Search NASA⌕ Search

SEARCH · Search NASA

Results for “ion conductivity”

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.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 433 records · Page 24
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1995

A modified thermal conductivity for low density plasma magnetic flux tubes

In response to inconsistencies which have arisen in results from a hydrodynamic model in simulation of high ion temperature (1-2 eV) observed in low density, outer plasmasphere flux tubes, we postulate a reduced thermal conductivity coefficient in which only particles in the loss cone of the quasi-collisionless plasma contribute to the thermal conduction. Other particles are assumed to magnetically mirror before they reach the topside ionosphere and therefore not to remove thermal energy from the plasmasphere. This concept is used to formulate a mathematically simple, but physically limiting model for a modified thermal conductivity coefficient. When this modified coefficient is employed in the hydrodynamic model in a case study, the inconsistencies between simulation results and observations are largely resolved. The high simulated ion temperatures are achieved with significantly lower ion temperatures in the topside ionosphere. We suggest that this mechanism may be operative under the limited low density, refilling conditions in which high ion temperatures are observed.

Comfort, R. H.↗
NASA NTRS2002

Lithium-ion cell technology demonstration for future NASA applications

NASA requires lightweight rechargeable batteries for future missions to Mars and the outer planets that are capable of operating over a wide range of temperatures, with high specific energy and energy densities. Due to their attractive performance characteristics, lithium-ion batteries have been identified as the battery chemistry of choice for a number of future applications, including planetary orbiters, rovers and landers. For example, under the Mars Surveyor Program MSP 01 lithium-ion batteries were developed by Lithion (each being 28 V, 25 Ah, 8-cells. and 9 kg) and fully qualified prior to mission cancellation. In addition to the requirement of being able to supply at least 90 cycles on the surface of Mars, the battery demonstrated operational capability (both charge and discharge) over a large temperature range (-2O'C to +4OoC), with tolerance to non-operational excursions to -30nd 50Currently, JPL is implementing lithium-ion technology on the 2003 Mars Exploration Rover (MER), which will be coupled with a solar array. This mission has similar performance requirements to that of the 2001 Lander in that high energy density and a wide operating temperature range are necessitated. In addition to planetary rover and lander applications, we are also engaged in determining the viability of using lithium-ion technology for orbiter applications that require exceptionally long life (>20,000 cydes at partial depth of discharge). To assess the viabili of lithium-ion cells for these applications, a number of performance characterization tests have been performed (at the cell and battery level) on state-of-art prototype lihium- ion cells, induding: assessing the cycle life performance (at varying DODs), life characteristics at extreme temperatures (< -10nd >+4OoC), rate capability as a function of temperature (-30' to 4OoC), pulse capability, self-discharge and storage characteristics, as well as, mission profile capability. This paper will describe the current and future NASA missions that are considering lithium ion batteries and will contain results of the cell testing conducted to-date to validate the technology for these missions.

lithium-ion batteries Mars landers Mars rovers↗
NASA NTRS1985

Electric field effects on ion currents in satellite wakes

Small currents associated with satellite spin, dielectric conduction, or trace concentrations of H+, can have a substantial effect on the potential of a satellite and the particle currents reaching its surface. The importance of such small currents at altitudes below about 300 km stems from the extremely small 0+ currents impinging on the wake-side of the spacecraft. The particle current on the downstream side of the AE-C satellite is considered. Theoretical estimates based on a newly described constant of the motion of a particle indicate that accounting for small concentrations of H+ remove a major discrepancy between calculated and measured currents.

Parks, D. E.↗
NASA NTRS1983

Turbulent resistive heating of solar coronal arches

The possibility that coronal heating occurs by means of anomalous Joule heating by electrostatic ion cyclotron waves is examined, with consideration given to currents running from foot of a loop to the other. It is assumed that self-fields generated by the currents are absent and currents follow the direction of the magnetic field, allowing the plasma cylinder to expand radially. Ion and electron heating rates are defined within the cylinder, together with longitudinal conduction and convection, radiation and cross-field transport, all in terms of Coulomb and turbulent effects. The dominant force is identified as electrostatic ion cyclotron instability, while ion acoustic modes remain stable. Rapid heating from an initial temperature of 10 eV to 100-1000 eV levels is calculated, with plasma reaching and maintaining a temperature in the 100 eV range. Strong heating is also possible according to the turbulent Ohm's law and by resistive heating.

