A lunar ephemeris, with the earth's equatorial plane as reference
Lunar ephemeris with angular orbital element daily motions using earth equatorial plane as reference
ANGULAR MOTION↗
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Plate Motion and Crustal Deformation Estimated with Geodetic Data from the Global Positioning System
We use geodetic data taken over four years with the Global Positioning System (GPS) to estimate: (1) motion between six major plates and (2) motion relative to these plates of ten sites in plate boundary zones. The degree of consistency between geodetic velocities and rigid plates requires the (one-dimensional) standard errors in horizontal velocities to be approx. 2 mm/yr. Each of the 15 angular velocities describing motion between plate pairs that we estimate with GPS differs insignificantly from the corresponding angular velocity in global plate motion model NUVEL-1A, which averages motion over the past 3 m.y. The motion of the Pacific plate relative to both the Eurasian and North American plates is observed to be faster than predicted by NUVEL-1A, supporting the inference from Very Long B ase- line Interferometry (VLBI) that motion of the Pacific plate has speed up over the past few m.y. The Eurasia-North America pole of rotation is estimated to be north of NUVEL-1A, consistent with the independent hypothesis that the pole has recently migrated northward across northeast Asia to near the Lena River delta. Victoria, which lies above the main thrust at the Cascadia subduction zone, moves relative to the interior of the overriding plate at 30% of the velocity of the subducting plate, reinforcing the conclusion that the thrust there is locked beneath the continental shelf and slope.
Argus, Donald F.↗
Case Study Analyses of the SUCCESS DC-8 Scanning Lidar Database
Under project SUCCESS (Subsonic Aircraft Contrail and Cloud Effects Special Study) funded by the Atmospheric Effects of Aviation Program, SRI International (SRI) developed an angular scanning backscatter lidar for operation on the NASA DC-8 research aircraft and deployed the scanning lidar during the SUCCESS field campaign. The primary purpose of the lidar was to generate real-time video displays of clouds and contrails above, ahead of, and below the DC-8 as a means to help position the aircraft for optimum cloud and contrail sampling by onboard in situ sensors, and to help extend the geometrical domain of the in situ sampling records. A large, relatively complex lidar database was collected and several data examples were processed to illustrate the value of the lidar data for interpreting the other data records collected during SUCCESS. These data examples were used to develop a journal publication for the special SUCCESS Geophysical Research Letters issue. The data examples justified data analyses of a larger part of the DC-8 lidar database and is the objective of the current study. Efficient processing of the SUCCESS DC-8 scanning lidar database required substantial effort to enhance hardware and software components of the data system that was used for the initial analyses. MATLAB instructions are used to generate altitude and distance color-coded lidar displays corrected for effects introduced by aircraft pitch and forward movement during an angular scan time interval. Onboard in situ sensor atmospheric measurements are propagated to distances ahead of the DC-8 using recorded aircraft velocity so that they can be plotted on the lidar displays for comparison with lidar remotely observed aerosol distributions. Resulting lidar and in situ sensor polar scan displays over extended sampling intervals are integrated into a time series movie format for 36 case studies. Contrails and clouds were detected to ranges of 15 km by the forward-viewing angular scanning lidar and were progressively mapped as the aircraft approached and penetrated them. Near aircraft lidar observations were much better correlated with in situ sensor observations than lidar observations at greater distances ahead of the aircraft. The major cause of this difference was thought to be the about 2 deg. offset of the lidar viewing direction from the flight direction. Contrail spatial distributions were not of the quality obtainable from ground-based lidar observations. This results because contrails tend to become horizontally stratified, vertical distance between angular lidar observations increases with increased distance from the aircraft, and erratic aircraft motions during an angular scan. The most useful lidar observations were made with lidar viewing directions of vertically upward or vertically downward. These provided real-time information on aircraft altitudes to achieve optimum in situ cloud and contrail sampling. At sampling altitudes, the forward viewing angular scanning observations were useful for fine-tuning the aircraft altitude for cloud and contrail penetration. Best information on cloud and contrail properties were obtained from vertically directed lidar observations as the aircraft performed a series of upward and downward penetrations of contrails. This operational mode was especially well suited for lidar and radiometric evaluation of cloud and contrail optical and radiative properties. The vertical viewing lidar detected ice crystals thought to be precipitating from an aircraft contrail and their scavenging by a cirrus cloud layer. The lidar display indicates that the crystals are effective for increasing cirrus cloud density. Vertical angular scanning observations can evaluate the sharp decrease in lidar backscatter for small off-vertical viewing directions that result from horizontally aligned ice crystals and perhaps can provide additional information on crystal shapes. The about 2 deg. offset of the lidar viewing direction from the flight direction is thought to have greatly degraded the forward-viewing angular scanning observations and this mode of operation was not fully evaluated. However, the reasoning for this capability remains valid and the angular scan presentations collected during this program justifies modification of the lidar pod for true forward direction lidar viewing during future cloud and contrail studies.
