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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 73 records · Page 4

Constraints on the Evolution of the Dichotomy Boundary at 50-90E

The global dichotomy is a fundamental feature of Mars. It marks the boundary between the highly cratered, older southern highlands, and the northern plains. Recent analysis of buried craters in the northern lowlands confirms the long held suspicion that they are comparable in age to the southern highlands, but with surficial deposits of younger material. A variety of exogenic and endogenic models have been proposed for the origin of the dichotomy, including multiple impacts, plate tectonics, and degree one convection produced by core formation, a plume under the lowlands, or a plume under the highlands. New gravity and topography data from the Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mission favor endogenic processes. In this study we examine MGS topography, gravity and magnetic field data to constrain the tectonic history the dichotomy in the region 30-60N and 50-90E, which encompasses portions of the Ismenius Lacus quadrangle. The dichotomy formed very early the history of Mars and has undergone extensive modification by impact cratering, erosion, and faulting. This history must be carefully interpreted in order to reconstruct the original nature of the dichotomy boundary and ultimately discriminate between models of origin. In the study area boundary-parallel faults are well preserved, and may be the result of gravitational relaxation. The geologic history has been examined in detail, including estimates of volumes of material eroded. Further, it is one of the few regions where there is a correlation between the free air gravity, magnetic anomalies, and the geology. This allows to constrain subsurface faulting beneath the lowlands fill material. In addition to being an excellent location to unravel the complex history of the dichotomy, this area preserves the transition from a highly magnetized highlands crust to an unmagnetized or slightly magnetized lowlands crust.

S E Smrekar↗

Theoretical models for Mars and their seismic properties

Theoretical seismic properties of the planet Mars are investigated on the basis of the various models which have been proposed for the internal composition of the planet. The latest interpretation of gravity-field data, assuming a lower value of the moment of inertia, would require a less dense mantle and a larger core than previous models. If Mars is chondritic in composition, the most reasonable models are an incompletely differentiated H-chondrite or a mixture of H-chondrites and carbonaceous chondrites. Seismic profiles, travel times, and free oscillation periods are computed for various models, with the aim of establishing which seismic data is crucial for deciding among the alternatives. A detailed discussion is given of the seismic properties which could - in principle - help answer the questions of whether Mars' core is liquid or solid and whether Mars has a partially molten asthenosphere in its upper mantle.

Okal, E. A.↗

Applying Qualitative Hazard Analysis to Support Quantitative Safety Analysis for Proposed Reduced Wake Separation Conops

This paper describes a scenario-driven hazard analysis process to identify, eliminate, and control safety-related risks. Within this process, we develop selective criteria to determine the applicability of applying engineering modeling to hypothesized hazard scenarios. This provides a basis for evaluating and prioritizing the scenarios as candidates for further quantitative analysis. We have applied this methodology to proposed concepts of operations for reduced wake separation for closely spaced parallel runways. For arrivals, the process identified 43 core hazard scenarios. Of these, we classified 12 as appropriate for further quantitative modeling, 24 that should be mitigated through controls, recommendations, and / or procedures (that is, scenarios not appropriate for quantitative modeling), and 7 that have the lowest priority for further analysis.

Shortle, John F.↗

Evaluation of a Thermodynamic Ice Crystal Icing Model Using Experimental Ice Accretion Data

This paper presents the evaluation of a thermodynamic ice crystal icing model, previously presented to describe the possible mechanisms of icing within the core of a turbofan jet engine. It has been proposed that there are two types of distinct ice accretions based on a surface energy balance: freeze-dominated icing and melt-dominated icing. In the former, ice accretion occurs where a freeze fraction (0 to 1) of melted ice crystals freezes on a surface, along with the existing ice of the impinging water and ice mass. This freeze-dominated icing is characterized by having strong adhesion to the surface. In the latter, icing occurs from accumulated unmelted ice on a surface, where a melt fraction (0 to 1) dictates the amount of unmelted impinged ice. This melt-dominated icing is characterized by weakly bonded surface adhesion. The experimentally observed ice growth rates suggest that only a small fraction of the impinging ice remains on the surface, implying a mass loss mechanism such as splash, runback, bounce, or erosion. This mass loss parameter must be determined in conjunction with the fraction of freezing liquid water or fraction of melting ice on an icing surface. This loss parameter, however, along with the freeze and melt fraction, are the only experimental parameters that are currently not measured directly. Using reported icing growth rates from published ice crystal icing experiments, a methodology is proposed to determine these unknown parameters. This work takes reported ice accretion data from tests conducted by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in 2016 and tests NASA collaborated on with the National Research Council (NRC) of Canada in 2012 that examined the fundamental physics of ice crystal icing. Those research efforts sought to generate icing conditions representative of those that occur inside a jet engine when ingesting ice crystals. This paper presents the fundamental equations of the thermodynamic model, the methodology used to determine the aforementioned unknown icing parameters, and results from model evaluation using experimental data. In addition, this paper builds on the previously proposed model by adding a transient conduction term to explain ice growth behavior at the onset of experimental tests that was observed to be different from steady-state ice growth that occurred later in the test run.With the addition of this energy term, this becomes a quasi-steady model. A key finding from this work suggests that mass loss fractions can exceed 0.90 for steady ice growth periods. In addition, due to conductive heat fluxes when using a warmer-than-freezing airfoil, lower mass loss fraction values were calculated during the initial transient period.

