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The HDDR-II mass data storage system consists of a Leach MTR 7114 recorder reproducer, a wire wrapped, integrated circuit flat plane and necessary power supplies for the flat plane. These units, with interconnecting cables and control panel are enclosed in a common housing mounted on casters. The electronics used in the HDDR-II double density decoding and encoding techniques are described.
Stripe-line pattern is etched on both sides of double-sided film. Since conductor thickness is only half that of single-sided film, problems in wrapping and etching are greatly reduced.
Electroforming has proven to be an excellent fabrication method for building liquid rocket regeneratively cooled thrust chambers. NASA sponsored technology programs have investigated both common and advanced methods. Using common procedures, several cooled spool pieces and thrust chambers have been made and successfully tested. The designs were made possible through the versatility of the electroforming procedure, which is not limited to simple geometric shapes. An advanced method of electroforming was used to produce a wire-wrapped, composite, pressure-loaded electroformed structure, which greatly increased the strength of the structure while still retaining the advantages of electroforming.
Wind tunnel test results are presented to show aerodynamic characteristics over the Mach number range of 0.64 to 2.50 of the DCAT missile. Data are presented showing the interference created by the rear mounted reaction control system. Two candidate fins were installed on the model during tests: a flat folding fin and a curved wrap around fin.
Twelve solar cell experiments were on the Naval Research Laboratory NTS-1 satellite launched on 14 July 1974, into a 13,260 km circular orbit at an inclination of 125 deg. The experiment comprises: 2 ohm-cm n/p, lithium-diffused p/n, violet n/p, p(+) back surface field, and ultra-thin wrap around contact cells. The short-circuit current of the experiments ranged from 2 to 12 percent higher in space than under solar simulators. During the 5 year life of the satellite, the experiments will be exposed to radiation equivalent to 2 x 10 to the 15th power 1-MeV electron cm/2 and to nearly 5500 thermal cycles.
The operation of numerically controlled machine tools is interactively simulated. Four programs were developed to graphically display the cutting paths for a Monarch lathe, Cintimatic mill, Strippit sheet metal punch, and the wiring path for a Standard wire wrap machine. These programs are run on a IMLAC PDS-ID graphic display system under the DOS-3 disk operating system. The cutting path analysis programs accept input via both paper tape and disk file.
A 1.5-mm by 3-cm neodymium-ion doped YAG laser rod has been side pumped using a GaAs laser diode array tuned to the 8680-A absorption line, achieving a multimode average output power of 120 mW for a total input power of 20 W to the final-stage laser diode drivers. The pumped arrangement was designed to take advantage of the high brightness of a conventional GaAs array as a linear source by introducing the pump light through a slit into a close-wrapped gold coated pump cavity. This cavity forms an integrating chamber for the pump light.
The parametric study of the performance of large furlable antennas is described and the availability of various size antennas is discussed. Three types of unfurlable reflector designs are considered: the wrapped rib, the polyconic, and the maypole. On the basis of these approaches, a space shuttle launch capability, and state-of-the-art materials, it is possible to design unfurlable reflectors as large as 130 feet (40 meters) in diameter to operate at 10 GHz and 600 feet (183 meters) in diameter at 0.5 GHz. These figures can be increased if very low thermal coefficient of expansion materials can be developed over the next 2-5 years. It is recommended that a special effort be made to develop light weight materials that would provide nearly zero thermal coefficient of expansion and good thermal conductivity within the next 10 years. A conservative prediction of the kinds of unfurlable spacecraft antennas that will be available by 1985 with orbital performance predicted on the basis of test data and with developed manufacturing processes is summarized.
The author has identified the following significant results. The LANDSAT data collection system has proven itself to be a valuable tool for control of cloud seeding operations and for verification of weather forecasts. These platforms have proven to be reliable weather resistant units suitable for the collection of hydrometeorological data from remote severe weather environments. The detailed design of the wind speed and direction system and the wire-wrapping of the logic boards were completed.
A technical review of high reliability electrical terminations for electronic equipment was made. Seven techniques were selected from this review for further investigation, experimental work, and preliminary testing. From the preliminary test results, four techniques were selected for final testing and evaluation. These four were: (1) induction soldering, (2) wire wrap, (3) percussive arc welding, and (4) resistance welding. Of these four, induction soldering was selected as the best technique in terms of minimizing operator errors, controlling temperature and time, minimizing joint contamination, and ultimately producing a reliable, uniform, and reusable electrical termination.
A literature review is presented of theoretical models of the interaction of the solar wind and interplanetary magnetic fields. Observations of interplanetary magnetic fields by the IMP and OSO spacecraft are discussed. The causes for cosmic ray variations (Forbush decreases) by the solar wind are examined. The model of Parker is emphasized. This model shows the three dimensional magnetic field lines of the solar wind to have the form of spirals wrapped on cones. It is concluded that an out-of-the-ecliptic solar probe mission would allow the testing and verification of the various theoretical models examined. Diagrams of the various models are shown.
