Search NASA⌕ Search

SEARCH · Search NASA

Results for “shock events”

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 55 records · Page 3
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS2006

Spade: An H Chondrite Impact-melt Breccia that Experienced Post-shock Annealing

The low modal abundances of relict chondrules (1.8 Vol%) and of coarse (i.e. >= 2200 micron-size) isolated mafic silicate grains (1.8 Vol%) in Spade relative to mean H6 chondrites (11.4 and 9.8 vol%, respectively) show Spade to be a rock that has experienced a significant degree of melting. Various petrographic features (e.g., chromite-plagioclase assemblages, chromite veinlets, silicate darkening) indicate that melting was caused by shock. Plagioclase was melted during the shock event and flowed so that it partially to completely surrounded nearby mafic silicate grains. During crystallization, plagioclase developed igneous zoning. Low-Ca pyroxene that crystallized from the melt (or equilibrated with the melt at high temperatures) acquired relatively high amounts of CaO. Metallic Fe-Ni cooled rapidly below the Fe-Ni solws and transformed into martensite. Subsequent reheating of the rock caused transformation of martensite into abundant duplex plessite. Ambiguities exist in the shock stage assignment of Spade. The extensive silicate darkening, the occurrence of chromite-plagioclase assemblages, and the impact-melted characteristics of Spade are consistent with shock stage S6. Low shock (stage S2) is indicated by the undulose extinction and lack of planar fractures in olivine. This suggests that Spade reached a maximum prior shock level equivalent to stage S6 and then experienced post-shock annealing (probably to stage Sl). These events were followed by a less intense impact that produced the undulose extinction in the olivine, characteristic of shock stage S2. Annealing could have occurred if Spade were emplaced near impact melts beneath the crater floor or deposited in close proximity to hot debris within an ejecta blanket. Spade firmly establishes the case for post-shock annealing. This may have been a common process on ordinary chondrites (OC) asteroids.

Rubin, Alan E.↗
NASA NTRS1992

The stable isotopic compositions of indigenous carbon-bearing components in EETA 79001

It is now widely accepted that the most likely source of SNC meteorites is Mars. An oblique impact on Mars, or vaporization of permafrost, by an impactor seem to be the most likely ejection mechanisms capable of accelerating material to the 5 km/s velocity needed to overcome the gravitational field of Mars. These ejection mechanisms involve a large shock event in the SNC class, the shergottites EETA 79001 and ALHA 77055 are the most likely shocked samples, in which whole rock pressures of 35 to 45 GPa have been estimated. Martian weathering products have also been identified in EETA 79001. Here, the author started a series of analyses of EETA 79001 using a high-sensitivity static mass spectrometer capable of measuring sub-nanogram quantities of carbon. Recent measurements of lithology C confirm that the shock-implanted atmospheric CO2 is released during the 1100 to 1200 C step.

Hartmetz, C. P.↗
NASA NTRS2002

Smyer H-Chondrite Impact-Melt Breccia and Evidence for Sulfur Vaporization

Smyer is an H-chondrite impact-melt breccia containing approx.20 vol% 0.5- to 13-mm-thick silicate-rich melt veins surrounding unmelted subrounded chondritic clasts up to 7 cm in maximum dimension. At the interface between some of the melt veins and chondritic clasts, there are troilite-rich regions consisting of unmelted. crushed 0.2- to 140-micron-size angular silicate grains and chondrule fragments surrounded by troilite and transected by thin troilite veins. Troilite fills every available fracture in the silicates. including some as thin as 0.1 microns. Little metallic Fe-Ni is present in these regions: the FeS/Fe modal ratio ranges from -25: 1 to approx.500: 1, far higher than the eutectic weight ratio of 7.5: 1. The texture of these regions indicates that the sulfide formed from a fluid of very low viscosity. The moderately high viscosity (0.2 poise) and large surface tension of liquid FeS, its inability to wet silicate grain surfaces at low oxygen fugacities. and the supereutectic FeS/Fe ratios in the troilite-rich regions indicate that the fluid was a vapor. It seems likely that during the shock event that melted Smyer, many silicates adjacent to the melt veins were crushed. Upon release of shock pressure. some of the troilite evaporated and dissociated. Molecules of S2 were transported and condensed into fractures and around tiny silicate grains: there, they combined with Fe from small adjacent metallic Fe-Ni grains to form troilite. The Ni content at the edges of some of these metal grains increased significantly; Co from these Ni-rich grains diffused into nearby kamacite. Impact-induced S volatilization may have played a major role in depleting the surface of 433 Eros (and other chondritic asteroids) in S.

