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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 37 records · Page 2
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1979

Overview of NASA solar physics programs

The program of solar physics missions for the 1980's will include earth-orbiting and solar-orbiting free flying satellites as well as Shuttle sorties carrying large facility instruments and smaller PI-class investigations. Individual missions will have specific, unifying objectives in contrast to the exploratory nature of missions of the 1960's and 70's. The Solar Maximum Mission will study solar flares in 1980 and 1981. The International Solar Polar Mission will swing past Jupiter and traverse the Sun's polar caps in 1986, measuring the high-latitude solar wind. Three of the early Shuttle flights will carry PI-class solar experiments, and the Solar Optical Telescope, to fly in about 1984, will provide extremely high spatial resolution of solar features. Possible future missions include the Solar Cycle and Dynamics Mission to study the Sun's magnetic cycle, and the Solar Probe, which will pass within 4 solar radii of the Sun's surface.

Chipman, E.↗
NASA NTRS1989

Solar physics in the space age

A concise and brief review is given of the solar physics' domain, and how its study has been affected by NASA Space programs which have enabled space based observations. The observations have greatly increased the knowledge of solar physics by proving some theories and challenging others. Many questions remain unanswered. To exploit coming opportunities like the Space Station, solar physics must continue its advances in instrument development, observational techniques, and basic theory. Even with the Advance Solar Observatory, other space based observation will still be required for the sure to be ensuing questions.

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NASA NTRS1976

Research in solar physics

Results from research in solar physics related to the Skylab/ATM S-056 X-Ray Experiment are presented. Included is a description of the data obtained by the X-Ray Telescope. Also presented are the S-056 filter bandpasses, the point-spread function, the meaning or interpretation of broadband filter observations, and reports on the analysis of some of the solar observations.

Henze, W.↗
NASA NTRS2010

Future Directions in Solar Physics

I will discuss scientific opportunities for space-based solar physics instruments in the coming decade and their synergy with major new ground-based telescopes. l will also discuss ( pow small satellites may complement larger solar physics missions.

Rabin, Douglas↗
NASA NTRS1993

Nutation and precession control of the High Energy Solar Physics (HESP) satellite

The High Energy Solar Physics (HESP) spacecraft is an intermediate class satellite proposed by NASA to study solar high-energy phenomena during the next cycle of high solar activity in the 1998 to 2005 time frame. The HESP spacecraft is a spinning satellite which points to the sun with stringent pointing requirements. The natural dynamics of a spinning satellite includes an undesirable effect: nutation, which is due to the presence of disturbances and offsets of the spin axis from the angular momentum vector. The proposed Attitude Control System (ACS) attenuates nutation with reaction wheels. Precessing the spacecraft to track the sun in the north-south and east-west directions is accomplished with the use of torques from magnetic torquer bars. In this paper, the basic dynamics of a spinning spacecraft are derived, control algorithms to meet HESP science requirements are discussed and simulation results to demonstrate feasibility of the ACS concept are presented.

Jayaraman, C. P.↗
NASA NTRS1985

The future of solar physics

Outstanding problems for the future of solar physics and stellar physics are examined. The physics of stellar interiors has been called into serious question by the very low measured neutrino flux from the sun. The Ga-71 neutrino detection experiment is the next step in unravelling this mystery. The new methods of helioseismology, for probing the interior of the sun, have already found the primordial rapid rotation of the central core. The forthcoming worldwide helioseismology observing network will permit fuller exploitation of the method, promising to provide the first direct sounding of the interior of a star, hitherto known to us only through theoretical inference and the discrepant neutrino emission. An essential step in developing the physics of stellar activity will be the Solar Optical Telescope (presently planned by NASA to be launched early in the next decade) to permit a 'microscopic' examination of the surface of the sun to study the source of the action. The activity and X-ray emission of other stars depend on much the same effects, so that the study of the sun is essential to determining the significance of the X-ray emission from other stars.

Parker, E. N.↗
NASA NTRS1978

Report on monitoring and support instruments for solar physics research from Spacelab

The Quick Reaction and Special Purpose Facility Definition Team for Solar Physics Spacelab Payloads examined a variety of instruments to fulfill the following functions: (1) solar physics research appropriate to Spacelab, (2) correlative data for research in such fields as aeronomy, magnetospheric physics, ionospheric physics, meteorology and climatology, (3) target selection for activity alert monitoring and (4) pointing accuracy monitoring of Spacelab platforms. In this examination the team accepted a number of restrictions and qualifications: (1) the cost of such instruments must be low, so as not to adversely impact the development of new, research class instrumentation in the early Spacelab era; (2) the instruments should be of such a size that they each would occupy a small fraction of a pointing system, and (3) the weight and power consumption of the instruments should also be small. With these restrictions, the instruments chosen are: the visible light telescope and magnetograph, the extreme-ultraviolet telescope, and the solar irradiance monitor.

