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At least 1,477 records · Page 82

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NASA NTRS1975

Observations of an intense field-aligned thermal ion flow and associated intense narrow band electric field oscillations

An investigation is conducted concerning the conditions encountered during a Javelin sounding rocket experiment conducted on Apr. 3, 1970 at Fort Churchill, Canada. Evidence is presented that near the equatorward edge of the auroral arc an intense beam of cold plasma ions was flowing parallel to the earth's magnetic field. The beam was associated with intense narrow band electric field oscillations near the local ion gyrofrequency. The data support the hypothesis that intense electrostatic ion cyclotron waves were driven unstable by field-aligned currents.

Bering, E. A.↗

NASA NTRS1976

Monitoring of crustal movements in the San Andreas fault zone by a satellite-borne ranging system

The Close Grid Geodynamic Measurement System is conceived as an orbiting ranging device with a ground base grid of reflectors or transponders (spacing 1.0 to 30 km), which are projected to be of low cost (maintenance free and unattended), and which will permit the saturation of a local area to obtain data useful to monitor crustal movements in the San Andreas fault zone. The system includes a station network of 75 stations covering an area between 36 deg N and 38 deg N latitudes, and 237 deg E and 239 deg E longitudes, with roughly half of the stations on either side of the faults. In addition, the simulation of crustal movements through the introduction of changes in the relative positions between grid stations, weather effect for intervisibility between satellite and station and loss of observations thereof, and comparative evaluation of various observational scheme-patterns have been critically studied.

Kumar, M.↗

NASA NTRS1976

Pioneer 10 and 11 and ground-based infrared data on Jupiter - The thermal structure and He-H2 ratio

Temperature profiles for four midlatitude regions on Jupiter and an improved value of the H2 molar mixing ratio are obtained from Pioneer 11 IR radiometer data and ground-based IR spectral data. The investigated regions include two in the Southern Hemisphere and two in the Northern Hemisphere, all of which consist of an adjacent belt and zone. The temperature profiles for the pressure regime between 0.1 and 1.0 bar are plotted along with the emitted net flux, flux divergence, and cooling rate for a temperature profile that is an average of those derived for the South Equatorial Belt and a 'cloudy' model of the South Tropical Zone. Averaging of the results obtained with clear and cloudy zone models yields a weighted mean value of 0.88 for the H2 molar mixing ratio, which corresponds to a He/H2 ratio of 0.14. It is emphasized that this value depends on perfect validity of the adopted opacity model, the absence of systematic errors in the data, and other factors. Local effective temperatures for each region are found to range from 124.2 to 127.6 K, which are close to the model-independent global average of 125 K.

Orton, G. S.↗

NASA NTRS1976

Experimental determination of Mercury's mass and oblateness

The ratio of the mass of the sun to that of Mercury deduced from the first and third flybys of Mercury by Mariner 10 is 6,023,600 plus or minus 600 and 6,023,700 plus or minus 300, respectively. Additional analysis should improve these uncertainties by a factor of 2 to 5. Assuming an equatorial radius of 2439 km, the mean density of the planet is 5.44 g/cu cm. The gravitational oblateness deduced from the first encounter is discussed. Data received from the third encounter are better suited for this determination and yield J2 of 0.00008 plus or minus 0.00006. In addition, the third-encounter data are sensitive to local gravity effects or anomalies.

Esposito, P. B.↗

NASA NTRS1976

The August 1972 solar-terrestrial events - Solar wind plasma observations

Solar-wind observations associated with the enhanced levels of solar activity in August 1972 are reviewed with emphasis on recent analyses which more unambiguously characterize the changes in the interplanetary medium. Observations from Pioneer 9 at about 0.8 AU, Pioneer 10 at 2.2 AU, and in the vicinity of earth are reviewed and reinterpreted in the light of new data. Recent calculations of local shock velocities are reviewed, and their implications are discussed. These results indicate that, contrary to previously published observations, there is no significant deceleration of the interplanetary shocks between 0.8 AU and 2.2 AU.

Intriligator, D. S.↗

NASA NTRS1977

Recent high energy gamma-ray results from SAS-2

Recent developments in gamma-ray astronomy due to the results from SAS-2 have focused on two areas. First, the emission from the plane of the Galaxy is the dominant feature in the gamma-ray sky. The galactic latitude and longitude distributions are consistent with the concept that the high-energy radiation originates from cosmic rays interacting with interstellar matter, and the measurements support a galactic origin for cosmic rays. Second, searches of the SAS-2 data for emission from localized sources have shown three strong discrete gamma-ray sources: the Crab nebula and PSR 0531 + 21, the Vela supernova remnant and PSR 0833-45, and a source near galactic coordinates 193 deg longitude, +3 deg latitude, which does not appear to be associated with other known celestial objects. Evidence has also been found for pulsed gamma-ray emission from two other radio pulsars, PSR 1818-04 and PSR 1747-46. A localized source near longitudes 76-80 deg may be associated with the X-ray source Cyg X-3.

