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At least 1,459 records · Page 81
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NASA NTRS2003

Massive Stars and the Energy Balance of the Interstellar Medium: The Impact of an Isolated 60 M. Star - 1

We present results of numerical simulations carried out with a two-dimensional radiation hydrodynamics code in order to study the impact of massive stars on their surrounding interstellar medium. This first paper deals with the evolution of the circumstellar gas around an isolated 60 M. star. The interaction of the photo- ionized H II region with the stellar wind bubble forms a variety of interesting structures like shells, clouds, fingers, and spokes. These results demonstrate that complex structures found in H II regions are not necessarily relics from the time before the gas became ionized but may result from dynamical processes during the course of the H II region evolution. We have also analyzed the transfer and deposit of the stellar wind and radiation energy into the circumstellar medium until the star explodes as a supernova. Although the total mechanical wind energy supplied by the star is negligible compared to the accumulated energy of the Lyman continuum photons, the kinetic energy imparted to the circumstellar gas over the star s lifetime is 4 times higher than for a comparable windless simulation. Furthermore, the thermal energy of warm photoionized gas is lower by some 55%). Our results document the necessity to consider both ionizing radiation and stellar winds for an appropriate description of the interaction of OB stars with their circumstellar environment.

Freyer, Tim↗
NASA NTRS1988

Large-scale structure from cosmic-string loops in a baryon-dominated universe

The results are presented of a numerical simulation of the formation of large-scale structure in a universe with Omega(0) = 0.2 and h = 0.5 dominated by baryons in which cosmic strings provide the initial density perturbations. The numerical model yields a power spectrum. Nonlinear evolution confirms that the model can account for 700 km/s bulk flows and a strong cluster-cluster correlation, but does rather poorly on smaller scales. There is no visual 'filamentary' structure, and the two-point correlation has too steep a logarithmic slope. The value of G mu = 4 x 10 to the -6th is significantly lower than previous estimates for the value of G mu in baryon-dominated cosmic string models.

Melott, Adrian L.↗
NASA NTRS2003

Lidar Measurements of Wind, Moisture and Boundary Layer Evolution in a Dryline During IHOP2002

Variability in the convective boundary layer moisture, wind and temperature fields and their importance in the forecasting and understanding of storms have been discussed in the literature. These variations have been reported in relation to frontal zones, stationary boundaries and during horizontal convective rolls. While all three vary substantially in the convective boundary layer, moisture poses a particular challenge. Moisture or water vapor concentration (expressed as a mass mixing ratio, g/kg), is conserved in all meteorological processes except condensation and evaporation. The water vapor mixing ratio often remains distinct across an air -mass boundary even when the temperature difference is indistinct. These properties make it an ideal choice in visualizing and understanding many of the atmosphere's dynamic features. However, it also presents a unique measurement challenge because water vapor content can vary by more than three orders of magnitude in the troposphere. Characterization of the 3D-distribution of water vapor is also difficult as water vapor observations can suffer from large sampling errors and substantial variability both in the vertical and horizontal. This study presents groundbased measurements of wind, boundary layer structure and water vapor mixing ratio measurements observed by three co-located lidars. This presentation will focus on the evolution and variability of moisture and wind in the boundary layer during a dry line event that occurred on 22 May 2002. These data sets and analyses are unique in that they combine simultaneous measurements of wind, moisture and CBL structure to study the detailed thermal variability in and around clear air updrafts during a dryline event. It will quantify the variation caused by, in and around buoyant plumes and across a dryline. The data presented here were collected in the panhandle of Oklahoma as part of the International BO Project (IHOP-2002), a field experiment that took place over the Southern Great Plains (SGP) of the United States from 13 May to 30 June 2002. The chief goal of IHOP-2002 is to improve characterization of the four-dimensional (4-D) distribution of water vapor and its application to improving the understanding and prediction of convection

Demoz, Belay↗
NASA NTRS2002

Lidar Measurements of Wind, Moisture, and Boundary Layer Evolution in a Dry Line during 1HOP 2002

