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At least 127 records · Page 7

NASA's In Space Manufacturing Initiatives: Conquering the Challenges of In-Space Manufacturing

Current maintenance logistics strategy will not be effective for deep space exploration missions. ISM (In Space Manufacturing) offers the potential to: Significantly reduce maintenance logistics mass requirements; Enable the use of recycled materials and in-situ resources for more dramatic reductions in mass requirements; Enable flexibility, giving systems a broad capability to adapt to unanticipated circumstances; Mitigate risks that are not covered by current approaches to maintainability. Multiple projects are underway currently to develop and validate these capabilities for infusion into ISM exploration systems. ISS is a critical testbed for demonstrating ISM technologies, proving out these capabilities, and performing operational validation of deep space ISM applications. Developing and testing FabLab is a major milestone for springboard to DSG/Cis-lunar Space applications. ISM is a necessary paradigm shift in space operations – design for repair culture must be embraced. ISM team needs to be working with exploration system designers now to identify high-value application areas and influence design.

Clinton, R. G., Jr.↗

Double ChemFET for the In-Line Monitoring of Silver Dosing in Potable Water Systems

With NASA Advanced Exploration Systems (AES) Life Support Systems (LSS) baselining ionic silver (Ag+) as the biocide of choice, development in silver monitoring technologies becomes necessary to monitor and control Ag+ release. Ion-selctive field effect transistors (ISFETs) and chemically-sensitive field effect transistors (ChemFETs) are capable of selective detection of Ag+ with reversible and low detection limit responses. However, one major hurdle to ChemFET technologies is the requirement of a reference electrode, which can leak its fill solution into the potable water system and is prone to drift requiring frequent calibration. To circumvent this issue, we are developing a double chemically-sensitive field effect transistor (dChemFET). The dChemFET uses a second ChemFET to selectively monitor the counter ion and serves in place of the reference electrode. We report our work in developing the dChemFET, starting with the development of the Ag+ and NO3- ion selective memberanes (ISMs) to be used in the ChemFETs. The Ag+ ISM has a detection range of 50-105 ppb . The counter ion ISM, NO3- ISM, has shown a detection range of 400-105 ppb. NO3- ISMs are limited in detecting at lower ppb levels required for the dChemFET application on the potable water system. In response to this issue, we also report our studies in using the Ag+ ISM to measure deionized (DI) water as a reference measurement to be implemented in-line before the Ag+ is dosed.

Lance Dean Delzeit↗

The Polstar High Resolution Spectropolarimetry MIDEX Mission

The Polstar mission will provide a space-borne 60 cm spectropolarimeter operating at ultraviolet (UV) wavelengths, capturing all four Stokes parameters (intensity, two linear polarization components, and circular polarization). Polstar’s capabilities are designed to meet its goal of determining how circumstellar gas flows alter and inform massive star evolution, affect the stellar remnant population, and stir and enrich the interstellar medium (ISM). These will be achieved by investigating the dynamical geometries in the winds and disks of hot stars, the composition and magnetic alignment of interstellar dust, and the star-forming accretion disks of UV-bright stars at an important transition boundary. Together these areas map out a kind of two-way interface between massive stars and their effect on our galaxy, wherein the stellar winds enrich the ISM with metals and kinetic energy, preconditioning their environment and the stellar endpoints prior to undergoing supernova. The ISM dust in turn reveals the composition and magnetic environment leading to new star formation, and the accretion disks of Herbig Ae/Be stars reveal how the ISM gas returns to make new massive stars. Polstar will combine high-resolution spectroscopy in the time domain with high-precision UV polarimetry. Doppler-shifted UV resonance line opacity will provide information about circumstellar kinematics, while polarization gives complementary geometric information about unseen structures. The composition and magnetic alignment of the smallest interstellar dust grains provides a probe of the ISM utilizing radiative alignment theory (RAT). Polstar will operate in the far-UV (FUV) at 122–200 nm at high spectral resolution of around R ∼ 30k, and at FUV and near-UV (NUV) wavelengths of 122–320 nm at lower spectral resolutions of 0.1 - 1k. Detection of polarization levels as weak as 0.1% are expected, with a temporal cadence ranging from 5–10 minutes for most wind variability studies, to hours or days for sampling rotation, to days or weeks for sampling binary orbits, to months to a year for sampling substructure in the inner regions of protoplanetary disks. Sub-meter-class aperture is well suited to access this wide array of time domain science, made possible by restricting to a few hundred bright, massive stars, necessarily extincted by a small to moderate column of interstellar dust, informing both the attributes of the stars and the ISM through which they are seen. As such, the focus is on our own galaxy and its evolutionary drivers, but a few targets in the Magellanic clouds offer the potential to extend this understanding to low-metallicity environments.