Ice-Crystal Ice Accretion↗

The formation of planetary nebulae

A hydrodynamic model of a star consisting of a helium shell and a hydrogen-rich shell overlying a hard core is proposed in order to find out what causes the ejection of stellar mass with low velocities that form planetary nebulae. Observations indicate that a planetary nebula is composed of hydrogen-rich material, while the remaining remnant of the star is of helium or heavier material.

Sparks, W. M.↗

Curvilinear Ground on Mars: the Search for Terrestrial Analogs

Curvilinear features on Mars have dimensions ranging from 0.5 to 18.6 km in length and 0.2 to 2.0 km in width; these landforms can occur as curving ridges and troughs, rimless arcuate depressions, or features with no apparent relief. The Martian curvilinear ground has a relatively consistent relationship to both regional and local geomorphology. These landforms are one of a suite of features that occur near the base of the regional slope that marks the transition from the cratered uplands to the northern plains. Based on morphologic similarities, numerous terrestrial analogs were proposed for these Martian features. These include gilgai, backwasting scarps, solifluction lobes, ice-cored ridges and glacial moraines. Process models for the origin of the curvilinear ground suggest that its formation probably involved several processes, including scarp retreat by backwasting.

Rossbacher, L. A.↗

Origin and evolution of the ureilite parent magmas - Multi-stage igneous activity on a large parent body

The minor-element/major-element trends among the ureilites were investigated using electron microprobe data on olivine and pigeonite cores in eight low-shock ureilites. The results show well-defined correlations between Fe/X (where X is one of the minor elements Mn, Cr, Ca, Al, Ti, P, or Ni) and Fe/Mg ratios. For the lithophile minor elements, these trends are linear, with positive slope, and pass through or near the origin, indicating various degrees of FeO reduction of the parent magmas. The trends shown by P and Ni are consistent with this interpretation and require, in addition, equilibrium crystallization of 20-27 mole pct metal. A model is proposed for generation and crystallization of ureilite parent magmas, which predicts that the ureilite parent body had a differentiated crust, did not have a core, and was at least 235 km in radius.

Goodrich, Cyrena Anne↗

Thermal limit for spherical accretion and X-ray bursts

A mechanism is described whereby the rate of spherical accretion on a collapsed object and the resulting X-ray luminosity can be limited by thermal heating and evaporation of the accreting gas. The luminosity limit can be a factor of the order of 100 below the corresponding Eddington limit. Steady accretion flow is not possible within a range above this limit, and X-ray bursts can be produced by accretion surges resulting from the cooling and collapse of a heated gas shell above a critical optical depth. The luminosity and approximate recurrence rate of the bursts from NGC 6624 and other burst sources may then be understood. A general model for bursters is proposed in which massive (about 10 to 100 solar masses) black holes, from massive stars and the cores of disrupted globular clusters, undergo supercritical spherical accretion in interstellar clouds. Both X-ray and gamma-ray bursts are predicted to have similar hard X-ray (about 200 keV) spectra, though high average accretion rates and central optical depths also yield a comparable luminosity at around 5 keV from a Comptonized blackbody spectrum in the X-ray bursts and associated steady sources.

