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Voyager 1 observations of Saturn's kilometric radio emissions reveal a strong but apparently transitory control by the orbital phase angle of Dione. This may be a geometrical effect and a time-variable plasma torus associated with Dione could explain most of the observed details of the Dione modulation by creating a shadow zone near the equatorial plane.
The absorption of copper ions from aqueous copper acetate solutions by cross-linked calcium acrylate membranes was found to obey parabolic kinetics similar to that found for oxidation of metals that form protective oxide layers. For pure calcium polyacrylate membranes the rate constant was essentially independent of copper acetate concentration and film thickness. For a cross-linked copolymer film of polyvinyl alcohol and calcium polyacrylate, the rate constant was much greater and dependent on the concentration of copper acetate. The proposed mechanism in each case involves the formation of a copper polyacrylate phase on the surface of the membrane. The diffusion of the copper ion through this phase appears to be the rate controlling step for the copolymer film. The diffusion of the calcium ion is apparently the rate controlling step for the calcium polyacrylate. At low pH, the copper polyacrylate phase consists of the normal copper salt; at higher pH, the phase appears to be the basic copper salt.
An exploratory flow visualization study conducted in the Langley Vortex Research Facility to investigate the effectiveness of lateral control surface oscillations as a potential method for wake vortex attenuation on a 0.03 scale model of a wide body jet transport aircraft is described. Effects of both asymmetric surface oscillation (control surfaces move as with normal lateral control inputs) and symmetric surface oscillation (control surfaces move in phase) are presented. The asymmetric case simulated a flight maneuver which was previously investigated on the transport aircraft during NASA/FAA flight tests and which resulted in substantial wake vortex attenuation. Effects on the model wake vortex systems were observed by propelling the model through a two dimensional smoke screen perpendicular to the model flight path. Results are presented as photographic time histories of the wake characteristics recorded with high speed still cameras. Effects of oscillation on the wake roll up are described in some detail, and the amount of vortex attenuation observed is discussed in comparative terms. Findings were consistent with flight test results in that only a small amount of rotation was observed in the wake for the asymmetric case. A possible aerodynamic mechanism contributing to this attenuation is suggested.
The improvement of growth rates using radiation shielding and investigation of the crucible melt interaction for improved yields were emphasized. Growth runs were performed from both 15 and 16 inch diameter crucibles, producing 30 and 37 kg ingots respectively. Efforts to increase the growth rate of 150 mm diameter ingots were limited by temperature instabilities believed to be caused by undesirable thermal convections in the larger melts. The radiation shield improved the growth rate somewhat, but the thermal instability was still evident, leading to nonround ingots and loss of dislocation-free structure. A 38 kg crystal was grown to demonstrate the feasibility of producing 150 kg with four growth cycles. After the grower construction phase, the Hamco microprocessor control system was interfaced to the growth facility, including the sensor for automatic control of seeding temperature, and the sensor for automatic shouldering. Efforts focused upon optimization of the seeding, necking, and shoulder growth automation programs.
The design and current status of the ORION mobile VLBI station is described. The station consists of a five-meter antenna, a receiving and recording system installed in a mobile antenna transporter, and an electronics transporter. The station is designed for field operation by a two-person crew at the rate of two sites per week. The various subsystems are described in detail, including the antenna, housing facilities for electronics and crew, microwave equipment, receiver, data acquisition subsystem, frequency and timing subsystem, phase calibration, monitoring and control, water vapor radiometer, and communications.
Scientific experiments conducted in a low-gravity environment make it possible to study effects, such as surface tension-driven flows, which are often masked by buoyancy-driven flows. A summary is provided of several early experiments which demonstrate that unwanted convective flows can be effectively suppressed in experiments conducted in orbiting spacecraft. Possible applications of low-G processing are discussed, taking into account Bridgman growth of solid solution alloy-type semiconductors, Bridgman growth of eutectic systems, and float-zone crystal growth. The control of macrosegregation and phase separation in castings is considered, giving attention also to containerless melting and solidification. A description of experiment facilities and opportunities is provided.
The design and performance of the high-density digital recorder (HDDR) developed for use at the NASA centers (KSC, JSC, and GSFC) and at the JPL to store and retrieve 50-Mb/s PCM data streams from the Spacelab experiments are reported. The recording reproduction, and transport requirements are reviewed; and the design solutions adopted in the final version of the HDDR are described, incuding three-position-modulation and Y-phase encoding, microprocessor-controlled automatic bit synchronization and equalization, cyclic-redundancy-check error detection and correction, clock regeneration, data and clock variations, tape-speed control, and EEE-488 remote control. Reliable performance, with bit error rates 1 in 10 to the 10th forward and 1 in 10 to the 9th reverse or better and packing density up to 50 percent greater than that obtainable using conventional codes, is reported after 1.5 years of service.
The objective of the YAV-8B flight research program is to develop and validate the technologies required for V/STOL aircraft to effectively operate in all mission phases. Specifically, inflight dynamics, controls and guidance, and propulsive lift technologies that will contribute to an improved adverse weather launch and recovery operation capability will be developed and evaluated. The cockpit panel is measured and reproduced for integration into a flight simulator.
The vector magnetograph of the Okayama Astrophysical Observatory is fed to the 65 cm solar coude telescope with a 10 m Littrow spectrograph. The polarimeter put at the telescope focus analyzes the incident polarization. Photomultipliers (PMT) at the exit of the spectrograph pick up the modulated light signals and send them to the electronic controller. The controller analyzes frequency and phase of the signal. The analyzer of the polarimeter is a combination of a single wave plate rotating at 40 Hz and a Wallaston prism. Incident linear and circular polarizations are modified at four times and twice the rotation frequency, respectively. Two compensators minimize the instrumental polarization, mainly caused by the two tilt mirrors in the optical path of the telescope. The four photomultipliers placed on the wings of the FeI 5250A line give maps of intensity, longitudinal field and transverse field. The main outputs, maps of intensity, and net linear and circular polarizations in the neighboring continuum are obtained by the other two monitor PMTs.
