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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 649 records · Page 36
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1988

Microgravity particle reduction system

The Controlled Ecological Life Support System (CELSS) project, sponsored by NASA, is assembling the knowledge required to design, construct, and operate a system which will grow and process higher plants in space for the consumption by crew members of a space station on a long term space mission. The problem of processing dry granular organic materials in microgravity is discussed. For the purpose of research and testing, wheat was chosen as the granular material to be ground into flour. Possible systems which were devised to transport wheat grains into the food processor, mill the wheat into flour, and transport the flour to the food preparation system are described. The systems were analyzed and compared and two satisfactory systems were chosen. Prototypes of the two preferred systems are to be fabricated next semester. They will be tested under simulated microgravity conditions and revised for maximum effectiveness.

Brandon, Vanessa↗
NASA NTRS1989

Chemical evolution and the preservation of organic compounds on Mars

Several lines of evidence suggest that the environment on early Mars and early Earth were very similar. Since life is abundant on Earth, it seems likely that conditions on early Earth were conducive to chemical evolution and the origin of life. The similarity between early Mars and early Earth encourages the hypothesis that chemical evolution might have also occurred on Mars, but that decreasing temperatures and the loss of its atmosphere brought the evolution to a halt. The possibility of finding on Mars remnants of organic material dating back to this early clement period is addressed.

Kanavarioti, Anastassia↗
NASA NTRS1987

Review of results on Halley's comet

Since its recovery in 1982, Comet Halley has been the focus of an unparalleled global scientific effort of exploration. Remote and in situ measurements were conducted from the ground, from earth orbit, from Venus orbit, from interplanetary space, and from the comet itself. Many discoveries, such as the presence of an unexpectedly large and dark nucleus or the abundance of organic material, have led to major changes in the ideas about the general nature of comets. In this report, results of various studies are summarized.

Rahe, Jurgen↗
NASA NTRS1989

The composition of comets

The present discussion of recent studies concerning cometary composition gives attention to the results obtained by in situ measurements of Comet Halley's dust composition by Vega 1's impact mass spectrometer, which discovered a mineral fraction that appears to be CI chondritic, as well as an organic fraction consisting of highly unsaturated hydrocarbons. The mineral fraction of comets appears to form a core that is embedded in essentially organic material; the spectroscopic invisibility of carbon is due to its presence in the cometary dust. The mass of most dust particles is found to be in the 10 to the -12th to 10 to the -14th g range. A considerable fraction of the dust grains serves as an extended source of gas in the inner coma.

Jessberger, E. K.↗
NASA NTRS1990

Reinforcing Liner For Composite Cryogenic Tank

Proposed fiber-reinforced liner for graphite/epoxy fuel tank prevents metal-foil leakage barrier from detaching at low temperatures. Consists of epoxy containing fibers of Spectra 1000. Tank holds inner layers of foil, adhesive, and proposed liner. Liner much thinner than shell, adds little weight, and subtracts little volume. Lined composite tank used to hold liquids from room temperature to cryogenic temperatures. Not suitable for oxygen, because organic materials in liner oxidized quickly.

Burgeson, John E.↗
NASA NTRS1989

Refractory solids in chondrites and comets: How similar

The grains of ice, dust, and organic material that came together to form the solar system have been preserved to differing degrees in the most primitive solar system bodies, asteroids and comets. The study of samples of asteroids (in the form of chondritic meteorites) reveals that the dust component was extensively altered by high-temperature events and processes in the early solar system, before it was aggregated into chondritic planetesimals. The nature of these high-temperature events and processes is not known, but the evidence of their operation is pervasive and unequivocal. Are the refractory particles in comets likely to be similar to these chondrite components. Probably not (except for the presolar carbonaceous grains in chondrites), because the chondritic components are products of severe thermal processing, and all imaginable energy sources that could have provided the heat tend to diminish with distance from the sun. Every indication is that comets formed at much greater radial distances than asteroids, so the particles they incorporated would have experienced less heating. The possibilities cannot be completely ruled out that comets, too, formed inside the present orbit of Jupiter, or that thermally-processed grains were able to diffuse great radial distances before being incorporated in accreting objects, but it is far more likely that most of the refractory grains in comets have been spared the extreme thermal processing that shaped the character of chondritic components.

Wood, John A.↗
NASA NTRS1989

The carbon budget in the outer solar nebula

The compositional contrast between the giant-planet satellites and the significantly rockier Pluto/Charon system is indicative of different formation mechanisms; cosmic abundance calculations, in conjunction with an assumption of the Pluto/Charon system's direct formation from solar nebula condensates, strongly suggest that most of the carbon in the outer solar nebula was in CO form, in keeping with both the inheritance from the dense molecular clouds in the interstellar medium, and/or the Lewis and Prinn (1980) kinetic-inhibition model of solar nebula chemistry. Laboratory studies of carbonaceous chondrites and Comet Halley flyby studies suggest that condensed organic material, rather than elemental carbon, is the most likely candidate for the small percentage of the carbon-bearing solid in the outer solar nebula.