Uthe, Edward E.↗
Fortnightly Ocean Tides, Earth Rotation, and Mantle Anelasticity
The fortnightly Mf ocean tide is the largest of the long-period tides (periods between 1 week and 18.6 years), but Mf is still very small, generally 2 cm or less. All long-period tides are thought to be near equilibrium with the astronomical tidal potential, with an almost pure zonal structure. However, several lines of evidence point to Mf having a significant dynamic response to forcing. We use a combination of numerical modeling, satellite altimetry, and observations of polar motion to determine the Mf ocean tide and to place constraints on certain global properties, such as angular momentum. Polar motion provides the only constraints on Mf tidal currents. With a model of the Mf ocean tide in hand, we use it to remove the effects of the ocean from estimates of fortnightly variations in length-of-day. The latter is dominated by the earth's body tide, but a small residual allows us to place new constraints on the anelasticity of the earth's mantle. The result gives the first experimental confirmation of theoretical predictions made by Wahr and Bergen in 1986.
Ray, Richard↗
Satellite attitude motion models for capture and retrieval investigations
The primary purpose of this research is to provide mathematical models which may be used in the investigation of various aspects of the remote capture and retrieval of uncontrolled satellites. Emphasis has been placed on analytical models; however, to verify analytical solutions, numerical integration must be used. Also, for satellites of certain types, numerical integration may be the only practical or perhaps the only possible method of solution. First, to provide a basis for analytical and numerical work, uncontrolled satellites were categorized using criteria based on: (1) orbital motions, (2) external angular momenta, (3) internal angular momenta, (4) physical characteristics, and (5) the stability of their equilibrium states. Several analytical solutions for the attitude motions of satellite models were compiled, checked, corrected in some minor respects and their short-term prediction capabilities were investigated. Single-rigid-body, dual-spin and multi-rotor configurations are treated. To verify the analytical models and to see how the true motion of a satellite which is acted upon by environmental torques differs from its corresponding torque-free motion, a numerical simulation code was developed. This code contains a relatively general satellite model and models for gravity-gradient and aerodynamic torques. The spacecraft physical model for the code and the equations of motion are given. The two environmental torque models are described.
