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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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This report highlights progress made on plasma shear turbulence in order to showcase the Institutional Computing program's recent accomplishments.
We are developing a new physics-based satellite drag model to accurately predict satellite paths and to prevent collisions in space. Institutional Computing resources have been used to develop a data assimilative thermospheric density model. Resources have also been employed in Direct Simulation Monte Carlo calculations of the satellite drag coefficient. First results include the Ensemble Kalman Filter method used to estimate the coupling between solar drivers. Results also include thermospheric density changes and first self-consistent drag coefficients calculations using the physics based and assimilative thermosphere model.
The main objective of SHIELDS project is to develop a new capability to understand, model, and predict the spacecraft Surface Charging Environment (SCE).
Overview: Van Allen Radiation Belts and Why do we care? Introduction: Characterizing the radiation belt dynamics. Modeling Work: Source, Transport, and Loss Conclusion: Challenges and Opportunities.
The goals and highlights of this research are to: 1) Undertake two-fluid simulations of oblique tearing modes with $m_{i}/m_{e}$ = 100 and 1836, and $b_g$ ≤ 10 with further bridging the fluid and kinetic models and linear growth rates agree with kinetic theory for $b_g$ ≤ 1; 2) 3-D simulations of a doubly-periodic Harris Sheet with $m_{i}/m_{e}$ = 100 and $b_g$ = 2:5 that features current layer splits into multiple ~ de-scale diffusion regions, an amplification of current by 2x, and similar features to kinetic simulations; 3) Influence of boundary conditions: periodic vs. line-tied; and 4) Address how much of the kinetic nature of MR can be captured by a two-fluid model. (A fluid model requires dissipation.)
The Air Force Assimilative Photospheric flux Transport model (ADAPT), is a magnetic flux propagation based on Worden-Harvey (WH) model. ADAPT would be used to provide a global photospheric map of the Earth. A data assimilation method based on the Ensemble Kalman Filter (EnKF), a method of Monte Carlo approximation tied with Kalman filtering, is used in calculating the ADAPT models.
A model for radial diffusion caused by electromagnetic disturbances was published by Falthammar (1965) using a two-parameter model of the disturbance perturbing a background dipole magnetic field. Schulz and Lanzerotti (1974) extended this model by recognizing the two parameter perturbation as the leading (non--dipole) terms of the Mead Williams magnetic field model. They emphasized that the magnetic perturbation in such a model induces an electric ield that can be calculated from the motion of field lines on which the particles are ‘frozen’. Roederer and Zhang (2014) describe how the field lines on which the particles are frozen can be calculated by tracing the unperturbed field lines from the minimum-B location to the ionospheric footpoint, and then tracing the perturbed field (which shares the same ionospheric footpoint due to the frozen -in condition) from the ionospheric footpoint back to a perturbed minimum B location. The instantaneous change n Roederer L*, dL*/dt, can then be computed as the product (dL*/dphi)*(dphi/dt). dL*/Dphi is linearly dependent on the perturbation parameters (to first order) and is obtained by computing the drift across L*-labeled perturbed field lines, while dphi/dt is related to the bounce-averaged gradient-curvature drift velocity. The advantage of assuming a dipole background magnetic field, as in these previous studies, is that the instantaneous dL*/dt can be computed analytically (with some approximations), as can the DLL that results from integrating dL*/dt over time and computing the expected value of (dL*)^2. The approach can also be applied to complex background magnetic field models like T89 or TS04, on top of which the small perturbations are added, but an analytical solution is not possible and so a numerical solution must be implemented. In this talk, I discuss our progress in implementing a numerical solution to the calculation of DL*L* using arbitrary background field models with simple electromagnetic perturbations.
Simulated background in all sensors as well as signal in the particle channels which are intended to measure electron. The electron channels are called E1-E11 – each of which is intended to detect a different range of electron energies.