Paul A Scowen↗

On the cosmic ray diffusion in a violent interstellar medium

A variety of the available observational data on the cosmic ray (CR) spectrum, anisotropy and composition are in good agreement with a suggestion on the diffusion propagation of CR with energy below 10(15) eV in the interstellar medium. The magnitude of the CR diffusion coefficient and its energy dependence are determined by interstellar medium (ISM) magnetic field spectra. Direct observational data on magnetic field spectra are still absent. A theoretical model to the turbulence generation in the multiphase ISM is resented. The model is based on the multiple generation of secondary shocks and concomitant large-scale rarefactions due to supernova shock interactions with interstellar clouds. The distribution function for ISM shocks are derived to include supernova statistics, diffuse cloud distribution, and various shock wave propagation regimes. This permits calculation of the ISM magnetic field fluctuation spectrum and CR diffusion coefficient for the hot phase of ISM.

Bykov, A. M.↗

The influence of Oort clouds on the mass and chemical balance of the interstellar medium

The contribution of stellar encounters and interstellar erosion to comet cloud mass injection to the ISM is calculated. It is shown that evaporative mass loss from passing stars and SNe results in an average Galactic mass injection rate of up to 10 to the -5th solar mass/yr if such clouds are frequent around solar-type stars. Cometary erosion by interstellar grains produces an injection rate of 10 to the -5th to 10 to the -4th solar mass/yr. An injection rate of 2 x 10 to the -5th solar mass/yr is calculated. Each of these rates could be increased by a factor of about 15 if the comet clouds contain a significant amount of smaller debris. It is concluded that the total mass injection rate of material to the ISM by comet clouds is small compared to other ISM mass injection sources. Comet cloud mass loss to the ISM could be responsible for a sizeable fraction of the metal and dust abundances of the ISM if Oort clouds are common.

Stern, S. Alan↗

The hot and cold interstellar matter of early type galaxies and their radio emission

Over the last few years, the knowledge of the interstellar matter (ISM) of early type galaxies has increased dramatically. Many early type galaxies are now known to have ISM in three different phases: cold (neutral hydrogen (HI), dust and molecular material), warm (ionized) and hot (S-ray emitting) gas. Early type galaxies have smaller masses of cold ISM (10 to the 7th power - 10 to the 8th power solar mass; Jura et al. 1987) than later type spiral galaxies, while they have far more hot gas (10 to the 9th power - 10 to the tenth power solar mass; Forman et al. 1985, Canizares et al. 1987). In order to understand the relationship between the different phases of the ISM and the role of the ISM in fueling radio continuum sources and star formation, researchers compared observational data from a wide range of wavelengths.

Kim, Dong-Woo↗

Hot gas metallicity and the history of supernova activity in elliptical galaxies

Calculations of the dynamical evolution of the hot interstellar medium (ISM) in a massive elliptical galaxy are described, with a variety of past variations of the SN rate being assumed. The investigation focuses on iron enrichment in the ISM. The equivalent widths of the 6.7-keV iron line are calculated as a function of redshift and of galactic projected radius. The present-day interstellar gas in elliptical galaxies contains a fossil record of past SN activity that can be determined from measurements of iron line equivalent widths at several projected radii in the galaxy. It is proposed that the ISM iron abundance is likely to be quite inhomogeneous. The hydrogen-free ejecta of type Ia SN also result in pronounced ISM abundance inhomogeneities that probably eventually cool and move in pressure equilibrium with the local ISM flow velocity. The 6.7-keV iron line emission is greater if the iron is confined to ionized regions of pure iron.

