Drift-dissipative plasma instability and equatorial spread F
Electrostatic drift-dissipative plasma instability and nocturnal equatorial spread F irregularities, discussing amplification in collision dominated medium
Cunnold, D. M.↗
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Hazards protection for space suits and spacecraft
A flexible multi-layered covering article for protection against the hazards of exposure to the environment of outer space is disclosed. The covering includes an outer layer section comprising an outermost lamina of woven expanded tetrafluoroethylene yarns (Gore Tex) for protecting against abrasion and tearing, an underlying weave of meta-aramid yarns (Nomex) and para-aramid yarns (Kevlar) for particle impart protection, and electrostatic charge dissipation and control system incorporated therein, and a chemical contaminants control barrier applied as a coating. A middle section includes a succession of thermal insulating layers of polymeric thermoplastic or thermoforming material, each of which is coated with a metal deposit of high infra-red emissivity and low solar radiation absorption characteristics and separated from adjacent insulating layers by a low thermal conductance material. The covering further includes a radiation attenuating layer of a tungsten-loaded polymeric elastomer binder for protecting against bremsstrahlung radiation and an inner layer of rip-stop polyester material for abrasion protection. A chloroprene coating may be supplied the polyester-material for added micrometeroid protection. Securing means of low heat conductance material secures the multi-layers together as a laminar composite.
Kosmo, Joseph J.↗
Preparation and Properties of Nanocomposites Prepared From Shortened, Functionalized Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes
As part of a continuing materials development activity, low color space environmentally stable polymeric materials that possess sufficient electrical conductivity for electrostatic charge dissipation (ESD) have been investigated. One method of incorporating sufficient electrical conductivity for ESD without detrimental effects on other polymer properties of interest (i.e., optical and thermo-optical) is through the incorporation of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs). However, SWNTs are difficult to fully disperse in the polymer matrix. One means of improving dispersion is by shortening and functionalizing SWNTs. While this improves dispersion, other properties (i.e., electrical) of the SWNTs can be affected which can in turn alter the final nanocomposite properties. Additionally, functionalization of the polymer matrix can also influence nanocomposite properties obtained from shortened, functionalized SWNTs. The preparation and characterization of nanocomposites fabricated from a polyimide, both functionalized and unfunctionalized, and shortened, functionalized SWNTs will be presented.
Smith, J. G., Jr.↗
Polymeric Materials Application and Testing for Space Missions
The EM41 Non-metallics polymers team performs polymeric materials screening, characterization, development, qualification, verification and validation testing for flight hardware and in-space applications. They perform insight, testing and application of polymeric materials for launch vehicles and space environments. Personnel have a deep understanding of the technologies associated with cryogenic insulation, high temperature thermal protection materials, paints, primers, coatings, and adhesive materials. Numerous TPS material characterization tests can also be performed by the Lab. The team has both internal and partner test capabilities to subject polymeric materials to Aerospace and Space environments Material properties, response and performance are tested within environments from the launch pad, through the launch environment and into space. A primary role of the team is to select materials and organize test regimen then analyze test results. Test regiment are established to confirm the materials meet the performance requirements levied by customers within the environments that are expected for the mission.
Thermal↗
Space Exposure of Indium Tin Oxide Coatings
Indium tin oxide (ITO) coated thermal control samples were exposed to the space environment as part of the Materials International Space Station Experiment-9 (MISSE-9) mission to assess the impact of low Earth orbit (LEO) on material properties. Six samples were flown as part of the Polymers and Composites Experiment-1 (PCE-1): four samples of ITO coated silver Teflon (FEP/Ag/Inconel), and two samples of ITO coated Kapton HN (Kapton HN/Al). Samples were flown in ram, wake and zenith directions and were directly exposed to space for 0.77 years (ram) or 0.54 years (wake and zenith). Flight and corresponding control samples were tested post flight for changes in optical properties (total reflectance and solar absorptance) and film electrical resistance. In addition, the atomic oxygen erosion yield (E y ) was determined for each flight sample. This paper provides details on the flight sample materials, the mission space exposure and the postflight test results. Indium tin oxide coated samples were not significantly damaged by the LEO exposures. The atomic oxygen E y values were very low and the solar absorptance changed very little. Sheet resistance of the ITO coated Kapton HN/Al doubled after ram exposure, however its final resistance of 10,820 Ohm/square is believed to be low enough to enable dissipation of electrostatic charges. Sheet resistance measurements for the ITO coated FEP/Ag/Inconel sheets suffered from high levels of scatter, with some resistance measurements higher than 370,000 Ohms/square.
