Study to evaluate the feasibility of a feedback controlled variable conductance heat pipe
Feedback controlled variable conductance heat pipe
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Feedback controlled variable conductance heat pipe
A program is described to design, fabricate and install an experimental work chamber assembly (WCA) to provide a wide range of experimental capability. The WCA incorporates several techniques for studying the kinetics of contaminant films and their effect on optical surfaces. It incorporates the capability for depositing both optical and contaminant films on temperature-controlled samples, and for in-situ measurements of the vacuum ultraviolet reflectance. Ellipsometer optics are mounted on the chamber for film thickness determinations, and other features include access ports for radiation sources and instrumentation. Several supporting studies were conducted to define specific chamber requirements, to determine the sensitivity of the measurement techniques to be incorporated in the chamber, and to establish procedures for handling samples prior to their installation in the chamber. A bibliography and literature survey of contamination-related articles is included.
For abstract, see N76-19217.
There are no author-identified significant results in this report.
There are no author-identified significant results in this report.
There are no author-identified significant results in this report.
The use of a constant-groundspeed procedure for flying final approaches in moderate and severe wind shear environments was investigated. Performance was compared to results of simulated constant-airspeed approaches in identical wind profiles. The simulation model was a medium twin-jet transport equipped with an autothrottle for maintaining constant groundspeed or constant airspeed. For both moderate and severe wind shears, the constant-groundspeed approach method was shown to provide a way to more safely negotiate the shears while also providing predictable and acceptable touchdown performance. Results showed airspeeds on final approach to be considerably higher using the constant-groundspeed method, which supplied the additional stall margin needed when tail-wind shears were encountered. Throttle movements were noticeably reduced in all wind profiles when constant-groundspeed approaches were flown. Touchdown conditions were practically identical for both approach methods in moderate wind shear.
The reviews, investigations, and analyses of the Inertial Upper Stage (IUS) Spacecraft Tracking and Data Network (STDN) transponder are reviewed. Carrier lock detector performance for Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System (TDRSS) dual-mode operation is discussed, as is the problem of predicting instantaneous frequency error in the carrier loop. Coastal loop performance analysis is critiqued and the static tracking phase error induced by thermal noise biases is discussed.
Medical studies were undertaken on the stress experience by the cockpit crew working the short routes in Europe and a special attempt was made to discover whether signs of a summation of stress due to flight work become visible during a circuit of several days. For this purpose the pulse and respiratory rates were determined for 22 crew members as an indication of the acute stress occurring during the flight and the amount of stress hormone in the urine as an indication of the extent of total stress in an extended study period.
A design concept that will implement a mapping capability for the Orbital Camera Payload System (OCPS) when ground control points are not available is discussed. Through the use of stellar imagery collected by a pair of cameras whose optical axis are structurally related to the large format camera optical axis, such pointing information is made available.
Orbiter inertial upper-stage studies, ku-band hardware studies, S-band hardware investigations, shuttle/Centaur communication system engineering investigations are provided.
Ku-band communication system analysis, S-band system investigations, payload communication investigations, shuttle/TDRSS and GSTDN compatibility analysis are discussed.
Preliminary shuttle/Centaur communication system analysis and shuttle global positioning system investigations are discussed. Television digitizer development is also discussed.
High rate multiplexes asymmetry and jitter, data-dependent amplitude variations, and transition density are discussed.
The relative importance of daytime and nighttime noise of the same noise level is represented by a time-of-day weight in noise annoyance models. The high correlations between daytime and nighttime noise were regarded as a major reason that previous social surveys of noise annoyance could not accurately estimate the value of the time-of-day weight. Study designs which would reduce the correlation between daytime and nighttime noise are described. It is concluded that designs based on short term variations in nighttime noise levels would not be able to provide valid measures of response to nighttime noise. The accuracy of the estimate of the time-of-day weight is predicted for designs which are based on long term variations in nighttime noise levels. For these designs it is predicted that it is not possible to form satisfactorily precise estimates of the time-of-day weighting.
Advanced X-ray Astrophysics Facility - Imaging (AXAF-I) is a spacecraft for X-ray emitting sources observation and has been tentatively scheduled for a space shuttle launch in late 1998 at the Kennedy Space Center. Its main objectives are 'to determine the nature of astronomical objects ranging from normal stars to quasars, to understand the nature of the physical processes which take place in and between astronomical objects, and to add to our understanding of the history and evolution of the universe.' The AXAF-I will have an expected five year life time for the science mission phase. During the science mission phase, the monitoring and management operation of the flight and ground systems is personnel intensive, requiring system experts on duty around the clock. The purpose of the expert system presented in this report is intended to reduce the level of expertise, training, and personnel requirement for the mission operation. The telemetry data from the spacecraft can be divided into two categories: the science observation data and the engineering status data. The science data contains the outputs from the X-ray sensing devices and will be forwarded to the AXAF-I Science Center for interpretation; while the engineering status data will be monitored by the Operation Control Center (OCC) for the operation diagnosis of the spacecraft. The expert system is designed to assist the operation controllers at the OCC to perform the daily mission operations. Since there are hundreds of engineering telemetry data points and the interpretation of the telemetry depends on many factors, e.g., sun or eclipse, the monitoring of the AXAF-I is not a trivial task. In this phase of expert system development, the focus has been limited to the engineering data interpretation, i.e., warnings will be provided to the operation controllers to signal any anomaly. The system is hosted in a Silicon Graphics Indigo-2 workstation running the IRIX operating system. The expert system tool used is the G2 system from Gensym (Gensy).
There are many commercially relevant metal and non-metal "alloy" systems that separate into two different liquids upon cooling from a higher temperature. Consequently during solidification processing the inherent density differences between the two liquid phases leads to rapid, gravity driven, separation and severe segregation, a factor that significantly compromises the desired material properties. Processing in a microgravity environment minimizes settling but segregation still occurs due to gravity independent wetting and coalescence phenomena. This presentation reports on experiments that utilized succinonitrile-glycerol mixtures, a transparent system that 1) separates into two liquids upon cooling and 2) is also well established as an analogue to solidification phenomena observed in metals. Segregation was significantly reduced when the mixtures were subjected to ultrasonic energy during directional solidification processing. The processing parameters introduced by this application have been evaluated in view of optimizing dispersion uniformity. The improvement is in good agreement with a novel model that 1) predicts the achievable size of the droplets as a function of applied ultrasonic energy and then 2) calculates their relative sinking velocity through the bulk liquid.
Results are presented for a study conducted in order to characterize the quality and consistency of the SEASAT Synthetic Aperture Radar image data set. The study evaluated a large spectrum of parameters, including the resolution, position location accuracy, and the amplitude calibration of the imagery produced from the raw data by processors at several institutions. It is demonstrated that this data set can be used to obtain resolution up to the theoretical limit of 6 m x 21 m, absolute position location to within 200 m, and relative calibration of the image data to within + or - 2 dB.