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At least 1,135 records · Page 63
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NASA NTRS1977

NASCAP user's manual

The NASCAP (NASA Charging Analyzer Program) code simulates the charging process for a complex object in either tenuous plasma or ground test environment. Detailed specifications needed to run the code are presented. The object definition section, OBJDEF, allows the test object to be easily defined in the cubic mesh. The test object is composed of conducting sections which may be wholly or partially covered with thin dielectric coatings. The potential section, POTENT, obtains the electrostatic potential in the space surrounding the object. It uses the conjugate gradient method to solve the finite element formulation of Poisson's equation. The CHARGE section of NASCAP treats charge redistribution among the surface cells of the object as well as charging through radiation bombardment. NASCAP has facilities for extensive graphical output, including several types of object display plots, potential contour plots, space charge density contour plots, current density plots, and particle trajectory plots.

Mandell, M. J.↗
NASA NTRS1978

NASCAP user's manual, 1978

NASCAP simulates the charging process for a complex object in either tenuous plasma (geosynchronous orbit) or ground test (electron gun source) environment. Program control words, the structure of user input files, and various user options available are described in this computer programmer's user manual.

Cassidy, J. J., III↗
NASA NTRS1979

The magnetosphere of Mercury

According to Mariner 10 data on Mercury's magnetosphere, the bow shock and magnetosheath signatures in the magnetic field are entirely consistent with the geometry expected for interaction between a planet-centered magnetic dipole and the solar wind. The geometrically determined distance to the magnetopause stagnation point of solar wind flow was 1.45 plus or minus 0.15 Mercury radii. Comparative scaling of the magnetosphere of Mercury to earth shows that Mercury itself occupies a much larger fraction of the magnetosphere than does the earth. While there is no evidence for the permanent existence of a trapped charged particle radiation belt, intense transient bursts of energetic electrons indicate that a local acceleration process must be active. It is reasonable to assume that this process occurs in the magnetic tail. The interior plasma features compare well with those in the earth's magnetosphere. Characteristic time scales for transient phenomena at Mercury should be reduced by a factor of about 20 in comparison with those on earth - i.e., a few minutes for substorms vs an hour at earth. The origin of the magnetic field is unclear.

Ness, N. F.↗
NASA NTRS1980

Analysis of erosion and transportation features from lunar orbiter and Apollo photography

Certain classes of surface features in Lunar Orbiter and Apollo Panoramic Photographs are identifed and possible correlations between the occurrence of these features and their geographical location on the Moon are studied. Whether evidence of erosion and transport processes not encountered on Earth exists is investigated using the lunar photographs. The variety and intensity of transport processes on the Moon resulting from exposure to plasmas is discussed.

Gold, T.↗
NASA NTRS1981

Evidence for magnetic field reconnection at the earth's magnetopause

Eleven Northern Hemisphere crossings of the dayside magnetopause by the ISEE spacecraft are examined to test the hypothesis that the large plasma flow speeds observed in the magnetopause and boundary layer are the result of the plasma acceleration intrinsic to the magnetic field reconnection process. In several cases energetic magnetospheric particles with the proper flow anisotropy, and in one case, reflected magnetosheath particles, were observed outside the magnetopause but adjacent to it. All results support the reconnection hypothesis. The energetic particles were also used to identify the outer separatrix surface, in one case of which is was possible to conclude from its location relative to the magnetopause that the reconnection site was in the vicinity of the equatorial plane rather than in the cusp. The electric field tangential to the magnetopause is inferred to be in the 0.4-2.8 mV/m range.

Sonnerup, B. U. O.↗
NASA NTRS1983

X-Ray Detector for 1 to 30 keV

Array of silicon X-ray detecting diodes measures photon energy and provides image of X-ray pattern. Regardless of thickness of new X-ray detector, depletion region extends through it. Impinging X-rays generate electrons in quantities proportional to X-ray energy. X-ray detector is mated to chargecoupled-device array for image generation and processing. Useful in industrial part inspection, pulsed-plasma research and medical application.

