Engineering Papers⌕ Search

SEARCH · Engineering Papers

Results for “COSMIC”

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.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 1,135 records · Page 63
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1981

CMOS RAM cosmic-ray-induced-error-rate analysis

A significant number of spacecraft operational anomalies are believed to be associated with cosmic-ray-induced soft errors in the LSI memories. Test programs using a cyclotron to simulate cosmic rays have established conclusively that many common commercial memory types are vulnerable to heavy-ion upset. A description is given of the methodology and the results of a detailed analysis for predicting the bit-error rate in an assumed space environment for CMOS memory devices. Results are presented for three types of commercially available CMOS 1,024-bit RAMs. It was found that the HM6508 is susceptible to single-ion induced latchup from argon and krypton ions. The HS6508 and HS6508RH and the CDP1821 apparently are not susceptible to single-ion induced latchup.

Pickel, J. C.↗
NASA NTRS1981

The isotopic composition of low energy cosmic rays

High-resolution isotope measurements are reported of B, C, N, O, and Ne nuclei with 5-140 MeV/n. These observations extend the study of cosmic ray isotopes to lower energies than before, and provide new information on the isotopic composition of the anomalous cosmic ray component.

Mewaldt, R. A.↗
NASA NTRS1981

Confinement and acceleration of cosmic rays in galactic superbubbles

The role of the newly discovered galactic superbubbles on the confinement and acceleration of cosmic rays is examined. It is shown that these structures naturally account for the lifetime and the local origin of the cosmic rays, as well as for the location of galactic gamma-ray sources not associated with pulsars.

Kafatos, M.↗
NASA NTRS1982

Cosmic-ray acceleration by stellar winds. II - The spectrum of accelerated particles

Consideration is given to the spectrum of particles accelerated at a stellar wind terminal shock and, at the same time, modulated by convection and diffusion in the stellar wind and decelerated by adiabatic expansion of the unshocked wind. It is noted that a proper study of this problem combines the whole of the cosmic-ray modulation problem with first-order Fermi acceleration at the shock due to repeated diffusive scattering across the shock. The modulation aspect of the model described here is much simpler than modern models of modulation alone; this makes it possible to derive illustrative analytical expressions for the accelerated spectra. Particular cases of monoenergetic and truncated power laws are computed. Energy losses and convective modulation compete with acceleration at the shock so effectively in this model that enhancement of the background cosmic-ray flux by a factor of more than 2 is extremely unlikely.

Forman, M. A.↗
NASA NTRS1982

Ultraheavy cosmic rays - HEAO-3 results

The instrumentation and results from the Heavy Nuclei experiment on the HEAO 3 satellite are described. Six independently analyzed dual-gap ionization chambers measured the energy loss of the cosmic rays while a Cerenkov counter with 8 independently analyzed photomultipliers viewed two sheets of Pilot 425 plastic in a white box. Trajectories of the cosmic ray nuclei were determined in multiwire ionization hodoscopes. Variations in abundances were observed to be imperfectly ordered in terms of the first ionization potential, and volatility was also ruled out as the controlling factor. A predicted drop in abundance after Ba-56 was found, along with another sharp fall above Pb-82. Only one actinide-type event was detected during the 14 mos of viewing, a result consistent with other findings but which testifies against r-process formation.

Israel, M. H.↗
NASA NTRS1981

Supernova and cosmic rays

A general overview of supernova astronomy is presented, followed by a discussion of the relationship between SN and galactic cosmic rays. Pre-supernova evolution is traced to core collapse, explosion, and mass ejection. The two types of SN light curves are discussed in terms of their causes, and the different nucleosynthetic processes inside SNs are reviewed. Physical events in SN remnants are discussed. The three main connections between cosmic rays and SNs, the energy requirement, the acceleration mechanism, and the detailed composition of CR, are detailed.

Wefel, J. P.↗
NASA NTRS1982

Cosmic rays near the heliospheric current sheet

A discussion of full, three-dimensional model simulations of the solar modulation of galactic cosmic rays, including drift, is presented. Particular emphasis is on the variation of the cosmic-ray intensity near the heliospheric current sheet. It is shown that the model quite naturally produces a negative gradient away from a wavy current sheet as seen by an observer on the earth. It is concluded that recent observations of Newkirk and Lockwood (1981) are not in conflict with these model results, and hence are consistent with modulation models in which drift plays an important role.

Kota, J.↗
NASA NTRS1982

The effect of corotating interaction regions on the propagation of relativistic cosmic rays in the heliosphere

This paper questions the validity of modulation theories that ignore the presence of large regions of enhanced magnetic field in the heliosphere. The scatter-free and diffusive motion of relativistic cosmic rays is simulated in models of the heliospheric magnetic field, which include compressed field structures representing the corotating interaction regions that are believed to be present in the interplanetary medium throughout most of the solar cycle. It is found that the strong field gradients associated with these regions greatly perturb the drift pattern anticipated for simple Parkerian fields, and thus the expected streaming of cosmic rays from over the poles or along the current sheet, during consecutive solar cycles, no longer holds.

Thomas, B. T.↗
NASA NTRS1983

Cosmic-ray modulation and the anamalous component

Advances in the theory and observation of cosmic ray modulation and in studies of the anomalous component in cosmic radiation are reviewed from reports that appeared in the open literature during the years 1979 to 1982. Entries, which are primarily the work of American researchers, are cited under the following categories: (1) microscopic diffusion theory; (2) global modulation theory; (3) anomalous component; and (4) general modulation observation.

