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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.

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At least 55 records · Page 3
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1979

Stability of inner planetary systems

The stability of inner planetary systems with arbitrary mass ratios is studied on the basis of the model of the plane restricted three-body problem. A quantitative stability criterion is obtained in terms of the difference between the critical value of the Jacobi constants (at which bifurcation can occur) and the critical value corresponding to a planetary orbit. An orbit is stable if it cannot leave a region that contains only the larger central body (Hill). For small values of the mass parameter, the maximum dimensionless radius of a Hill-stable orbit is 1 minus 2.4 times the cube root of the mass parameter.

Szebehely, V.↗
NASA NTRS1973

Optimality of incompletely measurable active and passive attitude control systems

Passive attitude control systems and active systems with incomplete state measurements are only suboptimal systems in the sense of optimal control theory, since optimal systems require complete state measurements or state estimations. An optimal system, then, requires additional hardware (especially in the case of flexible spacecraft) which results in higher costs. Therefore, it is a real engineering problem to determine how much an optimal system exceeds the suboptimal system, or in other words, what is the suboptimal system's degree of optimality. The problem will be treated in three steps: (1) definition of the degree of optimality for linear, time-invariant systems; (2) a computation method using the quadratic cost functional; (3) application to a gravity-gradient stabilized three-body satellite and a spinning flexible satellite.

Schiehlen, W.↗
NASA NTRS1983

Kinetic modeling of an IBr solar pumped laser

The possibility of using an IBr laser as a solar-energy converter is examined theoretically, and reasons for its choice are given. Broadband absorption results in dissociation with the formation of excited metastable Br atoms, some of which then lase to the ground state Br. The ground state is depopulated by three-body recombination and, more importantly, by exchange reactions which more than compensate for the high quenching in heteronuclear halogen systems. Kinetic modeling indicates lasing is possible in the pulsed mode and possibly in the steady state with a cooled gas flow system. Temperature effects are discussed. The efficiency of the laser approaches 1.2 percent at optical thicknesses large enough for complete absorption of the photons.

Harries, W. L.↗
NASA NTRS1972

Ion-atom association reactions in the rare gases.

A simple resonance theory of three-body ion-atom association reactions is presented. The reaction is considered as proceeding through the formation of a long lived orbiting resonance complex between the atom and the ion. The population of these quasi-bound states is estimated assuming thermal equilibrium. A stable molecular ion may then be formed upon deactivation of the complex by collision with a third body. Various simplifying approximations to the potential curves and surfaces are employed. Furthermore, the deactivation cross sections for the relevant complexes are estimated from the corresponding atomic 'sizes.' A simple analytical formula for the three-body rate constant is thus derived. Reasonable agreement with experiment is obtained for He(+) in He and fair agreement for other light systems.

Dickinson, A. S.↗
NASA NTRS1976

Mass flow in close binary systems

The manner of mass flow in close binary systems is examined with a special view to the role of the so-called critical Roche (or Jacobian) lobe, taking into consideration relevant physical conditions such as radiation pressure that may affect the restricted three-body problem treatment. The mass does not necessarily flow from component one to component two through the L1 point to form a gaseous ring surrounding the latter. These considerations are applied to X-ray binaries with early-type optical components, such as Cyg X-1 (HDE 226868) and 3U 1700 - 37 (HD 153919). In the two bright close binary systems Beta Lyr and UW CMa, which are believed to be undergoing dynamic mass transfer, recent Copernicus observations show that the gas giving rise to the prominent ultraviolet emission lines surrounds the entire binary system rather than merely component two. Implications of these observations are also discussed.

Kondo, Y.↗
NASA NTRS1973

Four-body trajectory optimization

A collection of typical three-body trajectories from the L1 libration point on the sun-earth line to the earth is presented. These trajectories in the sun-earth system are grouped into four distinct families which differ in transfer time and delta V requirements. Curves showing the variations of delta V with respect to transfer time, and typical two and three-impulse primer vector histories, are included. The development of a four-body trajectory optimization program to compute fuel optimal trajectories between the earth and a point in the sun-earth-moon system are also discussed. Methods for generating fuel optimal two-impulse trajectories which originate at the earth or a point in space, and fuel optimal three-impulse trajectories between two points in space, are presented. A brief qualitative comparison of these methods is given. An example of a four-body two-impulse transfer from the Li libration point to the earth is included.