Variability in the convective boundary layer moisture, wind and temperature fields and their importance in the forecasting and understanding of storms have been discussed in the literature. These . variations have been reported in relation to frontal zones, stationary boundaries and during horizontal convective rolls. While all three vary substantially in the convective boundary layer, moisture poses a particular challenge. Moisture or water vapor concentration (expressed as a mass mixing ratio, g/kg), is conserved in all meteorological processes except condensation and evaporation. The water vapor mixing ratio often remains distinct across an air-mass boundary even when the temperature difference is indistinct. These properties make it an ideal choice in visualizing and understanding many of the atmosphere's dynamic features. However, it also presents a unique measurement challenge because water vapor content can vary by more than three orders of magnitude in the troposphere. Characterization of the 3D-distribution of water vapor is also difficult as water vapor observations can suffer from large sampling errors and substantial variability both in the vertical and horizontal. This study presents ground-based measurements of wind, boundary layer structure and water vapor mixing ratio measurements observed by three co-located lidars. This presentation will focus on the evolution and variability of moisture and wind in the boundary layer during a dry line event that occurred on 22 May 2002. These data sets and analyses are unique in that they combine simultaneous measurements of wind, moisture and CBL structure to study the detailed thermal variability in and around clear air updrafts during a dryline event. It will quantify the variation caused by, in and around buoyant plumes and across a dryline. The data presented here were collected in the panhandle of Oklahoma as part of the International H2O Project (MOP-2002), a field experiment that took place over the Southern Great Plains (SGP) of the United States from 13 May to 30 June 2002. The chief goal of MOP-2002 is to improve characterization of the four-dimensional (4-D) distribution of water vapor and its application to improving the understanding and prediction of convection

Demoz, Belay↗
NASA NTRS1982

A Numerical simulation of transition in plane channel flow

A numerical simulation of the final stages of transition to turbulence in plane channel flow at a Reynolds number of 7500 is described. Three dimensional, incompressible Navier-Stokes equations are numerically integrated to obtain the time evolution of two and three dimensional finite amplitude disturbances. Computations are performed on the CYBER-203 vector processor for a 32 by 33 by 32 grid. Solutions indicate the existence of structures similar to those observed in the laboratory and which are characteristic of various stages of transition that lead to final breakdown. Details of the resulting flow field after breakdown indicate the evolution of streak-like formations found in turbulent flows. Although the flow field does approach a steady state (turbulent channel flow), implementation of subgrid-scale terms are necessary to obtain proper turbulent statistics.

Goglia, G.↗
NASA NTRS1998

Phylogenetic mapping of bacterial morphology

The availability of a meaningful molecular phylogeny for bacteria provides a context for examining the historical significance of various developments in bacterial evolution. Herein, the classical morphological descriptions of selected members of the domain Bacteria are mapped upon the genealogical ancestry deduced from comparison of small-subunit rRNA sequences. For the species examined in this study, a distinct pattern emerges which indicates that the coccus shape has arisen and accumulated independently multiple times in separate lineages and typically survived as a persistent end-state morphology. At least two other morphologies persist but have evolved only once. This study demonstrates that although bacterial morphology is not useful in defining bacterial phylogeny, it is remarkably consistent with that phylogeny once it is known. An examination of the experimental evidence available for morphogenesis as well as microbial fossil evidence corroborates these findings. It is proposed that the accumulation of persistent morphologies is a result of the biophysical properties of peptidoglycan and their genetic control, and that an evolved body-plan strategy based on peptidoglycan may have been a fate-sealing step in the evolution of Bacteria. More generally, this study illustrates that significant evolutionary insights can be obtained by examining biological and biochemical data in the context of a reliable phylogenetic structure.

NASA Discipline Exobiology↗
NASA NTRS2002

Performance Validation Approach for the GTX Air-Breathing Launch Vehicle

The primary objective of the GTX effort is to determine whether or not air-breathing propulsion can enable a launch vehicle to achieve orbit in a single stage. Structural weight, vehicle aerodynamics, and propulsion performance must be accurately known over the entire flight trajectory in order to make a credible assessment. Structural, aerodynamic, and propulsion parameters are strongly interdependent, which necessitates a system approach to design, evaluation, and optimization of a single-stage-to-orbit concept. The GTX reference vehicle serves this purpose, by allowing design, development, and validation of components and subsystems in a system context. The reference vehicle configuration (including propulsion) was carefully chosen so as to provide high potential for structural and volumetric efficiency, and to allow the high specific impulse of air-breathing propulsion cycles to be exploited. Minor evolution of the configuration has occurred as analytical and experimental results have become available. With this development process comes increasing validation of the weight and performance levels used in system performance determination. This paper presents an overview of the GTX reference vehicle and the approach to its performance validation. Subscale test rigs and numerical studies used to develop and validate component performance levels and unit structural weights are outlined. The sensitivity of the equivalent, effective specific impulse to key propulsion component efficiencies is presented. The role of flight demonstration in development and validation is discussed.

