Engineering Papers⌕ Search

SEARCH · Engineering Papers

Results for “COSPAR”

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 127 records · Page 7

Planetary Protection Compliance Of NASA Missions Past, Present and Future

NASA monitors its spacecraft from a planetary protection (PP) perspective, to ensure continued compliance with planetary protection requirements. This report to COSPAR on previous, ongoing and future missions will describe the issues and considerations regarding the PP implementation and compliance status of each mission, with changes noted as appropriate from previous reports. Missions not described in other presentations will be covered, including (but not limited to): Mars Odyssey, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers (EscaPADE), Juno, New Horizons, Parker Solar Probe, Dragonfly, Artemis I and its secondary payloads, and NASA partnered missions.

NASA↗

CME Propagation Through the Heliosphere: Status and Future of Observations and Model Development

The ISWAT (International Space Weather Action Teams) heliosphere clusters H1 and H2 have a focus on interplanetary space and its characteristics, especially on the large-scale co-rotating and transient structures impacting Earth. Solar wind stream interaction regions, generated by the interaction between high-speed solar wind originating in large-scale open coronal magnetic fields and slower solar wind from closed magnetic fields, are regions of compressed plasma and magnetic field followed by high-speed streams that recur at the ~27 day solar rotation period. Short-term reconfigurations of the lower coronal magnetic field generate flare emissions and provide the energy to accelerate enormous amounts of magnetised plasma and particles in the form of coronal mass ejections into interplanetary space. The dynamic interplay between these phenomena changes the configuration of interplanetary space on various temporal and spatial scales which in turn influences the propagation of individual structures. While considerable efforts have been made to model the solar wind, we outline the limitations arising from the rather large uncertainties in parameters inferred from observations that make reliable predictions of the structures impacting Earth difficult. Moreover, the increased complexity of interplanetary space as solar activity rises in cycle 25 is likely to pose a challenge to these models. Combining observational and modeling expertise will extend our knowledge of the relationship between these different phenomena and the underlying physical processes, leading to improved models and scientific understanding and more-reliable space-weather forecasting. The current paper summarizes the efforts and progress achieved in recent years, identifies open questions, and gives an outlook for the next 5–10 years. It acts as basis for updating the existing COSPAR roadmap by Schrijver et al. (2015), as well as providing a useful and practical guide for peer-users and the next generation of space weather scientists.

Space weather↗

Overview, Progress and Next Steps for Our Understanding of the Near-Earth Space Radiation and Plasma Environment: Science and Applications

The Near-Earth Space Radiation and Plasma Environment falls within the realm of G3 Cluster (G3 refers to ‘Near-Earth Radiation and Plasma Environment’ of the ‘Coupled Geospace System’) under the COSPAR (Committee On Space Research) /International Space Weather Action Teams (ISWAT) Initiative. The diverse and dynamic particle populations from this region pose challenges from both science and space weather-impact perspectives. The G3 cluster has intimate connections with solar, heliosphere clusters, and the other Geospace ones (G1, G2) through a chain of physical processes. This paper reviews recent scientific advances in understanding this complex space environment, identifies gaps in research and space weather applications, and maps out our recommendations on priorities for the next 5-10 years.

Zheng, Yihua↗

INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION IN SPACE

In the community of nations there exists today a deep and wide abyss separating one important and powerful group of nations from another. The political and philosophical differences which constitute this abyss are very real and very fundamental, and they are not likely to disappear during this century. There are smaller canyons in the landscape as well, some more permanent than others. However, it is possible to build bridges of culture, science, and cooperative effort of many kinds across these canyons so that men of good will from one side may mingle freely with those from the other side, and for a little while, at least, be as one people. Scientists have been helping to build bridges like this for a long time. Especially prominent in this sort of activity has been the International Council of Scientific Unions (ICSU) which was the mother hen, so to speak, of the International Geophysical Year. At present, problems of international cooperation in space research are the concern of a Special Committee of the International Council of Scientific Unions, known as COSPAR (Committee on Space Research).

SPACE EXPLORATION↗

Lunar dynamics and observational coordinate systems

The state of the art in lunar dynamics studies is summarized by a partial review of papers presented at a recent COSPAR meeting. The following general conclusions are made from the papers: (1) a comprehensive system of fundamental lunar craters is now feasible. Its coordinates can be determined by combining spacecraft, laser, and radar data. The quality of this system is well in par with those of systems based on earth-based observations. (2) Progress toward very high-precision ephemeris measurements has been very impressive, with fitting errors reduced to a few meters. Physical libration modeling techniques, a major obstacle to further improvement, are in the process of refinement. The lunar figure and planetary attraction were found to influence librations. (3) A combination of new techniques and revolutionized old techniques has a potential for achieving a still higher precision in lunar dynamics studies.

