Comparative thermal analysis of alternate Cryogenic Fluid Management Experiment (CFME) configurations

The Cryogenic Fluid Management Experiment (CFME) was analyzed to assess the feasibility and advisability of deleting the vapor cooled shield (VCS) from the baseline CFME insulation and pressure control system. Two alternate concepts of CFME insulation and pressure control, neither of which incorporated the VCS, were investigated. The first concept employed a thermodynamic vent system (TVS) to throttle the flow through an internal wall mounted heat exchanger (HX) within the pressure vessel to decrease boiloff and pressure rise rate, while the second concept utilized a TVS without an internal heat exchanger. Only the first concept was viable. Its performance was assessed for a seven day mission and found to be satisfactory. It was also concluded that VCS development costs would be greater than for an internal HX installation. Based upon the above comparisons, the HX was recommended as a replacement for the VCS

Late Pleistocene and Holocene palaeoenvironments in and around the middle Caspian basin as reconstructed from a deep-sea core

This article has been made available through Open Access by the Brunel Open Access Publishing Fund.Late Pleistocene and/or Holocene high-resolution palynological studies are available for the south basin of the Caspian Sea (CS), the world's largest lake. However, the north and middle basins have not been the object of high-resolution palynological reconstructions. This new study presents the pollen, spores and dinoflagellate cysts records obtained from a 10m-long sediment core recovered in the middle basin, which currently has brackish waters and is surrounded by arid and semi-arid vegetation.An age-depth model built based on six radiocarbon dates on ostracod shells indicates that the sequence spans the period from 14.47 to 2.43cal.kaBP. The present palaeoenvironmental study focuses on the top 666cm, or from 12.44 to 2.43cal.kaBP.At the vegetation level, the Younger Dryas is characterised by an open landscape dominated by desert vegetation composed by Amaranthaceae with shrubs and salt-tolerant plants. However, although the Early Holocene is also characterised by desert vegetation, it is enriched in various shrubs such as Ephedra and Calligonum, but tree expansion is not important at the Holocene onset. After a major shift at 8.19cal.kaBP, the Middle Holocene displays now both the character of desert and of steppe, although some trees such as Quercus and Corylus slightly spread. The Late Holocene records steppe vegetation as dominant, with more tree diversity.Regarding the lacustrine signal, the dinocyst assemblage record fluctuates between slightly brackish conditions highlighted by Pyxidinopsis psilata and Spiniferites cruciformis, and more brackish ones - similar to the present day - with the dominance of Impagidinium caspienense. The Late Pleistocene is characterised by low salinities, related to the Khvalynian highstand. From 11.56cal.kaBP, slightly more saline waters are reconstructed with an increase of I.caspienense for a period of 1000 years, which could be attributed to the Mangyshlak lowstand. From 10.55cal.kaBP, low salinity conditions return with remains such as Anabaena and Botryococcus abundant until 8.83cal.kaBP, followed by a slow, progressive decrease of P. psilata and S. cruciformis until 4.11cal.kaBP, which is the main assemblage change at lacustrine scale. Since then, higher salinities, similar to the present one, are reconstructed. Finally, Lingulodinium machaerophorum starts its development only at 2.75cal.kaBP, in the Late Holocene.The present research revealed fundamental differences from previously published sea-level curves, in that a 6000yr-long highstand suggested by low salinities is shown between 10.55 and 4.11cal.kaBP. Amongst other arguments, using a comparison to a similar palynological regard but in the south basin, a N-S salinity gradient that is the reverse of the present one across the CS, suggests that the Amu Darya was flowing in the CS. Hence the CS levels during the Late Pleistocene and Holocene were influenced by a combination of precipitation over the high European latitudes and the indirect influence of the Indian summer monsoon over the Pamirs. © 2014.This study has been conducted within the European Contract INCO-Copernicus “Understanding the Caspian Sea erratic fluctuations” n IC15-CT96-0112. This was funded by the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique within the framework of the INSUDYTEC (DYnamique de la Terre et du Climat) Program (France)

Unconventional metallic conduction in two-dimensional Hubbard-Wigner lattices

The interplay between long-range and local Coulomb repulsion in strongly interacting electron systems is explored through a two-dimensional Hubbard-Wigner model. An unconventional metallic state is found in which collective low-energy excitations characteristic of the Wigner crystal induce a flow of electrical current despite the absence of one-electron spectral weight at the Fermi surface. Photoemission experiments on certain quarter-filled layered molecular crystals should observe a gap in the excitation spectrum whereas optical spectroscopy should find a finite Drude weight indicating metallic behavior.Comment: 10 pages, accepted for publication in PR

Filling of orbital fluid management systems

A study was performed with three objectives: (1) analyze fluid management system fill under orbital conditions; (2) determine what experimentation is needed; and (3) develop an experimental program. The fluid management system was a 1.06m (41.7 in) diameter pressure vessel with screen channel device. Analyses were conducted using liquid hydrogen and N2O4. The influence of helium and autogenous pressurization systems was considered. Analyses showed that fluid management system fill will be more difficult with a cryogen than with an earth storable. The key to a successful fill with cryogens is in devising techniques for filling without vent liquid, and removing trapped vapor from the screen device at tank fill completion. This will be accomplished with prechill, fill, and vapor condensation processes. Refill will require a vent and purge process, to dilute the residual helium, prior to introducing liquid. Neither prechill, chill, nor purge processes will be required for earth storables

Low-thrust chemical propulsion system propellant expulsion and thermal conditioning study. Executive summary

Preferred techniques for providing abort pressurization and engine feed system net positive suction pressure (NPSP) for low thrust chemical propulsion systems (LTPS) were determined. A representative LTPS vehicle configuration is presented. Analysis tasks include: propellant heating analysis; pressurant requirements for abort propellant dump; and comparative analysis of pressurization techniques and thermal subcoolers

Low-thrust chemical propulsion system propellant expulsion and thermal conditioning study

Thermal conditioning systems for satisfying engine net positive suction pressure (NPSP) requirements, and propellant expulsion systems for achieving propellant dump during a return-to-launch site (RTLS) abort were studied for LH2/LO2 and LCH4/LO2 upper stage propellant combinations. A state-of-the-art thermal conditioning system employing helium injection beneath the liquid surface shows the lowest weight penalty for LO2 and LCH4. A technology system incorporating a thermal subcooler (heat exchanger) for engine NPSP results in the lowest weight penalty for the LH2 tank. A preliminary design of two state-of-the-art and two new technology systems indicates a weight penalty difference too small to warrant development of a LH2 thermal subcooler. Analysis results showed that the LH2/LO2 propellant expulsion system is optimized for maximum dump line diameters, whereas the LCH4/LO2 system is optimized for minimum dump line diameter (LCH4) and maximum dump line diameter (LO2). The primary uncertainty is the accurate determination of two-phase flow rates through the dump system; experimentation is not recommended because this uncertainty is not considered significant

Seeing Star Formation Regions with Gravitational Microlensing

We qualitatively study the effects of gravitational microlensing on our view of unresolved extragalactic star formation regions. Using a general gravitational microlensing configuration, we perform a number of simulations that reveal that specific imprints of the star forming region are imprinted, both photometrically and spectroscopically, upon observations. Such observations have the potential to reveal the nature and size of these star forming regions, through the degree of variability observed in a monitoring campaign, and hence resolve the star formation regions in distant galaxies which are too small to be probed via more standard techniques.Comment: 7 pages, 8 figures, ApJ accepte