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At least 1,009 records · Page 56
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS2003

Measurement of Characteristics of Micron Size Individual Dust Particles of Astrophysical Interest

A laboratory facility for levitating single isolated dust particles in an electrodynamic balance has been developed at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center for conducting studies of the physical and optical properties of the analogs of interstellar and interplanetary dust grains of 0.2-20 micron size under controlled pressures/temperatures simulating astrophysical environments. We plan three classes of experiments using this facility: (1) Charge characteristics of micron size single dust grains: The photoelectric efficiencies, yields, and equilibrium potentials when exposed to UV radiation found from these measurements will provide much-needed photoelectric emission data for individual dust particles; (2) Infrared optical properties of dust particles: Specifically, we will determines the complex refractive indices, the extinction coefficients, the scattering phase functions, and the polarization properties of single dust grains of interest in interstellar environments, in the 1- 25 micron spectral region; (3) Condensation experiments to investigate the deposition of volatile gases on colder nucleated particles in dense interstellar clouds and lower planetary atmospheres: The measured data will permit determination of the sticking efficiencies of volatile gases of astrophysical interest. Brief descriptions of the experimental setup for the last two classes of experiments will be given. We will present results of measurements of photoelectric emission using 0.2-6.6 micron size silica particles exposed to UV radiation at 120-200 nm and also results of radiation pressure measurements using the same size silica particles and laser light at 5320 Angstrom.

Craven, P. D.↗
NASA NTRS1991

Radiation exposure and dose estimates for a nuclear-powered manned Mars sprint mission

A conceptual manned mission to Mars is analyzed in order to estimate potential ionizing radiation doses that may be incurred by crew members during the course of the mission. The scenario is set for a journey during the solar active period and includes a brief stay on the Martian surface. Propulsion is assumed to be provided by nuclear thermal rocket power, and estimates of the dose contributions from the reactors are included. However, due to effective shielding of the reactors by large propellant tanks, it is found that the incurred doses are principally due to the charged particle natural environment. Recent data (August-December 1989) for large solar proton events are used to simulate the flame environment, while standard models are used for the trapped particle and galactic cosmic ray contributions. Shield effectiveness for several candidate materials are investigated.

Nealy, John E.↗
NASA NTRS1997

Measurements of micron-scale meteoroids and orbital debris with the Space Dust (SPADUS) instrument on the upcoming ARGOS P91-1 mission

The space dust (SPADUS) experiment, to be launched into a sun-synchronous polar orbit at an altitude of 833 km onboard the USAF ARGOS P91-1 mission, will provide time-resolved measurements of the intensity, size spectrum and geocentric trajectories of dust particles encountered during the nominal three year mission. The experiment uses polyvinylidene fluoride dust sensors with a total detector area of 576 sq cm. The SPADUS will measure particle sizes between 2 and 200 microns, particle velocities between 1 and 10 km/s to better than 4 percent, and the direction of incidence with a mean error of 7 percent. These data will identify the particles as being debris or of natural origin.

McKibben, R. B.↗
DOE OSTI2024

Topological Data Analysis for Particulate Gels

Soft gels, formed via the self-assembly of particulate materials, exhibit intricate multiscale structures that provide them with flexibility and resilience when subjected to external stresses. Here, this work combines particle simulations and topological data analysis (TDA) to characterize the complex multiscale structure of soft gels. Our TDA analysis focuses on the use of the Euler characteristic, which is an interpretable and computationally scalable topological descriptor that is combined with filtration operations to obtain information on the geometric (local) and topological (global) structure of soft gels. We reduce the topological information obtained with TDA using principal component analysis (PCA) and show that this provides an informative low-dimensional representation of the gel structure. We use the proposed computational framework to investigate the influence of gel preparation (e.g., quench rate, volume fraction) on soft gel structure and to explore dynamic deformations that emerge under oscillatory shear in various response regimes (linear, nonlinear, and flow). Our analysis provides evidence of the existence of hierarchical structures in soft gels, which are not easily identifiable otherwise. Moreover, our analysis reveals direct correlations between topological changes of the gel structure under deformation and mechanical phenomena distinctive of gel materials, such as stiffening and yielding. In summary, we show that TDA facilitates the mathematical representation, quantification, and analysis of soft gel structures, extending traditional network analysis methods to capture both local and global organization.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
NASA NTRS2004

