Ground-Based Gamma-Ray Astronomy at Energies Above 10 TeV: Searching for Galactic PeV Cosmic-Ray Accelerators

The origin of Galactic CRs up the knee energy remains unanswered and provides strong motivation for the study of gamma-ray sources at energies above 10 TeV. We discuss recent results from ground-based gamma-ray Cherenkov imaging systems at these energies as well as future observational efforts in this direction. The exciting results of H.E.S.S. give clues as to the nature of Galactic CR accelerators, and suggest that there is a population of Galactic gamma-ray sources with emission extending beyond 10 TeV. A dedicated system of Cherenkov imaging telescopes optimised for higher energies appears to be a promising way to study the multi-TeV gamma-ray sky.Comment: Presented at the conference 'Physics At The End Of The Galactic Cosmic Ray Spectrum' Aspen (April 2005) see http://www.cosmic-ray.org/conf/index.html (8 pages, 6 figures

Spacecraft Systems Working Group report

Issues addressed include: definition of user/commercial/government needs by function; criteria for prioritization of needs; overall criteria for technology assessment; system configuration drivers (key trade studies); space infrastructure interface; and cost drivers (pros and cons of standardization, manufacturing, test, serviceability, and supportability)

Data base architecture for instrument characteristics critical to spacecraft conceptual design

Spacecraft designs are driven by the payloads and mission requirements that they support. Many of the payload characteristics, such as mass, power requirements, communication requirements, moving parts, and so forth directly affect the choices for the spacecraft structural configuration and its subsystem design and component selection. The conceptual design process, which translates mission requirements into early spacecraft concepts, must be tolerant of frequent changes in the payload complement and resource requirements. A computer data base was designed and implemented for the purposes of containing the payload characteristics pertinent for spacecraft conceptual design, tracking the evolution of these payloads over time, and enabling the integration of the payload data with engineering analysis programs for improving the efficiency in producing spacecraft designs. In-house tools were used for constructing the data base and for performing the actual integration with an existing program for optimizing payload mass locations on the spacecraft

Constraints on the cosmic ray diffusion coefficient in the W28 region from gamma-ray observations

GeV and TeV gamma rays have been detected from the supernova remnant W28 and its surroundings. Such emission correlates quite well with the position of dense and massive molecular clouds and thus it is often interpreted as the result of hadronic cosmic ray interactions in the dense gas. Constraints on the cosmic ray diffusion coefficient in the region can be obtained, under the assumption that the cosmic rays responsible for the gamma ray emission have been accelerated in the past at the supernova remnant shock, and subsequently escaped in the surrounding medium. In this scenario, gamma ray observations can be explained only if the diffusion coefficient in the region surrounding the supernova remnant is significantly suppressed with respect to the average galactic one.Comment: To appear in the proceedings of "Journ\'ees de la SF2A 2010" Marseille 21-24 June 2010, 4 pages, 4 figure

ISM gas studies towards the TeV PWN HESS J1825-137 and northern region

HESS J1825-137 is a pulsar wind nebula (PWN) whose TeV emission extends across ~1 deg. Its large asymmetric shape indicates that its progenitor supernova interacted with a molecular cloud located in the north of the PWN as detected by previous CO Galactic survey (e.g Lemiere, Terrier & Djannati-Ata\"i 2006). Here we provide a detailed picture of the ISM towards the region north of HESS J1825-137, with the analysis of the dense molecular gas from our 7mm and 12mm Mopra survey and the more diffuse molecular gas from the Nanten CO(1-0) and GRS $^{13}$CO(1-0) surveys. Our focus is the possible association between HESS J1825-137 and the unidentified TeV source to the north, HESS J1826-130. We report several dense molecular regions whose kinematic distance matched the dispersion measured distance of the pulsar. Among them, the dense molecular gas located at (RA, Dec)=(18.421h,-13.282$^{\circ}$) shows enhanced turbulence and we suggest that the velocity structure in this region may be explained by a cloud-cloud collision scenario. Furthermore, the presence of a H$\alpha$ rim may be the first evidence of the progenitor SNR of the pulsar PSR J1826-1334 as the distance between the H$\alpha$ rim and the TeV source matched with the predicted SNR radius R$_{\text{SNR}}$~120 pc. From our ISM study, we identify a few plausible origins of the HESS J1826-130 emission, including the progenitor SNR of PSR J1826-1334 and the PWN G018.5-0.4 powered by PSR J1826-1256. A deeper TeV study however, is required to fully identify the origin of this mysterious TeV source.Comment: 19 figures, 27 pages, accepted by MNRA

