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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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Excitation of auroral green line by dissociative recombination of oxygen molecular ions, using photometric and electron flux rocket sounding data
Benzene quadrupole moment estimates from second virial coefficient data with polarizability in intermolecular potential function and from molecular susceptibility anisotropy
Rocket measurements of diurnal variations of F region concentrations and temperature of molecular N and O, showing disagreement with satellite drag data
Theoretical and experimental research on fluid conductivity of lunar surface materials is summarized. Theoretical methods were developed for the analysis of transitional and free-molecular flows, and for analysis of lunar permeability probe data in general. Experimental studies of rarefied flows under conditions of a large pressure gradient show flows in the continuum regime to be responsible for the largest portion of the pressure drop between source and sink for one dimensional flow, provided the entrance Knudsen number is sufficiently small. The concept of local similarity leading to a universal nondimensional function of Knudsen number was shown to have approximate validity; flows in all regimes may be described in terms of an area fraction and a single length parameter. Synthetic porous media prepared from glass beads exhibited flow behavior similar in many regards to that of a natural sandstone; studies using artificial stones with known pore configurations may lead to new insight concerning the structure of natural materials. The experimental method involving the use of segmented specimens of large permeability is shown to be fruitful.
Simultaneous effects of temperature and concentration on tensile viscosity are investigated using a semi-empirical scaling law established to relate the concentration, temperature and deformation rate by a reduced deformation rate variable. Results show the onset of high viscosity occurring in the vicinity of the onset of non-Newtonian viscosity observed in a simple shear flow experiment. High viscosity is also compared with steady and dynamic shear data. Finally, the asymptotic solution of Hassager's kinetic theory of a bead-rod model for macromolecular solutions is compared with the data, indicating that tensile viscosity depends strongly on the molecular weight, the higher the molecular weight, the more sensitive the tensile viscosity in terms of the deformation rate.
Friction, wear, and wear mechanisms of several different polyimide films, solid bodies, composites, and bonded solid lubricant films are compared and discussed. In addition, the effect of such parameters as temperatures, type of atmosphere, contact stress, and specimen configuration are investigated. A friction and wear transition occurs in some polyimides at elevated temperatures and this transition is related to molecular relaxations that occur in polyimides. Friction and wear data from an accelerated test (pin-on-disk) are compared to similar data from an end use test device (plain spherical bearing), and to other polymers investigated in a similar geometry.
Friction, wear, and wear mechanisms of several different polyimide films, solid bodies, composites, and bonded solid lubricant films are compared and discussed. In addition, the effect of such parameters as temperatures, type of atmosphere, contact stress, and specimen configuration are investigated. A friction and wear transition occurs in some polyimides at elevated temperatures and this transition is related to molecular relaxations that occur in polyimides. Friction and wear data from an accelerated test (pin-on-disk) are compared to similar data from an end use test device (plain spherical bearing), and to other polymers investigated in a similar geometry.
Monthly zonal mean observations of H2O and CH4 made by the limb infrared monitor of the stratosphere and the stratospheric and mesospheric sounder instruments on Nimbus 7 have been used to investigate whether the H2O mixing ratios in the stratosphere are consistent with a source via the oxidation of CH4. While both sets of data show considerable seasonally varying structure, total hydrogen (neglecting molecular hydrogen) is relatively featureless with a mean value over the stratosphere of 6.0 + or - 0.35 ppmm(1sigma) for the five-month period studied. The uniformity of the total hydrogen fields points to the validity of the CH4 oxidation hypothesis. The derived fields of total hydrogen are used to deduce a mean H2O mixing ratio for air as it enters the stratosphere of 2.7 + or - 0.35 ppmv (1sigma) from which a desiccation temperature may be deduced.
The volume mixing ratios of the six most important halogenated source species (CH3Cl, CF2Cl2, CFCl3, CHF2Cl, CCl4, and CF4) have been retrieved over the 10- to 30-km altitude range from the analysis of 0.01/cm resolution infrared solar occultation spectra recorded near 30 deg N and 47 deg S latitudes with the ATMOS (Atmospheric Trace Molecule Spectroscopy) instrument, operating from on board Spacelab 3 (April-May 1985). The results reported here, although in satisfactory agreement with recent in situ values obtained from air sampling techniques, are limited in accuracy by the limited absorption representative of most of the species and by uncertainties in the spectroscopic parameters currently available for these gases. They demonstrate, however, the power of the IR remote sensing approach for evaluating on a global scale the total chlorine budget of the atmosphere, and they provide an independent set of simultaneous data acquired for the important source and reservoir halogenated molecular species in the upper atmosphere.
