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NASA NTRS1988

Vehicle environment interactions - An overview

The advent of Space Shuttle Orbital operations utilizing science and technology payloads has led to a renewal of interest of vehicle-environmental interactions in low earth orbit. The first science payload on STS-3 showed an interaction on the surface of the Orbiter which, although it had been detected earlier on unmanned spacecraft, quickened interest in the possible impact of this phenomena on future missions. Subsequent flights have yielded data on a wide variety of interaction phenomena resulting from the large size of the Orbiter and its outgassing characteristics. These drivers have given rise to modifications in the neutral gas and plasma environments of the Space Shuttle Orbiter. The physics of the interactions result in the generation of disturbed wave fields, optical emissions and particle distributions in the vicinity of the Orbiter. In this overview, the present observations, suggested interpretations and open questions will be addressed.

Raitt, W. J.↗

NASA NTRS1988

Control of supersonic intersection flowfields through filleting and sweep

The problem of supersonic flow control using fillets and sweep for a wing/body junction has been investigated numerically using a three-dimensional Navier-Stokes code which employs the MacCormack time-split finite-volume technique. An elliptic grid generation technique with direct control over spacing has been incorporated for constructing the grid at a filleted wing/body junction. The computed results for pressure distribution, particle paths, and limiting streamlines on the flat plate and fin surface for a swept fin show a decrease in the peak pressure on the fin leading edge and in the extent of the separated flow region. Moreover, the results for the filleted juncture clearly show that the flow streamline patterns lose much of their vortical character with proper filleting. It is demonstrated that fillets with a radius of 3.5 times the fin leading edge diameter are required to weaken the usual necklace vortex interaction.

Lakshmanan, B.↗

NASA NTRS1989

Numerical study of three-dimensional separation and flow control at a wing/body junction

The problem of three-dimensional separation and flow control at a wing/body junction has been investigated numerically using a three-dimensional Navier-Stokes code. The numerical code employs an algebraic grid generation technique for generating the grid for unmodified junction and an elliptic grid generation technique for filleted fin junction. The results for laminar flow past a blunt fin/flat plate junction demonstrate that after grid refinement, the computations agree with experiment and reveal a strong dependency of the number of vortices at the junction on Mach number and Reynolds number. The numerical results for pressure distribution, particle paths and limiting streamlines for turbulent flow past a swept fin show a decrease in the peak pressure and in the extent of the separated flow region compared to the laminar case. The results for a filleted juncture indicate that the streamline patterns lose much of their vortical character with proper filleting. Fillets with a radius of three and one-half times the fin leading edge diameter or two times the incoming boundary layer thickness, significantly weaken the usual necklace interaction vortex for the Mach number and Reynolds number considered in the present study.

Ash, Robert L.↗

NASA NTRS1988

Particle acceleration and wave emissions associated with the formation of auroral cavities and enhancements

A unified model is presented which interrelates the various processes involved in auroral particle acceleration and the associated wave emissions, and it is shown how energy is coupled from the magnetosphere into the ionosphere. The phenomena in the magnetotail which can provide the source of free energy for the perpendicular electrostatic shocks are identified along with the associated potential structures in the nightside auroral region. The characteristics of the particle acceleration produced by the shock are described, including efficiency and energy transport between magnetospheric and ionospheric plasmas, the properties of the particle distributions throughout the shock region and return current regions, and the associated wave emissions. The source of free energy for the generation of ion conics is identified, as are the signatures for the formation of plasma cavities and/or enhancements.

Winglee, R. M.↗

NASA NTRS1989

Observations beyond the limit

Observations which extend the energy range for astronomy above the TeV level are reviewed and discussed. Whether the particles originating the radiation are protons or neutrons is considered. Observations at the high-energy tail of the observed particle distribution are suggested to resolve this question.

Kazanas, Demosthenes↗

NASA NTRS1989

Numerical study of the current sheet and PSBL in a magnetotail model

The current sheet and plasma sheet boundary layer (PSBL) in a magnetotail model are discussed. A test particle code is used to study the response of ensembles of particles to a two-dimensional, time-dependent model of the geomagnetic tail, and test the proposition (Coroniti, 1985a, b; Buchner and Zelenyi, 1986; Chen and Palmadesso, 1986; Martin, 1986) that the stochasticity of the particle orbits in these fields is an important part of the physical mechanism for magnetospheric substorms. The realistic results obtained for the fluid moments of the particle distribution with this simple model, and their insensitivity to initial conditions, is consistent with this hypothesis.