Effects of modifications to the space shuttle entry guidance and control systems

A nonlinear six degree of freedom entry simulation study was conducted to identify space shuttle guidance and control system software modifications which reduce the control system sensitivity to the guidance system sampling frequency. Several modifications which eliminated the control system sensitivity and associated control limit cycling were examined. The result of the modifications was a reduction in required reaction control system fuel

Artificial Intelligence (AI), Operations Research (OR), and Decision Support Systems (DSS): A conceptual framework

In recent years there has been increasing interest in applying the computer based problem solving techniques of Artificial Intelligence (AI), Operations Research (OR), and Decision Support Systems (DSS) to analyze extremely complex problems. A conceptual framework is developed for successfully integrating these three techniques. First, the fields of AI, OR, and DSS are defined and the relationships among the three fields are explored. Next, a comprehensive adaptive design methodology for AI and OR modeling within the context of a DSS is described. These observations are made: (1) the solution of extremely complex knowledge problems with ill-defined, changing requirements can benefit greatly from the use of the adaptive design process, (2) the field of DSS provides the focus on the decision making process essential for tailoring solutions to these complex problems, (3) the characteristics of AI, OR, and DSS tools appears to be converging rapidly, and (4) there is a growing need for an interdisciplinary AI/OR/DSS education

Thermal-distortion analysis of a spacecraft box truss in geostationary orbit

The Mission to Planet Earth enlists the use of a geostationary platform to support Earth science monitoring instruments. The strongback for a proposed geostationary platform is a deployable box truss that supports two large diameter passive microwave radiometer (PMR) and several other science instruments. A study was performed to estimate the north-south and east-west pointing errors at the mounting locations of the two PMRs due to on-orbit thermal distortions of the main truss. The baseline configuration indicated that the east-west pointing error greatly exceeded the required limits. Primary origins of the pointing errors were identified, and methods for their reduction were discussed. Thermal performance enhancements to the truss structure were modeled and analyzed, including state-of-the-art surface coatings and insulation techniques. Comparisons of the thermal enhancements to the baseline were performed. Results demonstrated that using a thermal enclosure insulating technique reduced external heat fluxes, and distributed those heat fluxes more evenly throughout the structure, sufficiently reducing the pointing error to satisfy pointing accuracy requirements for the PMR's

The Environment for Application Software Integration and Execution (EASIE) version 1.0. Volume 4: System installation and maintenance guide

The Environment for Application Software Integration and Execution (EASIE) provides both a methodology and a set of software utility programs to ease the task of coordinating engineering design and analysis codes. This document provides necessary information for installing the EASIE software on a host computer system. The target host is a DEX VAX running VMS version 4; host dependencies are noted when appropriate. Relevant directories and individual files are identified, and compile/load/execute sequences are specified. In the case of the data management utilities, database management system (DBMS) specific features are described in an effort to assist the maintenance programmer in converting to a new DBMS. The document also describes a sample EASIE program directory structure to guide the program implementer in establishing his/her application dependent environment

Reference manual for the Langley Research Center flight simulation computing system

The researchers at the Langley Research Center Flight Simulation Computing System are provided with an advanced real-time digital simulation capability. This capability is controlled at the user interface level by the Real Time Simulation Supervisor. The Supervisor is a group of subprograms loaded with a simulation application program. The Supervisor provides the interface between the application program and the operating system, and coordinates input and output to and from the simulation hardware. The Supervisor also performs various utility functions as required by a simulation application program