Loewenstein, Michael↗

New composite reflectance spectra of Mars from 0.4 to 3.14 micron

To verify the quality and accuracy of Phobos-2 Imaging Spectrometer for Mars (ISM) spectra of Mars, we have performed comparisons with telescopic data obtained contemporaneously and which have spatial and spectral overlap with the ISM measurements. We find general agreement between the independently-calibrated data sets in terms of spectral shape and absorption band strength and position in the 0.77 to 0.93 micron overlap region. The telescopic data were scaled to the ISM reflectance values in this overlap region to yield new bright and dark region composite reflectance spectra from 0.40 to 3.14 microns. We ascribe the increase in band depth and overall spectral heterogeneity of the ISM data relative to previous telescopic observations to the more than order of magnitude increase in spatial resolution achieved by ISM from Martian orbit. Further increases in spatial resolution from future orbital imaging spectroscopic instruments can be expected to reveal even greater degrees of compositional and mineralogic diversity on Mars.

Mustard, John F.↗

Probing the interstellar medium with pulsars on AU scales

We present a new technique, multiepoch observations of 21 cm absorption against high-velocity pulsars, to probe the properties of the cold neutral hydrogen gas (H I) in the interstellar medium (ISM) at AU scales. In three epochs, over a 1.7 yr interval, we find evidence for significant opacity variations toward all of the pulsars in our sample. Small-scale structure in the ISM is detected on a range of scales from 5 AU to 100 AU, over a wide range of distances (50-2600 pc), opacities (tau(sub max) = 0.1 - 2.5) and directions (anticenter, interarm, high latitude, and local ISM). It appears that small-scale structure is a general property of the ISM and is not confined to special lines of sight. A significant fraction (10%-15%) of the cold H I gas is in this form. These opacity variations do not show any strong correlations with such parameters as transverse distance or integrated opacity, and there is no obvious relation between these structures and those seen in the ionized phase of the ISM.

Frail, Dale A.↗

The very soft X-ray emission of X-ray-faint early-type galaxies

A recent reanaylsis of Einstein data, and new ROSAT observations, have revealed the presence of at least two components in the X-ray spectra of X-ray faint early-type galaxies: a relatively hard component (kT greater than 1.5 keV), and a very soft component (kT approximately 0.2-0.3 keV). In this paper we address the problem of the nature of the very soft component and whether it can be due to a hot interstellar medium (ISM), or is most likely originated by the collective emission of very soft stellar sources. To this purpose, hydrodynamical evolutionary sequences for the secular behavior of gas flows in ellipticals have been performed, varying the Type Ia supernovae rate of explosion, and the dark matter amount and distribution. The results are compared with the observational X-ray data: the average Einstein spectrum for six X-ray faint early-type galaxies (among which are NGC 4365 and NGC 4697), and the spectrum obtained by the ROSAT pointed observation of NGC 4365. The very soft component could be entirely explained with a hot ISM only in galaxies such as NGC 4697, i.e., when the depth of the potential well-on which the average ISM temperature strongly depends-is quite shallow; in NGC 4365 a diffuse hot ISM would have a temperature larger than that of the very soft component, because of the deeper potential well. So, in NGC 4365 the softest contribution to the X-ray emission comes certainly from stellar sources. As stellar soft X-ray emitters, we consider late-type stellar coronae, supersoft sources such as those discovered by ROSAT in the Magellanic Clouds and M31, and RS CVn systems. All these candidates can be substantial contributors to the very soft emission, though none of them, taken separately, plausibly accounts entirely for its properties. We finally present a model for the X-ray emission of NGC 4365, to reproduce in detail the results of the ROSAT pointed observation, including the Position Sensitive Proportional Counter (PSPC) spectrum and radial surface brightness distribution. The present data may suggest that the X-ray surface brightness is more extended than the optical profile. In this case, a straightforward explanation in terms of stellar sources could not be satisfactory. The available data can be better explained with three different contributions: a very soft component of stellar origin, a hard component from X-ray binaries, and an approximately 0.6 keV hot ISM. The latter can explain the extended X-ray surface brightness profile, if the galaxy has a dark-to-luminous mass ratio of 9, with the dark matter very broadly distributed, and a SN Ia explosive rate of approximately 0.6 the Tammann rate.