Preliminary Sample Analysis Plan for the Cometary and Interstellar Samples Being Returned by the Stardust Spacecraft

The NASA Stardust comet sample return mission is proceeding very well, and the science team breathed a collective sigh of relief following the successful comet sample collection phase which occurred during a 6.1 km/s, 340km-close flyby of comet Wild-2 on Jan 2 of this year. Multiple images of the comet nucleus were obtained and a variety of onboard instruments returned in situ data on the spatial distribution, particle size frequency and composition of the dust in the comet s coma. These data are currently being processed and analyzed. It is expected that 500-1000 comet particles >15 m were collected by impact into low density silica aerogel, as well as many more smaller grains. Previous tests with hypervelocity guns firing small particles into aerogel indicate that material should have successfully been collected by the Stardust aerogel [1&2]. In addition, many (~100) grains of interstellar material newly entering the Solar System should have been collected by the spacecraft during its cruise phase to the comet.

Zolensky, M.↗
DOE OSTI2021

PUMIPic: A mesh-based approach to unstructured mesh Particle-In-Cell on GPUs

Unstructured mesh particle-in-cell, PIC, simulations executing on the current and next generation of massively parallel systems require new methods for both the mesh and particles to achieve performance and scalability on GPUs. The traditional approach to implementing PIC simulations defines data structures and algorithms in terms of particles with a full copy of the unstructured mesh on every process. To effectively scale the unstructured mesh and particles, mesh-based PIC uses the unstructured mesh as the predominant data structure with the particles stored in terms of the mesh entities. Here, this paper details the PUMIPic library, a framework for developing efficient and performance-portable mesh-based PIC simulations on GPU systems. A pseudo physics simulation based on a five-dimensional gyro-kinetic code for modeling plasma physics is used to examine the performance of PUMIPic. Scaling studies of the unstructured mesh partition and number of particles are performed up to 4096 nodes of the Summit system at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The studies show that mesh-based PIC can utilize a partitioned mesh and maintain scaling up to system limitations.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗
NASA NTRS1994

The dynamic cusp at low altitudes: A case study utilizing Viking, DMSP-F7 and Sondrestrom incoherent scatter radar observations

Coincident multi-instrument magnetospheric and ionospheric observations have made it possible to determine the position of the ionospheric footprint of the magnetospheric cusp and to monitor its evolution over time. The data used include charged particle and magnetic field measurements from the Earth-orbiting Viking and DMSP-F7 satellites, electric field measurements from Viking, interplanetary magnetic field and plasma data from IMP-8, and Sondrestrom incoherent scatter radar observations of the ionospheric plasma density, temperature, and convection. Viking detected cusp precipitation poleward of 75.5 deg invariant latitude. The ionospheric response to the observed electron precipitation was simulated using an auroral model. It predicts enhanced plasma density and elevated electron temperature in the upper E- and F- regions. Sondrestrom radar observations are in agreement with the predictions. The radar detected a cusp signature on each of five consecutive antenna elevation scans covering 1.2h local time. The cusp appeared to be about 2 deg invariant latitude wide, and its ionospheric footprint shifted equatorward by nearly 2 deg during this time, possibly influenced by an overall decrease in the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) B(sub z) component. The radar plasma drift data and the Viking magnetic and electric field data suggest that the cusp was associated with a continuous, rather than a patchy, merging between the IMF and the geomagnetic field.

Watermann, J.↗
NASA NTRS1987

Voids in Jovian magnetosphere revisited - Evidence of spacecraft charging

The Voyager 2 Plasma Science Instrument (PLS) measuring cold plasma number density observed about a dozen 'voids', lasting from a few minutes to 20 min, in the vicinity of the Ganymede-orbit crossing, when the low-energy ion and electron fluxes recorded fell to very low levels. Original interpretations associated these 'voids' with Ganymede wake effects. In the present study, the PLS data are reexamined, in conjunction with data from the magnetic field experiment and the low-energy charged particle (LECP) experiment. The LECP data showed that the PLS voids were accompanied by large enhancements of the flux of energetic electrons and ions, while the magnetic data exhibited no systematic signatures. It is suggested that increased energetic electron fluxes in the void regions intermittently charged the spacecraft negatively to values between a few kV and a few tens of kV, and that spacecraft charging could have produce dropouts in the measured cold ion and electron fluxes and enhancements in the measured fluxes of hot particles consistent with the observations.