Doxas, I.↗

NASA NTRS1989

The radiative signature of the shock acceleration process in active galactic nuclei

A time-dependent model in which plasma enters a shock region and undergoes first-order Fermi acceleration is considered. The time evolution of the particle distribution and the associated synchrotron emission has been calculated for an energy-dependent diffusion coefficient. When the emitting region is not spatially resolved, the spectrum is a power law with an exponential turnover in frequency. With increasing time, the power law and the turnover extend to higher frequencies. To test the model, observations at three or more frequencies should be made of time-resolved flux increases from the optically thin nonthermal emission region in variable active galactic nuclei. Existing data that can be used to test the model are scarce but offer qualitative support.

Bregman, Joel N.↗

NASA NTRS1989

Cirrus optical depth retrieval from satellite-measured bidirectional reflectance

In the framework of investigating the relationship between the visible optical depth and microphysics of cirrus clouds, the doubling scheme for radiative transfer in cirrus cloudy atmospheres, as developed by Takano and Liou (1988), has been used to compute the bidirectional reflectances at the top of the atmosphere. Reflectance data taken at about the same time from GOES and AVHRR over Waussau, as well as particle distributions observed during the FIRE IFO carried out in Wisconsin (1986) were the basis of the experiment. For the cirrus microphysical model, hexagonal ice crystals and area-equivalent ice spheres are considered. The single scattering phase functions for randomly oriented hexagonal columns and area-equivalent ice spheres are computed from geometric optics and Mie theory, respectively.

Takano, Y.↗

NASA NTRS1990

Determination of Comet Halley gas emission characteristics from mass loading of the solar wind

The velocity profile of the solar wind during Giotto's approach to Comet Halley is fitted with the mass loading produced by a simple model of the neutral particle distribution. The model is used to calculate the implanted ion flux at Giotto for any given time and position along the spacecraft trajectory. Comparing the added flux with Giotto's solar wind proton data from the inbound leg outside the bow shock, the ratio of the total mass-loaded ion flux to the solar wind flux at the spacecraft is computed. Hence, using equations given by Galeev et al. (1985) values of the solar wind velocity, u-infinity, far upstream from the comet are inferred. Imposing the condition that u-infinity should be as nearly as possible constant in time, values of gas production rate and the ratio between radial expansion velocity and ionization rate required to fit the model to data are derived. The values obtained are consistent with those derived by more direct methods.

Huddleston, D. E.↗

NASA NTRS1990

Structure of an energetic narrow discrete arc

Particle distributions, waves, dc electric fields, and magnetic fields were measured by two sounding rockets at altitudes of 950 and 430 km through an energetic (greater than 5 keV) narrow (about 10 km) stable discrete arc. Although the payloads' magnetic footprints were separated by only 50 km, differences in the arc's structure were observed including the spatial width, peak energy, and characteristic spectra. The energetic electron precipitation included both slowly varying isotropic fluxes that formed an inverted-V energy-time signature and rapidly varying field-aligned fluxes at or below the isotropic spectral peak. The isotropic precipitation had a flux discontinuity inside the arc indicating the arc was present on a boundary between two different magnetospheric plasmas. Dispersive and nondispersive bursts of field-aligned electrons were measured throughout the arc, appearing over broad energy ranges or as monoenergetic beams. Dispersive bursts gave variable source distances less than 8000 km. Plateauing of some of the most intense bursts suggests that waves stabilized these electrons. During the lower altitude arc crossing, the field-aligned component formed a separate inverted-V energy-time signature whose peak energy was half the isotropic peak energy.

Mcfadden, J. P.↗

NASA NTRS1990

Differential memory in the trilinear model magnetotail

The previously proposed concept of 'differential memory' is quantitatively demonstrated using an idealized analytical model of particle dynamics in the magnetotail geometry. In this model (the 'trilinear' tail model) the magnetotail is divided into three regions. The particle orbits are solved exactly in each region, thus reducing the orbit integration to an analytical mapping. It is shown that the trilinear model reproduces the essential phase space features of the earlier model (Chen and Palmadesso, 1986), possessing well-defined entry and exit regions, and stochastic, integrable (regular), and transient orbits, occupying disjoint phase space regions. Different regions have widely separated characteristic time scales corresponding to different types of particle motion. Using the analytical model, the evolution of single-particle distribution functions is calculated.

