Propulsion apparatus and method using boil-off gas from a cryogenic liquid

A propulsion system and method are disclosed for controlling the attitude and drag of a space vehicle. A helium dewar contains liquid helium which cools an experiment package. The helium is heated or vented to keep the temperature between 1.5 and 1.7 degrees K to maintain adequate helium boil-off gas as a propellant without adversely affecting the experiment package which is contained in the helium dewar for protection from solar heating. The apparatus includes auxiliary heater and temperature sensor for controlling the temperature of the helium. The boil-off gas propellant is delivered to thruster modules to control vehicle attutude and compensate for drag

Space Shuttle Lightning Protection

The technology for lightning protection of even the most advanced spacecraft is available and can be applied through cost-effective hardware designs and design-verification techniques. In this paper, the evolution of the Space Shuttle Lightning Protection Program is discussed, including the general types of protection, testing, and anlayses being performed to assess the lightning-transient-damage susceptibility of solid-state electronics

Perfect bell nozzle parametric and optimization curves

Nozzle contour data for untruncated Bell nozzles with expansion area ratios to 6100 and a specific heat ratio of 1.2 are provided. Curves for optimization of nozzles for maximum thrust coefficient within a given length, surface area, or area ratio are included. The nozzles are two dimensional axisymmetric and calculations were performed using the method of characteristics. Drag due to wall friction was included in the final thrust coefficient

Optimization of resource allocation can explain the temporal dynamics and honesty of sexual signals

In species in which males are free to dynamically alter their allocation to sexual signaling over the breeding season, the optimal investment in signaling should depend on both a male’s state and the level of competition he faces at any given time. We developed a dynamic optimization model within a game‐theoretical framework to explore the resulting signaling dynamics at both individual and population levels and tested two key model predictions with empirical data on three‐spined stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus) males subjected to dietary manipulation (carotenoid availability): (1) fish in better nutritional condition should be able to maintain their signal for longer over the breeding season, resulting in an increasingly positive correlation between nutritional status and signal (i.e., increasing signal honesty), and (2) female preference for more ornamented males should thus increase over the breeding season. Both predictions were supported by the experimental data. Our model shows how such patterns can emerge from the optimization of resource allocation to signaling in a competitive situation. The key determinants of the honesty and dynamics of sexual signaling are the condition dependency of male survival, the initial frequency distribution of nutritional condition in the male population, and the cost of signaling