Trefny, Charles J.↗
NASA NTRS2002

Performance Validation Approach for the GTX Air-Breathing Launch Vehicle

The primary objective of the GTX effort is to determine whether or not air-breathing propulsion can enable a launch vehicle to achieve orbit in a single stage. Structural weight, vehicle aerodynamics, and propulsion performance must be accurately known over the entire flight trajectory in order to make a credible assessment. Structural, aerodynamic, and propulsion parameters are strongly interdependent, which necessitates a system approach to design, evaluation, and optimization of a single-stage-to-orbit concept. The GTX reference vehicle serves this purpose, by allowing design, development, and validation of components and subsystems in a system context. The reference vehicle configuration (including propulsion) was carefully chosen so as to provide high potential for structural and volumetric efficiency, and to allow the high specific impulse of air-breathing propulsion cycles to be exploited. Minor evolution of the configuration has occurred as analytical and experimental results have become available. With this development process comes increasing validation of the weight and performance levels used in system performance determination. This paper presents an overview of the GTX reference vehicle and the approach to its performance validation. Subscale test rigs and numerical studies used to develop and validate component performance levels and unit structural weights are outlined. The sensitivity of the equivalent, effective specific impulse to key propulsion component efficiencies is presented. The role of flight demonstration in development and validation is discussed.

Trefny, Charles J.↗
NASA NTRS1998

A Study of the Structure of the Source Region of the Solar Wind in Support of a Solar Probe Mission

Despite the richness of the information about the physical properties and the structure of the solar wind provided by the Ulysses and SOHO observations, fundamental questions regarding the nature of the coronal heating mechanisms, their source, and the manifestations of the fast and slow solar wind, still remain unanswered. The last unexplored frontier to establish the connection between the structure and dynamics of the solar atmosphere, its extension into interplanetary space, and the mechanisms responsible for the evolution of the solar wind, is the corona between 1 and 30 R(sub s). A Solar Probe mission offers an unprecedented opportunity to explore this frontier. The uniqueness of this mission stems from its trajectory in a plane perpendicular to the ecliptic which reaches within 9 R(sub s), of the solar surface over the poles and 3 - 9 R(sub s), at the equator. With a complement of simultaneous in situ and remote sensing observations, this mission is destined to have a significant impact on our understanding of the fundamental processes that heat the corona and drive the solar wind. The Solar Probe should be able to detect remnants and signatures of the processes which heat the corona and accelerate the solar wind. The primary objective of this proposal was to explore the structure of the different source regions of the solar wind through complementary observational and theoretical studies in support of a Solar Probe mission.

Habbal , Shadia R.↗
NASA NTRS1999

A Deep HRI Survey of Low-Mass PMS Stars in NGC 2264

Brian Patten is the Principal Investigator of the NASA ADP project 'A Deep HRI Survey of Low-Mass PMS Stars in NGC 2264'. This project was funded to support primarily the data reduction and analysis for new ROSAT data to be acquired in ROSAT AO8. For AO8 we were awarded two deep (100 ks) exposures with the ROSAT HRI instrument of a rotation and proper-motion selected sample of young (3 Myr - 15 Myr), low-mass, PMS stars in the populous star-forming region NGC 2264. These X-ray data were to be combined with an extensive rotation database for members of this cluster to allow us, for the first time, to probe the early evolution of magnetic dynamo activity for both fully convective stars and those stars found lower on the Hayashi tracks which have developed radiative cores. This database would have been used to study the interrelationship between coronal activity level, interior structure, and rotation rate as a function of mass and age.in the PMS and to define empirical constraints for theoretical models of angular momentum and magnetic dynamo evolution.

Patten, Brian↗
NASA NTRS1975

EUV emission, filament activation and magnetic fields in a slow-rise flare

Results are reported for observations and analysis of synoptic data on a 1B flare that occurred on January 19, 1972. The observations include large-scale H-alpha movies of the flare and pre-flare developments, OSO-7 satellite data on soft X-ray and EUV developments, magnetograms, and hard X-ray observations. Theoretical force-free magnetic field configurations are compared with structures seen in the soft X-ray, EUV, and H-alpha images, and the evolution of the flare is described. The energy available for the flare is estimated from the change of magnetic field inferred from the H-alpha filtergrams and from force-free field calculations. It is suggested that the flare originated in a twisted filament where it was compressed by emerging fields, and it is shown that the flare started below the corona and appeared to derive its energy from the magnetic fields in or near the filament.

