SEARCH · Search NASA
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.
An improved large-area gas scintillation proportional counter has been built, suitable for use in X-ray astronomy. This counter employs electron focusing in a drift region to achieve uniform response. It is shown that a window area of 60 sq cm and a spectral resolution of 10% fwhm or better at 5.9 keV can be obtained.
Two balloon flights of large-area scintillation crystal detector arrays indicate that the rate of weak gamma-ray bursts is significantly below that expected from a uniform distribution of burst sources. This result, combined with the data from stronger bursts, gives strong evidence for a galactic confinement of burst sources. Reasonable models of confinement limit the intrinsic radiated energy per burst to the order of 10 to the (39th to 41st power) ergs.
Experimental technology advances were implemented to increase the conversion efficiency of ultrathin 2cm x 2cm cells, to demonstrate a capability for fabricating such cells at a rate of 10,000 per month, and to fabricate 200 large-area ultrathin cells to determine their feasibility of manufacture. A production rate of 10,000 50 micron m cells per month with lot average AM0 efficiencies of 11.5% was demonstrated, with peak efficiencies of 13.5% obtained. Losses in most stages of the processing were minimized, the remaining exceptions being in the photolithography and metallization steps for front contact generation and breakage handling. The 5cm x 5cm cells were fabricated with a peak yield in excess of 40% for over 10% AM0 efficiency. Greater fabrication volume is needed to fully evaluate the expected yield and efficiency levels for large cells.
Progress made by the Low-Cost Silicon Solar Array Project during the period January through March 1978 is reported. It includes task reports on silicon material processing, large-area silicon sheet development, encapsulation materials testing and development, project engineering and operations, and manufacturing techniques, plus the steps taken to integrate these efforts.
Topics discussed include silicon material processing; large-area silicon sheet development; encapsulation materials testing and development; project engineering and operations activities, and manufacturing techniques. The steps taken to integrate these efforts, are described.
The technical feasibility of providing nearly continuous solar energy to a world-distributed set of conversion sites by means of a system of orbiting, large-area, low-areal-density reflecting structures is examined. Requisite mirror area to provide a chosen, year-averaged site intensity is shown. A modeled reflector structure, with suitable planarity and ability to meet operational torques and loads, is discussed. Typical spatial and temporal insolation profiles are presented. These determine the sizing of components and the output electric power from a baselined photovoltaic conversion system. Technical and economic challenges which, if met, would allow the system to provide a large fraction of future world energy needs at costs competitive to circa-1995 fossil and nuclear sources are discussed.
The relative abundances of Fe, Co, Ni, Cu, and Zn in the cosmic rays have been measured using a large-area balloon-borne electronic detector system. The abundance ratios Ni/Fe and Zn/Fe are 5.0 + or - 0.2% and 0.06 + or - 0.01%, respectively. The Zn abundance is low (40%) compared with the Cameron (1973) (C1) solar system, and is best consistent with the solar system C2 meteorite abundances. The ratios Co/Fe and Cu/Fe, extrapolated to the top of the atmosphere, are 0.68 + or - 0.14% and 0.066 + or - 0.030% respectively; since charge peaks are not resolved at Co and Cu, these results are taken as upper limits of 0.8% and 0.1%, respectively. The Co upper limit is consistent with complete decay of Co-57 at the source and implies a lower limit of 2 years for the time between nucleosynthesis and acceleration of these nuclei.
The spectrum of cosmic-ray electrons has been measured with an instrument that combines a transition-radiation detector with a shower detector. The transition-radiation detector provides unique identification of individual electrons and good discrimination against protons. At the same time, it allows the construction of a large-area instrument (0.48 sq m ? ster) and consequently makes possible a measurement of improved statistical accuracy. The instrument has been calibrated with electron beams of 5-300 GeV at Fermilab, thus eliminating energy-dependent biases. A first balloon flight yielded 30 hours of data at an altitude of 5 g/sq cm. The design of the instrument is described, along with the accelerator calibrations and the analysis of the balloon flight data. The spectrum of electrons is found to be significantly steeper than that of protons over the whole energy range.
IRIS, a telescope consisting of a large-area precision Cerenkov detector, scintillators, spark chambers, and a passive stack of Lexan polycarbonate track detectors, was exposed to the primary cosmic radiation for 6.6 sq m sr hr in a balloon flight in 1976. This measurement has yielded the isotopic composition of the iron-group elements Cr, Mn, Fe, and Ni with an average mass resolution of 0.65 amu for the energies 320-500 MeV per amu at the detector. This experiment places the most severe constraints to date on deviation from solar-system composition of the source of the cosmic radiation. Upper limits of 10 percent are placed on the ratios Fe-54/Fe-56 and Fe-58/Fe-56, which are inconsistent with large departures from solar system source composition reported by other workers. The isotopic measurements of Fe and Ni preclude the possibility that these cosmic rays were produced in a single e-process zone. The mean mass of Mn is less than 55, indicating the presence of electron-capture species produced by spallation.
The realization of low cost, electric power from large-area silicon, photovoltaic arrays will depend on the development of new methods for large capacity production of solar grade (SG) silicon with a cost of less than $10 per kilogram by 1986 (established Department of Energy goal). The objective of the program is to develop a method to produce SG silicon in large quantities based on the high temperature-sodium reduction of silicon tetrachloride (SiCl4) to yield molten silicon and the coproduct salt vapor (NaCl). Commercial ac electric arc heaters will be utilized to provide a hyper-heated mixture of argon and hydrogen which will furnish the required process energy. The reactor is designed for a nominal silicon flow rate of 45 kg/hr. Analyses and designs have been conducted to evaluate the process and complete the initial design of the experimental verification unit.