Cochran, John E., Jr.↗
Ultra-Stable Beacon Source for Laboratory Testing of Optical Tracking
The ultra-stable beacon source (USBS) provides a laser-beam output with a very low angular jitter and can be used as an absolute angular reference to simulate a beacon in the laboratory. The laser is mounted on the top of a very short (approximately equal to 1 m) inverted pendulum (IP) with its optical axis parallel to the carbon fiber pendulum leg. The 85-cm, carbon fiber rods making up the leg are very lightweight and rigid, and are supported by a flex-joint at the bottom (see figure). The gimbal-mounted laser is a weight-adjustable load of about 1.5 kg with its center of rotation co-located with the center of percussion of the inverted pendulum. This reduces the coupling of transverse motion at the base of the pendulum to angular motion of the laser at the top. The inverted pendulum is mounted on a gimbal with its center of rotation coinciding with the pivot position of the inverted pendulum flexure joint. This reduces coupling of ground tilt at the inverted pendulum base to motion of the laser mounted at the top. The mass of the top gimbal is adjusted to give the pendulum a very low resonant frequency (approximately equal to 10 mHz) that filters transverse seismic disturbances from the ground where the base is attached. The motion of the IP is monitored by an optical-lever sensor. The laser light is reflected by the mirror on the IP, and then is detected by a quadrant photo-detector (QPD). The position of the beam spot on the QPD corresponds to the tilt of the IP. Damping of this motion is provided by two coil and magnet pairs. The bottom gimbal mount consists of two plates. The IP is mounted on the second plate. The first plate is supported by two posts through needles and can be rotated about the axis connecting the tips of the needles. The second plate hangs from the first plate and can be rotated about the axis perpendicular to the first plate. As a result, the second plate acts as a two-axis rotation stage. Its center of rotation is located at the effective bending point of the flex-joint. The second plate is pressed against two screw actuators by the weight of the IP. The screw actuators are orthogonal to each other and are used to adjust the inclination of the second plate. The actuators are driven by stepper motors. The whole IP system is housed in a box made of Lexan plastic plates to provide isolation from air currents and temperature variations. The signals from the sensors are processed and recorded with a PC using the xPC Target realtime environment of Math- Works. The control algorithms are written using the Simulink package from The MathWorks.
Aso, Yoichi↗
Constant lift rotor for a heavier than air craft
A rotor blade extended radially from a hub, characterized by an elongated spar and a plurality of axially aligned shells pivotally mounted on the spar is presented. Each has an aerodynamic center located in trailing relation with the spar and supported thereby for simultaneous axial and angular displacement as centrifugal forces are applied, a pitch controller plus a plurality of pivotal pitch limiting arms transversely related to the spar. A push-pull link interconnecting the arms is used for imparting simultaneous pivotal motion, whereby the angular relationship of the arms to the spar is varied for varying the motion of the trucks along the arms for thus limiting the pitch of the segments about the spar.
Stroub, R. H.↗
A Novel Approach for Computing Rigid Body Motion Using Linear Accelerations
Here, a novel approach is presented for computing general rigid body motion based on a few known linear accelerations. This method utilizes linear acceleration data obtained from three distinct points on the body, all within a body-fixed reference frame. The only requirement is that the three chosen points must not be collinear. A system of differential-algebraic equations is derived, combining principles of rigid body kinematics with theory of the rotation group SO(3). These equations provide a framework for numerically computing various motion parameters, including angular velocity, angular acceleration, body orientation, velocity field, acceleration field, and displacement field. By numerically solving this system of equations, we can fully characterize rigid body motion in three-dimensional space. A numerical example is provided to demonstrate the practical implementation and efficacy of the proposed technique, illustrating its potential for accurate motion computation in various applications.
42 ENGINEERING↗
Hermetic seal for a shaft
An hermetic seal for a linear rod having a portion thereof projected axially through a port defined in a wall for a pressure chamber and supported thereby for omni-directional motion is described. The seal is characterized by a resilient, impervious, cylindrical body having a first section concentrically related to the shaft and integrally affixed thereto comprising a linear ordered array of annular flutes. A second section integrally is affixed to the wall of the chamber and concentrically related to the port comprising a second linear ordered array of annular flutes. A third section is interposed between the first and second sections and integrally affixed in coaxial alignment therewith comprising an annular ordered array of linear flutes concentrically related to the shaft, whereby axial, angular, and pivotal motion of the rod is accommodated.
Lombardi, F.↗
Attitude stabilization of satellites with gimbaled star trackers.
