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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 91 records · Page 5

Wind-Tunnel Investigation of the Horizontal Motion of a Wing Near the Ground

By the method of images the horizontal steady motion of a wing at small heights above the ground was investigated in the wind tunnel, A rectangular wing with Clark Y-H profile was tested with and without flaps. The distance from the trailing edge of the wing to the ground was varied within the limits 0.75 less than or = s/c less than or = 0.25. Measurements were made of the lift, the drag, the pitching moment, and the pressure distribution at one section. For a wing without flaps and one with flaps a considereble decrease in the lift force and a,drop in the drag was obtained at angles of attack below stalling. The flow separation near the ground occurs at smaller angles of attack than is the case for a great height above the ground. At horizontal steady flight for practical values of the height above the ground the maximum lift coefficient for the wing without flaps changes little, but markedly decreases for the wing with flaps. Analysis of these phenomena involves the investigation of the pressure distribution. The pressure distribution curves showed that the changes occurring near the ground are not equivalent to a change in the angle of attack. At the lower surface of the section a very strong increase in the pressures is observed. The pressure changes on the upper surface at angles of attack below stalling are insignificant and lead mainly to an increase in the unfavorable pressure gradient, resulting in the earlier occurrence of separation. For a wing with flaps at large angles of attack for distances from the trailing edge of the flap to the ground less than 0.5 chord, the flow between the wing end the ground is retarded so greatly that the pressure coefficient at the lower surface of the section is very near its limiting value (P = 1), and any further possibility of increase in the pressure is very small. In the application an approximate computation procedure is given of the change of certain aerodynamic characteristics for horizontal steady flight near the ground.

Serebrisky, Y. M.↗

Aeronomy of Ice in the Mesosphere (AIM)

The overall goal of the Aeronomy of Ice in the Mesosphere (AIM) experiment is to resolve why Polar Mesospheric Clouds form and why they vary. By measuring PMCs and the thermal, chemical and dynamical environment in which they form, we will quanti@ the connection between these clouds and the meteorology of the polar mesosphere. In the end, this will provide the basis for study of long-term variability in the mesospheric climate and its relationship to global change. The results of AIM will be a rigorous validation of predictive models that can reliably use past PMC changes and present trends as indicators of global change. The AIM goal will be achieved by measuring PMC extinction, brightness, spatial distribution, particle size distributions, gravity wave activity, dust influx to the atmosphere and precise, vertical profile measurements of temperature, H20, C&, 0 3 , C02, NO. and aerosols. These data can only be obtained by a complement of instruments on an orbiting spacecraft (S/C).

Source record↗

Swift Observatory Space Simulation Testing

The Swift Observatory is a Middle-Class Explorer (MIDEX) mission that is a rapidly re-pointing spacecraft with immediate data distribution capability to the astronomical community. Its primary objectives are to characterize and determine the origin of Gamma Ray Bursts (GRBs) and to use the collected data on GRB phenomena in order to probe the universe and gain insight into the physics of black hole formation and early universe. The main components of the spacecraft are the Burst Alert Telescope (BAT), Ultraviolet and Optical Telescope (UVOT), X-Ray Telescope (XRT), and Optical Bench (OB) instruments coupled with the Swift spacecraft (S/C) bus. The Swift Observatory will be tested at the Space Environment Simulation (SES) chamber at the Goddard Space Flight Center from May to June 2004 in order to characterize its thermal behavior in a vacuum environment. In order to simulate the independent thermal zones required by the BAT, XRT, UVOT, and OB instruments, the spacecraft is mounted on a chariot structure capable of maintaining adiabatic interfaces and enclosed in a modified, four section MSX fixture in order to accommodate the strategic placement of seven cryopanels (on four circuits), four heater panels, and a radiation source burst simulator mechanism. There are additionally 55 heater circuits on the spacecraft. To mitigate possible migration of silicone contaminants from BAT to the XRT and UVOT instruments, a contamination enclosure is to be fabricated around the BAT at the uppermost section of the MSX fixture. This paper discuses the test requirements and implemented thermal vacuum test configuration for the Swift Observatory.

