Chemical processes during the formation of the planetary system
Chemical processes responsible for transformation of vast gas and dust cloud into planetary system
Anders, E.↗
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Mercury
Papers are presented on future observations of and missions to Mercury, the photometry and polarimetry of Mercury, the surface composition of Mercury from reflectance spectrophotometry, the Goldstone radar observations of Mercury, the radar observations of Mercury, the stratigraphy and geologic history of Mercury, the geomorphology of impact craters on Mercury, and the cratering record on Mercury and the origin of impacting objects. Consideration is also given to the tectonics of Mercury, the tectonic history of Mercury, Mercury's thermal history and the generation of its magnetic field, the rotational dynamics of Mercury and the state of its core, Mercury's magnetic field and interior, the magnetosphere of Mercury, and the Mercury atmosphere. Other papers are on the present bounds on the bulk composition of Mercury and the implications for planetary formation processes, the building stones of the planets, the origin and composition of Mercury, the formation of Mercury from planetesimals, and theoretical considerations on the strange density of Mercury.
Vilas, Faith↗
Buried homojunction solar cells formed in p-InP during sputter deposition and hydrogen plasma processing
Although it is apparent that direct current (DC) magnetron sputter deposition of indium tin oxide (ITO) leads to the formation of a buried homojunction in single-crystal p-type InP, the actual mechanism of type conversion of the InP surface is not clear. Since sputter deposition of In2O3 has also led to high-quality cells, it appears that Sn is not the cause of type conversion. To investigate the junction formation process further, experiments involving the use of a pure hydrogen plasma have been performed, resulting in type conversion of Fe-doped InP surfaces and in solar cells with efficiencies over 16 percent (global). The results confirm that sputter deposition is not necessary to form this type of buried homojunction solar cell, and they suggest a fabrication process that may be used with other relevant photovoltaic materials.
Gessert, T. A.↗
I-Xe Dating: The Time Line of Chondrule Formation and Metamorphism in LL Chondrites
Refractory inclusions, considered to be the oldest solids formed in the solar nebula. (4567.2 0.6 Ma) [1], are common in many carbonaceous and in some ordinary and enstatite chondrites. High-precision Pb- Pb ages for CAI s and chondrules (from different meteorites) suggested that chondrule formation appeared to have started about 2 Ma later than that of CAIs [1]. However, recent 26Al/26Mg data suggest simultaneous formation of CAI s and chondrules in Allende [2]. The I-Xe ages of CAI s in Allende are about 2 Ma younger than the I-Xe ages of Allende chondrules [3] but, like all chronometers, the I-Xe system records closure time of its particular host phase. In the case of Allende CAI s, the major iodine-bearing phase is sodalite, a secondary phase presumably formed by aqueous alteration, so I-Xe reflects the post-formational processes in these objects. In chondrules the iodine host phases vary and can reflect formation and/or alteration but, to put chondrule ages on a quantative basis, some problems should first be addressed.
Pravdivtseva, O. V.↗
Automated Array Assembly, Phase 2
The purpose of the overall program is to establish technological readiness and provide verification for the elements of a manufacturing sequence which would ultimately be suitable for the large-scale production of silicon solar-array modules at a selling price of less than $500/kW. A program and process plan for accomplishing this objective was developed and put into operation. Three junction-formation processes are shown; since cost analysis shows that they do not differ greatly in cost, each should be considered for technical merits and possible future cost reduction. The progress made in the various process steps of the plan is described, and conclusions are presented.
Daiello, R. V.↗
Plant metabolism and cell wall formation in space (microgravity) and on Earth
Variations in cell wall chemistry provide vascular plants with the ability to withstand gravitational forces, as well as providing facile mechanisms for correctional responses to various gravitational stimuli, e.g., in reaction wood formation. A principal focus of our current research is to precisely and systematically dissect the essentially unknown mechanism(s) of vascular plant cell wall assembly, particularly with respect to formation of its phenolic constituents, i.e., lignins and suberins, and how gravity impacts upon these processes. Formation of these phenolic polymers is of particular interest, since it appears that elaboration of their biochemical pathways was essential for successful land adaptation. By extrapolation, we are also greatly intrigued as to how the microgravity environment impacts upon 'normal' cell wall assembly mechanisms/metabolism.