Chen, James↗

NASA NTRS1990

Theory of electromagnetic cyclotron wave growth in a time-varying magnetoplasma

The effect of a time-dependent perturbation in the magnetoplasma on the wave and particle populations is investigated using the Kennel-Petchek (1966) approach. Perturbations in the cold plasma density, energetic particle distribution, and resonance condition are calculated on the basis of the ideal MHD assumption given an arbitrary compressional magnetic field perturbation. An equation is derived describing the time-dependent growth rate for parallel propagating electromagnetic cyclotron waves in a time-varying magnetoplasma with perturbations superimposed on an equilibrium configuration.

Gail, William B.↗

NASA NTRS1991

Southern Hemisphere tropospheric aerosol microphysics

Aerosol particle-size distribution data have been obtained in the Southern Hemisphere from approximately 4-deg S to 44-deg S and between ground level and 5 km, in the vicinity of eastern Australia. The relative shape of the free-tropospheric size distribution for particles with radii larger than approximately 0.04 micron was found to be remarkably stable with time, altitude, and location for the autumn-winter periods considered. This was despite some large concentration changes, which were found to be typical of the southeastern Australian coastal region. The majority of free-troposphere large particles were found to have sulfuric acid or lightly ammoniated sulfate morphology. Large particles in the boundary layer almost exclusively had a sea-salt morphology.

Gras, John L.↗

NASA NTRS1990

Particle acceleration by electromagnetic ion cyclotron turbulence

The LF EM-turbulence which furnishes energy for the acceleration of ions in various regions of the earth's magnetosphere efficiently accomplishes its transfer of energy from waves to particles through ion cyclotron resonance (ICR) with the left-hand polarized component of the turbulence; the result of this interaction is a heating of the particle distribution. A general theoretical treatment of ICR heating in a weakly inhomogeneous magnetic geometry is presented, en route to a more detailed examination of auroral ion conics' formation. A substantial simplification of the analysis of the altitude-asymptotic form of the conic distribution is obtained via the similarity transformation introduced into the properties of the electric field spectral density and the earth's dipolar magnetic field.

Crew, G. B.↗

NASA NTRS1991

Landau damping in space plasmas

The Landau damping of electrostatic Langmuir waves and ion-acoustic waves in a hot, isotropic, nonmagnetized, generalized Lorentzian plasma is analyzed using the modified plasma dispersion function. Numerical solutions for the real and imaginary parts of the wave frequency omega sub 0 - (i)(gamma) have been obtained as a function of the normalized wave number (k)(lambda sub D), where lambda sub D is the electron Debye length. For both particle distributions the electrostatic modes are found to be strongly damped at short wavelengths. At long wavelengths, this damping becomes less severe, but the attenuation of Langmuir waves is much stronger for a generalized Lorentzian plasma than for a Maxwellian plasma. It is concluded that Landau damping of ion-acoustic waves is only slightly affected by the presence of a high energy tail, but is strongly dependent on the ion temperature.

Thorne, Richard M.↗

NASA NTRS1992

Digital Correlation In Laser-Speckle Velocimetry

Periodic recording helps to eliminate spurious results. Improved digital-correlation process extracts velocity field of two-dimensional flow from laser-speckle images of seed particles distributed sparsely in flow. Method which involves digital correlation of images recorded at unequal intervals, completely automated and has potential to be fastest yet.

Gilbert, John A.↗

NASA NTRS1992

Lidar depolarization by nonspherical particles: Potential of combined depolarization/backscattering measurements for PSC's characterization

We analyze the potential of combined backscatter and depolarization information for deriving the optical parameters of Polar Stratospheric Clouds (PSCs) together with the size and physical phase of the cloud particles. In particular, we investigate the influence of particle shape and orientation on the parallel and perpendicular backscattered intensities and on the depolarization ratio under experimental noise conditions, and how the first three moments of the particle size distribution (i.e., particle concentration, mean radius, and standard deviation) may be used to introduce further distinction between type Ia and type Ib PSCs.

Flesia, C.↗

NASA NTRS1992

Lidar sounding of ozone and aerosols

The present report is devoted to the problem of clarifying the mechanism of interaction of ozone molecules with aerosol particles in the atmosphere. It is necessary to take into account the meteorological conditions and the synoptic situation. We have built a unique lidar facility that provides simultaneous sounding of ozone and aerosols at different heights of the upper troposphere and in the stratosphere. Simultaneous with the retrieval of the standard scattering ratio profiles, data are obtained on the profiles of the microphysical parameters of the aerosols (particle size distribution and particle concentration) using the method of multifrequency lidar sounding developed at the Institute of Atmospheric Optics.

Zuev, V. E.↗