Mulholland, J. D.↗

Review of NASA activities in materials sciences in space

In the year since the 18th Plenary Meeting of COSPAR, NASA has conducted eight materials processing experiments on the Apollo-Soyuz mission and 17 on two rocket flights. In addition, these three missions have implemented one Soviet and three German experiments. The Apollo-Soyuz results have confirmed and extended the findings of the Skylab experiments on solidification and crystal growth effects and have also established capabilities for separating living cells by electrophoresis and returning them still living to earth. The rocket missions provide repetitive flight opportunities much as the Space Shuttle will do, and they are being used to develop research approaches in which investigators will undertake projects calling for multiple space experiments rather than proposing experiments individually. During the year, NASA has also completed definition work on the major payload facilities planned for its initial materials processing experiment program on the Space Shuttle and Spacelab missions of 1980-81.

Bredt, J. H.↗

CIRA 1972, recent atmospheric models, and improvements in progress

The paper reviews current progress in the development of atmospheric models. Consideration is given to CIRA 1972 (COSPAR International Reference Atmosphere), the OGO 6 model (1974), the ESRO 4 model (1977), the global Doppler-temperature model of Thuillier et al. (1977), the Jacchia 1977 model (based on a synthesis of temperature, mass-spectrometer, and total-density data from many sources), and the MSIS model (1977), based on incoherent-scatter temperatures and mass-spectrometer data from various sources. New models of the disturbed thermosphere, developed by the author, are compared with recent mass-spectrometer measurements at 170 km.

Jacchia, L. G.↗

Launch summary for 1980

Sounding rockets, artificial Earth satellites, and space probes launched betweeen January 1 and December 31, 1980 are listed. Data tabulated for the rocket launchings show launching site, instruments carried, date of launch, agency rocket identification, sponsoring country, experiment discipline, peak altitude, and the experimenter or institution responsible. Tables for satellites and space probes show COSPAR designation, spacecraft name, country, launch date, epoch date, orbit type, apoapsis, periapsis and inclination period. The functions and responsibilities of the World Data Center and the areas of scientific interest at the seven subcenters are defined. An alphabetical listing of experimenters using the sounding rockets is also provided.

Vostreys, R. W.↗

The International Halley Watch: A program of coordination, cooperation and advocacy

To prevent a repetition of the lack of reporting and dissemination of the data obtained during the 1910 observations of Comet Halley, a mechanism is proposed for coordinating the work of scientists and amateurs, including government, industrials, and academic personnel during the 1985-86 apparition of Comet Halley. Specialists from each discipline, in consultation with other experts in the field, would recommend specific objectives, standards, data format, and priorities for observations in that discipline. Following time for individual publication, scientists would be invited to contribute results to a multivolume compilation containing as complete as possible a record of the apparition. It is suggested that the discipline specialists be selected jointly by the IHW leader an by an international steering group with members from COSPAR, the IAU, etc., perhaps in response to some form of international announcement of opportunity.

Friedman, L.↗

Atmospheric density, temperature and wind measurement techniques during the 1980 Energy Budget Campaign

Super Loki rocketsonde systems are described. The datasonde telemeters data to a ground station where ambient temperatures are calculated between 20 and 70 km. The sphere is a passive, radar tracked system which allows density to be calculated between 30 and 90 km. When flown simultaneously the systems give redundant data in the altitudes between 30 and 70 km. The datasonde has a balloon parachute that descends more slowly than a conventional parachute and is more stable. Because of launch constraints the datasondes reached very high apogees, leading to very fast descent velocities. Aerodynamic heating reduced thermistor sensitivity. Anomalous parachute behavior influenced wind sensing until a denser layer was reached. The spheres collapsed above 60 km altitude, but their data, combined with dropsonde data give significant results for 21 flights. These show that the stratosphere is colder than Cospar 72 model predictions and the mesosphere is warmer.