Infrared emission-line images of the v = 1-0 S(1) transition of molecular hydrogen and Br-gamma recombination line of atomic hydrogen which cover the entire extent of NGC 6720, the Ring nebula. The maps presented here are the highest angular resolution images of these transitions yet produced for this object and have very low relative positional uncertainty. As a result, the spatial stratification of the ionized and shocked molecular zones within the nebula is clearly resolved. These data, and data from the Infrared Astronomical Satellite, are used to determine the H2, H I, and dust mass within the nebula. Energy sources for the dust heating, formation and destruction of the H2, and overall evolution of the nebula are also discussed.
First results of a beam-beam, single-collision study of negative-ion mass spectra produced by attachment of zero-energy electrons to the molecules of the explosives RDX, PETN, and TNT are presented. The technique used is reversal electron attachment detection (READ) wherein the zero-energy electrons are produced by focusing an intense electron beam into a shaped electrostatic field which reverses the trajectory of electrons. The target beam is introduced at the reversal point, and attachment occurs because the electrons have essentially zero longitudinal and radial velocity. The READ technique is used to obtain the 'signature' of molecular ion formation and/or fragmentation for each explosive. Present data are compared with results from atmospheric-pressure ionization and negative-ion chemical ionization methods.
We present new observational data on the small scale structure of the Taurus Molecular Cloud 1 (TMC-1) in the regime of 0.02 - 0.04 pc and 0.04 -0.06 M.
The NASA Twins Study, NASA's first foray into integrated omic studies in humans, illustrates how an integrated omics approach can be brought to bear on the challenges to human health and performance on a Mars mission. The NASA Twins Study involves US Astronaut Scott Kelly and his identical twin brother, Mark Kelly, a retired US Astronaut. No other opportunity to study a twin pair for a prolonged period with one subject in space and one on the ground is available for the foreseeable future. A team of 10 principal investigators are conducting the Twins Study, examining a very broad range of biological functions including the genome, epigenome, transcriptome, proteome, metabolome, gut microbiome, immunological response to vaccinations, indicators of atherosclerosis, physiological fluid shifts, and cognition. A novel aspect of the study is the integrated study of molecular, physiological, cognitive, and microbiological properties. Major sample and data collection from both subjects for this study began approximately six months before Scott Kelly's one year mission on the ISS, continue while Scott Kelly is in flight and will conclude approximately six months after his return to Earth. Mark Kelly will remain on Earth during this study, in a lifestyle unconstrained by this study, thereby providing a measure of normal variation in the properties being studied. An overview of initial results and the future plans will be described as well as the technological and ethical issues raised for spaceflight studies involving omics.
One fundamental requirement shared by humans with all higher terrestrial life forms, including other vertebrates, insects, and higher land plants, is a complex, fractally branching vascular system. NASA's VESsel GENeration Analysis (VESGEN) software maps and quantifies vascular trees, networks, and tree-network composites according to weighted physiological rules such as vessel connectivity, tapering and bifurcational branching. According to fluid dynamics, successful vascular transport requires a complex distributed system of highly regulated laminar flow. Microvascular branching rules within vertebrates, dicot leaves and the other organisms therefore display many similarities. A unifying perspective is that vascular patterning offers a useful readout of molecular signaling that necessarily integrates these complex pathways. VESGEN has elucidated changes in vascular pattern resulting from inflammatory, developmental and other signaling within numerous tissues and major model organisms studied for Space Biology. For a new VESGEN systems approach, we analyzed differential gene expression in leaves of Arabidopsis thaliana reported by GeneLab (GLDS-7) for spaceflight. Vascularrelated changes in leaf gene expression were identified that can potentially be phenocopied by mutants in ground-based experiments. To link transcriptional, protein and other molecular change with phenotype, alterations in the spatial and dynamic dimensions of vascular patterns for Arabidopsis leaves and other model species are being co-localized with signaling patterns of single molecular expression analyzed as information dimensions. Previously, Drosophila microarray data returned from space suggested significant changes in genes related to wing venation development that include EGF, Notch, Hedghog, Wingless and Dpp signaling. Phenotypes of increasingly abnormal ectopic wing venation in the (non-spaceflight) Drosophila wing generated by overexpression of a Notch antagonist were analyzed by VESGEN. Other VESGEN research applications include the mouse retina, GI and coronary vessels, avian placental analogs and translational studies in the astronaut retina related to health challenges for long-duration missions.
