The Soviet-American Conference on Cosmochemistry of the Moon and Planets, Part 2
The origin and evolution of the solar system is discussed based on ground and satellite observations.
Pomeroy, J. H.↗
SEARCH · Search NASA
Results for “Solar evolution”
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.
Preliminary design and performance of an advanced gamma-ray spectrometer for future orbiter missions
A knowledge of the composition of planets, satellites, and asteroids is of primary importance in understanding the formation and evolution of the solar system. Gamma-ray spectroscopy is capable of measuring the composition of meter-depth surface material from orbit around any body possessing little or no atmosphere. Measurement sensitivity is determined by detector efficiency and resolution, counting time and the background flux, while the effective spatial resolution depends upon the field-of-view and counting time together with the regional contrast in composition. The advantages of using germanium as a detector of gamma rays in space are illustrated experimentally and a compact instrument cooled by passive thermal radiation is described. Calculations of the expected sensitivity of this instrument at the moon and Mars show that at least a dozen elements should be measurable, twice the number which have been isolated in the Apollo gamma-ray data
Metzger, A. E.↗
Galileo to Jupiter: Probing the Planet and Mapping Its Moons
The first project to use the space shuttle as an interplanetary launch vehicle, the Galileo mission is designed to obtain information about the origin and evolution of the solar system by studying large-scale phenomena on Jupiter and its satellites. Aimed towards Mars to obtain gravity assist, the orbiting spacecraft will deploy a probe, which penetrating the Jovian atmosphere, will transmit data for approximately an hour. The spacecraft itself will inspect the atmospheres, ionospheres, and surfaces of Ganymede, Io, Europa, and Callisto, as well as determine their magnetic and gravitational properties. The experiments to be conducted and their scientific objectives are described. Known facts about the Jovian system are reviewed.
Source record↗
Present obliquity oscillations of Mars - Fourth-order accuracy in orbital e and I
A long period analysis of solar system orbital evolution, correct to fourth order in orbital eccentricities and inclinations (Bretagnon, 1974), and an improved value of the planet's moment of inertia (Reasenberg, 1977) have been incorporated in a recalculation of the obliquity oscillations of Mars. A linearized solution predicts a maximum oscillation amplitude of 13.6 deg centered on a long-term average value of 24.4 deg. A numerical integration of the obliquity for the past 10,000,000 years is also presented. Epochs of minimal oscillation like the present occur at intervals of the order of 4 m.y.
Ward, W. R.↗
Problems and strategy of the first flight to the comets
Substantiation is given for the urgency of using space equipment to study comets in order to work out the basic problem of the origin and evolution of the solar system. The potentialities and advantages of selecting ballistically-accessible objects among the newly discovered comets are shown (as a preliminary study). The technique of early detection of such objects is discussed.
Davydov, V. D.↗
Significant achievements in the planetary geology program, 1981
Recent developments in planetology research as reported at the 1981 NASA Planetary Geology Principal Investigators meeting are summarized. The evolution of the solar system, comparative planetology, and geologic processes active on other planets are considered. Galilean satellites and small bodies, Venus, geochemistry and regoliths, volcanic and aeolian processes and landforms, fluvial and periglacial processes, and planetary impact cratering, remote sensing, and cartography are discussed.
Holt, H. E.↗
Simple-loop flares - Magnetic instabilities
The era of rocket and spacecraft observations of the sun has provided an entirely new view of the structure and evolution of the solar atmosphere. It is now clear, particularly since the extended series of Skylab flights, that the lower corona is quite nonuniform. In active regions, the strong ambient magnetic fields collimate and confine the emissive plasma into a myriad of loops and arcades. These features are observed to evolve slowly, with a time-scale much longer than the relevant hydromagnetic of Alfven period and, therefore, must be considered generally to be stable. A conspicuous exception is the sporadic flare activity of these loops, which is believed to be due to localized departures from infinite-conductivity behavior.
Van Hoven, G.↗
Gamma ray astronomy in perspective
A brief overview of the development of gamma ray astronomy is presented. Gamma ray telescopes and other optical measuring instruments are highlighted. Emphasis is placed on findings that were unobtainable before gamma ray astronomy. Information on evolution of the solar system, the relationship of the solar system to the galaxy, and the composition of interstellar matter is discussed.
Source record↗
Abundance fluctuations in the interstellar medium
The determination of abundances within the interstellar medium is reviewed. It appears that interstellar abundances within 1 kpc of the Sun are uniform to within a factor of two or three, but it is not yet possible to determine whether there are real fluctuations at this level except for deuterium for which the factor of two variations appear to be real. Establishing the level of local fluctuations in the abundances is of considerable importance for understanding the history of nucleosynthesis in the solar neighborhood, the evolution of the interstellar medium and the formation of stars.
Jura, M.↗
Conditions of formation of pyroxene excentroradial chondrules
Understanding the exact mechanism of origin of chondrules and the attendant physical conditions remains a key factor in understanding the early evolution of the solar system. The present investigation is concerned with an interpretation of the range of cooling histories needed to make chondrules. Chondrule-like spherules were formed in dynamic crystallization experiments, using gas-mixing facilities. It is found that textures in pyroxene-rich chondrules are well reproduced in the laboratory by cooling melts of chondrule composition from just above the liquidus. The range of pyroxene dendrite widths is slightly greater for natural chondrules than for droplets cooled from 50 C/hr to greater than 3000 C/hr. A blanketing medium of variable thickness explains the cooling rates lower than expected for radiative cooling. Experimental results, textures indicating incomplete melting, and isotopic disequilibrium are compatible with reheating of primitive material in the early solar nebula.