Schmidlin, F. J.↗

Determination of atmospheric properties for STS-1 aerothermodynamic investigations

A procedure for determining an approximation to the freestream atmospheric properties along the Shuttle entry trajectory is presented. Meteorological data as input is obtained by rawinsondes from surface to 70 km, and meteorological spheres from 60-90 km, launched from Hawaii and California. The Langley Atmospheric Information Retrieval System (LAIRS) developed to approximate the atmospheric freestream properties along the flight path, is outlined, noting temperature and wind data are interpolated in altitude, while gradients and diurnal and semidiurnal coefficients are taken from the COSPAR reference atmosphere. The data are input to a model to project temperature profiles for the Shuttle descent, and the input atmospheric parameters are listed. Efforts are continuing in order to correct discrepancies in the generated profiles for regions below 3 km.

Price, J. M.↗

Proposed ozone reference models for the middle atmosphere

Since the publication of the last COSPAR International Reference Atmosphere (CIRA 72), large amounts of ozone data acquired from satellites have become available in addition to increasing quantities of rocketsonde, balloonsonde, Dobson, M83, and Umkehr measurements. From the available archived satellite data, models are developed for the new CIRA using 5 satellite experiments (Nimbus 7 SBUV and LIMS, AEM-2 SAGE, and SME IR and UVS) of the monthly latitudinal and altitudinal variations in the ozone mixing ratio in the middle atmosphere. Standard deviations and interannual variations are also quantified. The satellite models are shown to agree well with a previous reference model based on rocket and balloon measurements.

Keating, G. M.↗

SPACEWARN Bulletin

SPACEWARN Bulletin SPX-382, Aug. 31, 1985, lists international satellite and space probe launch events which occurred from July 31 until the end of August 1985. The Bulletin serves as an international communication mechanism for the rapid distribution of information on satellites and space probes, and is guided by COSPAR (Committee on Space Research) directives.

Source record↗

The principle of cooperation and life's origin and evolution

In simple terms a living entity is a negentropic system that replicates, mutates and evoluves. A number of suggestions have been made, such as directed panspermia, atmospheric photosynthesis, genetic overtaking from inorganic processes, etc., as alternative models to the accepted Oparin-Haldane-Urey model of the origin of life on Earth. This has probably occurred because in spite of tremendous advances in the prebiotic synthesis of biochemical compounds, the fundamental problem of the appearance of the first life--a primordial replicating cell-ancestral to all other forms of extant life, has remained elusive. This is indeed a reflection on the different fundamental nature of the problem involved. Regardless of which were the fundamental processes which occurred on the primitive Earth, it has to end up with the fundamental characteristics of an ancestral protocell. The problem of the emergence of the first ancestral cell was one of synergistic macromolecular cooperation, as it has been discussed by authors recently (COSPAR XXV Plenary Meeting). An analogous situation must have occurred at the time of the appearance of the first eucaryotic organism. Procaryotic life appeared probably during the first 600 million years of Earth history when the Earth was sufficiently cool and continually bombarded (in the late accretion period) by comets and minor bodies of the solar system, when the sea had not yet acquired its present form.

Oro, J.↗

On the interannual variability of the middle atmosphere during winter

Reference atmospheres such as the new CIRA (COSPAR International Reference Atmosphere), which will be based on global satellite data form a very useful basis for climatological studies. When using such climatologies it is important to be aware of the interannual variability which in the middle atmosphere is particularly large during the northern winters and southern springs. For a comparison of the two polar regions, the monthly mean temperature data for 90 deg N and 90 deg S are shown in the form of frequency distributions. The main features to be noted are: (1) in the middle stratosphere the variability during the northern midwinters is much larger than during the southern midwinters due to the major midwinter warmings which take place only during the northern winters (the largest variations over Antarctics are observed during late spring, i.e., October and November when very intense final warmings bring about the transition into summer); (2) the variability in the middle stratosphere is very small in summer when the planetary waves of the troposphere cannot propagate upwards into the stratosphere due to the prevailing easterly winds (this is true for both polar regions); and (3) the annual temperature range is larger over the South Pole, because winters are colder and summers warmer than over the North Pole. In addition, the Canadian, midwinter, and final warmings occurring during northern winters are characterized and the recent cooling trend in the arctic is discussed.

Labitzke, K.↗

Implementation of the new electron temperature model in IRI

Since the first edition of IRI in 1978, considerable efforts have been directed towards an improved and refined electron temperature description. Finally, a new empirical model was presented at the COSPAR meeting at Graz, Austria, in 1984 (Bilitza et al.). Based mainly on satellite data it highlights a more detailed diurnal, seasonal, and altitudinal variation. The implementation of this model into the IRI framework is described. A first comparison with incoherent scatter measurements indicates the improved diurnal and seasonal performance of the model.

Bilitza, D.↗