GeneLab collects and enables analysis of spaceflight and ground-based spaceflight simulation genomic data, RNA and protein expression, and metabolic profiles. It interfaces with other existing databases containing spaceflight omic data. The 2011 National Research Council (NRC) Decadal Survey on NASA Life and Physical Sciences called for increased opportunities for multi-investigator spaceflight opportunities and greater use of genomic approaches to meet the needs of NASA researchers. To address these recommendations of the NRC Decadal Survey, the Space Life and Physical Sciences Research and Applications Division of NASA's Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate has initiated a transition to an Open Science architecture to increase research opportunities, and has developed the GeneLab Platform based on highly leveraged and integrated bioinformatics analytics. GeneLab is an interactive, open-access resource where scientists can upload, download, store, search, share, transfer, and analyze omics data from spaceflight and corresponding analogue experiments. Users can explore GeneLab datasets in the Data Repository, analyze data using the Analysis Platform, visualize high-order data and create collaborative projects using the Collaborative Workspace. Our primary goal is to maximize the utilization of the valuable biological research conducted aboard the International Space Station (ISS) by collecting genomic, transcriptomic, proteomic, and metabolomics data known as “omics”. By providing a portal linking processed data to flight parameters, GeneLab enables exploration of the molecular network responses of terrestrial biology to the space environment. This allows researchers to understand the complex responses of biological systems to the space environment. This technology development activity was transferred from the Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate to the Science Mission Directorate Division of Biological and Physical Sciences (BPS) in October 2020.
We present high angular resolution (∼80 mas) ALMA continuum images of the SN1987A system, together with CO J = 21, J = 65, and SiO J = 54 to J = 76 images, which clearly resolve the ejecta (dust continuum and molecules) and ring (synchrotron continuum) components. Dust in the ejecta is asymmetric and clumpy, and overall the dust fills the spatial void seen in Hα images, filling that region with material from heavier elements. The dust clumps generally fill the space where CO J = 6 5 is fainter, tentatively indicating that these dust clumps and CO are locationally and chemically linked. In these regions, carbonaceous dust grains might have formed after dissociation of CO. The dust grains would have cooled by radiation, and subsequent collisions of grains with gas would also cool the gas, suppressing the CO J = 6 5 intensity. The data show a dust peak spatially coincident with the molecular hole seen in previous ALMA CO J = 2 1 and SiO J = 5 4 images. That dust peak, combined with CO and SiO line spectra, suggests that the dust and gas could be at higher temperatures than the surrounding material, though higher density cannot be totally excluded. One of the possibilities is that a compact source provides additional heat at that location. Fits to the far-infrared–millimeter spectral energy distribution give ejecta dust temperatures of 18–23 K. We revise the ejecta dust mass to Mdust = 0.2–0.4 Mfor carbon or silicate grains, or a maximum of <0.7 Mfor a mixture of grain species, using the predicted nucleosynthesis yields as an upper limit.
The determination of accurate spectroscopic parameters for molecular systems containing transition metal atoms is shown to require extensive data sets and a high level correlation treatment, and techniques and their limitations are considered. Extensive results reported on the transition metal atoms, hydrides, oxides, and dimers makes possible the design of a calculation to correctly describe the mixing of different atomic asymptotes, and to give a correct balance between molecular bonding and exchange interactions. Examples considered include the dipole moment of the 2Delta state of NiH, which can help determine the mixture of 3d(8)4s(2) and 3d(9)4s(1) in the NiH wavefunction, and the bonding in CrO, where an equivalent description of the relative energies associated with the Cr 3d-3d atomic exchange and the Cr-O bond is important.
Auroral excitation rates and molecular vibrational tempratures in nitrogen 2PG from Franck-Condon factors obtained from intensity measurements and high resolution absorption spectral data