number of actuators) of the most significant modes. Through the application of the modal expansion technique the mirror equation of motion is transformed tb a set of uncoupled, linear, time-invariant, ordinary differential equations. The desired dynamic response and static accuracy may then be achieved by the application of classical single-variable design techniques. The formulation of a quadratic performance index which incorporates a measure of image quality permits determination of the trade-off between the-number of actuators and optical purity. A criterion for defining actuator placement and pad size is presented which minimizes the tendency of the controller to excite the unmonitored modes.

Jeremiah F Creedon↗

NASA NTRS1982

Thresholds for the onset of fluid and magnetofluid turbulence

Linear stability calculations conducted in plasma physics are based on the theory of hydrodynamic stability of neutral fluids. The present investigation is concerned with the validity of procedures based on linear stability analysis in six much-studied situations. All have the property that the fluid goes from laminar to turbulent at critical values of some dimensionless number, such as the Reynolds number or the Rayleigh number. The question is, at what threshold values of the dimensionless number do the unstable motions set in, and can these thresholds be predicted by a linear analysis of the stability of the laminar state as the threshold is approached from the stable side. In three cases linear stability analysis clearly seems to fail. These cases include Plane Poiseuille Flow, Plane Couette Flow, and Cylindrical Pipe Flow (Hagen-Poiseuille Flow). Situations in which predictions provided by linear stability analysis are correct are related to Rotating Couette Flow, Thermally-Driven Convection, and Instability of Laminar Boundary Layers.

Montgomery, D.↗

NASA NTRS1937

A Preliminary Study of Flame Propagation in a Spark-ignition Engine

The N.A.C.A. combustion apparatus was altered to operate as a fuel-injection, spark-ignition engine, and a preliminary study was made of the combustion of gasoline-air mixtures at various air-fuel ratios. Air-fuel ratios ranging from 10 to 21.6 were investigated. Records from an optical indicator and films from a high-speed motion-picture camera were the chief sources of data. Schlieren photography was used for an additional study. The results show that the altered combustion apparatus has characteristics similar to those of a conventional spark-ignition engine and should be useful in studying phenomena in spark-ignition engines. The photographs show the flame front to be irregularly shaped rather than uniformly curved. With a theoretically correct mixture the reaction, as indicated by the photographs, is not completed in the flame front but continues for some time after the combustion front has traversed the mixture.

Rothrock, A M↗

NASA NTRS1997

Compton Scattering by Static and Moving Media: The Transfer Equation and its Moments - Part 1

Compton scattering of photons by nonrelativistic particles is thought to play an important role in forming the radiation spectrum of many astrophysical systems. Here we derive the time-dependent photon kinetic equation that describes spontaneous and induced Compton scattering, as well as absorption and emission by static and moving media, the corresponding radiative transfer equation, and their zeroth and first angular moments, both in the system frame and in the frame comoving with the medium. We show that it is necessary to use the correct relativistic differential scattering cross section in order to obtain a photon kinetic equation that is correct to first order in Epsilon/m(sub e), T(sub e)/m(sub e), and V, where Epsilon is the photon energy, T(sub e) and m(sub e) are the electron temperature and rest mass, and V is the electron bulk velocity in units of the speed of light. We also demonstrate that the terms in the radiative transfer equation that are second order in V should usually be retained, because if the radiation energy density is sufficiently large, compared to the radiation flux, the effects of bulk Comptonization described by the terms that are second order in V can be as important as the effects described by the terms that are first order in V, even when V is small. The system- and fluid-frame equations that we derive are correct to first order in Epsilon/m(sub e). Our system-frame equations, which are correct to second order in V, may be used when V is not too large. Our fluid-frame equations, which are exact in V, may be used when V approaches 1. Both sets of equations are valid for systems of arbitrary optical depth and can therefore be used in both the free-streaming and diffusion regimes. We demonstrate that Comptonization by the electron bulk motion occurs whether or not the radiation field is isotropic or the bulk flow converges and that it is more important than thermal Comptonization if V(sup 2) is greater than 3T(sub e)/m(sub e).

Psaltis, Dimitrios↗

NASA NTRS2008

Flexcam Image Capture Viewing and Spot Tracking

Flexcam software was designed to allow continuous monitoring of the mechanical deformation of the telescope structure at Palomar Observatory. Flexcam allows the user to watch the motion of a star with a low-cost astronomical camera, to measure the motion of the star on the image plane, and to feed this data back into the telescope s control system. This automatic interaction between the camera and a user interface facilitates integration and testing. Flexcam is a CCD image capture and analysis tool for the ST-402 camera from Santa Barbara Instruments Group (SBIG). This program will automatically take a dark exposure and then continuously display corrected images. The image size, bit depth, magnification, exposure time, resolution, and filter are always displayed on the title bar. Flexcam locates the brightest pixel and then computes the centroid position of the pixels falling in a box around that pixel. This tool continuously writes the centroid position to a network file that can be used by other instruments.

Rao, Shanti↗

NASA NTRS2010

Walk on Floor Eyes Closed Test as a Measure of Postflight Ataxia

INTRODUCTION: Astronauts returning from space flight universally exhibit impaired posture and locomotion. Measurement of this impairment is an evolving process. The walk on the floor line test with the eyes closed (WOFEC) provides a unique procedure for quantifying postflight ataxia. Data from a modified WOFEC were obtained as part of an ongoing NASA interdisciplinary pre- and postflight study (Functional Task Test, FTT) designed to evaluate astronaut postflight functional performance. METHODS: Seven astronauts (5 short duration with flights of 12-16 days; 2 long duration crewmembers with flights of 6 months) were tested twice before flight, on landing day (short duration only), and 1, 6, and 30 days after flight. The WOFEC consisted of walking for 10 steps (repeated twice) with the feet heel to toe in tandem, arms folded across the chest and the eyes closed. The performance metric (scored by three examiners from video) was the percentage of correct steps completed over the three trials. A step was not counted as correct if the crewmember sidestepped, opened their eyes, or paused for more than three seconds between steps. RESULTS/ CONCLUSIONS: There was a significant decrease in percentage of correct steps on landing day (short duration crew) and on first day following landing (long duration) with partial recovery the following day, and full recovery beginning on day sixth after flight. Both short and long duration fliers appeared to be unaware of foot position relative to their bodies or the floor. Postflight, deviation from a straight path was common, and the test for two crewmembers elicited motion sickness symptoms. These data clearly demonstrate the sensorimotor challenges facing crewmembers after returning from spaceflight. The WOFEC test has value providing the investigator or crew surgeon with a simple method to quantify vestibular ataxia, as well as providing instant feedback of postural ataxia without the use of complex test equipment.

Reschke, M. F.↗