Simonelli, Damon P.↗
NASA NTRS1990

From interstellar dust to comets - A unification of observational constraints

The interstellar dust model of comets is numerically worked out to satisfy simultaneously several basic constraints provided by observations of Comet Halley, and to derive the porosity of coma dust. The observational constraints are (1) the strengths of the 3.4 and 9.7 micron emission bands, (2) the shape of the 9.7 micron band, (3) the amount of silicates relative to organic materials, and (4) the mass distribution of the dust. The method used involves precise calculations of temperatures and the emission characteristics of porous aggregates of interstellar dust as a function of their mass, porosity, and distance to the sun and the wavelength. The results indicate that coma dust has a porosity in the range 0.93-0.975, i.e., a packing factor of 0.07 or less, consistent with independent observations of comet densities of 0.6 to 0.26 g/cu cm and meteor densities of less than 0.2 g/cu cm.

Greenberg, J. Mayo↗
NASA NTRS1991

LDEF active optical system components experiment

A preliminary report on the Active Optical System Components Experiment is presented. This experiment contained 136 components in a six-inch deep tray including lasers, infrared detectors and arrays, ultraviolet light detectors, light-emitting diodes, a light modulator, flash lamps, optical filters, glasses, and samples of surface finishes. The experimental results for those component characteristics appear as much related to the passage of time as to the effects of the space environment, but organic materials and extreme-infrared reflectivity of black paints show unexpected changes.

Blue, M. D.↗
NASA NTRS1990

The composition and origin of the C, P, and D asteroids - Water as a tracer of thermal evolution in the outer belt

A telescopic and laboratory investigation of water distribution among low albedo asteroids in the outer belt, using the 3-micron reflectance absorption of molecular H2O and structural OH ions (coincident with the 3-micron spectral signature of meteorite and asteroid hydrated silicates) shows that 66 percent of the C-class asteroids in the sample have hydrated silicate surfaces. In conjunction with the apparently anhydrous P and D surfaces, this pronounced hydration difference between C-class asteroids and the more distant P and D classes points to an original outer belt asteroid composition of anhydrous silicates, water ice, and complex organic material. Early solar-wind induction heating of protoasteroids, declining in intensity with distance from the sun, is conjectured to have produced the observed diminution of hydrated silicate abundance.

Jones, Thomas D.↗
NASA NTRS1988

Second and third order nonlinear optical properties of conjugated molecules and polymers

Second- and third-order nonlinear optical properties of some newly synthesized organic molecules and polymers are reported. Powder second-harmonic-generation efficiencies of up to 200 times urea have been realized for asymmetric donor-acceptor acetylenes. Third harmonic generation chi(3)s have been determined for a series of small conjugated molecules in solution. THG chi(3)s have also been determined for a series of soluble conjugated copolymers prepared using ring-opening metathesis polymerization. The results are discussed in terms of relevant molecular and/or macroscopic structural features of these conjugated organic materials.

Perry, Joseph W.↗
NASA NTRS1991

Analysis of images obtained by the Phobos 2 spacecraft

The reflection spectrum and density of the Martian satellite, Phobos, suggests that it may be a captured C-type asteroid and hence may contain relatively unaltered organic material from the early history of the solar system. Since there is evidence from isotopic anomalies that meteorites presumably derived from such asteroids contain preserved interstellar material, it is conceivable that evidence for interstellar matter might also be present on Phobos. The present research concerns interpretation of the chemical composition of Phobos' surface and analysis of images of Phobos taken by the FREGAT camera equipment aboard the Phobos 2 Spacecraft, including both disk-integrated and disk-resolved photometry. Because the surface of Phobos is a regolith, spectral information on the surface composition will be convolved with information on the surface texture. A primary goal was to untangle these effects. Unfortunately, the Phobos 1 Spacecraft lost contact with Earth during its transit to Mars, and Phobos 2 likewise lost contact after two months in orbit around Mars. Thus, the hovering phase of very close approach and the landing of instruments on the surface of Phobos did not take place, so no data on the elemental composition of the surface is available. However, 37 images were obtained of the satellite. The results include the first such observations at near infrared wavelengths, for which disk-integrated results show that the corresponding geometric albedo is quite small and very similar to the value in the blue. The resolved surface photometry was analyzed by developing new methods of radiative transfer in rough surface layers and a procedure referred to as statistical photoclinometry. The results provide root mean square surface slopes on scales from the order of 1 millimeter to 250 meters, albedo fluctuations, and corresponding correlation lengths.