Pellegrini, S.↗

The Interstellar Medium

The Interstellar Medium (ISM) forms an integral part of the lifecycle of stars and the galaxy. Stars are formed by gravitational contraction of interstellar clouds. Over their life, stars return much of their mass to the ISM through winds and supernova explosions, resulting in a slow enrichment in heavy elements. Understanding the origin and evolution of the ISM is a key problem within astrophysics. The KAO has made many important contributions to studies of the interstellar medium both on the macro and on the micro scale. In this overview, I will concentrate on two breakthroughs in the last decade in which KAO observations have played a major role: (1) the importance of large Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbon (PAH) molecules for the ISM (section 3) and (2) the study of Photodissociation Regions (PDRs) as an analog for the diffuse ISM at large (section 4). Appropriately, the micro and macro problem are intricately interwoven in these problems. Finally, section 5 reviews the origin of the (CII) emission observed by COBE.

Tielens, Alexander G. G. M.↗

Complex Molecules in the Interstellar Medium

A brief review of the current state of knowledge concerning the composition of complex molecules in the interstellar medium (ISM) is given. The materials in interstellar dense molecular clouds is also discussed. As well as the formation of stars and planetary systems. A concentration on solids are addressed, because they contain a major fraction of the heavier elements in these clouds and because these materials are the most likely to survive incorporation into new planetary systems and participate in the subsequent formation and evolution of life. However, dense clouds are not well-defined, long-lived entities but are dynamic objects that are formed from materials in the diffuse ISM and destroyed on time scales of 10(exp 6)-10(exp 8) years. As a result, materials in space are probably constantly being mixed between the dense ISM and the more diffuse intercloud ISM, and some discussion of the materials found in the diffuse ISM is also merited.

Sandford, Scott↗

Multifrequency Studies

The present report concerns the following projects 'Multifrequency observations of the BL Lacertae object MK 421"; "EUVE and multifrequency observations of the quasars 3C 273 and 3C 279"; "EUVE observations of the symbiotic star RAquarii"; and "Morphology of the local HI void and ionization of He in the local ISM". The common theme of the above projects is UV observations and analysis of a wide range of astrophysical classes or objects, from the diffuse interstellar medium, to symbiotic stars (R Aqr), to active galactic nuclei (AGNs). Understanding the local (primarily neutral hydrogen or HI) interstellar medium is of great importance to detecting nearby EUV sources. Specifically, the ionization of helium is strongly influencing the extinction in the extreme ultraviolet (EUV) and the optical depth can vary almost by an order of magnitude depending on the degree of ionization of various species including neutral helium Vel ) and singly ionized helium (Hell). The local interstellar medium (ISM) contains a giant void. Understanding the local ISM and the extent of the HI void engulfing the Sun is crucial to our understanding of the EUV emission from nearby strongly EUV-emitting stars like R Aqr, as well as subtracting local absorption effects from absorption effects in distant sources themselves such as quasars, BL Lacertae objects and AGNs in general. A compilation of known properties of the local ISM with appropriate references has been performed. R Aqr is a symbiotic stellar system comprised of a mass-losing approx.1 - 2 solar mass Mira- like long period variable with a 387 day period and a approx. solar mass,) hot companion/accretion disk that is believed to give rise to the symmetrical jet seen at UV, optical radio wavelengths. Recent observations of R Aqr have been conducted at continuum wavelengths with the Very Large Array (VLA) at 7 mm that have resolved the stellar components in RAqr and a geometrical distance of approx. 200pc has been obtained, confirming that R Aqr is the nearest symbiotic star system to the Sun. The status of the local ISM is, therefore, of great importance in attempting to understand the UV properties of the hot companion in R Aqr and its prominent jet. Here a multifrequency approach is required from both ground observations (e.g. with the VLA) as well as from space-borne observations (with the International Ultraviolet Explorer-IUE; and the Hubble Space Telescope-HST). The R Aqr jet has been observed with the VLA B-configuration at two epochs separated by approx. 13.2 yr. Comparison of the resulting 6 cm continuum images show that the radio jet has undergone a lateral counterclockwise rotation of approx. 6 deg - 12 deg on the plane of the sky. Comparison of the most recent radio image with a nearly contemporaneous HSTIFOC ultraviolet image at approx 2330 A suggests that the UV emission lies along the leading edge of the rotating radio jet.