Thompson, D. J.↗

NASA NTRS1979

Mean sea level determination from satellite altimetry

The primary experiment on the Geodynamics Experimental Ocean Satellite-3 (GEOS-3) is the radar altimeter. This experiment's major objective is to demonstrate the utility of measuring the geometry of the ocean surface; i.e., the geoid. Results obtained from this experiment so far indicate that the planned objectives of measuring the topography of the ocean surface with an absolute accuracy of + or - 5 m can be met and perhaps exceeded. The GEOS-3 satellite altimeter measurements have an instrument precision in the range of + or - 25 cm to + or - 50 cm when the altimeter is operating in the 'short pulse' mode. After one year's operations of the altimeter, data from over 5000 altimeter passes have been collected. With the mathematical models developed and the altimeter data presently available, mapping of local areas of ocean topography has been realized to the planned accuracy levels and better. This paper presents the basic data processing methods employed and some interesting results achieved with the early data. Plots of mean sea surface heights as inferred by the altimeter measurements are compared with a detailed 1 by 1 deg gravimetric geoid.

Kahn, W. D.↗

NASA NTRS1957

Experimental Droplet Impingement on Four Bodies of Revolution

The rate and. area of cloud droplet impingement on four bodies of revolution were obtained experimentally in the NACA Lewis icing tunnel with a dye-tracer technique. The study included spheres, ellipsoidal forebodies of fineness ratios of 2.5 and 3.0, and a conical forebody of 300 included angle and covered a range of angles of attack from 0? to 60 and rotational speeds up to 1200 rpm. The data were obtained at an airspeed of 157 knots and are correlated by dimensionless impingement parameters. In general, the experimental data show that the local and total impingement rates and impingement limits of bodies of revolution are primarily functions of the modified inertia parameters, the body shape, and fineness ratio. Both the local impingement rate and impingement limits depend upon the angle of attack. Rotation of the bodies had a negligible effect on the impingement characteristics except for an averaging effect at angle of attack. For comparable diameters the bluffer bodies had the largest total impingement efficiency, but the finer and sharper bodies had the largest values of maximum local impingement efficiency and, in most cases, the largest limits of impingement. In most cases, the impingement characteristics were less than those calculated from theoretical trajectories; in general, however, fairly good agreement was obtained between the experimental and theoretical impingement characteristics.

Lewis, James P.↗

NASA NTRS1982

Observations of field-aligned currents, particles, and plasma drift in the polar cusps near solstice

Magnetic perturbations observed by the TRIAD magnetometer within two hours of an AE-C spacecraft pass provide field-aligned current data, from the same local time in the northern hemisphere, for a study of the polar cusp. The AE-C spinning mode has allowed the use of the Z-axis magnetometer for Birkeland current observations, in conjunction with particle and drift measurements. The average B(z) were found to be 1.9 nT and -1.1 nT during the first two hourly intervals on January 15, 1977. Measurements from the low energy electron experiment revealed intense fluxes of soft, cusp-like 100 eV Maxwellian electrons throughout the prenoon polar cap. The upward directed current can be identified as the dominant cusp current appropriate for B(y) values lower than zero, while the downward directed current, which has the appropriate sign of a dayside region 1 current, is observed to lie entirely within a westerly, antisunward-convecting plasma.

Bythrow, P. F.↗

NASA NTRS1984

Gravity anomalies and the structure of western Tibet and the southern Tarim Basin

Gravity anomalies across the western part of the Tarim Basin and the Kunlun mountain belt show that this area is not in local isostatic equilibrium. These data can be explained if a strong plate underlying the Tarim Basin extends southwestward beneath the belt at least 80 km and supports part of the topography of northwest Tibet. This corroborates Norin's inference that late Tertiary crustal shortening has occurred in this area by southward underthrusting of the Tarim Basin beneath the Kunlun. This study places a lower bound on the amount of underthrusting.

Lyon-Caen, H.↗

NASA NTRS1986

Illustration of the use of modal assurance criterion to detect structural changes in an Orbiter test specimen

The analysis of empirical modal models of structural components using techniques based on the modal assurance criterion (MAC) defined by Ewins (1984) is discussed and demonstrated for the case of the Space Shuttle Orbiter aft bulkhead. Modal models of the bulkhead are constructed before and after environmental acoustic tests equivalent to 30 or 100 missions and compared (by computing their MACs) to detect significant structural changes; subdivision of the modal vector followed by computation of the MAC for each part is used to localize the changes. Numerical data demonstrating the usefulness of the MAC approach are presented in tables and diagrams.

West, Walter M.↗

NASA NTRS1986

Evidence for global processing of complex visual displays

'Polar graphic' displays, in which changes in system status are represented by distortions in the form of a geometric figure, were presented to subjects, and reaction time (RT) to discriminate system status was recorded. Of interest was the extent to which reaction time showed evidence of global processing of these displays as the number of nodes and difficulty of discrimination were varied. When discrimination of system status was easy, RT showed no increase with increasing number of nodes, providing evidence of global processing. When discrimination was difficult, systematic differences in RT as a function of the number of nodes suggested the invocation of other (local) processes, although the data were not consistent with a node-by-node search process.