Irvine, W. M.↗
NASA NTRS1992

LDEF active optical system components experiment

A preliminary report on the Active Optical System Components Experiment is presented. This experiment contained 136 components in a six inch deep tray including lasers, infrared detectors and arrays, ultraviolet light detectors, light-emitting diodes, a light modulator, flash lamps, optical filters, glasses, and samples of surface finishes. Thermal, mechanical, and structural considerations leading to the design of the tray hardware are discussed. In general, changes in the retested component characteristics appear as much related to the passage of time as to the effects of the space environment, but organic materials, multilayer optical interference filters, and extreme-infrared reflectivity of black paints show unexpected changes.

M D Blue↗
NASA NTRS1992

Xylan - A potential contaminant for lunar samples and Antarctic meteorites

The possibility that lunar samples have been contaminated by the proprietary lubricant paint known as Xylan, which has been applied to screw threads in dry-N sample processing cabinets at NASA JSC, is considered. From a sample analysis using sealed-tube and stepped combustion, it is argued that the unexpectedly high concentration of organic materials found in EET A79001 is not due to Xylan contamination. It is considered unlikely that previous C and N analyses of lunar samples have been affected by the introduction of Xylan.

Wright, I. P.↗
NASA NTRS1992

ICCG-10: Tenth International Conference on Crystal Growth. Oral presentation abstracts

Oral presentation abstracts from the tenth International Conference on Crystal Growth (ICCG) (Aug. 16-21, 1992) are provided. Topics discussed at the conference include superconductors, semiconductors, nucleation, crystal growth mechanisms, and laser materials. Organizing committees, ICCG advisory board and officers, and sponsors of the conference are also included.

Source record↗
NASA NTRS1992

Characterization of the Water Soluble Component of Inedible Residue from Candidate CELSS Crops

Recycling of inorganic nutrients required for plant growth will be a necessary component of a fully closed, bioregenerative life support system. This research characterized the recovery of plant nutrients from the inedible fraction of three crop types (wheat, potato, and soybean) by soaking, or leaching, in water. A considerable portion of the dry weight of the inedible biomass was readily soluble (29 percent for soybean, 43 percent for wheat, and 52 percent for potato). Greater weight loss from potato was a result of higher tissue concentrations of potassium, nitrate, and phosphate. Approximately 25 percent of the organic content of the biomass was water soluble, while the majority of most inorganic nutrients, except for calcium and iron, were recovered in the leachate. Direct use of the leachates in hydroponic media could provide between 40-90 percent of plant nutrient demands for wheat, and 20-50 percent of demand for soybean and potato. Further evaluation of leaching as a component of resource recovery scheme in a bioregenerative system requires study of (1) utilization of plant leachates in hydroponic plant culture; and (2) conversion of organic material (both soluble and insoluble) into edible, or other useful, products.

Garland, Jay↗
NASA NTRS1992

Comets: Role and importance to exobiology

The transfer of organic compounds from interstellar space to the outskirts of a protoplanetary disk, their accretion into cometary objects, and the transport of the latter into the inner solar system by orbital diffusion throw a new light on the central problem of exobiology. It suggests the existence of a cosmic mechanism, working everywhere, that can supply prebiotic compounds to ubiquitous rocky planets, in search of the proper environment to start life in many places in the Universe. Under the heading of chemistry of the cometary nucleus, the following topics are covered: radial homogeneity of the nucleus; the dust-to-ice ratio; nature of the dust grains; origin of the dust in comets; nature of the volatile fraction; the CO distribution in comet Halley; dust contribution to the volatile fraction; elemental balance sheet of comet Halley; quantitative molecular analysis of the volatile fraction; and isotopic ratios. Under the heading of exogenous origin of carbon on terrestrial planets the following topics are covered: evidence for a high-temperature phase; from planetesimals to planets; a veneer of volatile and organic material; and cometary contribution.

Delsemme, Armand H.↗
NASA NTRS1992

A strong 3.4 micron emission feature in comet Austin 1989c1

High resolution 2.8-4.0 micron spectra of the 'new' comet Austin 1989c1, taken on 15-16 May 1990 confirm the presence of the broad emission features around 3.4 and 3.52 micron seen in a number of bright comets and ascribed to organic material. Both the 3.4 micron band strength and the 3.52/3.36 micron flux ratios are among the largest so far observed. The data are consistent with the relationship between band strength and water production rate that was recently derived. Excess emission at 3.28 and 3.6 micron cannot be unambiguously identified as features due to the poor signal-to-noise ratio.

Green, S. F.↗