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NASA NTRS1992

The Yohkoh mission for high-energy solar physics

Data on solar flare mechanisms and the sun's corona will be generated by Japan's Yohkoh satellite's X-ray imaging sensors and X-ray and gamma-ray spectrometers. It is noted that the X-ray corona above active regions expands, in some cases almost continually, in contradiction of the widely accepted model of magnetohydrostatic equilibrium in such regions. Flaring X-ray bright points have been discovered to often involve ejecta into an adjacent, much larger and fainter magnetic loop, which brightens along its length at speeds up to 1000 km/sec.

Acton, L.↗
NASA NTRS1975

Theoretical and experimental studies in ultraviolet solar physics

The processes and parameters in atomic and molecular physics that are relevant to solar physics are investigated. The areas covered include: (1) measurement of atomic and molecular parameters that contribute to discrete and continous sources of opacity and abundance determinations in the sun; (2) line broadening and scattering phenomena; and (3) development of an ion beam spectroscopic source which is used for the measurement of electron excitation cross sections of transition region and coronal ions.

Parkinson, W. H.↗
NASA NTRS1986

The HESP (High Energy Solar Physics) project

A project for space observations of solar flares for the coming solar maximum phase is briefly described. The main objective is to make a comprehensive study of high energy phenomena of flares through simultaneous imagings in both hard and soft X-rays. The project will be performed with collaboration from US scientists. The HESP (High Energy Solar Physics) WG of ISAS (Institute of Space and Astronautical Sciences) has extensively discussed future aspects of space observations of high energy phenomena of solar flares based on successful results of the Hinotori mission, and proposed a comprehensive research program for the next solar maximum, called the HESP (SOLAR-A) project. The objective of the HESP project is to make a comprehensive study of both high energy phenomena of flares and quiet structures including pre-flare states, which have been left uncovered by SMM and Hinotori. For such a study simultaneous imagings with better resolutions in space and time in a wide range of energy will be extremely important.

Kai, K.↗
NASA NTRS2018

Solar Physics from Unconventional Viewpoints

We explore new opportunities for solar physics that could be realized by future missions providing sustained observations from vantage points away from the Sun-Earth line (SEL). These include observation from the far side of the Sun, at high latitudes including over the solar poles, or from near-quadrature angles relative to the Earth (e.g., the Sun-Earth L4 & L5 Lagrange points). Such observations fill known holes in our scientific understanding of the three-dimensional time-evolving Sun and heliosphere, and have the potential to open new frontiers through discoveries enabled by novel viewpoints.

Gibson, Sarah E.↗
NASA NTRS1974

Solar Physics - Plasma Physics Workshop

A summary of the proceedings of a conference whose purpose was to explore plasma physics problems which arise in the study of solar physics is provided. Sessions were concerned with specific questions including the following: (1) whether the solar plasma is thermal or non-themal; (2) what spectroscopic data is required; (3) what types of magnetic field structures exist; (4) whether magnetohydrodynamic instabilities occur; (5) whether resistive or non-magnetohydrodynamic instabilities occur; (6) what mechanisms of particle acceleration have been proposed; and (7) what information is available concerning shock waves. Very few questions were answered categorically but, for each question, there was discussion concerning the observational evidence, theoretical analyses, and existing or potential laboratory and numerical experiments.

Baum, P. J.↗
NASA NTRS1991

The High Energy Solar Physics mission (HESP): Scientific objectives and technical description

The High Energy Solar Physics mission offers the opportunity for major breakthroughs in the understanding of the fundamental energy release and particle acceleration processes at the core of the solar flare problem. The following subject areas are covered: the scientific objectives of HESP; what we can expect from the HESP observations; the high energy imaging spectrometer (HEISPEC); the HESP spacecraft; and budget and schedule.

Crannell, Carol↗
NASA NTRS2004

Future Mission Data Environment: Virtualizing Access to Solar Physics Data

Several virtual observatory efforts, currently in development, have the potential to change the way we identify and access the data we use to solve problems in solar physics. The Virtual Solar Observatory (VSO) seeks to simplify the identification and access processes in as "light-weight" a way as possible, in order to provide such services to solar physicists, their data assimilation models, and their colleagues in related fields. We describe the design of the VSO, the data services currently available, and concepts of the solar-terrestrial data environment five years in the future.

Gurman, Joseph↗