Munson, Robert C.↗

NASA NTRS1988

The radial and longitudinal propagation characteristics of substorm injections

This paper presents a statistical study of the radial and azimuthal propagation of substorm effects in the near-geosynchronous magnetotail. Data from five spacecraft (AMPTE/CCE, 1979-053, 1982-019, GOES-5, and GOES-6) have been used in the study. Since CCE has an apogee of 8.8 earth radii, those data allow for the study of both the radial and azimuthal propagation characteristics of substorm events. A list of ion injections was compiled from CCE energetic particle data obtained in 1985 and 1986. Those injections are dispersionless over an energy range of 25 to 285 keV on a 72-sec time scale. Dispersionless injections during which 1979-053 or 1982-019 were on the nightside in close longitudinal proximity to CCE were selected for the study. The most significant correlation in the data is between the local time separation between any two spacecraft and the time delay between the local onsets.

Lopez, R. E.↗

NASA NTRS1989

Cosmological velocity correlations - Observations and model predictions

By applying the present simple statistics for two-point cosmological peculiar velocity-correlation measurements to the actual data sets of the Local Supercluster spiral galaxy of Aaronson et al. (1982) and the elliptical galaxy sample of Burstein et al. (1987), as well as to the velocity field predicted by the distribution of IRAS galaxies, a coherence length of 1100-1600 km/sec is obtained. Coherence length is defined as that separation at which the correlations drop to half their zero-lag value. These results are compared with predictions from two models of large-scale structure formation: that of cold dark matter and that of baryon isocurvature proposed by Peebles (1980). N-body simulations of these models are performed to check the linear theory predictions and measure sampling fluctuations.

Gorski, Krzysztof M.↗

NASA NTRS1989

Use of anomolous thermal imaging effects for multi-mode systems control during crystal growth

Real time image processing techniques, combined with multitasking computational capabilities are used to establish thermal imaging as a multimode sensor for systems control during crystal growth. Whereas certain regions of the high temperature scene are presently unusable for quantitative determination of temperature, the anomalous information thus obtained is found to serve as a potentially low noise source of other important systems control output. Using this approach, the light emission/reflection characteristics of the crystal, meniscus and melt system are used to infer the crystal diameter and a linear regression algorithm is employed to determine the local diameter trend. This data is utilized as input for closed loop control of crystal shape. No performance penalty in thermal imaging speed is paid for this added functionality. Approach to secondary (diameter) sensor design and systems control structure is discussed. Preliminary experimental results are presented.

Wargo, Michael J.↗

NASA NTRS1989

Interset: A natural language interface for teleoperated robotic assembly of the EASE space structure

A teleoperated robot was used to assemble the Experimental Assembly of Structures in Extra-vehicular activity (EASE) space structure under neutral buoyancy conditions, simulating a telerobot performing structural assembly in the zero gravity of space. This previous work used a manually controlled teleoperator as a test bed for system performance evaluations. From these results several Artificial Intelligence options were proposed. One of these was further developed into a real time assembly planner. The interface for this system is effective in assembling EASE structures using windowed graphics and a set of networked menus. As the problem space becomes more complex and hence the set of control options increases, a natural language interface may prove to be beneficial to supplement the menu based control strategy. This strategy can be beneficial in situations such as: describing the local environment, maintaining a data base of task event histories, modifying a plan or a heuristic dynamically, summarizing a task in English, or operating in a novel situation.

Boorsma, Daniel K.↗

NASA NTRS1993

Light-Flash Wind-Direction Indicator

Proposed wind-direction indicator read easily by distant observers. Indicator emits bright flashes of light separated by interval of time proportional to angle between true north and direction from which wind blowing. Timing of flashes indicates direction of wind. Flashes, from high-intensity stroboscopic lights seen by viewers at distances up to 5 miles or more. Also seen more easily through rain and fog. Indicator self-contained, requiring no connections to other equipment. Power demand satisfied by battery or solar power or both. Set up quickly to provide local surface-wind data for aircraft pilots during landing or hovering, for safety officers establishing hazard zones and safety corridors during handling of toxic materials, for foresters and firefighters conducting controlled burns, and for real-time wind observations during any of variety of wind-sensitive operations.

Zysko, Jan A.↗

NASA NTRS1992

Ice patterns and hydrothermal plumes, Lake Baikal, Russia - Insights from Space Shuttle hand-held photography

Earth photography from the Space Shuttle is used to examine the ice cover on Lake Baikal and correlate the patterns of weakened and melting ice with known hydrothermal areas in the Siberian lake. Particular zones of melted and broken ice may be surface expressions of elevated heat flow in Lake Baikal. The possibility is explored that hydrothermal vents can introduce local convective upwelling and disrupt a stable water column to the extent that the melt zones which are observed in the lake's ice cover are produced. A heat flow map and photographs of the lake are overlaid to compare specific areas of thinned or broken ice with the hot spots. The regions of known hydrothermal activity and high heat flow correlate extremely well with circular regions of thinned ice, and zones of broken and recrystallized ice. Local and regional climate data and other sources of warm water, such as river inlets, are considered.

Evans, Cynthia A.↗