Rubin, Alan E.↗
NASA NTRS2003

Ar-39 - Ar-40 Evidence for an Approximately 4.26 Ga Impact Heating Event on the LL Parent Body

Miller Range 99301 is a type 6, unbrecciated LL chondrite. MIL 99301 is of interest because some compositional and petrographic features suggest it experienced rather high shock grades, whereas other features suggest it is relatively unshocked. Inconsistent shock indicators could be explained if MIL 99301 was shocked but then partly annealed by heat produced by impacts on the parent body. The hypothesis that MIL 99301 experienced high temperature metamorphism (type 6) followed by a later shock event that heated, but did not melt, the constituent feldspar can be evaluated using (39)Ar-(40)Ar chronology. This is because (39)Ar-(40)Ar ages of shocked ordinary chondrites are generally <4.2 Ga, whereas (39)Ar-(40)Ar ages of unshocked meteorites are generally older, and between 4.52 - 4.38 Ga.

Dixon, E. T.↗
NASA NTRS1984

Structure of the November 12, 1978, quasi-parallel interplanetary shock

The jump in plasma parameters exhibited by the intense interplanetary shock event of Nov. 12, 1978 is analyzed using ISEE 1, 2 and 3 data. Magnetic and electric field measurements indicated that the shock magnetic field profile was similar to the earth bow shock profile. Data on the electron and proton densities, temperatures, bulk velocities and alpha particles showed a steady electron temperature increase across the shock on a 12 earth radii scale. The upstream and downstream flow parameters are found to be within 10 percent of Rankin-Hugoniot jump conditions. The shock moved at 614 km/sec and had three dissipative scales, one a few Larmor radii determined by the magnetic field jump, a second 10 earth radii correlated with the electron equilibrium and the other 30 earth radii connected to the energetic proton foreshock.

Kennel, C. F.↗
NASA NTRS1995

The solar/interplanetary event of 14 April 1994 observed by Yohkoh/SXT

The polar crown event of April 14 1994 is one of the largest scale eruptive events observed by the Yohkoh/SXT. Associated with the formation of an arcade of soft X-ray loops at the Sun was the detection of an interplanetary forward/reverse shock event by the Ulysses spacecraft some 4-7 days later. The relationship between the coronal and interplanetary signatures of these events is important if we are to address fully the initialization and consequent acceleration of interplanetary phenomena, such as CMEs and counter-streaming electrons, originating at the Sun. From detailed analysis of the energetics of the arcade formed during the eruption of April 14 1994, we find peak temperatures and emission measures of approximately 5MK and approximately 10(exp 48)cm(exp -3) respectively. The total thermal content of the arcade loop structure observed in soft X-rays is calculated to be some 5 x 10(exp 29) ergs. The development of these parameters as the event proceeds and their relationship to the dynamics of the eruption are investigated. Although spanning a longitudinal range of some 150 degrees the April 14 event displayed the typical helmet streamer structure normally associated with coronal mass ejections These helmet streamers are thought to be related to the global solar magnetic field through the heliospheric current sheet (HCS). The arcade formation, together with the eruption of material into interplanetary space, signifies a large-scale reconfiguration of the coronal magnetic field. We examine the effects of the formation of such a coronal arcade structure on the HCS and discuss the dynamics involved with the passage of a large scale disturbance through the interplanetary magnetic field.