Atomic oxygen↗
Recent Advances in Structural Carbon Nanotube Composites
Carbon nanotubes (CNT) have been a subject of investigation for more than two decades. Part of the interest in CNTs was driven by CNT tensile mechanical properties at the nanoscale that suggest their potential to outperform state-of-the-art (SOA) lightweight structural materials. Early work on the development of CNT nanocomposites involved the dispersion of CNT powder into polymer matrices. Although low levels of CNT doping resulted in meaningful increases in electrical conductivity to enable applications such as electrostatic charge dissipation, the highest concentrations of CNTs in these lightly doped nanocomposites did not yield mechanical properties that could compete with SOA carbon fiber composites. The maximum concentration of CNTs in lightly doped nanocomposites was limited to about 5% due to increases in viscosity that prevent the fabrication of good quality nanocomposites. At the lower concentrations, properties of the resulting nanocomposites were analogous to those of composites made with very short, chopped carbon fibers. About ten years ago, CNTs became available in continuous fiber form, allowing the investigation of processing methods to incorporate much higher CNT content into composites. Recent developments in CNT composite fabrication have yielded improved mechanical properties and indicate that while some standard carbon fiber composite processing methods can be used, CNTs have unique microstructural features that require techniques tailored to access the hierarchical features of CNTs. This presentation will discuss the evolution of structural CNT mechanical property advancements and collaboration mechanisms for research across federal labs, academia, and industry that accelerated the maturation of structural CNTs.
Carbon Nanotubes↗
Driven electrostatic phase space vortices in a 1D weakly dissipative Vlasov–Poisson system
In this paper, the effect of collisions on driven electrostatic phase space vortices is analyzed by means of Eulerian simulation for two different collision models. It was demonstrated recently that in the absence of collisions, at late times, steady state phase space vortices manifest to form a plateau in the resonant region of the particle velocity distribution function, due to trapping of particles supporting multiextrema giant phase space vortices (PSVs). In the presence of collisions, over long time, this multiextrema plateau are found to smooth out, since collisions drive the velocity distribution toward Maxwellian, irrespective of how weak the collisions are as long as they are non-zero. In these conditions, kinetic processes and collisionality are found to be in competition, and the evolution of the plasma is found, therefore, to be a result of nontrivial combination of these two effects. An attempt has been made by means of numerical simulations to study the effect of weak collisionality on the electrostatic driven phase space vortices with two types of collision operators: (1) Bhatnagar–Gross–Krook (Krook) collision operator, where the colliding particles can be treated as isolated pairs and, (2) Fokker–Planck (FP) type collision operator (Zakharov–Karpman) in one dimension, where many weak collisions lead to particle diffusion in velocity space. It is shown that depending on the collision model used, the nature of smoothing in velocity space of giant PSVs results in qualitatively very different phase space structures. However, irrespective of the collision model used, excess density fractions over 10% are retained.
70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
PLASMA EFFECTS ON FAST PAIR BEAMS IN COSMIC VOIDS
The interaction of TeV gamma rays from distant blazars with the extragalactic background light produces relativistic electron-positron pair beams by the photon- photon annihilation process. The created pair beam distribution is unstable to linear two-stream instabilities of both electrostatic and electromagnetic nature in the unmagnetized intergalactic medium (IGM). The maximum electrostatic growth rate occurs at angles of 39.{sup 0}2 with respect to the pair beam direction, and is more than three orders of magnitude greater than the maximum Weibel growth rate, indicating that the linear oblique electrostatic instability operates much faster than the Weibel instability. The dissipation of the generated electrostatic turbulence is different for intense and weak gamma-ray blazars. For intense blazars, the normalized number of generated pairs n {sub 22} = n{sub b} /[10{sup -22} cm{sup -3}] exceeds the critical density n{sub c} (T) = 4.8 Multiplication-Sign 10{sup -3} T {sub 4} for given normalized IGM temperature T {sub 4} = T/[10{sup 4} K] necessary for the onset of the modulation instability, so that all free kinetic pair energy is dissipated in heating the IGM in cosmic voids. For weak blazars, half of the initial energy density of the beam particles is transferred to the electrostatic and electromagnetic fluctuations on timescales smaller than the inverse Compton energy loss timescale of the pairs. In both cases, this prevents the development of a full electromagnetic pair cascade as in vacuum. For weak blazars, the superluminal electrostatic fluctuations are dissipated by the inverse Compton scattering into transverse electromagnetic waves by the relaxed relativistic pair particles to optical frequencies, implying the occurrence of optical electrostatic bremsstrahlung pair halos from weak blazars with spectral flux densities below 50 {mu}Jy.