Espiritu, Mellina↗

Velocity Noise in Space Shuttle and ISS GPS from the Ionosphere

A viewgraph presentation on the noise velocity effects on the Space Shuttle and International Space Station (ISS) Global Positioning System (GPS) from the ionosphere is shown. The topics include: Scintillation in MAGR/S GPS used for Shuttle; 2) Geographic Distribution of Scintillation; 3) Diurnal Variability; 4) Feynman's interpretation of interference; 5) Angle between line of sight and S/C velocity; and 6) Space Station GPS

Kramer, Leonard↗

Thermal Design of the Cassini Narrow Angle Camera

The Narrow Angle Camera (NAC) is one of two cameras in the Imaging Science Subsystem (ISS) on the Cassini Spacecraft (S/C), the second camera is a Voyager-inherited Wide Angle Camera (WAC). Cassini is currently planned to be launched in October 1997 and will arrive at Saturn for a four year tour in June 2004. The Narrow Angle Optics are a Ritchey Chretien type Optics, has a focal length of 2000 mm, a relative aperture of f/10.5, a spectral range of 200 to 1100 nm, 24 filters, a pixel field of view of 6.0 microradian/pixel, and has a field of view of 3.5 x 3.5 degrees. The sensor is a Charged Couple Device (CCD), 1024 x 1024 pixels with a pixel size of 12 x 12 um, a full well greater than 50,000 e-, on chip processing of up to 800,000 e- pixel summation, a dark current of less than 0.1 e-/pixel/sec at operating temperature, and a charge transfer efficiency of 0.99999 at operating temperature...

Hoffman, Pamela↗

Clementine RRELAX SRAM Particle Spectrometer

The Clementine RRELAX radiation monitor chip consists of a p-FET total dose monitor and a 4-kbit SRAM particle spectrometer. Eight of these chips were included in the RRELAX and used to detect the passage of the Clementine (S/C) and the innerstage adapter (ISA) through the earth's radiation belts and the 21-Feb 1994 solar flare. This is the first space flight for this 1.2 micron rad-soft custom CMOS radiation monitor. This paper emphasizes results from the SRAM particle detector which showed that it a) has a detection range of five orders of magnitude relative to the 21-Feb solar flare, b) is not affected by electrons, and c) detected microflares occurring with a 26.5 day period.

Clementine↗

Exploring the Mineralogy of the Moon with M3

From the initial era or lunar exploration, we have learned that many processes active on the early Moon are common to most terrestrial planets, including the record of early and late impact bombardment. Since most major geologic activity ceased on the Moon approx. 3 Gy ago, the Moon's surface provides a record of the earliest era of terrestrial planet evolution. The type and composition of minerals that comprise a planetary surface are a direct result of the initial composition and subsequent thermal and physical processing. Lunar mineralogy seen today is thus a direct record of the early evolution of the lunar crust and subsequent geologic processes. Specifically, the distribution and concentration of specific minerals is closely tied to magma ocean products, lenses of intruded or remelted plutons, basaltic volcanism and fire-fountaining, and any process (e.g. cratering) that might redistribute or transform primary and secondary lunar crustal materials. The Moon Mineralogy Mapper (M3, or "m-cube") is a state-of-the-art imaging spectrometer that will fly on Chandrayaan-1, the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) mission to be launched late 2007 to early 2008. M3 is one of several foreign instruments chosen by ISRO to be flown on Chandrayaan-1 to complement the strong ISRO payload package. M3 was selected through a peer-review process as part of NASA s Discovery Program. It is under the oversight of PI Carle Pieters at Brown University and is being built by an experienced team at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Data analysis and calibration are carried out by a highly qualified and knowledgeable Science Team. To characterize diagnostic properties of lunar minerals, M3 acquires high spectral resolution reflectance data from 700 to 3000 nm (optional to 430 nm). M3 operates as a pushbroom spectrometer with a slit oriented orthogonal to the S/C orbital motion. Measurements are obtained simultaneously for 640 cross track spatial elements and 261 spectral elements. This translates to 70 m/pixel spatial resolution from a nominal 100 km polar orbit for Chandrayaan-1 . The primary science goal of M3 is to characterize and map lunar surface mineralogy in the context of its geologic evolution as outlined above. This translates into several sub-topics that focus on exploring the mineral character of the highland crust, characterizing the diversity basaltic volcanism, and identifying potential volatile concentrations near the poles. The primary exploration goal is to assess and map lunar mineral resources at high spatial resolution to support planning for future, targeted missions.