Hewins, R. H.↗
Motion of the Jovian commensurability resonances and the character of the celestial mechanics in the asteroid zone - Implication for kinematics and structure
The motion of the Jovian commensurability resonances during the early evolution of the solar system induced by the dissipation of the accretion disk results in fundamental differences in the celestial mechanics of objects over which a resonance passes from that observed for a stationary resonance. Objects experiencing resonance passage acquire irreversible increases of average eccentricity to large values accounting for the present-day random velocities of the asteroids. Semi-major axes are similarly irreversibly decreased by amounts capable of clearing the Kirkwood gaps. The gap widths are in agreement with observation.
Torbett, M.↗
An investigation of coronal active region loop structures using AS&E rocket X-ray images
Simultaneous high spatial resolution observations at 6 cm in soft X-rays, in photospheric magnetograms, and in optical filtergrams were used to compare the most intense sources of centimetric emission in two active regions to coronal loops, sunspots, chromospheric structures, and photospheric magnetic fields. Results show that the majority of the bright microwave components are not associated with sunspots or X-ray emission. A nonthermal mechanism appears necessary to explain the brightest microwave components, discrete regions of continuous particle acceleration may be common in active regions. Studies of the plasma parameters of selected loops imply that the radio emission is consistent with gyro-resonance absorption at the third and fourth harmonic, at least from part of each loop. Results are presented for: (1) X-ray and microwave observations of active regions; (2) comparison of coronal holes observed in soft X-rays and Hel 10830 A spectrosheliograms; and (3) the reappearance of polar coronal holes and the evolution of the solar magnetic field.
Webb, D. F.↗
Space station architectural concepts and functional capability
Space program goals that NASA can best achieve by the construction of a space station in keeping with the 1958 directive to maintain U.S. pre-eminence in space technology are discussed. Science goals that can be satisfied by a suitable equipped space station include a deeper understanding of the earth/sun system and the earth as a planet, the acquisition of new data on the evolution of the solar system, of life, and of the universe, and the extended study of the laws governing the state of matter and energy. Application goals that can be pursued with a space station include assaying all renewable and nonrenewable earth resources, predicting environment, weather, and climatic changes, studying ocean dynamics, using space to develop new processes and materials, and using space for information transmission on a global basis. The space station can serve as a waypoint for voyages by manned or unmanned spacecraft, as a laboratory, observation platform, and technology proving station, and as a base for deployment and repair of other spacecraft.
Herman, D. H.↗
Attempt at dust debris collection with stacked detectors (A0138-2)
The primary objective of this experiment is to investigate the feasibility of future missions of multilayer thin-film detectors acting as energy sorter to collect micrometeoroids, if not in their original shape, at least as fragments suitable for chemical analysis. It is expected that this kind of particle collector will help in solving one of the most puzzling topics in cosmic-dust studies: the mineralogical and chemical composition of the particles. This is a matter of great interest in the study of the origin and evolution of the solar system.
Mandeville, J. C.↗
Cosmogony as an extrapolation of magnetospheric research
A theory of the origin and evolution of the Solar System which considered electromagnetic forces and plasma effects is revised in light of information supplied by space research. In situ measurements in the magnetospheres and solar wind can be extrapolated outwards in space, to interstellar clouds, and backwards in time, to the formation of the solar system. The first extrapolation leads to a revision of cloud properties essential for the early phases in the formation of stars and solar nebulae. The latter extrapolation facilitates analysis of the cosmogonic processes by extrapolation of magnetospheric phenomena. Pioneer-Voyager observations of the Saturnian rings indicate that essential parts of their structure are fossils from cosmogonic times. By using detailed information from these space missions, it is possible to reconstruct events 4 to 5 billion years ago with an accuracy of a few percent.
Alfven, H.↗
Why Mars?
The possibility of life on Mars, clues to the evolution of the solar system, fascination with the chemistry, geology, and meteorology of another planet led the National Aeronautics and Space Administration to Mars. Project Viking's goal, after making a soft landing on Mars, was to execute a set of scientific investigations that would not only provide data on the physical nature of the planet but also make a first attempt at determining if detectable life forms were present.
Source record↗
What determines the location of satellites and planets?
The discrete structural pattern in the distribution of the satellites and planets around their primaries has since its discovery been thought to hold the key to the origin and evolution of the solar system. Different attempts to rationalize this distribution are reviewed with emphasis on theories with foundation in verifiable physical processes. Foremost among these is the band structure theory, which relates the emplacement of interstellar dust and gas source material around the magnetized primarily to the critical velocity for ionization of the four major interstellar gas components. The uncertainties, that are inevitable in all reconstructions, are in this theory compensated by the support from precise manifestations of the 2/3 effect in the Saturnian ring system and in the asteroid belt, and by the reproduction of related phenomena in laboratory and space experiments.
Arrhenius, G.↗
Cosmogony as an extrapolation of magnetospheric research
A theory of the origin and evolution of the Solar System which considered electromagnetic forces and plasma effects is revised in light of information supplied by space research. In situ measurements in the magnetospheres and solar wind can be extrapolated outwards in space, to interstellar clouds, and backwards in time, to the formation of the solar system. The first extrapolation leads to a revision of cloud properties essential for the early phases in the formation of stars and solar nebulae. The latter extrapolation facilitates analysis of the cosmogonic processes by extrapolation of magnetospheric phenomena. Pioneer-Voyager observations of the Saturnian rings indicate that essential parts of their structure are fossils from cosmogonic times. By using detailed information from these space missions, it is possible to reconstruct events 4 to 5 billion years ago with an accuracy of a few percent.
Alfven, H.↗