Grindlay, J. E.↗

Accounting for crustal magnetization in models of the core magnetic field

The problem of determining the magnetic field originating in the earth's core in the presence of remanent and induced magnetization is considered. The effect of remanent magnetization in the crust on satellite measurements of the core magnetic field is investigated. The crust as a zero-mean stationary Gaussian random process is modelled using an idea proposed by Parker (1988). It is shown that the matrix of second-order statistics is proportional to the Gram matrix, which depends only on the inner-products of the appropriate Green's functions, and that at a typical satellite altitude of 400 km the data are correlated out to an angular separation of approximately 15 deg. Accurate and efficient means of calculating the matrix elements are given. It is shown that the variance of measurements of the radial component of a magnetic field due to the crust is expected to be approximately twice that in horizontal components.

Jackson, Andrew↗

A new cosmological model - Formation of organic molecules, planets, and comets.

A new model is proposed based on studies of plasma instabilities in a magnetic field, which suggests that the inside region of a star is quantized into smaller regions, each of which is rotating in the magnetic field of a central rotating stellar core. Numerous applications of such a model are explored and some, such as the earth, evaluated in detail.

Johnson, F. M.↗

Four Bed Molecular Sieve - Exploration (4BMS-X) Virtual Heater Design and Optimization

A 4BMS-X (Four Bed Molecular Sieve - Exploration) design and heater optimization study for CO2 sorbent beds in proposed exploration system architectures is presented. The primary objectives of the study are to reduce heater power and thermal gradients within the CO2 sorbent beds while minimizing channeling effects. Some of the notable changes from the ISS (International Space Station) CDRA (Carbon Dioxide Removal Assembly) to the proposed exploration system architecture include cylindrical beds, alternate sorbents and an improved heater core. Results from both 2D and 3D sorbent bed thermal models with integrated heaters are presented. The 2D sorbent bed models are used to optimize heater power and fin geometry while the 3D models address end effects in the beds for more realistic thermal gradient and heater power predictions.

Schunk, R. Gregory↗

Secondary Electron Emission Spectroscopy of Diamond Surfaces

This report presents the results of the secondary electron emission spectroscopy study of hydrogenated diamond surfaces for single crystals and chemical vapor-deposited polycrystalline films. One-electron calculations of Auger spectra of diamond surfaces having various hydrogen coverages are presented, the major features of the experimental spectra are explained, and a theoretical model for Auger spectra of hydrogenated diamond surfaces is proposed. An energy shift and a change in the line shape of the carbon core-valence-valence (KVV) Auger spectra were observed for diamond surfaces after exposure to an electron beam or by annealing at temperatures higher than 950 C. This change is related to the redistribution of the valence-band local density of states caused by hydrogen desorption from the surface. A strong negative electron affinity (NEA) effect, which appeared as a large, narrow peak in the low-energy portion of the spectrum of the secondary electron energy distribution, was also observed on the diamond surfaces. A fine structure in this peak, which was found for the first time, reflected the energy structure of the bottom of the conduction band. Further, the breakup of the bulk excitons at the surface during secondary electron emission was attributed to one of the features of this structure. The study demonstrated that the NEA type depends on the extent of hydrogen coverage of the diamond surface, changing from the true type for the completely hydrogenated surface to the effective type for the partially hydrogenated surface.

Krainsky, Isay L.↗

High Pressure/Temperature Metal Silicate Partitioning of Tungsten

The behavior of chemical elements during metal/silicate segregation and their resulting distribution in Earth's mantle and core provide insight into core formation processes. Experimental determination of partition coefficients allows calculations of element distributions that can be compared to accepted values of element abundances in the silicate (mantle) and metallic (core) portions of the Earth. Tungsten (W) is a moderately siderophile element and thus preferentially partitions into metal versus silicate under many planetary conditions. The partitioning behavior has been shown to vary with temperature, silicate composition, oxygen fugacity, and pressure. Most of the previous work on W partitioning has been conducted at 1-bar conditions or at relatively low pressures, i.e. <10 GPa, and in two cases at or near 20 GPa. According to those data, the stronger influences on the distribution coefficient of W are temperature, composition, and oxygen fugacity with a relatively slight influence in pressure. Predictions based on extrapolation of existing data and parameterizations suggest an increased pressured dependence on metal/ silicate partitioning of W at higher pressures 5. However, the dependence on pressure is not as well constrained as T, fO2, and silicate composition. This poses a problem because proposed equilibration pressures for core formation range from 27 to 50 GPa, falling well outside the experimental range, therefore requiring exptrapolation of a parametereized model. Higher pressure data are needed to improve our understanding of W partitioning at these more extreme conditions.

