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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 55 records · Page 3
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1993

Detection of interstellar pick-up hydrogen in the solar system

Interstellar hydrogen ionized primarily by the solar wind has been detected by the Solar Wind Ion Composition Spectrometer instrument on the Ulysses spacecraft at a distance of 4.8 AUs from the sun. This 'pick-up' hydrogen is identified by its distinct velocity distribution function, which drops abruptly at twice the local solar wind speed. From the measured fluxes of pick-up protons and singly charged helium, the number densities of neutral hydrogen and helium in the distant regions of the solar system are estimated to be 0.077 +/- 0.015 and 0.013 +/- 0.003 per cu cm, respectively.

Gloeckler, G.↗
NASA NTRS2020

The Role of Solar Wind Hydrogen in Space Weathering: Insights from Laboratory-Irradiated Northwest Africa 12008

Micrometeoroid impacts, solar wind plasma interactions, and regolith gardening drive the complicated and nuanced mechanism of space weathering (or optical maturation); a process by which a material’s optical properties are changed as a result of chemical and physical alterations at the surface of grains on airless bodies. Reddened slopes, attenuated absorption bands, and an overall reduction in albedo in the visible and near-IR wavelength ranges are primarily the result of native iron nanoparticle (npFe0) production within glassy rims that form from sputtering and vaporization. The sizes and abundance of these particles provide information about the relative surface exposure age of a particular grain. In addition, many studies have indicated that composition greatly affects the rate at which optical maturation occurs. Despite our understanding of how npFe0 affects optical signatures, the relative roles of micrometeoroid bombardment and solar wind interactions remains undetermined. To simulate the early effects of weathering by the solar wind and to determine thresholds for optical change with respect to a given mineral phase, we irradiated a fine-grained lunar basalt with 1 keV H+ to a fluence of 6.4 x 1016 H+ per sq.cm. Surface alterations within four phases have been evaluated using transmission electron microscopy (TEM). We found that for a given fluence of H+, the extent of damage acquired by each grain was dependent on its composition. No npFe(0) was produced in any of the phases evaluated in this study. These results are consistent with many previous studies conducted using ions of similar energy, but they also provide valuable information about the onset of space weathering and the role of the solar wind during the early stages of optical maturation.

Shusterman, M. L.↗
NASA NTRS2022

The Atmospheric Response to High Nonthermal Electron-beam Fluxes in Solar Flares. II. Hydrogen-broadening Predictions for Solar Flare Observations with the Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope

Redshifted components of chromospheric emission lines in the hard X-ray impulsive phase of solar flares have recently been studied through their 30 s evolution with the high resolution of the Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph. Radiative-hydrodynamic flare models show that these redshifts are generally reproduced by electron-beam-generated chromospheric condensations. The models produce large ambient electron densities, and the pressure broadening of the hydrogen Balmer series should be readily detected in observations. To accurately interpret the upcoming spectral data of flares with the DKIST, we incorporate nonideal, nonadiabatic line-broadening profiles of hydrogen into the RADYN code. These improvements allow time-dependent predictions for the extreme Balmer line wing enhancements in solar flares. We study two chromospheric condensation models, which cover a range of electron-beam fluxes (1 − 5 × 10^(11) erg s^(−1) cm^(−2)) and ambient electron densities (1 − 60 × 10^(13) cm^(−3)) in the flare chromosphere. Both models produce broadening and redshift variations within 10 s of the onset of beam heating. In the chromospheric condensations, there is enhanced spectral broadening due to large optical depths at Hα, Hβ, and Hγ, while the much lower optical depth of the Balmer series H12−H16 provides a translucent window into the smaller electron densities in the beam-heated layers below the condensation. The wavelength ranges of typical DKIST/ViSP spectra of solar flares will be sufficient to test the predictions of extreme hydrogen wing broadening and accurately constrain large densities in chromospheric condensations.

Adam F. Kowalski↗
NASA NTRS1992

The energy spectra of solar flare hydrogen, helium, oxygen, and iron - Evidence for stochastic acceleration

The time-integrated differential energy spectra of H, He, O, and Fe measured in 10 large flare events observed at 1 AU over the energy range of 0.3-80 MeV/nucleon showed consistent patterns in their spectral shapes: particles with larger mean mass-to-charge ratios were generally less abundant at higher energies. A steady state model of stochastic particle acceleration with rigidity-dependent diffusion coefficients fit the spectra best; spectra representative of diffusive shock acceleration also described the spectra of some events with the same number of free parameters, but often fell off faster in energy above 30 MeV per nucleon than the observations. The two model predictions differed most at energies near 0.1 MeV per nucleon, below the lowest energies observed in this study. The stochastic model quantitatively described the observed spectral ordering with less efficient acceleration of species with larger mean mass-to-charge ratios.

Mazur, J. E.↗