Alexander, D.↗
NASA NTRS1991

Comet Halley remote plasma tail observations and in situ solar wind properties - Vega-1/2 IMF/plasma observations and ground-based optical observations from 1 December 1985 to 1 May 1986

General features of the solar wind plasma and the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) are studied for the time period of December 1, 1985 - May 1, 1986. Characteristics studied include corotating events, shocks, and sector boundaries in the IMF. For the same period, Comet Halley was near its perihelion and many ground-based observations of the plasma tail were made. They show interesting events such as tail substorms and disconnection events where the whole distant plasma tail seems to be disrupted from the part that is still attached to the cometary head. Several mechanisms have been produced to explain the cause of these events. The correlation between the IMF sector boundaries measured by Vega and the observed disconnection events are studied, noting that such a correlation would support the dayside reconnection explanation. It is found that only in 50 percent of the considered events does a correlation between these two phenomena exist. For the other cases, a sector boundary of the IMF sweeping over the comet cannot explain the occurrence of disruptions of the main plasma tail.

Delva, Magda↗
NASA NTRS1987

The eastward deflection of fast coronal mass ejecta in interplanetary space

Previous work has shown that a bidirectional solar wind electron heat flux is one of the more prominent signatures of a coronal mass ejection event in the solar wind at 1 AU. Using ISEE 3 solar wind electron measurements obtained during 1978 and 1979, this signature was used to identify the fast coronal mass ejecta driving 19 interplanetary shocks. In 17 of the 19 shock events an eastward deflection of the ejection plasma (apparent arrival from west of the sun) was observed. The average eastward deflection for all of the events was about 3 deg, corresponding to a typical transverse velocity of 25 km/s. Usually an oppositely directed (i.e., westward) flow deflection of comparable magnitude was observed within the compressed ambient plasma ahead of the ejecta. The sense of these deflections - first westward within the compressed ambient plasma and then eastward within the ejecta - is the same as is observed near the leading edges of quasi-stationary, corotating high speed streams.

Gosling, J. T.↗
NASA NTRS1992

Sudbury project (University of Muenster-Ontario Geological Survey): Sr-Nd in heterolithic breccias and gabbroic dikes

One major objective of our Sudbury project was to define origin and age of the huge breccia units below and above the Sudbury Igneous Complex (SIC). The heterolithic Footwall Breccia (FB) represents a part of the uplifted crater floor. It contains subrounded fragments up to several meters in size and lithic fragments with shock features (greater than 10 GPa) embedded into a fine- to medium-grained matrix. Epsilon(sub Nd)-epsilon(sub Sr) relationships point to almost exclusively parautochthonous precursor lithologies. The different textures of the matrix reflect the metamorphic history of the breccia layer; thermal annealing by the overlying hot impact melt sheet (SIC) at temperatures greater than 1000 C resulted in melting of the fine crushed material, followed by an episode of metasomatic K-feldspar growth and, finally, formation of low-grade minerals such as actinolite and chlorite. Isotope relationships in the Onaping breccias (Gray and Green Member) are much more complex. All attempts to date the breccia formation failed: Zircons are entirely derived from country rocks and lack the pronounced Pb loss caused by the heat of the slowly cooling impact melt sheet (SIC). Rb-Sr techniques using either lithic fragments of different shock stages or the thin slab method, set time limits for the apparently pervasive alkali mobility in these suevitic breccias. The data array and the intercept in the plots point to a major Rb-Sr fractionation around 1.54 Ga ago. This model age is in the same range as the age obtained for the metasomatic matrix of the FB. Rb-Sr dating of a shock event in impact-related breccias seems to be possible only if their matrix had suffered total melting by the hot melt sheet (FB) or if they contain a high fraction of impact melt (suevitic Onaping breccias), whereas the degree of shock metamorphism in rock or lithic fragments plays a minor role. In the Sudbury case, however, the impact melt in the seuvitic breccias is devitrified and recrystallized, which changed Rb/Sr ratios quite drastically. Therefore, the Onaping breccias give only age limits for alteration and low-grade metamorphism. The Sm-Nd system was not reset during the Sudbury event; clasts as well as the matrix in the FB and in the Onaping breccias show preimpact 'Archean' Nd isotope signatures.