79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
Chirped dissipative ion-cyclotron solitons in the Earth's low-altitude ionospheric plasma with two ion species
Conditions for the excitation of small-scale nonlinear ion-cyclotron gradient-drift dissipative structures in cold ionospheric plasma are considered. The solution for the wave electric field in this structure in the form of a chirped soliton satisfying the equation of the Ginzburg-Landau type is derived in the electrostatic approach. The dissipative structure as a whole represents the chirped soliton accompanied by the comoving quasineutral plasma hump. The possibility of the excitation of two modes of this type (the high- and low-frequency ones) in plasma containing light and heavy ion impurities is considered. The role of electromagnetic corrections and the possible contribution introduced by these structures to the transport processes in the ionosphere are discussed.
70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
Propagation of nonlinear coherent structures in a collisional magnetoplasma with nonthermal electrons and finite ion temperature
Nonlinear electrostatic waves in dissipative magnetized electron-ion (e-i) plasmas are investigated employing the two fluid model. In this regard, Zakharov Kuznetsov Burgers (ZKB) equation is derived using the small amplitude perturbation expansion method. It is observed that the nonthermal electron population, obliqueness, ion thermal effects, and kinematic viscosity significantly alter the structure of obliquely propagating nonlinear ion acoustic shock waves in dissipative e-i magnetoplasmas. It is observed that the system can admit both compressive and rarefactive shocks. The condition for the formation of both types of shocks is also given. The present study may be useful to understand the nonlinear propagation characteristics of electrostatic shock structures in space environments where the nonthermal electrons have been observed by various satellite missions such as Voyager and Freja.
70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
Asbestos Free Insulation Development for the Space Shuttle Solid Propellant Rocket Motor (RSRM)
Asbestos has been used for many years as an ablation inhibitor in insulating materials. It has been a constituent of the AS/NBR insulation used to protect the steel case of the RSRM (Reusable Solid Rocket Motor) since its inception. This paper discusses the development of a potential replacement RSRM insulation design, several of the numerous design issues that were worked and processing problems that were resolved. The earlier design demonstration on FSM-5 (Flight Support Motor) of the selected 7% and 11% Kevlar(registered) filled EPDM (KF/EPDM) candidate materials was expanded. Full-scale process simulation articles were built and FSM-8 was manufactured using multiple Asbestos Free (AF) components and materials. Two major problems had to be overcome in developing the AF design. First, bondline corrosion, which occurred in the double-cured region of the aft dome, had to be eliminated. Second, KF/EPDM creates high levels of electrostatic energy (ESE), which does not readily dissipate from the insulation surface. An uncontrolled electrostatic discharge (ESD) of this surface energy during many phases of production could create serious safety hazards. Numerous processing changes were implemented and a conductive paint was developed to prevent exposed external insulation surfaces from generating ESE/ESD. Additionally, special internal instrumentation was incorporated into FSM-8 to record real-time internal motor environment data. These data included inhibitor insulation erosion rates and internal thermal environments. The FSM-8 static test was successfully conducted in February 2000 and much valuable data were obtained to characterize the AF insulation design.
Allred, Larry D.↗
The various manifestations of collisionless dissipation in wave propagation
The propagation of an electrostatic wave packet inside a collisionless and initially Maxwellian plasma is always dissipative because of the irreversible acceleration of the electrons by the wave. Then, in the linear regime, the wave packet is Landau damped, so that in the reference frame moving at the group velocity, the wave amplitude decays exponentially with time. In the nonlinear regime, once phase mixing has occurred and when the electron motion is nearly adiabatic, the damping rate is strongly reduced compared to the Landau one, so that the wave amplitude remains nearly constant along the characteristics. Yet, we show here that the electrons are still globally accelerated by the wave packet, and in one dimension, this leads to a non local amplitude dependence of the group velocity. As a result, a freely propagating wave packet would shrink, and therefore, so would its total energy. In more than one dimension, not only does the magnitude of the group velocity nonlinearly vary, but also its direction. In the weakly nonlinear regime, when the collisionless damping rate is still significant compared to its linear value, the group velocity is directed towards the outside of the wave packet and tends to increase its transverse extent, while the opposite is true once the wave is essentially undamped. The impact of the nonlinear variation of the group velocity on the transverse size of the wave packet is quantified, and compared to that induced by the self-focussing due to wave front bowing.