Shofner, G. A.↗

Feasibility of Dynamic Stability Measurements of Planetary Entry Capsules Using MSBS

The feasibility of conducting dynamic stability testing of planetary entry capsules at low supersonic Mach numbers using a Magnetic Suspension and Balance System (MSBS) is reviewed. The proposed approach would employ a spherical magnetic core, exert control in three degrees-of-freedom (i.e. x, y, z translations) and allow the model to freely rotate in pitch, yaw, and roll. A proof-of-concept system using an existing MSBS electromagnet array in a subsonic wind tunnel is described, with future potential for development of a new system for a supersonic wind tunnel.

Britcher, Colin↗

Mission interactive scenarion studio for autonomous spacecraft

We propose building a Studio enabling the use of diverse existing mission activity and scenario patterns, the creation of new ones, and the modeling of their effects using existing modeling tools. The core of the Studio is a component-based Type Library, which captures years of mission adaptation patterns in various forms. The Studio works as a content server to capture the developed adaptation knowledge for reuse and provides bridging into different mission uplink implementations, including the Mission Data System [l] (MDS) state/goal machinery. Various activities can be coordinated, controlled, and reused through the Studio's component interface to establish and model a mission scenario. A special component Factory mechanism will be in place to facilitate the adaptation of projects into the Studio. The architecture of the Studio reflects and enforces a division of knowledge and actions into three parts: Model, Controller, Viewer. The Model contains information about (a proposed version of) the spacecraft and mission. The Controller contains logic for constructing scenarios of mission activities. The information in the Model and Controller is principally in the form of reusable patterns. A Viewer can be a simple or complex software system. For example, Apgen [2,3] is one possible viewer, MDS is another. A 3-tiered infrastructure is used for the Studio, reflecting the Model, Controller, Viewer architecture [4,5]. The Studio is useful in pre-phase A of a project by enabling spacecraft design options to be played against desired mission scenarios. In later design phases of a project, the construction and modeling of more detailed scenarios is supported by the Studio.

autonomous spacecraft↗

An Interconnected Network of Core-Forming Melts Produced by Shear Deformation

The formation mechanism of terrestrial planetary is still poorly understood, and has been the subject of numerous experimental studies. Several mechanisms have been proposed by which metal-mainly iron with some nickel-could have been extracted from a silicate mantle to form the core. Most recent models involve gravitational sinking of molten metal or metal sulphide through a partially or fully molten mantle that is often referred to as a'magma ocean. Alternative models invoke percolation of molten metal along an interconnected network (that is, porous flow) through a solid silicate matrix. But experimental studies performed at high pressures have shown that, under hydrostatic conditions, these melts do not form an interconnected network, leading to the widespread assumption that formation of metallic cores requires a magma ocean. In contrast, here we present experiments which demonstrate that shear deformation to large strains can interconnect a significant fraction of initially isolated pockets of metal and metal sulphide melts in a solid matrix of polycrystalline olivine. Therefore, in a dynamic (nonhydrostatic) environment, percolation remains a viable mechanism for the segregation and migration of core-forming melts in a solid silicate mantle.

Bruhn, D.↗

Photospheric subrotations, differential rotation and zonal wind bands - A reverse pirouette

It is noted that on the sun the core is assumed to be rotating with a period of about 12 days while the overlying 'mantle' convection zone has a solid body component of about 27 days. It is proposed that this phenomenon could simply be understood as a 'reverse pirouette'. It is noted that while previously proposed models provide solutions of valid equations and computer analyses, they lack a simple physical picture to explain the phenomenon. In the model proposed here, the solar oblateness is conventionally providing added heat input at the poles. The result is the large scale transport of material toward the equator, causing subrotation. The model is thus seen as facilitating an understanding of the formation of a slowly rotating convection zone above the more rapidly rotating core. The latitudinal photospheric differential rotation is interpreted as a 'second order' effect associated with the horizontal transport of momentum.

Schatten, K. H.↗

Mechanical Properties of 17-4PH Stainless Steel Foam Panels

Rectangular 17-4PH stainless steel sandwiched foam panels were fabricated using a commercial manufacturing technique by brazing two sheets to a foam core. Microstructural observations and ultrasonic nondestructive evaluation of the panels revealed large variations in the quality of the brazed areas from one panel to the next as well as within the same panel. Shear tests conducted on specimens machined from the panels exhibited failures either in the brazed region or in the foam core for the poorly brazed and well-brazed samples, respectively. Compression tests were conducted on the foam cores to evaluate their elastic and plastic deformation behavior. These data were compared with published data on polymeric and metallic foams, and with theoretical deformation models proposed for open cell foams.

Raj, S. V.↗