Lewis, Norman G.↗
Effect of Stepwise Pressure Change on Porosity Evolution during Directional Solidification in Small Cylindrical Channels
Controlled directional solidification experiments were performed in capillary channels, using nitrogen-saturated succinonitrile, to examine the effect of an in-situ stepwise processing pressure increase on an isolated pore evolution. Two experiments were performed using different processing pressure input profiles. The results indicate that a processing pressure increase has a transient effect on pore growth geometry characterized by an initial phase of decreasing pore diameter, followed by a recovery phase of increasing pore diameter. The experimental results also show that processing pressure can be used as a control parameter to either increase or terminate porosity formation. A theoretical model is introduced which indicates that the pore formation process is limited by the diffusion of solute-gas through the melt, and that the observed response toa pressure increase is attributed to the re-equilibration of solute concentration in the melt associated with the increased melt pressure.
Grugel, R.N.↗
CO, Water, and Tentative Methanol in η Carinae Approaching Periastron
The complex circumstellar environment around the massive binary and luminous blue variable η Carinae is known to harbor numerous light molecules, emitting most strongly in rotational states with upper level energies to ∼300 K. In circumstellar gas, the complex organic molecule methanol (CH3OH) has been found almost exclusively around young stellar objects, and thus regarded as a signpost of recent star formation. Here we report the first potential detection of methanol around a highly evolved high-mass star, while using the Atacama Large Millimeter Array to investigate molecular cloud conditions traced by CO (2–1) in an orbit phase preceding the 2020 periastron. The methanol emission originates from hot (T(gas) ≃ 700 K) material, ∼2″ (0.02 pc) across, centered on the dust-obscured binary, and is accompanied by prominent absorption of continuum radiation in a cooler (T(gas) ≃ 110 K) layer of gas. We also report a first detection of water in Herschel observations at 557 and 988 GHz. The methanol abundance is several to 50 times higher than observed toward several lower-mass stars, while water abundances are similar to those observed in cool, dense molecular clouds. The very high methanol: water abundance ratio in the core of η Car may suggest methanol formation processes similar to Fischer–Tropschtype catalytic reactions on dust grains. These observations prove that complex molecule formation can occur in a chemically evolved massive stellar environment, given sufficient gas densities and shielding conditions as may occur in material around massive interacting companions and merger remnants.
Patrick W Morris↗
Experiments on the formation, properties and processing of cosmic dust
The results from various experiments on the formation, properties, and processing of potential silicate components of cosmic dust are reviewed. Consideration is given to the role of evaporation and condensation in grain formation, nucleation experiments using volatile compounds and refractory species, and efforts to produce particles that might represent cosmic grains. Other studies include particle scattering experiments, studies on the growth of clusters, the sputtering process, the impact of temperature on sputtering yield and optical properties, and experimental and theoretical studies of the structure of particulate aggregates.
Donn, B. D.↗
Ground Operations Aerospace Language (GOAL). Volume 2: Compiler
The principal elements and functions of the Ground Operations Aerospace Language (GOAL) compiler are presented. The technique used to transcribe the syntax diagrams into machine processable format for use by the parsing routines is described. An explanation of the parsing technique used to process GOAL source statements is included. The compiler diagnostics and the output reports generated during a GOAL compilation are explained. A description of the GOAL program package is provided.
