Small plasma probe Patent

Small plasma probe using tungsten wire collector in tubular shiel

Space Nuclear Thermal Propulsion (SNTP) Air Force facility

The Space Nuclear Thermal Propulsion (SNTP) Program is an initiative within the US Air Force to acquire and validate advanced technologies that could be used to sustain superior capabilities in the area or space nuclear propulsion. The SNTP Program has a specific objective of demonstrating the feasibility of the particle bed reactor (PBR) concept. The term PIPET refers to a project within the SNTP Program responsible for the design, development, construction, and operation of a test reactor facility, including all support systems, that is intended to resolve program technology issues and test goals. A nuclear test facility has been designed that meets SNTP Facility requirements. The design approach taken to meet SNTP requirements has resulted in a nuclear test facility that should encompass a wide range of nuclear thermal propulsion (NTP) test requirements that may be generated within other programs. The SNTP PIPET project is actively working with DOE and NASA to assess this possibility

Superstatistics from a different perspective

In this paper we elaborate on the recently proposed superstatistics formalism [C. Beck and E.G.D. Cohen, Physica A 322, 267 (2003)], used to interpret unconventional statistics. Their interpretation is that unconventional statistics in dynamical systems arise as weighted averages of the ordinary statistics obeyed by these systems over a statistical distribution of background configurations due to fluctuations intrinsic to the background. In this paper we suggest that the same picture can arise because of the intrinsic dynamics of the system. The dynamics of the system and the background, hence, concur together to determine the overall final statistics: differently evolving systems embedded within the same background can yield different statistical distributions. Some simple examples are provided; among them a toy model able to yield a power-law distribution. Also, some recent independent results are quoted, that appear to support this viewpoint.Comment: 10 pages. Final version to appear in Physica

Development and fracture mechanics data for 6Al-6V-2 Sn titanium alloy

Fracture mechanics properties of 6Al-6V-2Sn titanium in the annealed, solution-treated, and aged condition are presented. Tensile, fracture toughness, cyclic flaw growth, and sustained-load threshold tests were conducted. Both surface flaw and compact tension-specimen geometries were employed. Temperatures and/or environments used were -65 F (220 K) air, ambient, 300 F (422 K) air, and room-temperature air containing 10 and 100% relative humidity

A new method for the determination of thin film porosity

Internal reflection spectroscopy may be used to determine presence of water in thin film pores. Presence of water in such pores is function of relative humidity and pore size. Thus, one can determine pore size by controlling humidity. Fluids with surface tension different from that of water can be used to detect pores

Horn antenna with v-shaped corrugated surface

Corrugated shape is easily machined for millimeter wave application and is better suited for folding antenna designs. Measured performance showed ""V'' corrugations and rectangular corrugations have nearly the same pattern beamwidth, gain, and impedance. Also, ""V'' corrugations have higher relative power loss

The radio-infrared correlation in galaxies

The radio-infrared correlation was explained as a direct and linear relationship between star formation and IR emission. However, one fact making the IR-star formation linkage less obvious is that the IR emission consists of at least two emission components, cold dust and warm dust. The cold dust emission may not be directly linked to the young stellar population. Furthermore, understanding the origin of the radio-IR correlation requires to discriminate between the two main components of the radio continuum emission, free-free and synchrotron emission. Here, we present a multi-scale study of the correlation of IR with both the thermal and non-thermal (synchrotron) components of the radio continuum emission from the nearby galaxies M33 and M31.Comment: To appear in Highlights of Astronomy, Volume 15, XXVIIth IAU General Assembly, August 200

Transverse electric scattering widths for strips-Fourier transform technique

A technique which is based on Fourier transformations is introduced for predicting scattering widths. For a strip it is shown that explicit determination of the linear current density is not necessary for bistatic or monostatic scattering width calculations. Comparisons of the predictions of the technique are made with the integral equation technique predictions, which do not require explicit evaluations of linear current densities