Buhl, D.↗
NASA NTRS1994

Metallic copper in ordinary chondrites

Metallic Cu of moderately high purity (approximately 985 mg/g Cu, approximately 15 mg/g Ni) occurs in at least 66% of ordinary chondrites (OC) as heterogeneously distributed, small (typically less than or equal to 20 micrometers) rounded to irregular grains. The mean modal abundance of metallic Cu in H, L and LL chondrites is low: 1.0 to 1.4 x 10(exp -4) vol%, corresponding to only 4 - 5 % of the total Cu in OC whole rocks. In more than 75% of the metallic-Cu-bearing OC, at least some metallic Cu occurs at metallic-Fe-Ni-troilite grain boundaries. In some cases it also occurs within troilite, within metallic Fe-Ni, or at the boundaries these phases form with silicates or chromite. Ordinary chondrites that contain a relatively large number of occurrences of metallic Cu/sq mm have a tendency to have experienced moderately high degrees of shock. Shock processes can cause local melting and transportation of metallic Fe-Ni and troilte; because metallic Cu is mainly associated with these phases, it also gets redistributed during shock events. In the most common petrographic assemblage containing metallic Cu, the Cu is adjacent to small irregular troilite grains surrounded by taenite plus tetrataenite; this assemblage resembles fizzed troilite and may have formed by localized shock melting or remelting of a metal-troilite assemblage.

Rubin, Alan E.↗
NASA NTRS1980

Metallic particles in the glassy constituents of three lunar highland samples 65315, 67435 and 78235

Electron probe microanalysis and analytical electron microscopy techniques were employed to obtain structural and chemical analyses of metal particles in the size range of less than 1000 A and greater than 5 microns from the glassy constituents of 3 lunar highland samples 65315, 67435 and 78235. Most of the micron size metal particles in the glass coatings of the three samples are of meteoritic Co-Ni content. The Ni content of submicron metal often differs significantly from the micron size metal in the same glass. This difference can be explained by one of 3 reasons: (a) the presence of metal of different sizes and Ni contents in the rock prior to the shock event, (b) the presence of metal particles in the lunar soil of meteoritic or variable Ni content which were incorporated when the glass formed and (c) the production of submicroscopic Fe metal from the reduction of Fe(+2) in the shock produced melt.

Mehta, S.↗
NASA NTRS1977

Computer simulation of earthquakes

In a computer simulation study of earthquakes a seismically active strike slip fault is represented by coupled mechanical blocks which are driven by a moving plate and which slide on a friction surface. Elastic forces and time independent friction are used to generate main shock events, while viscoelastic forces and time dependent friction add aftershock features. The study reveals that the size, length, and time and place of event occurrence are strongly influenced by the magnitude and degree of homogeneity in the elastic, viscous, and friction parameters of the fault region. For example, periodically reoccurring similar events are observed in simulations with near-homogeneous parameters along the fault, whereas seismic gaps are a common feature of simulations employing large variations in the fault parameters. The study also reveals correlations between strain energy release and fault length and average displacement and between main shock and aftershock displacements.

Cohen, S. C.↗
NASA NTRS1976

Computer simulation of earthquakes

Two computer simulation models of earthquakes were studied for the dependence of the pattern of events on the model assumptions and input parameters. Both models represent the seismically active region by mechanical blocks which are connected to one another and to a driving plate. The blocks slide on a friction surface. In the first model elastic forces were employed and time independent friction to simulate main shock events. The size, length, and time and place of event occurrence were influenced strongly by the magnitude and degree of homogeniety in the elastic and friction parameters of the fault region. Periodically reoccurring similar events were frequently observed in simulations with near homogeneous parameters along the fault, whereas, seismic gaps were a common feature of simulations employing large variations in the fault parameters. The second model incorporated viscoelastic forces and time-dependent friction to account for aftershock sequences. The periods between aftershock events increased with time and the aftershock region was confined to that which moved in the main event.