Satellite attitude stabilization using gimballed star trackers, analyzing satellite and star tracker motion in terms of angular velocity
STAR TRACKER↗
Theoretical investigation of braking of tearing mode rotation by resistive walls in ITER
The locking of the 2/1 tearing mode to the resistive wall in the ITER tokamak (15 MA inductive scenario 2) is investigated theoretically using a cylindrical asymptotic matching model. The model takes into account the fact that ITER plasmas will effectively be surrounded by two walls; the inner blanket module layer with a time constant of about 23 ms, and the outer vacuum vessel with a time constant of about 380 ms. The model also takes cognizance of the fact that neither the blanket module layer nor the vacuum vessel can be accurately described as “thin” walls (in the ordinarily accepted sense). The model incorporates changes in both the plasma poloidal and the toroidal angular velocity profiles, in response to the electromagnetic braking torque that develops at the rational surface, because it turns out that neoclassical poloidal flow-damping is not strong enough to completely suppress changes in the poloidal velocity. Finally, the model accurately calculates changes in the poloidal and toroidal plasma angular velocity profiles by evolving the full angular equations of motion, taking the electromagnetic braking torque, plasma inertia, plasma viscosity, and poloidal flow-damping into account. The time required for the 2/1 tearing mode to grow from a small amplitude to a sufficient one to lock to the walls is found to be about 3.5 s. As a result, the critical full radial island width at which wall locking is triggered is found to be about 9% of the plasma minor radius.
70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
Via Machinae 2.0 : Full-sky, model-agnostic search for stellar streams in Gaia DR2
ABSTRACT We present an update to Via Machinae, an automated stellar stream-finding algorithm based on the deep learning anomaly detector ANODE. Via Machinae identifies stellar streams within Gaia, using only angular positions, proper motions, and photometry, without reference to a model of the Milky Way potential for orbit integration or stellar distances. This new version, Via Machinae 2.0, includes many improvements and refinements to nearly every step of the algorithm, that altogether result in more robust and visually distinct stream candidates than our original formulation. In this work, we also provide a quantitative estimate of the false positive rate of Via Machinae 2.0 by applying it to a simulated Gaia-mock catalogue based on galaxia, a smooth model of the Milky Way that does not contain substructure or stellar streams. Finally, we perform the first full-sky search for stellar streams with Via Machinae 2.0, identifying 102 streams at high significance within the Gaia Data Release 2, of which only 10 have been previously identified. While follow-up observations for further confirmation are required, taking into account the false positive rate presented in this work, we expect approximately 90 of these stream candidates to correspond to real stellar structures.
Astronomy & Astrophysics↗
Machine Learning the Sixth Dimension: Stellar Radial Velocities from 5D Phase-space Correlations
The Gaia satellite will observe the positions and velocities of over a billion Milky Way stars. In the early data releases, the majority of observed stars do not have complete 6D phase-space information. In this Letter, we demonstrate the ability to infer the missing line-of-sight velocities until more spectroscopic observations become available. Here, we utilize a novel neural network architecture that, after being trained on a subset of data with complete phase-space information, takes in a star's 5D astrometry (angular coordinates, proper motions, and parallax) and outputs a predicted line-of-sight velocity with an associated uncertainty. Working with a mock Gaia catalog, we show that the network can successfully recover the distributions and correlations of each velocity component for stars that fall within ~5 kpc of the Sun. We also demonstrate that the network can accurately reconstruct the velocity distribution of a kinematic substructure in the stellar halo that is spatially uniform, even when it comprises a small fraction of the total star count.