The fifth Los Alamos Space Weather Summer School was held June 1st - July 24th, 2015, at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL). With renewed support from the Institute of Geophysics, Planetary Physics, and Signatures (IGPPS) and additional support from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science, we hosted a new class of five students from various U.S. and foreign research institutions. The summer school curriculum includes a series of structured lectures as well as mentored research and practicum opportunities. Lecture topics including general and specialized topics in the field of space weather were given by a number of researchers affiliated with LANL. Students were given the opportunity to engage in research projects through a mentored practicum experience. Each student works with one or more LANL-affiliated mentors to execute a collaborative research project, typically linked with a larger ongoing research effort at LANL and/or the student’s PhD thesis research. This model provides a valuable learning experience for the student while developing the opportunity for future collaboration. This report includes a summary of the research efforts fostered and facilitated by the Space Weather Summer School. These reports should be viewed as work-in-progress as the short session typically only offers sufficient time for preliminary results. At the close of the summer school session, students present a summary of their research efforts. Titles of the papers included in this report are as follows: Full particle-in-cell (PIC) simulation of whistler wave generation, Hybrid simulations of the right-hand ion cyclotron anisotropy instability in a sub-Alfvénic plasma flow, A statistical ensemble for solar wind measurements, Observations and models of substorm injection dispersion patterns, Heavy ion effects on Kelvin-Helmholtz instability: hybrid study, Simulating plasmaspheric electron densities with a two-component electric field model, Ion and electron heating by whistler turbulence: parametric studies via particle-in-cell simulation, and The statistics of relativistic electron pitch angle distribution in the Earth’s radiation belt based on the Van Allen Probes measurements.
This report describes how the HOPE instrument is used to measure subatomic particles in the Van Allen belts.
This report describes the method used to derive fluxes of the trapped proton belt along the GPS orbit (i.e., a Medium-Earth Orbit) during 2000 – 2010, a period almost covering a solar cycle. This method utilizes a newly developed empirical proton radiation-belt model, with the model output scaled by GPS in-situ measurements, to generate proton fluxes that cover a wide range of energies (50keV- 6MeV) and keep temporal features as well. The new proton radiation-belt model is developed based upon CEPPAD proton measurements from the Polar mission (1996 – 2007). Comparing to the de-facto standard empirical model of AP8, this model is not only based upon a new data set representative of the proton belt during the same period covered by GPS, but can also provide statistical information of flux values such as worst cases and occurrence percentiles instead of solely the mean values. The comparison shows quite different results from the two models and suggests that the commonly accepted error factor of 2 on the AP8 flux output over-simplifies and thus underestimates variations of the proton belt. Output fluxes from this new model along the GPS orbit are further scaled by the ns41 in-situ data so as to reflect the dynamic nature of protons in the outer radiation belt at geomagnetically active times. Derived daily proton fluxes along the GPS ns41 orbit, whose data files are delivered along with this report, are depicted to illustrate the trapped proton environment in the Medium-Earth Orbit. Uncertainties on those daily proton fluxes from two sources are evaluated: One is from the new proton-belt model that has error factors < ~3; the other is from the in-situ measurements and the error factors could be ~ 5.
This report reviews existing literature describing forecast accuracy metrics, concentrating on those based on relative errors and percentage errors. We then review how the most common of these metrics, the mean absolute percentage error (MAPE), has been applied in recent radiation belt modeling literature. Finally, we describe metrics based on the ratios of predicted to observed values (the accuracy ratio) that address the drawbacks inherent in using MAPE. Specifically, we define and recommend the median log accuracy ratio as a measure of bias and the median symmetric accuracy as a measure of accuracy.
This document describes radial diffusion and its impact on modeling radiation belt dynamics.
In this report, we summarize available research in order to characterize expected rates of particle incidence on the SENSER/RROE optical instrument. We first investigate the “normal” background levels using data from statistical studies of spacecraft in geosynchronous orbit and empirical models. We then consider “worst case” scenarios based on event studies in which extreme fluxes have been observed. We use these data to define “maximum” rates of particle incidence. We then consider how incident particles will actually produce counts in the instrument by considering the effects of screening by the instrument housing and the possibility of direct particle access to the housing, with rates for both primary access and secondary electron generation.
The following topics are covered: electron response simulations and typical calculated response. Monte Carlo calculations of the response of future charged particle instruments (dosimeters) intended to measure the flux of charged particles in space were performed. The electron channels are called E1- E11 – each of which is intended to detect a different range of electron energies. These instruments are on current and future GPS satellites.
Simulations for the 2D particle-in-cell (PIC) cases cited are presented.