Khurana, K. K.↗
NASA NTRS1987

Subcentimeter-size particle distribution functions in planetary rings from Voyager radio and photopolarimeter occultation data

Analysis of measurements of the scattered and direct components of Voyager 1 radio occultation signals at 3.5 and 13 cm wavelengths yield estimates of the distribution functions of supracentimeter-size particles and thickness of relatively broad regions in Saturn's rings. If mearurements of signal amplitude at a shorter wavelength are combined with the previously analyzed data, the shape of the distribution functions characterizing the smaller particles can be constrained. If size distributions of arbitrary form were considered, many solutions are found that are consistent with the three available observations of signal amplitude. The best-fit power law was calculated to the three observations at three wavelengths for several of the embedded Saturn ringlets. Mie scattering theory predicts that the measured phase of the radio occultation signal is highly sensitive to particles ranging from 0.1 to 1.0 wavelengths in size, thus additional constraints on the subcentimeter-size distribution functions for both the Saturn and Uranus rings can in principle be derived from radio phase measurements.

Zebker, Howard A.↗
DOE OSTI2022

Applications of persistent homology in nuclear collisions

Here, we introduce a novel set of observables associated to the rapidly developing field of persistent homology for the quantitative characterization of nuclear collisions and their evolution. Persistent homology allows for the identification of topological and homological characteristics of distributions in multidimensional spaces. We demonstrate here how to apply the tool kit of persistent homology to the extraction of novel clustering signatures and the identification of long-range flow correlations in the particle production process of nuclear collisions.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗
NASA NTRS2002

Laboratory Studies of the Optical Properties and Condensation Processes of Cosmic Dust Particles

A laboratory facility for levitating single isolated dust particles in an electrodynamics balance has been developing at NASA/Marshall Space Flight Center for conducting a variety of experimental, of astrophysical interest. The objective of this research is to employ this innovative experimental technique for studies of the physical and optical properties of the analogs of cosmic grains of 0.2-10 micron size in a chamber with controlled pressure/temperatures simulating astrophysical environments. In particular, we will carry out three classes of experiments to investigate the microphysics of the analogs of interstellar and interplanetary dust grains. (1) Charge characteristics of micron size single dust grains to determine the photoelectric efficiencies, yields, and equilibrium potentials when exposed to UV radiation. These measurements will provide the much-needed photoelectric emission data relating to individual particles as opposed to that for the bulk materials available so far. (2) Infrared optical properties of dust particles obtained by irradiating the particles with radiation from tunable infrared diode lasers and measuring the scattered radiation. Specifically, the complex refractive indices, the extinction coefficients, the scattering phase functions, and the polarization properties of single dust grains of interest in interstellar environments, in the 1-25 micron spectral region will be determined. (3) Condensation experiments to investigate the deposition of volatile gases on colder nucleated particles in dense interstellar clouds and lower planetary atmospheres. The increase in the mass or m/q ratio due to condensation on the particle will be monitored as a function of the dust particle temperature and the partial pressure of the injected volatile gas. The measured data wild permit determination of the sticking efficiencies of volatile gases of astrophysical interest. Preliminary results based on photoelectric emission experiments on 0.2-6.6 micron size silica particles exposed to UV radiation in the 120-200 nm spectral region will be presented.

Abbas, Mian M.↗
NASA NTRS2001

Plasma Waves Observed in the Cusp Turbulent Boundary Layer: An Analysis of High Time Resolution Wave and Particle Measurements from the Polar Spacecraft

The boundary layer located in the cusp and adjacent to the magnetopause is a region that is quite turbulent and abundant with waves. The Polar spacecraft's orbit and sophisticated instrumentation are ideal for studying this region of space. Our analysis of the waveform data obtained in this turbulent boundary layer shows broadband magnetic noise extending up to a few kilohertz (but less than the electron cyclotron frequency); sinusoidal bursts (a few tenths of a second) of whistler mode waves at around a few tens of hertz, a few hundreds of hertz, and just below the electron cyclotron frequency; and bipolar pulses, interpreted as electron phase-space holes. In addition, bursts of electron cyclotron harmonic waves are occasionally observed with magnetic components. We show evidence of broadband electrostatic bursts covering a range of approx. 3 to approx. 25 kHz (near but less than the plasma frequency) occurring in packets modulated at the frequency of some of the whistler mode waves. On the basis of high time resolution particle data from the Polar HYDRA instrument, we show that these bursts are consistent with generation by the resistive medium instability. The most likely source of the whistler mode waves is the magnetic reconnection site closest to the spacecraft, since the waves are observed propagating both toward and away from the Earth, are bursty, which is often the case with reconnection, and do not fit on the theoretical cold plasma dispersion relation curve.