Benford, G.↗
NASA NTRS1979

Simultaneous quiet time observations of energetic radiation belt protons and helium ions - The equatorial alpha/p ratio near 1 MeV

Simultaneous monitoring of energetic helium ions and protons in the earth's radiation belts has been conducted with Explorer 45 in the immediate vicinity of the equatorial plane. Protons were measured from less than 1 keV to 1.6 MeV and also above 3.3 MeV in a channel responsive up to 22 MeV; helium ions were monitored in three passbands: 910 keV to 3.15 MeV, 590 to 910 keV, and 2.0 to 3.99 MeV. Alpha/proton flux ratios were found to vary significantly with energy and location in the radiation belts. At equal energy per nucleon a range of variability for alpha/p from 0.0001 to well above 0.001 was found, and at equal energy per ion the corresponding variability was from 0.001 to above 10. The latter findings emphasize the relative importance of the very energetic helium ions in the overall radiation belt ion populations.

Fritz, T. A.↗
NASA NTRS1974

Laboratory simulation of the structure of disturbed zones around bodies in space

Description of laboratory studies of certain aspects of the spacecraft/space plasma interaction regarding, in particular, the near and intermediate wake regions. The plasma wind tunnel facilities and the diagnostic techniques employed in these tests are described. Results are obtained which concern the variation of the normalized ion flux with normalized distance along the wake axis downstream from a conducting spherical body, the variation of the normalized width of the disturbed region with normalized distance downstream from the body center, and the location of the point of maximum ion current enhancement as a function of body potential.

Stone, N. H.↗
NASA NTRS1992

Helium in the polar wind

The coupled time-dependent continuity, momentum, and energy equations for four charged species (H(+), He(+), O(+) and electrons) moving through a stationary upper neutral atmosphere (composed of O2, N2, O, He, and H) were solved along open geomagnetic field lines using a modified version of the Gombosi et al. (1985) model. The thermospheric densities and temperatures, obtained from the MSIS-86 model (Hedin, 1987), were used to calculate neutral-ion sources, sinks, and collision frequencies. The various cross sections and conductivities employed by the Gombosi et al. model were also updated. The paper presents the first time-dependent solutions for the He(+) component of the polar wind. Special attention is paid to the solar cycle variation of the ion upflows.

Gombosi, T. I.↗
NASA NTRS1982

Ionospheric hot spot at high latitudes

Schunk and Raitt (1980) and Sojka et al. (1981) have developed a model of the convecting high-latitude ionosphere in order to determine the extent to which various chemical and transport processes affect the ion composition and electron density at F-region altitudes. The numerical model produces time-dependent, three-dimensional ion density distributions for the ions NO(+), O2(+), N2(+), O(+), N(+), and He(+). Recently, the high-latitude ionospheric model has been improved by including thermal conduction and diffusion-thermal heat flow terms. Schunk and Sojka (1982) have studied the ion temperature variations in the daytime high-latitude F-region. In the present study, a time-dependent three-dimensional ion temperature distribution is obtained for the high-latitude ionosphere for an asymmetric convection electric field pattern with enhanced flow in the dusk sector of the polar region. It is shown that such a convection pattern produces a hot spot in the ion temperature distribution which coincides with the location of the strong convection cell.

Schunk, R. W.↗
NASA NTRS2014

Development of a Linear Ion Trap Mass Spectrometer (LITMS) Investigation for Future Planetary Surface Missions

Future surface missions to Mars and other planetary bodies will benefit from continued advances in miniature sensor and sample handling technologies that enable high-performance chemical analyses of natural samples. Fine-scale (approx.1 mm and below) analyses of rock surfaces and interiors, such as exposed on a drill core, will permit (1) the detection of habitability markers including complex organics in association with their original depositional environment, and (2) the characterization of successive layers and gradients that can reveal the time-evolution of those environments. In particular, if broad-based and highly-sensitive mass spectrometry techniques could be brought to such scales, the resulting planetary science capability would be truly powerful. The Linear Ion Trap Mass Spectrometer (LITMS) investigation is designed to conduct fine-scale organic and inorganic analyses of short (approx.5-10 cm) rock cores such as could be acquired by a planetary lander or rover arm-based drill. LITMS combines both pyrolysis/gas chromatograph mass spectrometry (GCMS) of sub-sampled core fines, and laser desorption mass spectrometry (LDMS) of the intact core surface, using a common mass analyzer, enhanced from the design used in the Mars Organic Molecule Analyzer (MOMA) instrument on the 2018 ExoMars rover. LITMS additionally features developments based on the Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) investigation on MSL and recent NASA-funded prototype efforts in laser mass spectrometry, pyrolysis, and precision subsampling. LITMS brings these combined capabilities to achieve its four measurement objectives: (1) Organics: Broad Survey Detect organic molecules over a wide range of molecular weight, volatility, electronegativity, concentration, and host mineralogy. (2) Organic: Molecular Structure Characterize internal molecular structure to identify individual compounds, and reveal functionalization and processing. (3) Inorganic Host Environment Assess the local chemical/mineralogical makeup of organic host phases to help determine deposition and preservation factors. (4) Chemical Stratigraphy Analyze the fine spatial distribution and variation of key species with depth.

