Satellite power system: Concept development and evaluation program. Volume 3: Power transmission and reception. Technical summary and assessment

Efforts in the DOE/NASA concept development and evaluation program are discussed for the solar power satellite power transmission and reception system. A technical summary is provided together with a summary of system assessment activities. System options and system definition drivers are described. Major system assessment activities were in support of the reference system definition, solid state system studies, critical technology supporting investigations, and various system and subsystem tradeoffs. These activities are described together with reference system updates and alternative concepts for each of the subsystem areas. Conclusions reached as a result of the numerous analytical and experimental evaluations are presented. Remaining issues for a possible follow-on program are identified

Nucleon-Nucleon Optical Model for Energies to 3 GeV

Several nucleon-nucleon potentials, Paris, Nijmegen, Argonne, and those derived by quantum inversion, which describe the NN interaction for T-lab below 300$ MeV are extended in their range of application as NN optical models. Extensions are made in r-space using complex separable potentials definable with a wide range of form factor options including those of boundary condition models. We use the latest phase shift analyses SP00 (FA00, WI00) of Arndt et al. from 300 MeV to 3 GeV to determine these extensions. The imaginary parts of the optical model interactions account for loss of flux into direct or resonant production processes. The optical potential approach is of particular value as it permits one to visualize fusion, and subsequent fission, of nucleons when T-lab above 2 GeV. We do so by calculating the scattering wave functions to specify the energy and radial dependences of flux losses and of probability distributions. Furthermore, half-off the energy shell t-matrices are presented as they are readily deduced with this approach. Such t-matrices are required for studies of few- and many-body nuclear reactions.Comment: Latex, 40 postscript pages including 17 figure

Electroexcitation of the Roper resonance from CLAS data

The helicity amplitudes of the electroexcitation of the Roper resonance on proton are extracted at 1.7 < Q2 < 4.2 GeV2 from recent high precision JLab-CLAS cross sections data and longitudinally polarized beam asymmetry for pi+ electroproduction on protons. The analysis is made using two approaches, dispersion relations and unitary isobar model, which give consistent results. It is found that the transverse helicity amplitude for the gamma* p --> P11(1440) transition, which is large and negative at Q2=0, becomes large and positive at Q2 ~ 2 GeV2, and then drops slowly with Q2. Longitudinal helicity amplitude, that was previously found from CLAS data as large and positive at Q2=0.4,0.65 GeV2, drops with Q2. These results rule out the presentation of P11(1440) as a 3qG hybrid state, and provide strong evidence in favor of this resonance as a first radial excitation of the 3q ground state.Comment: 3 pages, 2 figures, Talk on the Workshop on "The Physics of Excited Nucleons", Bonn, Germany, October 200

Passive Tracking System and Method

System and methods are disclosed for passively determining the location of a moveable transmitter utilizing a pair of phase shifts at a receiver for extracting a direction vector from a receiver to the transmitter. In a preferred embodiment, a phase difference between the transmitter and receiver is extracted utilizing a noncoherent demodulator in the receiver. The receiver includes antenna array with three antenna elements, which preferably are patch antenna elements placed apart by one-half wavelength. Three receiver channels are preferably utilized for simultaneously processing the received signal from each of the three antenna elements. Multipath transmission paths for each of the three receiver channels are indexed so that comparisons of the same multipath component are made for each of the three receiver channels. The phase difference for each received signal is determined by comparing only the magnitudes of received and stored modulation signals to determine a winning modulation symbol

Bleeding Diathesis in Fawn Hooded Rats:Possible Implications for Invasive Procedures and Refinement Strategies

The Fawn hooded (FH) rat is commonly used in biomedical research. It is widely acknowledged that the FH rat has a bleeding disorder; leading to abundant bleedings. Although this bleeding disorder is investigated to model the storage pool defect; its impact on commonly performed invasive laboratory procedures has not yet been described. Our research group experienced clinically significant consequences of this bleeding disorder following invasive procedures (including intraperitoneal injections and neurocranial surgery) in the Rjlbm: FH stock. The clinical consequences of the surgical and anesthetic protocols applied; are described including the subsequent procedural refinements applied to minimize the impact of this disorder. It is strongly recommended to take the bleeding diathesis into account when performing invasive procedures in FH rats and to apply the suggested refinement of procedures

Wheel-Based Ice Sensors for Road Vehicles

Wheel-based sensors for detection of ice on roads and approximate measurement of the thickness of the ice are under development. These sensors could be used to alert drivers to hazardous local icing conditions in real time. In addition, local ice-thickness measurements by these sensors could serve as guidance for the minimum amount of sand and salt required to be dispensed locally onto road surfaces to ensure safety, thereby helping road crews to utilize their total supplies of sand and salt more efficiently. Like some aircraft wing-surface ice sensors described in a number of previous NASA Tech Briefs articles, the wheelbased ice sensors are based, variously, on measurements of changes in capacitance and/or in radio-frequency impedance as affected by ice on surfaces. In the case of ice on road surfaces, the measurable changes in capacitance and/or impedance are attributable to differences among the electric permittivities of air, ice, water, concrete, and soil. In addition, a related phenomenon that can be useful for distinguishing between ice and water is a specific transition in the permittivity of ice at a temperature- dependent frequency. This feature also provides a continuous calibration of the sensor to allow for changing road conditions. Several configurations of wheel-based ice sensors are under consideration. For example, in a simple two-electrode capacitor configuration, one of the electrodes would be a circumferential electrode within a tire, and the ground would be used as the second electrode. Optionally, the steel belts that are already standard parts of many tires could be used as the circumferential electrodes. In another example (see figure), multiple electrodes would be embedded in rubber between the steel belt and the outer tire surface. These electrodes would be excited in alternating polarities at one or more suitable audio or radio frequencies to provide nearly continuous monitoring of the road surface under the tire. In still another example, one or more microwave stripline(s) or coplanar waveguide(s) would be embedded in a tire near its outer surface; in comparison with lower-frequency capacitive devices, a device of this type could be more sensitive

Cross section and analyzing power of pol{p}p -> pn pi+ near threshold

The cross section and analyzing power of the pol{p}p -> pn pi+ reaction near threshold are estimated in terms of data obtained from the pol{p}p -> d pi+ and pp -> pp pi0 reactions. A simple final state interaction theory is developed which depends weakly upon the form of the pion-production operator and includes some Coulomb corrections. Within the uncertainties of the model and the input data, the approach reproduces well the measured energy dependence of the total cross section and the proton analyzing power at a fixed pion c.m. angle of 90deg, from threshold to T_p = 330 MeV. The variation of the differential cross section with pion angle is also very encouraging.Comment: 20 pages, Latex including 4 eps figure