Pickett, J. S.↗
DOE OSTI2025

Erratum to: Measurements of higher-order cumulants of multiplicity and net-electric charge distributions in inelastic proton-proton interactions by NA61/SHINE

This Erratum replaces, due to a discovery of coding mistakes, the following quantities: κ 3 /κ 1 of the h + − h − distribution presented in Fig. 6 and Table 6, κ 4 listed in Table 4, and $\hat{C}$ 4 presented in Fig. 7 and Table 5. All mentioned figures and tables were updated.

High-Energy Particle Collision Data Analysis↗
NASA NTRS1977

The radial transport of energetic solar flare particles from 1 to 6 AU

Data from the Pioneer 10 and 11 missions to Jupiter and beyond are used in a study of solar flare accelerated particles at distances of several astronomical units from the sun. The intensity-time profiles out to at least 6 AU are consistent with mainly diffusive interplanetary propagation. The outer boundary of the diffusion region is thought to be beyond 10 AU, since no obvious effects of a free escape boundary were observed. Four solar particle events are discussed in detail. The events are interpreted in terms of a spherically symmetric propagation model which includes the effects of diffusion, convection, and adiabatic deceleration and which assumes that the particles are impulsively injected at the sun.

Hamilton, D. C.↗
NASA NTRS1977

Particle motion on Mars inferred from the Viking lander cameras

Data from Viking lander cameras indicate fine particle mobility on the surface of Mars such as: probable ventifacts, rock-associated raised streaks, and particulate drifts. Peak wind directions inferred from Chryse and Utopia are roughly equal, and are consistant with those inferred by orbiter photography. A 24 deg systematic offset between: (1) the direction of rock-associated streaks in the Viking I landing site, and (2) Mariner 9 and Viking observations of crater-associated streaks is consistant with a Coriolis acceleration of particles entrained by high-velocity winds during the production of crater-associated streaks. It is suggested that if a large fraction of collision impact energy goes into deformation, strain, and rupture, a preferential destruction of the most easily saltated grains and a depletion of 15-micron diameter grains will be observed. Investigations of particulates dumped on the landing grid suggest that major saltation events took place between sols 96 and 207, caused by winds of greater than 50 meters/sec normalized to the top of the boundary layer.

Sagan, C.↗
NASA NTRS1990

Fine-tuning of process conditions to improve product uniformity of polystyrene particles used for wind tunnel velocimetry

Monodisperse polymer particles (having uniform diameter) were used for the last two decades in physical, biological, and chemical sciences. In NASA Langley Research Center monodisperse polystyrene particles are used in wind tunnel laser velocimeters. These polystyrene (PS) particles in latex form were formulated at the Engineering Laboratory of FENGD using emulsion-free emulsion polymerization. Monodisperse PS latices particles having different particle diameters were formulated and useful experimental data involving effects of process conditions on particle size were accumulated. However, similar process conditions and chemical recipes for polymerization of styrene monomer have often yielded monodisperse particles having varying diameters. The purpose was to improve the PS latex product uniformity by fine-tuning the process parameters based on the knowledge of suspension and emulsion polymerization.

Ray, Asit K.↗
NASA NTRS1992

SN 1987A - The impact of greater than 50 MeV gamma-ray luminosity limits on theories of particle acceleration

Analysis of the data obtained from two flights of a balloonborne gamma-ray detector to observe SN 1987A was completed. The detector, which included a spark chamber to determine the arrival directions of the photons, was sensitive in the energy range 50-500 MeV. The 95 percent confidence upper limit to the flux on day 55 after the explosion has been established to be 1.1 x 10 exp -5 photons/sq cm/s and on day 407 to be 3.4 x 10 exp -5 photons/sq cm/s. These limits are compared with various theoretical predictions.

Sood, R. K.↗