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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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At least 325 records · Page 18
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1982

Asteroid compositional rings: Clues to the compositions of primordial planetesimals in the middle solar system

The distribution of asteroid taxonomic types at distances between 2.1 and 5.3 AU is discussed. There are four major, overlapping but compositionally distinct rings of asteroids present within this range of heliocentric distance. The rings, within which 80% of each of 4 major taxonomic types (S, C, P, and D) fall, are centered at 2.6 (0.7), 2.9 (0.8), 3.4 (0.7), and 4.6 (1.5) AU respectively, where the numbers in parentheses are the ring widths in AU. The overall physical resemblence between the asteroid rings and planetary rings is poor; physically the asteroid belt more closely resembles a debris strewn satellite system. Once the mineralogy of these taxonomic types is established, and complications arising from postaccretionary metamorphism are dealt with, they may be used as probes of physical conditions in the early solar system. The identification of primordial planetesimals can be used in studying the siblings of the planetesimals responsible for the final stage of planetary accretion.

Tedesco, E. F.↗
NASA NTRS1987

Evolution of interstellar pickup ions in the solar wind

A model is constructed for the evolution of an interstellar pickup ion distribution in the solar wind. The model assumes that the ions are immediately isotropized at ionization and follows the subsequent development of the distribution function as the particles are convected with the solar wind. The effects of energy diffusion in an ambient wave field with a power law spectrum, adiabatic deceleration in the expanding solar wind, and continual addition of newly ionized particles are all included in the model. An analytical expression describing the evolution of the distribution function in phase space velocity and heliocentric radius is obtained. The distribution quickly approaches an asymptotic shape in phase space which depends on the relative efficiency of the energy diffusion process compared to that of adiabatic deceleration. At large distances from the sun the density of pickup ions falls as 1/r in this model. An expression for the distribution function at large distances and for large particle speed is presented. The asymptotic shape should describe the distribution of pickup ions in the outer heliosphere and could be used as an input distribution for a model of the anomalous component of heliosphere and could be used as an input distribution for a model of the anomalous component of cosmic rays. Comparison of this work with the recent observation of He(+) at 1 AU implies that the energy diffusion process is very weak inside 1 AU.

Isenberg, Philip A.↗
NASA NTRS2005

Nature and Variability of Coronal Streamers and their Relationship to the Slow Speed Wind

NASA Grant NAG5-12781 is a study on the "Nature and Variability of Coronal Streamers and their Relationship to the Slow Speed Wind." The two main goals of this study are to identify: 1) Where in the streamer structure does the solar wind originate, and 2) What coronal conditions are responsible for the variability of the slow speed wind. To answer the first question, we examined the mostly closed magnetic field regions in streamer cores to search for evidence of outflow. Preliminary results from the OVI Doppler dimming ratios indicates that most of the flow originates from the edges of coronal streamers but this idea should be confirmed by a comparison of the coronal plasma properties with in situ solar wind data. To answer the second question, the work performed thus far suggests that solar minimum streamers have larger perpendicular velocity distributions than do solar maximum streamers. If it can be shown that solar minimum streamers also produce higher solar wind speeds then this would suggest that streamers and coronal holes have similar solar wind acceleration mechanisms. The key to both questions lie in the analysis of the in situ solar wind data sets. This work was not able to be completed during the period of performance and therefore the grant was formally extended for an additional year at no cost to NASA. We hope to have final results and a publication by the end of the calendar year 2004. The SAO personnel involved in the research are Leonard Strachan (PI), Mari Paz Miralles, Alexander Panasyuk, and a Southern University student Michael Baham.

Strachan, Leonard↗
NASA NTRS1973

The abundance and age distributions of 500 F stars in the solar neighbourhood

The uvby catalog of Perry has been used, in conjunction with theoretical uvby colors and stellar evolutionary tracks, to obtain the metal abundance distribution and age distribution of F and G type dwarf stars within 100 pc of the sun. Eighty-three per cent of stars with spectral type F5-G2 have metal content within a factor of 2.5 of the solar abundance, and only 2% have less than one-quarter the solar abundance. The metal abundance distribution, which contains more metal-rich stars than found in previous investigations of F and G dwarfs, has also been compared with the observed metal abundance distribution of G and K giants and the model galaxy calculations of Truran and Cameron (1971). A comparison of the age distribution with evolutionary calculations implies that the rate of star formation in the galaxy may not have decreased by a large factor in the last 10 billion years.