Kafatos, Menas↗

Star Formation in the Galaxy and the Fluctuating UV Radiation Field

We examine the formation of massive stars in the Galaxy, the resultant fluctuating UV radiation field, and the effect of this Field on the star-forming interstellar medium. Following previous researchers such as Habing (1968), we calculate the average interstellar radiation field at the Solar Circle of the Galaxy. However, our new calculations follow more closely the time dependence of the field at any point. We show that there is a significant difference between the mean field and the median field, and that there are substantial fluctuations of the field (on timescales of order 100 million years) at a given point. Far Ultraviolet Radiation (FUV, photon energies of 6 eV - 13.6 eV) has been recognized as the main source of heating of the neutral interstellar gas. Given the pressure of the interstellar medium (ISM) the FUV field determines whether the thermal balance of the neutral gas results in cold (T approximately 50 - 100 K) clouds (CNM), warm (T about 10,000 K) (WNM), for a combination of the two (the two phase ISM) We present results for the time history of the FUV field for points in the local ISM of the Milky Way Galaxy. The presence of this fluctuating heating rate converts CNM to WNM and vice versa. We show how to calculate the average fractions of the gas in the CNM and WNM when the interstellar gas is subject to this fluctuating FUV field. The knowledge of how these fractions depend on the gas properties (i.e. mean density and composition) and on the FUV-sources (i.e. the star formation rate, or the IMF, or the size distribution of associations) is a basic step in building any detailed model of the large scale behavior of the ISM and the mutual relation between the ISM and the SFR.

Hollenbach, David↗

An XMM Investigation of Non-Thermal Phenomena in the Winds of Early-Type Stars

The X-ray emission from early-type stars is believed to arise from a stellar wind distribution of shocks. Hence, X-ray analyses of these stars must include the effects of stellar wind X-ray absorption, which, in general dominates the ISM absorption. Although the absorption cross sections for the wind and ISM are essentially identical above 1 keV, there is substantial differences below 1 keV. Typically, if one only uses ISM cross sections to obtain fits to X-ray spectra, the fits usually indicate a model deficiency at energies below 1 keV which is attributed to the large increase in ISM cross sections at these energies. This deficiency can be eliminated by using stellar wind absorption models with a fixed ISM component. Since all early-type stars have substantial X-ray emission below 1 keV, than inclusion of wind absorption has proven to be a critical component in fitting X-ray spectra at low energies, verifying that these X-rays are indeed arising from within the stellar wind.

Waldron, Wayne L.↗

The Exobiological Role of Interstellar Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons and Ices

Tremendous strides have been made in our understanding of interstellar material over the past twenty years thanks to significant, parallel developments in observational astronomy and laboratory astrophysics. Before this time, the composition of interstellar dust was largely guessed-at, the presence of ices in interstellar clouds ignored, and the notion that large, gas phase, carbon rich molecules might be abundant and widespread throughout the interstellar medium (ISM) considered impossible. Today, the composition of dust in the ISM is reasonably well constrained to micron-sized cold refractory materials comprised of amorphous and crystalline silicates mixed with an amorphous carbonaceous material containing aromatic structural units and short, branched aliphatic chains. Shrouded within the protective confines of cold, opaque molecular clouds--the birthplace of stars and planets--these cold dust particles secrete mantles of mixed molecular ices whose compositions are also well constrained. Finally, amidst the molecular inventory of these ice mantles are likely to be found polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), shockingly large molecules by the standards of interstellar chemistry, the telltale infrared spectral signature of which is now recognized throughout the Universe. In the first part of this talk, we will review the spectroscopic evidence that forms the basis for the currently accepted abundance and ubiquity of PANs in the ISM. We will then look at a few specific examples which illustrate how experimental and theoretical data can be applied to interpret the interstellar spectra and track how the PAN population evolves as it passes from its formation site in the circumstellar outflows of dying stars, through the various phases of the ISM, and into forn~iing planetary systems. Nevertheless, despite the fact that PANs likely represent the single largest molecular reservoir of organic carbon in evolving planetary systems, they are not what would be considered "biogenic" molecules. Although interesting from a chemical and astrophysical standpoint, in the absence of a mechanism by which this population can be dislodged from the precipitous thermodynamic well afforded by their extensive aromatic networks, they are of little Astrobiological significance. Consequently, for the remainder of the talk, we will consider the photochemical evolution of PANS under conditions similar to those found in the ISM and in proto-planetary systems with an eye toward means by which this rich repository of pre-biotic organic "ore" might be converted into materials of greater importance to Astrobiology.