Rust, D. M.↗
NASA NTRS1984

Angular momentum growth in protogalaxies

An analysis by Doroshkevich (1970) which shows that the angular momentum of galaxies grew to first order (in proportion to t) during the linear phases of protogalactic evolution is expanded. This result is confirmed in N-body simulations of the formation of structure. The well-known study of Peebles (1969) found growth at second order only (in proportion to t to the 5/3-power) because its analysis was restricted to spherical regions. In such regions growth occurs purely as a result of convective effects on the bounding surface; the material initially within a spherical volume gains no angular momentum in second-order perturbation theory. These considerations do not affect estimates of the total angular momentum acquired by a galaxy in the gravitational instability picture.

White, S. D. M.↗
NASA NTRS1988

Space Station user Servicing System architecture and operational aspects

The structure of the Space Station Servicing System architecture, operational aspects of the system, and the potential evolution of the servicing capabilities to accomodate a variety of missions are disscussed. Services to be performed include replacement or repair of failed modules, subsystems or parts, replacement or upgrading of spacecraft or instrument subsystems, replacement of limited lifetime subsystems or components, replenishment of consumables, and assembly of attached payloads and instruments. Elements of the system discussed include intravehicular servicing, the flight telerobotic servicer, and the mobile servicing center. Ground, preservicing, extravehicular and intravehicular servicing, and postservicing operations are examined. Also, a typical mission scenario for mature servicing operations is given.

Cline, Helmut P.↗
NASA NTRS1988

Recent results on SN 1987A

The results from observational studies of SN 1987A are reviewed. The evolution of the blue supergiant pre-supernova star is examined, including the composition and core structure of the star and nitrogen enhancements. The study of heavy elements and isotopes in the ejecta is discussed. Also, consideration is given to possible mixing of supernova composition in velocity space, the profiles of observed IR lines and their red-shifted wings, and the question of what happened to the neutron star.

Woosley, S. E.↗
NASA NTRS1990

Mars tectonics and volcanism

The focus of this research was on three broad areas: (1) the relation between lithospheric stress in the vicinity of a growing volcano and the evolution of eruption characteristics and tectonic faulting; (2) the relation between elastic lithosphere thickness and thermal structure; and (3) a synthesis of constraints on heat flow and internal dynamics on Mars. The two reports presented are: (1) Heterogeneities in the Thickness of the Elastic Lithosphere of Mars--Constraints on Heat Flow and Internal Dynamics; and (2) State of Stress, Faulting, and Eruption Characteristics of Large Volcanoes on Mars.

Solomon, Sean C.↗
NASA NTRS1991

A simulation of the collapse and fragmentation of cooling molecular clouds

The application of the Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics method to the fragmentation of rotating cloud and disk systems is described, allowing for molecular cooling due to H2 and CO. A novel approach to solving Poisson's equation for disklike structures which exploits the multigrid algorithm is also described. Numerical studies are presented which investigate the evolution of both rotating clouds and Maclaurin disks, in each case with both an isothermal equation of state and with molecular cooling. The results establish the influence of molecular cooling on the fragmentation of molecular clouds. The isothermal sequences, if they fragment at all, do so into far fewer lumps than the cooling sequences. This is not due to a cooling instability as such, but rather to the reduced thermal support. One of the sequences shows a remarkable similarity to the W49A star-forming region.

Monaghan, Joe J.↗
NASA NTRS1992

The role of intermediate shocks in magnetic reconnection

The present study examines the structure of discontinuity layers associated with magnetic reconnection by numerically solving the Riemann problem for the evolution of an initial current sheet which separates two plasma regions with antiparallel magnetic field components in the z direction and a common guide magnetic field in the y direction. In the presence of a nonzero normal component of the magnetic field, the initial current sheet evolves into a system of MHD discontinuities. For the initial current sheet with a zero guide field, steady intermediate shocks, slow shocks, slow expansion waves, or contact discontinuity are observed to develop. For the current sheet with a nonzero guide field, time-dependent intermediate shocks, instead of steady intermediate shocks, are observed to bound the reconnection layer.

Lin, Y.↗