Alcorn, G.↗
NASA NTRS1983

Fast magnetospheric echoes of energetic electron beams

Electron beam experiments using rocket-borne instrumentation confirmed earlier observations of fast magnetospheric echoes of artificially injected energetic electrons. A total of 234 echoes were observed in a pitch angle range from 9 to 110 deg at energies of 1.87 and 3.90 keV. Of these, 102 echoes could unambiguously be identified with known accelerator operations at 2, 4 or 8 keV energy and highest current levels resulting in the determination of transit times of typically 300 to 400 ms. In most cases, when echoes were present in both energy channels, the higher energy electrons led the lower energy ones by 50 to 70 ms. Adiabatic theory applied to these observations yields a reflection height of 3000 to 4000 km. The injection process is discussed as the strong beam-plasma interaction that occurred near the electron accelerator appears to be instrumental in generating the source of heated electrons required for successful echo detection.

Wilhelm, K.↗
NASA NTRS1984

Magnetic flare model of gamma-ray bursts

The thermal synchrotron (TS) interpretation of gamma-ray burst continuum spectra requires an emission region which is hot, optically thin, and possessed of a super-Eddington flux of 10 to the 30 ergs/sq cm per sec for a 10-km neutron star. In order to maintain a pair population close to the Maxwellian, the collision excitation rate into higher Landau levels must exceed the cyclotron decay rates. Even if collective processes whose rates are close to the electron plasma frequency, or scattering by heavy ions, are invoked, a particle density of 10 to the 25th/cu cm is still needed. Both hypotheses point in the direction of a dense but thin emitting sheet, to whose structure attention is presently given together with the generation, propagation and coupling of the electromagnetic energy fluxes. A flare-like model can account for most of gamma ray bursts' general features.

Liang, E. P.↗
NASA NTRS1984

Sulfur and oxygen escape from Io and a lower limit to atmospheric SO2 at Voyager 1 encounter

Estimates of the abundance of sulfur, sodium and oxygen ions and neutrals observed by Voyager 1 in the plasma torus and neutral cloud associated with the Jovian satellite Io are used to investigate the physical characteristics of the Io atmosphere. Specific attention is given to two questions about the Io atmosphere: the necessity of an atmosphere to account for the supply of sulfur and oxygen observed in the plasma torus, and, if an atmosphere is necessary, the lower limit to such atmosphere. It is found that an SO2 atmosphere is most likely needed on Io as an intermediate buffer so that the sulfur and oxygen can be transported to the plasma torus. The minimum atmosphere needed for this process is calculated to be 1.4 x 10 to the -10th bar with an SO2 column density of about 10 to the 16th per sq cm and an SO2 surface density of about 1.2 x 10 to the 10th per cu cm. A complete list of all the atmospheric escape fluxes for Io is provided.

Kumar, S.↗
NASA NTRS1984

A modeling analysis program for the JPL table mountain Io sodium cloud

A data quality review for the entire set of the 1981 Region B/C images has been completed and is presented. The review indicates that almost all images are of sufficient quality to be valuable in our analysis of this data set. Five data-correlation studies for the same data set have also been completed and are useful in classifying and studying the sodium cloud morphology and its interactions with solar radiation pressure and the plasma torus. Additional progress in developing new image processing techniques and in improving the Io sodium cloud model is also discussed.

Smyth, W. H.↗
NASA NTRS1986

A multidisciplinary study of planetary, solar and astrophysical radio emissions

Combination of the related fields of planetary, solar, and astrophysical radio emissions was attempted in order to more fully understand the radio emission processes. Topics addressed include: remote sensing of astrophysical plasma turbulence; Alfven waves; astrophysical shock waves; surface waves; very long base interferometry results; very large array observations; solar magnetic flux; and magnetohydrodynamic waves as a tool for solar corona diagnostics.

Gurnett, D. A.↗
NASA NTRS1989

The use of dc-probe measurements in the middle atmosphere program

The middle atmosphere is weakly ionized, collision dominated plasma. Rocket-borne dc probes have proven effective in measuring conductivity and electron and ion concentrations in this plasma, and in some cases electron temperatures and ion composition were observed. During MAP, dc probes were also used successfully to study turbulence in the middle atmosphere, using the plasma as a passive tracer for the dynamical processes in the nonionized gas. Basic principles are reviewed of the dc-probe technique and examples are presented of results obtained during MAP.