A method of forming a tubular wick for a heat pipe is presented. The method is characterized by the steps of forming a wick blank of a predetermined thickness comprising a plurality of superimposed layers of stainless steel mesh screen, wet rolling the blank for reducing the thickness, wrapping the blank about an inner mandrel, compressing the blank into a rigid tubular structure, removing the tubular structure from the mandrel and sintering the tubular structure.
Solar array candidate configurations (flexible rollup, flexible flat-pact, semi-rigid panel, semi-rigid flat-pack) were analyzed with particular attention to the specific power (W/kg) requirement. Two of these configurations (flexible rollup and flexible flat-pack) are capable of delivering specific powers equal to or exceeding the baseline requirement of 200 W/kg. Only the flexible rollup is capable of in-flight retraction and subsequent redeployment. The wrap-around contact photovoltaic cell configuration has been chosen over the conventional cell. The demand for ultra high specific power forces the selection of ultra-thin cells and cover material. Based on density and mass range considerations, it was concluded that 13 micrometers of FEP Teflon is sufficient to protect the cell from a total proton fluency of 2(10 to the 12th power) particles/sq cm over a three-year interplanetary mission. The V-stiffened, lattice boom deployed, flexible substrate rollup array holds the greatest promise of meeting the baseline requirements set for this study.
The task of time estimation, an activity occasionally performed by pilots during actual flight, was investigated with the objective of providing human factors investigators with an unobtrusive and minimally loading additional task that is sensitive to differences in flying conditions and flight instrumentation associated with the main task of piloting an aircraft simulator. Previous research indicated that the duration and consistency of time estimates is associated with the cognitive, perceptual, and motor loads imposed by concurrent simple tasks. The relationships between the length and variability of time estimates and concurrent task variables under a more complex situation involving simulated flight were clarified. The wrap-around effect with respect to baseline duration, a consequence of mode switching at intermediate levels of concurrent task distraction, should contribute substantially to estimate variability and have a complex effect on the shape of the resulting distribution of estimates.
An experiment designed to use the Space Shuttle in tests of the mechanical and electrical properties of spaceborne deployable antennas under zero-gravity conditions is outlined. Space-erectable 20-meter diameter phased arrays or reflector/feed systems, and self-deploying mechanisms, are to be tested. Reflector surface integrity will be tested by an AM laser technique, and electrical behavior will be tested by a spin-stabilized RF beacon injected into orbit prior to unfurlment of the antenna. Focusing and gain measurements, static pattern measurements, dynamic RF gain measurements, and measurements of cross-polarized signals will be conducted, and the reflector will be illuminated by separate feeds for the S-, X-, and K-bands. Mechanical features of the mesh-wrapped rib furlable antenna design are described.
Elementary particle effects (beta-decay) provide only a weakly handed radiation in the biologically effective energy ranges. Global magnetic effects coupled to sunlight are randomized by paleomagnetic reversals. A persistent terrestrial handed bias at possible local biopoetic sites offers a more promising explanation for the origin of the 'handedness' of the molecules found among living systems on earth. Magnetite in lava flows maintains a handed bias for surface catalysis through many magnetic reversals. Indirect evidence for the hypothesis that magnetite contaminated with sulfur is a possible biopoetic site (Granick, 1957) has been provided by the molecular structure of ferredoxin - a single strand of the 14 primordial amino acids wrapped around an FeS core. Lava flows have been suggested as biopoetic sites by Fox (1964), since their temperature and chemical composition might allow for the rapid synthesis of prebiotic compounds at the surface of the primitive earth. The additional fact that magetite in lava flows also provides a persistent handed site for surface catalysis offers a further argument for the experimental investigation of this specific biopoetic environment.
A breadboard of the command detector signal-to-noise-ratio estimator and lock status monitor was built on a wire-wrap card. The breadboard was integrated with the standard command detector, and its performance was measured. The design, design constraints, and construction of the breadboard are described. The performance is shown to agree with the theoretical model.
A sample module was assembled to model a portion of a flexible extendable solar array, a type that promises to become the next generation of solar array design. The resulting study of this module is intended to provide technical support to the array designer for lightweight component selection, specifications, and tests. Selected from available lightweight components were 127-micron-thick wrap-around contacted solar cells, 34- micron-thick sputtered glass covers, and as a substrate a 13-micron-thick polyimide film clad with a copper printed circuit. Each component displayed weaknesses. The thin solar cells had excessive breakage losses. Sputtered glass cover adhesion was poor, and the covered cell was weaker than the cell uncovered. Thermal stresses caused some cell delamination from the model solar array substrate.