Clegg, R. E. S.↗
NASA NTRS1978

The radial evolution of the bulk properties of the solar wind

Simultaneous solar-wind proton data obtained at several heliocentric distances during radial alignments are compared. The radial variations associated with two high-speed streams in the solar wind are studied as examples of the radial evolution of the solar-wind speed distribution and of high-speed streams in the solar wind as observed in the ecliptic plane in 1973. Pioneer 11 data on high-speed streams in the solar wind observed at about 1.5 and 3.7 AU are compared with the corresponding high-speed-stream data obtained at earth. These analyses indicate that as these high-speed streams propagated to these extended heliocentric distances, there was an erosion of the highest speeds and a general narrowing of the speed distribution. These observations are consistent with the exchange of momentum in the solar wind between high-speed streams and low-speed streams as they propagate outward from the sun.

Intriligator, D. S.↗
NASA NTRS2024

Solar FTIR Measurements of NOx Vertical Distributions – Part 2: Experiment-Based Scaling Factors Describing the Daytime Variation in Stratospheric NOx

Long-term experimental stratospheric NO2 and NO partial columns measured by means of solar Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectrometry at Zugspitze (47.42° N, 10.98° E; 2964 m a.s.l.), Germany, were used to create a set of experiment-based monthly scaling factors (SFexp). The underlying data set is published in a companion paper (Nürnberg et al., 2024) and comprises over 25 years of measurements depicting the daytime variability of stratospheric NO2 and NO partial columns with respect to local solar time (LST). In accordance with simulation-based scaling factors recently published by Strode et al. (2022), we created SFexp normalized to SZA =72° for NO2 and NO for every month of the year as a function of solar zenith angle (SZA). Apart from a boundary value problem at minimum SZA values originating from averaging over different times of the month, the obtained scaling factors SFexp(NO2) and SFexp(NO) as a function of SZA represent the daytime behavior already shown in model simulations and experiments in the literature very well. This shows a well-pronounced increase in the NO2 and NO stratospheric partial column with the time of the day and a flattening of this increase after noon. In addition to the discussion of SFexp, we validate the simulation-based scaling factors SFsim(NO2) (Strode et al., 2022) and present simulation-based scaling factors for NO SFsim(NO). The simulation-based scaling factors show excellent agreement with the experiment-based ones; i.e., for NO2 and NO the mean value of the modulus between the experiment and simulation over all SZAs and months is only 0.02 %. We show that recently used model simulations can describe the real behavior of nitrogen oxide (NOx) variability in the stratosphere very well. Furthermore, we conclude that ground-based FTIR measurements can be used for validation of the output of photochemistry models and for creating experiment-based data sets describing the daytime stratospheric NOx variability as a function of SZA. This is a contribution to improved satellite validation and a better understanding of stratospheric photochemistry.

FTIR, nitrogen oxides, diurnal variability↗
NASA NTRS1977

Inversion of solar aureole measurements for determining aerosol characteristics

Solar aureole radiance is very sensitively dependent on the aerosol size distributions. The photographic solar aureole isophote (PSAI) measurement technique for determining the aerosol size distribution and other characteristics takes advantage of this sensitivity. Single scattering theory of the solar aureole is given. The assumptions and conditions imposed on the single scattering theory to make it tractable to inversion are discussed. The important role of the almucantar measurements is also discussed.

Deepak, A.↗
NASA NTRS1985

Monte Carlo calculations of relativistic solar proton propagation in interplanetary space

Particle fluxes and pitch angle distributions of relativistic solar protons at 1 AU were determined by Monte Carlo calculations. The analysis covers two hours after the release of the particles from the Sun and total of eight 100000 particle trajectories were simulated. The pitch angle scattering was assumed to be isotropic ad the scattering mean free path was varied from 0.1 to 4 AU. As an application, the solar injection time and interplanetary scattering mean free path of particles that gave rise to the GLE on May, 1978 were determined. Assuming exponential form, the injection decay time was found to be about 11 minutes. The m.f.p. of pitch angle scattering during the event was about 1 AU.

Lumme, M.↗
NASA NTRS2006

Electron Velocity Distribution Function in Magnetic Clouds in the Solar Wind

We present a study of the kinetic properties of the electron velocity distribution functions within magnetic clouds, since they are the dominant thermal component. The study is based on high time resolution data from the GSFC WIND/SWE electron spectrometer and the Berkeley 3DP electron plasma instruments. Recent studies on magnetic clouds have shown observational evidence of anti-correlation between the total electron density and electron temperature, which suggest a polytrope law P(sub e) = alpha(Nu(sub e) (sup gamma)) for electrons with the constant gamma approximates 0.5 < 1. This anti-correlation and small polytropic gamma-values is interpreted in the context of the presence of highly non-Maxwellian electron distributions (i.e. non-thermal) within magnetic clouds. These works suggested that the non-thermal electrons can contribute as much as 50% of the total electron pressure within magnetic clouds. We have revisited some of the magnetic cloud events previously studied and attempted to quantify the nature of the non-thermal electrons by modeling the electron velocity distribution function using a kappa distribution function to characterize the kinetic non-thermal effects. If non-thermal tail effects are the source for the anti-correlation between the moment electron temperature and density and if the kappa distribution is a reasonable representative model of non-thermal effects, then the electron velocity distribution within magnetic clouds should show indication for small K-values when gamma < 1.