Pieters, C. M.↗

General Relativistic Magnetohydrodynamic Simulations of Jet Formation with a Thin Keplerian Disk

We have performed several simulations of black hole systems (non-rotating, black hole spin parameter a = 0.0 and rapidly rotating, a = 0.95) with a geometrically thin Keplerian disk using the newly developed RAISHIN code. The simulation results show the formation of jets driven by the Lorentz force and the gas pressure gradient. The jets have mildly relativistic speed (greater than or equal to 0.4 c). The matter is continuously supplied from the accretion disk and the jet propagates outward until each applicable terminal simulation time (non-rotating: t/tau S = 275 and rotating: t/tau S = 200, tau s equivalent to r(sub s/c). It appears that a rotating black hole creates an additional, faster, and more collimated inner outflow (greater than or equal to 0.5 c) formed and accelerated by the twisted magnetic field resulting from frame-dragging in the black hole ergosphere. This new result indicates that jet kinematic structure depends on black hole rotation.

Mizuno, Yosuke↗

Design and Analysis of a Formation Flying System for the Cross-Scale Mission Concept

The ESA-funded "Cross-Scale Technology Reference Study has been carried out with the primary aim to identify and analyse a mission concept for the investigation of fundamental space plasma processes that involve dynamical non-linear coupling across multiple length scales. To fulfill this scientific mission goal, a constellation of spacecraft is required, flying in loose formations around the Earth and sampling three characteristic plasma scale distances simultaneously, with at least two satellites per scale: electron kinetic (~10 km), ion kinetic (~100-2000 km), magnetospheric fluid (~3000-15000 km). The key Cross-Scale mission drivers identified are the number of S/C, the space segment configuration, the reference orbit design, the transfer and deployment strategy, the inter-satellite localization and synchronization process and the mission operations. This paper presents a comprehensive overview of the mission design and analysis for the Cross-Scale concept and outlines a technically feasible mission architecture for a multi-dimensional investigation of space plasma phenomena. The main effort has been devoted to apply a thorough mission-level trade-off approach and to accomplish an exhaustive analysis, so as to allow the characterization of a wide range of mission requirements and design solutions.

Cornara, Stefania↗

The METOP-A Orbit Acquisition Strategy and its LEOP Operational Experience

Europe's first polar-orbiting weather satellite, METOPA, was launched by a Soyuz launcher from Baikonur Cosmodrome on the 19th of October of 2006. The routine operations of METOP-A are conducted by EUMETSAT (European Organization for Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites) in the frame of the European Polar System mission (EPS). The METOP-A Launch and Early Orbit Phase (LEOP) operations have been performed by ESA/ESOC. The Flight Dynamics Orbit Determination and Control team (OD&C) at ESOC was in charge of correcting the S/C orbit as delivered by the launcher in such a way that EUMETSAT would be able to acquire the reference orbit with a drift-stop manoeuvre approximately two weeks after a LEOP of 3 days and Hand-Over to the EUMETSAT Control Centre (EUMETSAT-CC) in Darmstadt, Germany. The various strict constraints and the short amount of time available for ESOC operations made this task challenging. Several strategies were prepared before launch and analysed during LEOP based on the achieved injection orbit. This paper presents the different manoeuvre strategies investigated and finally applied to acquire the operational orbit, reporting as well the details of its execution and final achieved state.

Merz, K.↗

Space Technology 5 Observations of Auroral Field-Aligned Currents

During its three month long technology validation mission, Space Technology 5 (ST-5) returned high quality multi-point measurements of the near-Earth magnetic field. Its three micro-satellites were launched into a 300 x 4500 km, dawn - dusk, sun synchronous orbit (inclination = 105.60) orbit with a period of 138 min by a Pegasus launch vehicle on March 22, 2006. The spacecraft were maintained in a "pearls on a sting" constellation with controlled spacings ranging from just over 5000 km down to under 50 km. The individual micro-satellites were 48 cm tall octagons with diameters of 50 cm. They were spin-stabilized at approximately 20 rpm at deployment and slowly spun-down to about 15 rpm by the end of the mission. Each spacecraft carried a miniature tri-axial fluxgate magnetometer (MAG) provided by the University of California at Los Angeles mounted at the end of a ultra-low mass 72 cm boom. These data allow, for the first time, the separation of temporal and spatial variations in field-aligned current (FAC) perturbations measured in low-Earth orbit on time scales of 10 sec to 10 min. The constellation measurements are used to directly determine field-aligned current sheet motion, thickness. and current density. Two multi-point methods for the inference of FAC current density that have not previously been possible in low-Earth orbit are demonstrated: 1) the -standard method." based upon s/c velocity, but corrected for FAC current sheet motion. and 2) the "gradiometer method" which uses simultaneous magnetic field measurements at two points with known separation. Future studies will apply these methods to the entire ST-5 data sct and expand to include horizontal ionospheric currents. ULF waves and geomagnetic field gradient analyses.