The present study is concerned with concepts, techniques, and system requirements which would permit 'automated' proximity operations utilizing an unmanned vehicle such as the proposed Orbital Maneuvering Vehicle (OMV). Attention is given to proximity operations mission phases, tethered operations, operational control zones, operation control zone objectives, operational control zone definition, aspects of monitoring and tracking, the departure zone, the rendezvous zone, and coorbiting satellite zones.
The feasibility of compensating for reflector surface distortions has been investigated. The performance characteristics (gain, sidelobe level, null location, beamwidth, etc.) of space communication reflector antenna systems degrade as the reflector surface distorts due to thermal effects from a varying solar flux. The technique reported here will maintain the design radiation performance independently of thermal effects on the reflector surface. With the advent of monolithic microwave integrated circuits (MMIC), a greater flexibility in array-fed reflector system design can be achieved. MMIC arrays provides independent control of amplitude and phase for each of many radiating elements of the feed array. The conjugate field matching technique provide a basis for obtaining the required element excitations under surface distortion for maintaining the design radiation performance. It is assumed that the surface characteristics (x, y, z, first derivatives, and second derivatives) under distortion are known.
The Cal Poly Space Project is an effort on the part of several highly motivated students to deploy a space canister which will examine the effects of microgravity on electroplating and immiscible metals. The experiments will be controlled and monitored by a specialized triple redundancy system developed to defer the possible electronic errors due to uncontrollable factors such as photons from the Sun. With the finalization of the payload design and the near completion of the data control system, the integration phase of the project is anticipated to be completed and the project ready for launching by early 1987. It is hoped that the experiments will lead to new insights in space research and also prove profitable to industry.
The Space Shuttle uses a complex set of software to guide, navigate, and control it through all phases of flight. Adding to the complexity is the fact that the software is reconfigured for each flight, i.e., thousands of constants in the software are changed to reflect the unique properties of a given mission. In the last level of tests, the software is flown through end to end nominal and abort scenarios taking the shuttle from liftoff to landing. The analysis of the results of the testing is experience and labor intensive. A set of pass/fail criteria were defined for each test case and in parallel with the knowledge acquisition, tools were developed which allowed the automation of the knowledge being gathered on paper. A prototype of the Analysis Criteria Expert System (ACES) was put into production in the verification of the reconfigured onboard flight software.
The feasibility of electromagnetically compensating for reflector surface distortions has been investigated. The performance characteristics (gain, sidelobe levels, etc.) of large communication antenna systems degrade as the reflector surface distorts mainly due to thermal effects from a varying solar flux. The techniques described in this report can be used to maintain the design performance characteristics independently of thermal effects on the reflector surface. With the advent of monolithic microwave integrated circuits (MMIC), a greater flexibility in array-fed reflector system design can be achieved. MMIC arrays provide independent control of amplitude and phase for each of many radiating elements of the feed array. It is assumed that the surface characteristics (x,y,z, its first and second derivatives) under distorted conditions are known.
Report presents comparative study of four techniques for estimating frequency of sinusoidal signal received in presence of noise when transmitter and/or receiver experiencing very high dynamics. Four techniques involve approximate-maximum-likelihood estimator, extended Kalman filter, cross-product automatic frequency control loop, and digital phase locked loop, respectively. In numerical simulations, each technique applied to signal from transmitter maneuvering along common trajectory; performance of each examined to determine its useful operating range, and performances compared.
Acoustic energy is applied to a pair of locations spaced about a chamber, to control rotation of an object levitated in the chamber. Two acoustic transducers applying energy of a single acoustic mode, one at each location, can (one or both) serve to levitate the object in three dimensions as well as control its rotation. Slow rotation is achieved by initially establishing a large phase difference and/or pressure ratio of the acoustic waves, which is sufficient to turn the object by more than 45 deg, which is immediately followed by reducing the phase difference and/or pressure ratio to maintain slow rotation. A small phase difference and/or pressure ratio enables control of the angular orientation of the object without rotating it. The sphericity of an object can be measured by its response to the acoustic energy.
Guidance trajectories for coplanar aeroassisted orbital transfer (AOT) from high earth orbit to LEO are presently optimized under the assumption of trajectory control during its endoatmospheric phase by alpha-dependent lift coefficient. Optimal trajectories are first computed by minimizing the total velocity impulse required for AOT; attention is then given to guidance trajectories capable of approximating such key properties of the optimal trajectories as minimum altitude, exit velocity, and exit path inclination, in real time. A switch is made from target-altitude guidance to target path inclination-guidance according to the velocity depletion required for optimum flight.
An investigation is conducted in order to determine the relative importance of several modeled processes in controlling the magnitude and phase of the mesospheric ozone response. A detailed one-dimensional modeling study of the mesospheric ozone response to solar UV flux variations is conducted to remove some of the deficiencies in previous studies. This study is also used to examine specifically the importance of solar zenith angle, self-consistent calculation of water vapor abundance, and temperature feedback with a nonlocal thermodynamic equilibrium radiation model. The photochemical model is described, and the assumptions made for the purpose of comparing model results with the observed ozone response obtained from a statistical analysis of Solar Mesosphere Explorer data (Keating et al., 1987) are discussed. The numerical results for the theoretical ozone response are presented. The results of selected time-dependent calculations are considered to illustrate the degree to which a relatively simple model of the mesosphere is able to capture the major characteristics of the observed response.