Cohen, S. C.↗
NASA NTRS1986

A comparative petrologic study of iron meteorites with radiogenic Ag-107 anomalies

The characteristics of the sulfide and metal phases of Derrick Peak, Cape York, Grant, Gibeon, and Santa Clara iron meteorite samples are examined. The textures and mineralogies of the samples are described. The effects of thermal and shock events on the distribution of Ag, and the relationship between Ag-107 and Pd are investigated. The correlation between the thermal histories and metal and sulfide nodules of the Gibeon and Santa Clara specimens is analyzed. It is noted that the Pd-107-Ag107 systematics involve the isotopic chemistry and cooling history of iron meteorites, the intensity of late extraterrestrial shock occurrences, and thermal processing.

Teshima, J.↗
NASA NTRS2021

MMS Observations of Energized He+ Pickup Ions at Quasiperpendicular Shocks

Accelerated He+ PUIs, downstream of quasi-perpendicular shocks, are studied as 10a function of the fast mode Mach number (Mf) and shock obliquity (𝜃Bn).We analyze quasi-perpendicular shocks with Mach numbers in the range [1, 7] observed by the Magnetospheric MultiScale (MMS) mission, and compare upstream and downstream He+ velocity distribution functions (VDFs). For each shock event, we characterize the upstream PUI distribution and derive reduced 1D velocity distributions for the selected upstream and downstream intervals. We also compare the upstream to downstream ratio of spectral indices, computed from the He+ perpendicular distributions, to Mf and 𝜃Bn. We find a positive correlation between this spectral index ratio and Mf, which suggests that perpendicular energization of He+ PUIs is enhanced as the shock becomes stronger. These results inform modeling efforts of PUIs and shock acceleration processes, particularly those taking place at the termination shock.

Michael J. Starkey↗
NASA NTRS1996

Comparison of Separation Shock for Explosive and Nonexplosive Release Actuators on a Small Spacecraft Panel

Functional shock, safety, overall system costs, and emergence of new technologies, have raised concerns regarding continued use of pyrotechnics on spacecraft. NASA Headquarters-Office of Chief Engineer requested Langley Research Center (LaRC) study pyrotechnic alternatives using non-explosive actuators (NEA's), and LARC participated with Lockheed Martin Missile and Space Co. (LMMSC)-Sunnyvale, CA in objectively evaluating applicability of some NEA mechanisms to reduce small spacecraft and booster separation event shock. Comparative tests were conducted on a structural simulator using five different separation nut mechanisms, consisting of three pyrotechnics from OEA-Aerospace and Hi-Shear Technology and two NEA's from G&H Technology and Lockheed Martin Astronautics (LMA)-Denver, CO. Multiple actuations were performed with preloads up to 7000 pounds, 7000 being the comparison standard. All devices except LMA's NEA rotary flywheel-nut concept were available units with no added provisions to attenuate shock. Accelerometer measurements were recorded, reviewed, processed into Shock Response Spectra (SRS), and comparisons performed. For the standard preload, pyrotechnics produced the most severe and the G&H NEA the least severe functional shock levels. Comparing all results, the LMA concept produced the lowest levels, with preload limited to approximately 4200 pounds. Testing this concept over a range of 3000 to 4200 pounds indicated no effect of preload on shock response levels. This report presents data from these tests and the comparative results.

Lucy, M. H.↗
NASA NTRS2007

A Survey of Interplanetary Coronal Mass Ejections During 1996 - 2007

Interplanetary coronal mass ejections, the interplanetary counterparts of coronal mass ejections at the Sun, are the major drivers of interplanetary shocks in the heliosphere, and are associated with modulations of the galactic cosmic ray intensity, both short term (Forbush decreases caused by the passage of the shock, post-shock sheath, and ICME) and possibly with longer term modulation. Using several in-situ signatures of ICMEs, including plasma temperature, and composition, magnetic fields, and cosmic ray modulations, made by near-Earth spacecraft, we have compiled a "comprehensive" list of ICMEs passing the Earth since 1996, encompassing solar cycle 23. We summarize the properties of these ICMEs, such as their occurrence rate, speeds, association with solar energetic particle events, shocks and cosmic ray decreases.

Richardson, Ian↗