Source record↗
Application of the theory of jet stream to the asteroidal belt
The possibility of incorporating the resonant effect and jet stream formation process into the problems of the Hilda asteroids and Kirkwood gaps is discussed qualitatively. It appears that formation of the precursor jet streams of the resonant asteroids in the main belt would be suppressed due to the collisional perturbation effect of the ambient matter in this region. Together with the biased distribution of near-resonant asteroids, the depletion across the Kirkwood gaps could be understood. Within the context of jet stream theory the existence of Hilda asteroids outside the main belt requires the original limit of the main belt to be not much more extensive than the present value of 3.5 AU. This is suggestive of a cosmogonic origin of the observed outer limit.
Ip, W.-H.↗
Quantitative assessment of Hox complex expression in the indirect development of the polychaete annelid Chaetopterus sp
A prediction from the set-aside theory of bilaterian origins is that pattern formation processes such as those controlled by the Hox cluster genes are required specifically for adult body plan formation. This prediction can be tested in animals that use maximal indirect development, in which the embryonic formation of the larva and the postembryonic formation of the adult body plan are temporally and spatially distinct. To this end, we quantitatively measured the amount of transcripts for five Hox genes in embryos of a lophotrochozoan, the polychaete annelid Chaetopterus sp. The polychaete Hox complex is shown not to be expressed during embryogenesis, but transcripts of all measured Hox complex genes are detected at significant levels during the initial stages of adult body plan formation. Temporal colinearity in the sequence of their activation is observed, so that activation follows the 3'-5' arrangement of the genes. Moreover, Hox gene expression is spatially localized to the region of teloblastic set-aside cells of the later-stage embryos. This study shows that an indirectly developing lophotrochozoan shares with an indirectly developing deuterostome, the sea urchin, a common mode of Hox complex utilization: construction of the larva, whether a trochophore or dipleurula, does not involve Hox cluster expression, but in both forms the complex is expressed in the set-aside cells from which the adult body plan derives.
Non-NASA Center↗
Formation and Destruction Processes of Interstellar Dust: From Organic Molecules to carbonaceous Grains
The study of the formation and destruction processes of cosmic dust is essential to understand and to quantify the budget of extraterrestrial organic molecules. interstellar dust presents a continuous size distribution from large molecules, radicals and ions to nanometer-sized particles to micron-sized grains. The lower end of the dust size distribution is thought to be responsible for the ubiquitous spectral features that are seen in emission in the IR (UIBs) and in absorption in the visible (DIBs). The higher end of the dust-size distribution is thought to be responsible for the continuum emission plateau that is seen in the IR and for the strong absorption seen in the interstellar UV extinction curve. All these spectral signatures are characteristic of cosmic organic materials that are ubiquitous and present in various forms from gas-phase molecules to solid-state grains. Although dust with all its components plays an important role in the evolution of interstellar chemistry and in the formation of organic molecules, little is known on the formation and destruction processes of dust. Recent space observations in the UV (HST) and in the IR (ISO) help place size constraints on the molecular component of carbonaceous IS dust and indicate that small (ie., subnanometer) PAHs cannot contribute significantly to the IS features in the UV and in the IR. Studies of large molecular and nano-sized IS dust analogs formed from PAH precursors have been performed in our laboratory under conditions that simulate diffuse ISM environments (the particles are cold -100 K vibrational energy, isolated in the gas phase and exposed to a high-energy discharge environment in a cold plasma). The species (molecules, molecular fragments, ions, nanoparticles, etc) formed in the pulsed discharge nozzle (PDN) plasma source are detected with a high-sensitivity cavity ring-down spectrometer (CRDS). We will present new experimental results that indicate that nanoparticles are generated in the plasma. From these unique measurements, we derive information on the nature, the size and the structure of interstellar dust particles, the growth and the destruction processes of IS dust and the resulting budget of extraterrestrial organic molecules.
Salama, F.↗
Sintering, crystallization, and breccia formation
The process of breccia formation by viscous sintering in the absence of pressure, advanced by Simonds (1973), is examined in detail. The limitations on the standard model for such sintering are considered. The competing process of crystallization is analyzed kinetically in terms of time-temperature-transformation curves corresponding to various degrees of crystallinity. The analysis is applied to Lunar Composition 15418 to illustrate the approach. The results indicate that close constraints can be placed on the thermal histories of lunar breccias, particularly breccias with modest degrees of crystallinity, from microstructural observations and kinetic measurements.