Slavin, James↗

Space Technology 5 Multi-point Measurements of Near-Earth Magnetic Fields: Initial Results

The Space Technology 5 (ST-5) mission successfully placed three micro-satellites in a 300 x 4500 km dawn-dusk orbit on 22 March 2006. Each spacecraft carried a boom-mounted vector fluxgate magnetometer that returned highly sensitive and accurate measurements of the geomagnetic field. These data allow, for the first time, the separation of temporal and spatial variations in field-aligned current (FAC) perturbations measured in low-Earth orbit on time scales of approximately 10 sec to 10 min. The constellation measurements are used to directly determine field-aligned current sheet motion, thickness and current density. In doing so, we demonstrate two multi-point methods for the inference of FAC current density that have not previously been possible in low-Earth orbit; 1) the "standard method," based upon s/c velocity, but corrected for FAC current sheet motion, and 2) the "gradiometer method" which uses simultaneous magnetic field measurements at two points with known separation. Future studies will apply these methods to the entire ST-5 data set and expand to include geomagnetic field gradient analyses as well as field-aligned and ionospheric currents.

Slavin, James A.↗

Assessment of Proper Bonding Methods and Mechanical Characterization FPGA CQFPs

This presentation discusses fractured leads on field-programmable gate array (FPGA) during flight vibration. Actions taken to determine root cause and resolution of the failure include finite element analysis (FEA) and vibration testing and scanning electron microscopy (with X-ray microanalysis) and energy dispersive spectrometry (SEM/EDS) failure assessment. Bonding methods for surface mount parts is assessed, including critical analysis and assessment of random fatigue damage. Regarding ceramic quad flat pack (CQFP) lead fracture, after disassembling the attitude control electronics (ACE) configuration, photographs showed six leads cracked on FPGA RTSX72SU-1 CQ208B package located on the RWIC card. An identical package (FPGA RTSX32SU-1 CQ208B) mounted on the RWIC did not results in cracked pins due to vibration. FPGA lead failure theories include workmanship issues in the lead-forming, material defect in the leads of the FPGA packages, and the insecure mounting of the board in the card guides, among other theories. Studies were conducted using simple calculations to determine the response and fatigue life of the package. Shorter packages exhibited more response when loaded by out-of-plane displacement of PCB while taller packages exhibit more response when loaded by in-plane acceleration of PCB. Additionally, under-fill did not contribute to reducing stress in leads due to out-of-plane PCB loading or from component twisting, as much as corner bonding. The combination of corner bond and under-fill is best to address mechanical and thermal S/C environment. Test results of bonded parts showed reduced (dampened) amplitude and slightly shifted peaks at the un-bonded natural frequency and an additional response at the bonded frequency. Stress due to PCBB out-of-plane loading was decreased on in the corners when only a corner bond was used. Future work may address CQFP fatigue assessment, including the investigation of discrepancy in predicted fatigue damage, as well as comparing fatigue life and fatigue damage cycle ration computed using FEA and Miner's rule to results from a fatigue assessment software program.

Davis, Milton C.↗

Managing Risk to Ensure a Successful Cassini/Huygens Saturn Orbit Insertion (SOI)

I. Design: a) S/C designed to be largely single fault tolerant; b) Operate in flight demonstrated envelope, with margin; and c) Strict compliance with requirements & flight rules. II. Test: a) Baseline, fault & stress testing using flight system testbeds (H/W & S/W); b) In-flight checkout & demos to remove first time events. III. Failure Analysis: a) Critical event driven fault tree analysis; b) Risk mitigation & development of contingencies. IV) Residual Risks: a) Accepted pre-launch waivers to Single Point Failures; b) Unavoidable risks (e.g. natural disaster). V) Mission Assurance: a) Strict process for characterization of variances (ISAs, PFRs & Waivers; b) Full time Mission Assurance Manager reports to Program Manager: 1) Independent assessment of compliance with institutional standards; 2) Oversight & risk assessment of ISAs, PFRs & Waivers etc.; and 3) Risk Management Process facilitator.

risk managment↗