79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
Dynamic performance of a passively self-adjusting floating wind farm layout to increase the annual energy production
One of the main differences between floating offshore wind turbines (FOWTs) and fixed-bottom turbines is the angular and translational motions of FOWTs. When it comes to planning a floating wind farm (FWF), the translational motions introduce an additional layer of complexity to the FWF layout. The ability of a FOWT to relocate its position represents an opportunity to mitigate wake losses within an FWF. By passively relocating downwind turbines out of the wake generated by upwind turbines, we can reduce wake-induced energy losses and enhance overall energy production. The translational movements of FOWTs are governed by the mooring system attached to it. The way a FOWT relocates its position changes if the design of the mooring system attached to it changes. Additionally, the translational motion of a FOWT attached to a given mooring system is different for different wind directions. Hence, we can tailor a mooring system design for a FOWT to passively control its motions according to the wind direction. In this work, we present a new self-adjusting FWF layout design and assess its performance using both static and dynamic methods. The results show that relocating the FOWTs in an FWF can increase the energy production by 3 % using a steady-state wake model and 1.4 % using a dynamic wake model at a wind speed of 10 m s -1 . Moreover, we compare the fatigue and ultimate loads of the mooring systems of the self-adjusting FWF layout design to the mooring systems in a current state-of-the-art FWF baseline design. The comparison shows that with smaller mooring system diameters, the self-adjusting FWF design has similar fatigue damage compared to the baseline design with bigger mooring system diameters at rated wind speed. Finally, the ultimate loads on the mooring systems of the self-adjusting FWF design are lower than those on the mooring systems of the baseline design.
17 WIND ENERGY↗
Studies of Pilot Control During Launching and Reentry of Space Vehicles, Utilizing the Human Centrifuge
With the ever increasing complexity of airplanes and the nearness to reality of manned space vehicles the use of pilot-controlled flight simulators has become imperative. The state of the art in flight simulation has progressed well with the demand. Pilot-controlled flight simulators are finding increasing uses in aeromedical research, airplane and airplane systems design, and preflight training. At the present many flight simulators are in existence with various degrees of sophistication and sundry purposes. These vary from fixed base simulators where the pilot applies control inputs according to visual cues presented to him on an instrument display to moving base simulators where various combinations of angular and linear motions are added in an attempt to improve the flight simulation.
Clark, Carl C.↗
Acceleration terminology table of comparative equivalents
Tables for acceleration terminology equivalents based on human and vehicle angular and linear motion interrelationships
Pesman, G. J.↗
First order ball bearing kinematics
Two first order equations are given connecting geometry and internal motions in an angular contact ball bearing. Total speed, kinematic equivalence, basic speed ratio, and modal speed ratio are defined and discussed; charts are given for the speed ratios covering all bearings and all rotational modes. Instances where specific first order assumptions might fail are discussed, and the resulting effects on bearing performance reviewed.
Kingbury, E.↗
Relative Lifetimes of Several Space Liquid Lubricants Using a Vacuum Spiral Orbit Tribometer (SOT)
A vacuum spiral orbit rolling contact tribometer (SOT) was used to determine the relative lifetimes of several unformulated space liquid lubricants. The lubricants tested included a synthetic hydrocarbon (Pennzane 2001 A), three perfluoropolyethers (Krytox 143AC, Fomblin Z25, and Brayco 815Z), three silahydrocarbons (a tri, a tetra, and a penta) and a polyalphaolefin (Nye PAO-100). The SOT simulates the ball motions in an angular contact bearing and tribochemically degrades microgram quantities of lubricant. Test failure is determined when a preset friction coefficient is exceeded. Relative lifetime (orbits/micro-g) is defined as the number of ball orbits to failure divided by the amount of lubricant on the ball. Conditions included 10 to 200 rpm rotational speed, approximately 50 micro-g lubricant, an initial vacuum < 1.3x10(exp -6) Pa, room temperature (approximately 23 C), a mean Hertzian stress of 1.5 GPa, and 440 C stainless steel specimens. Lubricated lifetimes from longest to shortest were Pennzane 2001 A, the silahydrocarbons and the PAO-100, 143AC, ZI-5, and then 815Z. Relative lifetimes compare favorably to full-scale vacuum gimbal bearing tests. The effect of varying the mean Hertzian stress on the lifetime of some of the lubricants was examined.
Jansen, Mark J.↗