Mars↗
NASA NTRS2007

Composite Electrolytes for Lithium Batteries: Ionic Liquids in APTES Crosslinked Polymers

Solvent free polymer electrolytes were made consisting of Li(+) and pyrrolidinium salts of trifluoromethanesulfonimide added to a series of hyperbranched poly(ethylene oxide)s (PEO). The polymers were connected by triazine linkages and crosslinked by a sol-gel process to provide mechanical strength. The connecting PEO groups were varied to help understand the effects of polymer structure on electrolyte conductivity in the presence of ionic liquids. Polymers were also made that contain poly(dimethylsiloxane) groups, which provide increased flexibility without interacting with lithium ions. When large amounts of ionic liquid are added, there is little dependence of conductivity on the polymer structure. However, when smaller amounts of ionic liquid are added, the inherent conductivity of the polymer becomes a factor. These electrolytes are more conductive than those made with high molecular weight PEO imbibed with ionic liquids at ambient temperatures, due to the amorphous nature of the polymer.

Tigelaar, Dean M.↗
NASA NTRS2009

NEXT Long-Duration Test Plume and Wear Characteristics after 16,550 h of Operation and 337 kg of Xenon Processed

The NASA s Evolutionary Xenon Thruster (NEXT) program is developing the next-generation ion propulsion system with significant enhancements beyond the state-of-the-art. The NEXT ion propulsion system provides improved mission capabilities for future NASA science missions to enhance and enable Discovery, New Frontiers, and Flagship-type NASA missions. As part of a comprehensive thruster service life assessment utilizing both testing and analyses, a Long-Duration Test (LDT) was initiated to validate and qualify the NEXT propellant throughput capability to a qualification-level of 450 kg, 1.5 times the mission-derived throughput requirement of 300 kg. This wear test is being conducted with a modified, flight-representative NEXT engineering model ion thruster, designated EM3. As of June 25, 2008, the thruster has accumulated 16,550 h of operation: the first 13,042 h at the thruster full-input-power of 6.9 kW with 3.52 A beam current and 1800 V beam power supply voltage. Operation since 13,042 h, i.e., the most recent 3,508 h, has been at an input power of 4.7 kW with 3.52 A beam current and 1180 V beam power supply voltage. The thruster has processed 337 kg of xenon (Xe) surpassing the NSTAR propellant throughput demonstrated during the extended life testing of the Deep Space 1 flight spare. The NEXT LDT has demonstrated a total impulse of 13.3 106 N s; the highest total impulse ever demonstrated by an ion thruster. Thruster plume diagnostics and erosion measurements are obtained periodically over the entire NEXT throttle table with input power ranging 0.5 to 6.9 kW. Observed thruster component erosion rates are consistent with predictions and the thruster service life assessment. There have not been any observed anomalous erosion and all erosion estimates indicate a thruster throughput capability that exceeds ~750 kg of Xe, an equivalent of 36,500 h of continuous operation at the full-power operating condition. This paper presents the erosion measurements and plume diagnostic results for the NEXT LDT to date with emphasis on the change in thruster operating condition and resulting impact on wear characteristics. Ion optics grid-gap data, both cold and operating, are presented. Performance and wear predictions for the LDT throttle profile are presented.