Nieves-Chinchil, Teresa↗
NASA NTRS2013

Electrostatic Solitary Waves in the Solar Wind: Evidence for Instability at Solar Wind Current Sheets

A strong spatial association between bipolar electrostatic solitary waves (ESWs) and magnetic current sheets (CSs) in the solar wind is reported here for the first time. This association requires that the plasma instabilities (e.g., Buneman, electron two stream) which generate ESWs are preferentially localized to solar wind CSs. Distributions of CS properties (including shear angle, thickness, solar wind speed, and vector magnetic field change) are examined for differences between CSs associated with ESWs and randomly chosen CSs. Possible mechanisms for producing ESW-generating instabilities at solar wind CSs are considered, including magnetic reconnection.

Electrostatic Solitary Waves↗
NASA NTRS1995

Observations of the 3-D distribution of interplanetary electrons and ions from solar wind plasma to low energy cosmic rays

The 3-D Plasma and Energetic Particle instrument on the GGS Wind spacecraft (launched November 1, 1994) is designed to make measurements of the full three-dimensional distribution of suprathermal electrons and ions from solar wind plasma to low energy cosmic rays, with high sensitivity, wide dynamic range, good energy and angular resolution, and high time resolution. Three pairs of double-ended telescopes, each with two or three closely sandwiched passivated ion implanted silicon detectors measure electrons and ions from approximately 20 keV to greater than or equal to 300 keV. Four top-hat symmetrical spherical section electrostatic analyzers with microchannel plate detectors, a large and a small geometric factor analyzer for electrons and a similar pair for ions, cover from approximately 3 eV to 30 keV. We present preliminary observations of the electron and ion distributions in the absence of obvious solar impulsive events and upstream particles. The quiet time electron energy spectrum shows a smooth approximately power law fall-off extending from the halo population at a few hundred eV to well above approximately 100 keV The quiet time ion energy spectrum also shows significant fluxes over this energy range. Detailed 3-D distributions and their temporal variations will be presented.

Lin, R. P.↗
NASA NTRS2024

Distribution of -92 Nb in the Early Solar System

Constraining the initial abundances of short-lived radionuclides in planetary materials helps determine the spatial and temporal distribution of interstellar material added during the initial stages of Solar System formation.

short-lived chronometer↗
NASA NTRS1983

Direct determination of the ionic charge distribution of heavy ions in Fe-rich solar energetic particle events

The first direct determination of the iron charge distribution in the energy range 0.3-1.0 MeV/nucleon during Fe-rich and He-3-rich solar energetic particle events is reported. The deterimination was made on the basis of ISEE-3 data for the event from August 1978 to October 1979. The enrichment of He-3 iron relative to oxygen was found to be directly correlated with the enrichment of He-3 to He-4. Average ion charge distributions were computed for: (1) He-3-rich periods which were also Fe-rich and had a He-3/He-4 ratio of 0.1 and (2) periods with a He-3/He-4 ratio of less than 0.1. It is found that the mean iron charge state for He-3-rich periods was in the range 19.5 (+ or - 1.5) and only 14 (+ or - 1) for the time periods with He-3/He-4 less than ratio of 0.1. The reduced data are found to be in good agreement with the theoretical predictions of Fisk (1978), suggesting a temperature in the source region above 5 million degrees K for Fe-rich and He-3-rich solar energetic particle events.

Klecker, B.↗
NASA NTRS1977

12054 and 76215 - New measurements of interplanetary dust and solar flare fluxes

The mass distribution and flux of micrometeoroids, variations in solar activity, solar-wind erosion and solar-flare track production are discussed on the basis of lunar sample analyses. A bimodal size frequency distribution of micrometeorites is found; the ratio of the density of craters larger than 0.1 micron to the density of those larger than 500 microns is 50 to 100 million. Solar cosmic-ray track ages determined for the lunar samples through use of the model of Blanford et al. (1975) indicate no variation in solar activity over a period of 2 million years. Solar wind erosion is set at no more than 0.03 A per year.

Morrison, D. A.↗