Hudgins, Douglas M.↗

How Does Abundance Affect the Strength of UV Emission in Elliptical Galaxies?

This program used the Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer (FUSE) to observe elliptical galaxies with the intention of measuring the chemical abundances in their hot stellar populations. It was designed to complement an earlier FUSE program that observed elliptical galaxies with strong UV emission. The current program originally planned observations of two ellipticals with weak UV emission (M32 and M49). Once FUSE encountered pointing control problems in certain regions of the sky (particularly Virgo, which is very unfortunate for the study of ellipticals in general), M49 was replaced with the bulge of M31, which has a similar UV-to-optical flux ratio as the center of M49. As the closest elliptical galaxy and the one with the weakest UV-to-optical flux ratio, M32 was an obvious choice of target, but M49 was the ideal complementary target, because it has a very low reddening (unlike M32). With the inability of FUSE to point at Virgo, nearly all of the best elliptical galaxies (bright galaxies with low foreground extinction) were also lost, and this severely hampered three FUSE programs of the PI, all focused on the hot stellar populations of ellipticals. M31 was the best replacement for M49, but like M32, it suffers from significant foreground reddening. Strong Galactic ISM lines heavily contaminate the FUSE spectra of M31 and M32. These ISM lines are coincident with the photospheric lines from the stellar populations (whereas M49, with little foreground ISM and significant redshift, would not have suffered from this problem). We have reduced the faint (and thus difficult) data for M31 and M32, producing final co-added spectra representing all of the exposures, but we have not yet finished our analysis, due to the complication of the contaminating ISM. The silver lining here is the set of CHI lines at 1175 Angstroms, which are not significantly contaminated by the ISM. A comparison of the M31 spectrum with other galaxies observed by FEE showed a surprising result: the hot stars in M31 seem to have a similar carbon abundance to those stars in galaxies with much brighter UV emission. The fraction of these hot stars in a population should be a strong function of chemical abundances, so this finding warrants further exploration, and we are proceeding with our analysis. Because the UV emission in these galaxies comes from a population of extreme horizontal branch stars, the PI (Brown) presented this result at a June 2003 conference on such stars.

Sonneborn, George↗

Summary Report for the Technical Interchange Meeting on Development of Baseline Material Properties and Design Guidelines for In-Space Manufacturing Activities

NASA Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) and the Agency as a whole are currently engaged in a number of in-space manufacturing (ISM) activities that have the potential to reduce launch costs, enhance crew safety, and provide the capabilities needed to undertake long-duration spaceflight. The recent 3D Printing in Zero-G experiment conducted on board the International Space Station (ISS) demonstrated that parts of acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) plastic can be manufactured in microgravity using fused deposition modeling (FDM). This project represents the beginning of the development of a capability that is critical to future NASA missions. Current and future ISM activities will require the development of baseline material properties to facilitate design, analysis, and certification of materials manufactured using in-space techniques. The purpose of this technical interchange meeting (TIM) was to bring together MSFC practitioners and experts in materials characterization and development of baseline material properties for emerging technologies to advise the ISM team as we progress toward the development of material design values, standards, and acceptance criteria for materials manufactured in space. The overall objective of the TIM was to leverage MSFC's shared experiences and collective knowledge in advanced manufacturing and materials development to construct a path forward for the establishment of baseline material properties, standards development, and certification activities related to ISM. Participants were asked to help identify research and development activities that will (1) accelerate acceptance and adoption of ISM techniques among the aerospace design community; (2) benefit future NASA programs, commercial technology developments, and national needs; and (3) provide opportunities and avenues for further collaboration.

Prater, T. J.↗