Herman, Daniel A.↗
NASA NTRS2017

Small Ion Channel Linking Molecular Simulations and Electrophysiology

Ion channels are pore-forming protein assemblies that mediate the transport of small ions across cell membranes. Otherwise, membrane bilayers would be almost impermeable to ions incapable to traverse the low dielectric constant, hydrophobic membrane core. Ion channels are ubiquitous to all life forms. In humans and other higher organisms they play the central role in conducting nerve impulses, cardiac functions, muscle contraction and apoptosis. On the other extreme of biological complexity, viral ion channels (viroporins) influence many stages of the virus infection cycle either through regulating virus replication, such as entry, assembly and release or modulating the electrochemical balance in the subcellular compartments of host cells. Ion channels were crucial components of protocells. Their emergence facilitated adaptation of nascent life to different environmental conditions. The earliest ion channels must have been much simpler than most of their modern ancestors. Viral channels are among only a few naturally occurring models to study the structure, function and evolution of primordial channels. Experimental studies of these properties are difficult and often unreliable. In principle, computational methods, and molecular dynamics (MD) simulations in particular, can aid in providing information about both the structure and the function of ion channels. However, MD suffers from its own problems, such as inability to access sufficiently long time scales or limited accuracy of force fields. It is, therefore, essential to determine the reliability of MD simulations. We propose to do so on the basis of two criteria. One is channel stability on time scales that extend for several microseconds or longer. The other is the ability to reproduce the measured ionic conductance as a function of applied voltage. If both the stability and the calculated ionic conductance are satisfactory it will greatly increase our confidence that the structure and the function of a channel are described sufficiently accurately. To our knowledge, long time scale stability (approx.10 micro-sec) and the correct electrophysiology have been shown so far for only one channel - the synthetic LS3 hexamer). In this presentation, this approach will be discussed in application to two viral channels - Vpu, encoded by the HIV-1 genome and p7 of hepatitis C.

Pohorille, Andrzej↗
NASA NTRS1987

Effect of object potentials on the wake of a flowing plasma

The structure of the electric potential and ion density of the ion front in the near wake created by the flow of synthetic plasma past a conducting plate was investigated experimentally and numerically, with particular attention given to the effect of plate potential on the structure of the ion front. Results were obtained for a molecular nitrogen plasma with ambient electron densities of about 100,000/cu cm, ion temperatures of about 0.025 eV, electron temperatures of about 0.3 eV, and plasma flow velocities of about 10,000 m/s. Two-dimensional simulations of the laboratory experiments were performed by using a multiple waterbag technique. The calculated and experimental results show that wake closure is well described by the acceleration of ions in the plasma steady-state electric field. However, the ion-front motion is strongly affected by the imposed potential of the object creating the wake.

Katz, I.↗
NASA NTRS1993

Electron generation of electrostatic waves in the plasma sheet boundary layer

Broadband electrostatic noise (BEN) has been shown to occur in conjunction with ion beams; extensive investigations of possible ion beam-related instabilities that could generate the observed wave spectra have been conducted. It has also been demonstrated that unstable electron distribution functions are sometimes measured in the plasma sheet boundary layer. We present simultaneous observations of ion and electron distribution functions and electric field wave spectra measured by ISEE 1 and ISEE 2 in the Earth's magnetotail. As the spacecraft moved from the tail lobe toward the plasma sheet, the fast indication of boundary layer plasma was seen in the electron distributions, followed some minutes later by the detection of boundary layer ions. The onset of large-amplitude electrostatic waves at frequencies up to the electron plasma frequency was coincident with the onset of the boundary layer electrons, suggesting that broadband electrostatic waves may often be generated by unstable electron distributions in the plasma sheet boundary layer, particularly the higher frequency portion of the wave spectrum. The observed changes in the electron distribution functions indicate that the plasma was not heated locally by the waves.

Onsager, T. G.↗
NASA NTRS1978

Effect of anomalous transport coefficients on the thermal structure of the storm time auroral ionosphere

By analyzing an observed storm time auroral electron temperature profile it is shown that anomalous transport effects strongly influence the thermal structure of the disturbed auroral ionosphere. Such anomalous transport effects are a consequence of plasma turbulence, the existence of which has been established by a large number of observations in the auroral ionosphere. The electron and composite ion energy equations are solved with anomalous electron thermal conductivity and parallel electrical resistivity coefficients. The solutions are parameterized with respect to a phenomenological altitude-dependent anomaly coefficient A and are compared with an observed storm time electron temperature profile above Chatanika. The calculated temperature profile for the classical case (A = 1) disagrees considerably with the measured profile over most of the altitude range up to 450 km. It is shown that an anomaly coefficient with a sharp peak of the order of 10,000 centered around the F2 peak is consistent with observations.

Fontheim, E. G.↗
NASA NTRS1982

Observations of mass addition to the shocked solar wind of the Venusian ionosheath

The present investigation constitutes a continuation of a study conducted by Mihalov et al. (1980) concerning the heavy ion component in the plasma observations downstream from Venus, taking into account data obtained with the aid of the plasma analyzer experiment on the Pioneer Venus Orbiter (PVO). The current study is based on analyses of the first season of PVO orbits with apoapsis in the tail and provides clear evidence for the presence of heavy ions. It is found that a heavy ion component was added to the ionosheath flow for a prolonged period on June 8 and 11, 1979 while the spacecraft was downstream from the planet. The heavy ions are identified as oxygen ions O(+). Heavy ions are detected on most of the orbits in the first season or apoapsis tail passages.

Intriligator, D. S.↗