Pu, C. L.↗
NASA NTRS1973

Periodic solutions of a spring-pendulum system.

A study has been made of a dynamical system composed of a pendulum and a harmonic oscillator, in order to show the remarkable resemblance with many classical celestial mechanics problems, in particular, the restricted three-body problem. It is shown that the well-known investigations of periodic orbits can be applied to the present dynamics problem.

Broucke, R.↗
NASA NTRS1976

The evolution of comet orbits

The origin of comets and the evolution of their orbits are discussed. Factors considered include: the law of survival of comets against ejection on hyperbolic orbits; short-period comets are not created by single close encounters of near-parabolic comets with Jupiter; observable long-period comets do not evolve into observable short-period comets; unobservable long-period comets with perihelia near Jupiter can evolve into observable short-period comets; long-period comets cannot have been formed or created within the planetary region of the solar system (excluding the effects of stellar perturbations); it is possible that some of the short-period comets could have been formed inside the orbit of Neptune; circularly-restricted three-body problem, and its associated Jacobi integral, are not valid approximations to use in studying origin and evolution of comets.

Everhart, E.↗
NASA NTRS1971

Method for constructing periodic orbits in nonlinear dynamic systems

Method is modification of generalized Newton-Ralphson algorithm for analyzing two-point boundary problems. It constructs sequence of solutions that converge to precise dynamic solution in the sequence limit. Program calculates periodic orbits in either circular or elliptical restricted three-body problems.

Bennett, A. G.↗
NASA NTRS1980

Central configurations and hyperbolic-elliptic motion in the three-body problem

A refined classification of motion for the planar three-body problem with zero-sum total energy is presented. The structure and dimensions of the sets of initial conditions leading to parabolic expansion or hyperbolic-elliptic motion are found. Attention is given to the use of the Hamiltonian of the system and to the two- and three-dimensional problem. It is verified that the new coordinates of position and linear momentum approaches limits as t (time) approaches infinity, and that these limits constitute equilibrium solutions to the three-body problem representing control configurations.

Hulkower, N. D.↗
NASA NTRS1986

A unified N-body and statistical treatment of stellar dynamics. III - Early postcollapse evolution of globular clusters

The period immediately following the core collapse phase in the evolution of a globular cluster is studied using a hybrid N-body/Fokker-Planck stellar dynamical code. Several core oscillations of the type predicted in earlier work are seen. The oscillations are driven by the formation, hardening, and ejection of binaries by three-body processes, and appear to decay on a timescale of about 10 to the 7th yr, for the choice of 'typical' cluster parameters made here. There is no evidence that they are gravothermal in nature. The mechanisms responsible for the decay are discussed in some detail. The distribution of hard binaries produced by the oscillations is compared with theoretical expectations and the longer term evolution of the system is considered.

Mcmillan, S. L. W.↗
NASA NTRS1975

Periodic orbits in the Planar General Three-Body Problem

The article contains a numerical study of periodic solutions of the Planar General Three-Body Problem. Several new periodic solutions have been discovered and are described. In particular, there is a continuous family with variable masses, extending all the way from the elliptic restricted problem to the general problem with three equal masses. All our examples have special symmetry properties which are described in detail. Finally we also suggest some important applications to the natural satellites of the solar system.

Broucke, R.↗
NASA NTRS1987

Three-body Coulomb bound states

The binding energies of three-particle systems containing two electrons and one positive particle of mass M are reexamined in an attempt to understand the approximate proportionality of the 1Se ground-state binding energies of the reduced masses, as pointed out by Botero and Green (1986). The contribution to the energy of the mass-polarization term is evaluated. No fundamental principle is involved, since the mass polarization merely decreases somewhat as the mass of the positive particle is reduced below the proton mass. In the case of the excited 3Pe state, this reduction is not sufficient to allow binding when M approaches the electron mass. Some properties of the recently observed negative muonium ion (e/-/ mu/+/ e/-/) are also computed.

Bhatia, A. K.↗