Thrane, E. V.↗
NASA NTRS1989

Ion conics and counterstreaming electrons generated by lower hybrid waves in the earth's magnetosphere

The exotic phenomenon of energetic ion-conic and counterstreaming electron formation by lower hybrid waves along discrete auroral field lines in the earth magnetosphere is considered. Mean-particle calculations, plasma simulations, and analytical treatments of the acceleration processes are described. It is shown that, in the primary auroral electron-beam region, lower hybrid waves could be an efficient mechanism for the transverse heating of H (+) and O(+) ions of ionospheric origin, as well as for the field-aligned heating of the ambient electrons leading to coincident counterstreaming electron distributions. For O(+) ions to be energized by such a wave-particle interaction process, however, some sort of preheating mechanism is required.

Chang, Tom↗
NASA NTRS1991

Hypercube technology

The JPL designed MARKIII hypercube supercomputer has been in application service since June 1988 and has had successful application to a broad problem set including electromagnetic scattering, discrete event simulation, plasma transport, matrix algorithms, neural network simulation, image processing, and graphics. Currently, problems that are not homogeneous are being attempted, and, through this involvement with real world applications, the software is evolving to handle the heterogeneous class problems efficiently.

Parker, Jay W.↗
NASA NTRS1992

Giant planet magnetospheres

The classification of the giant planet magnetospheres into two varieties is examined: the large symmetric magnetospheres of Jupiter and Saturn and the smaller irregular ones of Uranus and Neptune. The characteristics of the plasma and the current understanding of the magnetospheric processes are considered for each planet. The energetic particle populations, radio emissions, and remote sensing of magnetospheric processes in the giant planet magneotospheres are discussed.

Bagenal, Fran↗
NASA NTRS1993

Coronal heating by the resonant absorption of Alfven waves - Importance of the global mode and scaling laws

Numerical simulations of the MHD equations for a fully compressible, low-beta, resistive plasma are used to study the resonance absorption process for the heating of coronal active region loops. Comparisons with more approximate analytic models show that the major predictions of the analytic theories are, to a large extent, confirmed by the numerical computations. The simulations demonstrate that the dissipation occurs primarily in a thin resonance layer. Some of the analytically predicted features verified by the simulations are (a) the position of the resonance layer within the initial inhomogeneity; (b) the importance of the global mode for a large range of loop densities; (c) the dependence of the resonance layer thickness and the steady-state heating rate on the dissipation coefficient; and (d) the time required for the resonance layer to form. In contrast with some previous analytic and simulation results, the time for the loop to reach a steady state is found to be the phase-mixing time rather than a dissipation time. This disagreement is shown to result from neglect of the existence of the global mode in some of the earlier analyses. The resonant absorption process is also shown to behave similar to a classical driven harmonic oscillator.

Steinolfson, Richard S.↗
NASA NTRS1994

Waves in Space Plasmas (WISP)

Activities under this project have included participation in the Waves in Space Plasmas (WISP) program, a study of the data processing requirements for WISP, and theoretical studies of radio sounding, ducting, and magnetoionic theory. An analysis of radio sounding in the magnetosphere was prepared.

Calvert, Wynne↗
NASA NTRS1995

Low-energy ion acceleration at quasi-perpendicular shocks: Transverse diffusion

The problem of ion injection and acceleration at quasi perpendicular shocks has been the subject of some debate over the past two decades. It is widely known that these shocks efficiently accelerate particles that are well in the high-energy tail of the distribution. However, the issue of injection, or the acceleration of low-energy ions, has yet to reach a consensus. The fundamental issue is whether there is enough diffusion normal to the magnetic field for the particles to remain near the shock. Since transverse diffusion is a physical process that is not well understood in space plasmas, this is an important, and difficult issue to address. In this report, we will investigate the ion injection problem by performing test particle orbit integrations using synthesized turbulent fields. These fields are fully three-dimensional so that transverse diffusion is possible (cross-field diffusion is not possible in geometries where the electromagnetic fields are less than three dimensional). The synthesized fields are produced by superimposing a three-dimensional wave field on a background field. For completeness, we will compare the results from this model with the more well-established theories, such as the diffusive approximation and scatter-free shock drift acceleration. We will also compare these results with other numerical simulation techniques such as the well known hybrid simulation, and other test-particle calculations in which the shock fields are specified to have less than three dimensions. We will also discuss some recent relevant observations and how these compare with our results.

Giacalone, J.↗