Results are presented for an analysis of data on a type I X-ray burst from MXB 1728-34 observed by three large-area instruments on HEAO 1. The measurements cover the energy range from 2 to 150 keV and provide the capability of resolving significant intensity variations on a time scale of milliseconds and spectral changes on a scale of tenths of seconds. The initial rise of the burst is discussed, millisecond intensity variations are examined, and the spectral evolution of the burst is described. Physical parameters are estimated for various source models, and the total X-ray flux at energies of 85 to 180 keV during the burst is shown to have been no more than about 6% of the total observed X-ray flux at energies below 25 keV.
The log N-log S relationships for several galactic distribution models of gamma-ray burst sources are derived. The resulting curves are substantially different from the galactic curves usually assumed (slope = -1). There is a relatively weak dependence on the radial distribution assumed but a strong dependence on scale height. Available observational data from several experiments appear to rule out both thin disk distributions and extended halo distributions which have a strong radial density dependence. The prospects are good for obtaining self-consistent distribution data from future large-area detectors.
Synoptic, large-area radar images of the earth's land and ocean surface, obtained from the Seasat orbiting spacecraft, show the potential for geologic mapping and for monitoring of ocean surface patterns. Structural and topographic features such as lineaments, anticlines, folds and domes, drainage patterns, stratification, and roughness units can be mapped. Ocean surface waves, internal waves, current boundaries, and large-scale eddies have been observed in numerous images taken by the Seasat imaging radar. This article gives an illustrated overview of these applications.
A description is presented of a flight-qualified large-aperture 12 x 12-arcsec angular resolution multigrid X-ray collimator developed for the Solar Maximum Mission (SMM) flat crystal spectrometer. This collimator, designed for the 1.4-22.4-A wavelength range, utilizes an optical bench/metering structure to align and support prealigned grid subassemblies. The optical bench is a lightweight, rigid, and stable aluminum honeycomb structure. The grids are of a compound and bimetallic design, having 63.5-micron square holes on an 88.9-micron spacing in 8-micron thick gold, which is in turn supported by a 76-micron thick Invar grid having 600-micron square holes on a 739-micron spacing. The small apertures in the gold provide the 12-arcsec collimation with the Invar grids providing wide angle off-axis blocking out to an approximately 35 arcmin view angle. The collimator has seven individual channels, four of a 5.1- x 10-cm area and three of a 1.3- x 10-cm area. Laboratory measurements gave an average angular resolution of 12.5 arcsec FWHM with 0.259 transmission for the large-area channels and 12.0 arcsec and 0.200 transmission for the small-area channels. A thermal filter composed of two layers of approximately 1000-A thick aluminum prevents solar heating of the front collimator grids by absorbing longer wavelength radiation while passing most of the X radiation in the band of interest.
Nine X-ray outbursts from the LMC have been observed with the HEAO 1 Large-Area Sky Survey Instrument. Some are shown to originate in the recurrent transient A0538-66, confirming the proposed 16 day periodicity and showing that the duration of the events can be as long as 14 days or as short as a few hours. Deviations from precise periodicity can be attributed to phase jitter or to a change in period occurring around the time of an exceptionally long outburst. Other outbursts which are irregular and consistently shorter originate in LMC X-4. A long-term light curve indicates that the LMC X-4 outbursts occur only when the source is in a high state, but are not strongly correlated with the binary phase.
Procedure M is a systematic approach to processing multispectral scanner data for classification and acreage estimation. The procedure incorporates a statistically robust mechanism for estimation while utilizing component technologies that are based on the physically expected or measured responses of the canopy, atmosphere and sensor. This paper describes Procedure M in the context of large-area agricultural applications, emphasizing three specific configurations: for winter wheat, spring small grains, and corn and soybeans.
Ion implantation and thermal annealing techniques for processing junctions and back surface layers in solar cells are discussed. Standard 10 keV (31)p(+) junction implants and 25 keV (11)B(+) back surface implants in combination with three-step furnace annealing are used for processing a range of silicon materials and device structures. Cells with efficiencies up to 16.5% AM1 are being produced, and large-area terrestrial cells with implanted junctions and back fields being fabricated in pilot production exhibit average efficiencies in excess of 15% AM1. Thermal annealing methods for removal of the radiation damage caused by implantation should be replaced by transient processing techniques in future production. Design studies have been completed for solar cell processing implanters to support 10 MW/yr and 100 MW/yr production lines, and analyses indicate that implantation costs can be reduced to approximately 1 cent/watt.
Results are presented of an X-ray survey of approximately 1900 Abell clusters of galaxies performed with the NRL large-area X-ray detectors on HEAO 1. The cluster luminosity function derived from the observations made at ecliptic longitudes between 80 and 180 deg and 260 and 360 deg is fit with both power law and exponential relations, and used to estimate a total contribution of Abell clusters to the volume emissivity of the diffuse X-ray background of between 3 and 10%. No strong correlation is found between X-ray luminosity and Bautz-Morgan class, richness class or 26-MHz radio power, although B-M type I and Abell richness class 3 appear more likely to be strong X-ray sources. A correlation is suggested between optical radius and X-ray luminosity.