Engineering topics

Niciejewski, R.

Publications and source records attributed to Niciejewski, R..

3 records

NASA NTRS2005

Use of PZT's for adaptive control of Fabry-Perot etalon plate figure

A Fabry Perot etalon, consisting of two spaced and reflective glass flats, provides the mechanism by which high resolution spectroscopy may be performed over narrow spectral regions. Space based applications include direct measurements of Doppler shifts of airglow absorption and emission features and the Doppler broadening of spectral lines. The technique requires a high degree of parallelism between the two flats to be maintained through harsh launch conditions. Monitoring and adjusting the plate figure by illuminating the Fabry Perot interferometer with a suitable monochromatic source may be performed on orbit to actively control of the parallelism of the flats. This report describes the use of such a technique in a laboratory environment applied to a piezo-electric stack attached to the center of a Fabry Perot etalon.

Skinner, WIlbert↗

NASA NTRS1995

A prototype Upper Atmospheric Research Collaboratory (UARC)

The National Collaboratory concept has great potential for enabling 'critical mass' working groups and highly interdisciplinary research projects. We report here on a new program to build a prototype collaboratory using the Sondrestrom Upper Atmospheric Research Facility in Kangerlussuaq, Greenland and a group of associated scientists. The Upper Atmospheric Research Collaboratory (UARC) is a joint venture of researchers in upper atmospheric and space science, computer science, and behavioral science to develop a testbed for collaborative remote research. We define the 'collaboratory' as an advanced information technology environment which enables teams to work together over distance and time on a wide variety of intellectual tasks. It provides: (1) human-to-human communications using shared computer tools and work spaces; (2) group access and use of a network of information, data, and knowledge sources; and (3) remote access and control of instruments for data acquisition. The UARC testbed is being implemented to support a distributed community of space scientists so that they have network access to the remote instrument facility in Kangerlussuaq and are able to interact among geographically distributed locations. The goal is to enable them to use the UARC rather than physical travel to Greenland to conduct team research campaigns. Even on short notice through the collaboratory from their home institutions, participants will be able to meet together to operate a battery of remote interactive observations and to acquire, process, and interpret the data.

Clauer, C. R.↗

NASA NTRS1989

Simultaneous observations of neutral winds and electric fields at spaced locations in the dawn auroral oval

Results are presented on simultaneous observations of neutral winds and electric fields at spaced locations in the dawn auroral oval, carried out during a chemical release experiment on March 21, 1987. The observed plasma drifts and electron densities indicated the presence of a significant coupling between plasma and neutrals at the altitude of the F region but little coupling in the lower E region. The wind variations in the height range between 95 and 130 km were suggestive of the variations and amplitudes expected if the flow was dominated by the semidiurnal tide. However, a comparison of the flow with the model developed by Forbes (1982) showed that the phase differs by 4-5 hours from the predictions. Moreover, the measured divergence and vorticity in the flow are much larger than those predicted by the model, indicating that higher-order modes than those treated by Forbes may contribute significantly to the high-latitude thermospheric flow.

Larsen, M. F.↗