70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
Instrumentation and Methodology Development for Mars Mission
The Mars environment comprises a dry, cold and low air pressure atmosphere with low gravity (0.38g) and high resistivity soil. The global dust storms that cover a large portion of Mars were observed often from Earth. This environment provides an idea condition for triboelectric charging. The extremely dry conditions on the Martian surface have raised concerns that electrostatic charge buildup will not be dissipated easily. If triboelectrically generated charge cannot be dissipated or avoided, then dust will accumulate on charged surfaces and electrostatic discharge may cause hazards for future exploration missions. The low surface temperature on Mars helps to prolong the charge decay on the dust particles and soil. To better understand the physics of Martian charged dust particles is essential to future Mars missions. We research and design two sensors, velocity/charge sensor and PZT momentum sensors, to detect the velocity distribution, charge distribution and mass distribution of Martian charged dust particles. These sensors are fabricated at NASA Kenney Space Center, Electromagnetic Physics Testbed. The sensors will be tested and calibrated for simulated Mars atmosphere condition with JSC MARS-1 Martian Regolith simulant in this NASA laboratory.
Chen, Yuan-Liang Albert↗
Development of Charge to Mass Ratio Microdetector for Future Mars Mission
The Mars environment comprises a dry, cold and low air pressure atmosphere with low gravity (0.38g) and high resistivity soil. The global dust storms that cover a large portion of Mars are observed often from Earth. This environment provides an ideal condition for turboelectric charging. The extremely dry conditions on the Martian surface have raised concerns that electrostatic charge buildup will not be dissipated easily. If turboelectrically generated charge cannot be dissipated or avoided, then dust will accumulate on charged surfaces and electrostatic discharge may cause hazards for future exploration missions. The low surface on Mars helps to prolong the charge decay on the dust particles and soil. To better understanding the physics of Martian charged dust particles is essential to future Mars missions. We research and design two sensors, velocity/charge sensor and PZT momentum sensors, to measure the velocity distribution, charge distribution and mass distribution of Martian wed dust particles. These sensors are fabricated at NASA Kenney Space Center, Electrostatic and Surface Physics Laboratory. The sensors are calibrated. The momentum sensor is capable to measure 45 pan size particles. The designed detector is very simple, robust, without moving parts, and does not require a high voltage power supply. Two sensors are combined to form the Dust Microdetector - CHAL.
Chen, Yuan-Lian Albert↗
The spokes in Saturn's rings - A new approach
It is proposed that zonal winds in Saturn's atmosphere cause superrotation of the ionosphere and, by virtue of field-aligned currents, generate a potential of about 16 kV across the B-ring. Such a potential can momentarily polarize 1-10-micron ice particles in a radial sense, and thus create the spectacular spokes. A resulting current flowing radially through the B-ring would give rise to a power of approximately 10 million W, which is close to that dissipated in a Saturn electrostatic discharger burst.
Carbary, J. F.↗
Current-driven plasma acceleration versus current-driven energy dissipation. I - Wave stability theory
The dominant unstable electrostatic wave modes of an electromagnetically accelerated plasma are investigated. The study is the first part of a three-phase program aimed at characterizing the current-driven turbulent dissipation degrading the efficiency of Lorentz force plasma accelerators such as the MPD thruster. The analysis uses a kinetic theory that includes magnetic and thermal effects as well as those of an electron current transverse to the magnetic field and collisions, thus combining all the features of previous models. Analytical and numerical solutions allow a detailed description of threshold criteria, finite growth behavior, destabilization mechanisms and maximized-growth characteristics of the dominant unstable modes. The lower hybrid current-driven instability is implicated as dominant and was found to preserve its character in the collisional plasma regime.
Kelly, A. J.↗
Durable antistatic coating for polymethylmethacrylate
A durable antistatic coating is achieved on polymethylmethacrylate plastic without affecting its optical clarity by applying to the surface of the plastic a low molecular weight solvent having a high electron affinity and a high dipole moment, such as acentonitrile or nitromethane alone or in the presence of photopolymerizable monomer. The treated polymethylmethacrylate plastic dissipates most of the induced electrostatic charge and retains its optical clarity. The antistatic behavior persists after washing, rubbing and vacuum treatment.
Hadek, V.↗
Plasma effects on fast pair beams. III. Oblique electrostatic growth rates for perpendicular Maxwellian pair beams
The distant universe is opaque to γ radiation from blazars due to gamma-gamma attenuation with extragalactic background light. This process produces electron-positron pair beams that interact with the intergalactic medium and are unstable to linear instabilities, particularly the electrostatic and Weibel instabilities. The electrostatic instability grows faster and so determines the dissipation of the free energy of the beam. Here, we generalize the calculation of the electrostatic growth rate to a beam plasma system with a Maxwellian perpendicular momentum spread and allow for oblique propagation directions. We show that the growth rate for the oblique electrostatic mode has a maximum value that is even higher than for a cold beam or for one with a constant perpendicular momentum spread.
79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