Jones, F. C.↗
NASA NTRS1982

The abundance of the actinides in the cosmic radiation as measured on HEAO 3

The HEAO 3 detector of heavy cosmic-ray nuclei has observed one possible actinide nucleus and some 100 nuclei of the platinum-lead group of elements. The resulting upper limit of 3% for the abundance ratio of actinides to platinum-lead nuclides is significantly lower than previous results from other observations. This new limit is inconsistent with freshly synthesized, pure r-process sources for cosmic-ray nuclei in this charge interval but is consistent with a source having a composition similar to the solar system, or to aged r-process material. We observe no events with a charge greater than 96.

Binns, W. R.↗
NASA NTRS1982

Paradigm transition in cosmic plasma physics

New discoveries in cosmic plasma physics are described, and their applications to solar, interstellar, galactic, and cosmological problems are discussed. The new discoveries include the existence of double layers in magnetized plasmas and in the low magnetosphere, and energy transfer by electric current in the auroral circuit. It is argued that solar flares and the solar wind-magnetosphere interaction should not be interpreted in terms of magnetic merging theories, and that electric current needs to be explicitly taken account of in understanding these phenomena. The filamentary structure of cosmic plasmas may be caused by electric currents in space, and the pinch effect may have a central role to play in the evolutionary history of interstellar clouds, stars, and solar systems. Space may have a cellular structure, with the cell walls formed by thin electric current layers. Annihilation may be the source of energy for quasars and the Hubble expansion, and the big bang cosmology may well be wrong.

Alfven, H.↗
NASA NTRS1982

Conceptual design of a coherent optical system of modular imaging collectors (COSMIC)

The Coherent Optical System of Modular Imaging Collectors (COSMIC) is the design concept for a phase-coherent optical telescope array that may be placed in earth orbit by the Space Shuttle in the 1990s. The initial system module is a minimum redundancy array whose photon collecting area is three times larger than that of the Space Telescope, and possesses a one-dimensional resoution of better than 0.01 arcsec in the visible range. Thermal structural requirements are assessed. Although the coherent beam combination requirements will be met by an active control system, the COSMIC structural/thermal design must meet more stringent performance criteria than even those of the Space Telescope.

Nein, M. E.↗
NASA NTRS1983

Abundance of cosmic-ray elements from sulfur to nickel as a function of atmospheric depth

The measured elemental composition of cosmic rays with charge Z from 16-28 as a function of atmospheric depth was compared with a propagation calculation including energy loss. The resulting composition at the top of the atmosphere has better precision than previously possible on balloon borne experiments, and agrees well with the only satellite data available in this charge range. The extrapolation method also provides checks on assumed cross-sections for interactions of cosmic rays in air.

Crane, J. H.↗
NASA NTRS1983

Earth's magnetic field as a radiator to detect cosmic ray electrons of energy greater than 10 to the 12th eV

Synchrotron emission by a high-energy electron in the geomagnetic field and its dependence upon different arrival directions over Palestine, Texas, where major balloon-borne experiments are being conducted, is studied. The dependence of detector response on the arrival direction of electron, the different criteria which are adopted to identify an electron event, the area of the detector, and the energy of the electron are discussed. An omnidirectional circular detector is used to examine whether it is possible to determine the energy of an electron without knowing its arrival direction. The collecting power of a detector is estimated as a function of the energy of electrons for different detector areas with different selection criteria, and this information is used to calculate the event rates expected by folding in the energy spectrum of cosmic ray electrons to show the viability of detecting cosmic ray electrons at energies greater than a few TeV.

Balasubrahmanyan, V. K.↗
NASA NTRS1983

Antiprotons in the cosmic radiation

Cosmic ray antiprotons were first detected three years ago by Golden et al. (1979) and Bogomolov et al. (1979). The measured flux at about 10 GeV was found to be a factor of 5 to 10 higher than expected in the leaky box model. More recently, an unexpected high antiproton flux has been measured by Buffington et al. (1981) at about 200 MeV, well below a low energy cut-off in the spectrum expected if the antiprotons are secondary. This paper briefly reviews calculations of the flux of secondary antiprotons expected for different models of cosmic ray propagation and discusses some of the primary origin hypotheses which have been proposed to account for the data.

Protheroe, R. J.↗
NASA NTRS1984

Cosmic ray exposure of SNC meteorites and constraints on their derivation from Mars

There is chemical, mineralogical, and isotopic evidence that several rare meteorites originated from the planet Mars. The eight specimens (4 sphergottites, 3 nakhlites, and 1 chassignite) possess a variety of characteristics that suggest a mutual relationship. It can be predicted with reasonable confidence that these SNC meteorites were exposed to cosmic rays at relatively shallow depths for three distinct periods of time during the past approximately 10 million years. Within the context of a Martian origin, this implies that either relatively large objects were ejected from Mars at a common time and underwent three disruptive events in space or that three ejection events occurred within the past approximately 10 million years on restricted segments of Martian terrain with 1300 million year-old rocks. If mechanisms can be identified which satisfy the geochemical properties of SNC meteorites, as well as their cosmic ray exposure, and dynamical problems associated with ejection out of a large gravity field, then the case for the SNC meteorites being samples of Mars can become stronger.

Bogard, D. D.↗