Uhlmann, D. R.↗
Future Direction of Research in Wear and Wear Resistant Materials. Status of Understanding
The adhesion of materials is one of the most popular interactions occuring between mating solid surfaces in contact, and was regarded as a key factor in wear process. However, because the adhesion is not a separation factor but a joining factor for mating materials, it is not easy to show a general plot of the formation process of wear particle through adhesion. A new idea on the mechanism of formation of wear particles in adhesive wear is shown. The wear particles are not separated from their mother surfaces directly as their final form, but minute adhered fragments are assembled and piled up to form a big particle which should be called as a wear particle after it is removed out of the rubbing system. From this proposed mechanism many other phenomena related to wear are interpreted.
Sasada, T.↗
South Atlantic interbasin exchange
The exchange of mass and heat between the South Atlantic and the neighboring ocean basins was estimated using hydrographic data and inverse methods, in order to gain information on the links between the deep-water formation processes occurring within the Atlantic and the global thermohaline circulation. Results demonstrate that the global thermohaline cell associated with the formation and export of North Atlantic deep water (NADW) is closed primarily by a 'cold water path' in which deep water leaving the Atlantic ultimately returns as intermediate water entering the basin through Drake Passage. This conclusion conflicts with the suggestion by Gordon (1986) that the global thermohaline circulation associated with the formation of NADW is closed primarily by a 'warm water path', in which the export of NADW is compensated by an inflow of warm Indian Ocean thermocline water south of Africa.
Rintoul, Stephen Rich↗
Topographic domes on Ganymede - Ice vulcanism or isostatic upwarping
Two formation processes are considered for two gently sloping domeshaped features on the surface of Ganymede, lying on grooved terrain and having diameters of roughly 250 km: (1) water vulcanism, triggered by a major impact, and (2) the isostatic upwarping of a crater formed in a thin crust. Numerical simulations show the volume of the domes to be consistent with eruption through fractures created by an impact that excavates partly through a thin crust. Isostatic upwarp rates calculated as a function of effective crustal temperature indicate that upwarping could also create such a dome if the impact excavated to a depth where the crust was sufficiently warm and mobile. Morphologic evidence suggests that both processes may have been important and, if either of the proposed models is correct, it is strongly implied that grooved terrain formation occurred prior to the thickening and stiffening of Ganymede's crust.
Squyres, S. W.↗
Liquid droplet radiator program at the NASA Lewis Research Center
The NASA Lewis Research Center and the Air Force Rocket Propulsion Laboratory (AFRPL) are jointly engaged in a program for technical assessment of the Liquid Droplet Radiator (LDR) concept as an advanced high performance heat ejection component for future space missions. NASA Lewis has responsibility for the technology needed for the droplet generator, for working fluid qualification, and for investigating the physics of droplets in space; NASA Lewis is also conducting systems/mission analyses for potential LDR applications with candidate space power systems. For the droplet generator technology task, both micro-orifice fabrication techniques and droplet stream formation processes have been experimentally investigated. High quality micro-orifices (to 50 micron diameter) are routinely fabricated with automated equipment. Droplet formation studies have established operating boundaries for the generation of controlled and uniform droplet streams. A test rig is currently being installed for the experimental verification, under simulated space conditions, of droplet radiation heat transfer performance analyses and the determination of the effect radiative emissivity of multiple droplet streams. Initial testing has begun in the NASA Lewis Zero-Gravity Facility for investigating droplet stream behavior in microgravity conditions. This includes the effect of orifice wetting on jet dynamics and droplet formation. Results for both Brayton and Stirling power cycles have identified favorable mass and size comparisons of the LDR with conventional radiator concepts.
Presler, A. F.↗