954 research outputs found
Solar Electric Propulsion Concepts for Human Space Exploration
Advances in solar array and electric thruster technologies now offer the promise of new, very capable space transportation systems that will allow us to cost effectively explore the solar system. NASA has developed numerous solar electric propulsion spacecraft concepts with power levels ranging from tens to hundreds of kilowatts for robotic and piloted missions to asteroids and Mars. This paper describes nine electric and hybrid solar electric/chemical propulsion concepts developed over the last 5 years and discusses how they might be used for human exploration of the inner solar system
Spin reorientation in TlFe1.6Se2 with complete vacancy ordering
The relationship between vacancy ordering and magnetism in TlFe1.6Se2 has
been investigated via single crystal neutron diffraction, nuclear forward
scattering, and transmission electron microscopy. The examination of chemically
and structurally homogenous crystals allows the true ground state to be
revealed, which is characterized by Fe moments lying in the ab-plane below
100K. This is in sharp contrast to crystals containing regions of order and
disorder, where a competition between c-axis and ab-plane orientations of the
moments is observed. The properties of partially-disordered TlFe1.6Se2 are
therefore not associated with solely the ordered or disordered regions. This
contrasts the viewpoint that phase separation results in independent physical
properties in intercalated iron selenides, suggesting a coupling between
ordered and disordered regions may play an important role in the
superconducting analogues.Comment: Minor changes; updated references and funding acknowledgemen
Solar Electric Propulsion Concepts for Human Space Exploration
Advances in solar array and electric thruster technologies now offer the promise of new, very capable space transportation systems that will allow us to cost effectively explore the solar system. NASA has developed numerous solar electric propulsion spacecraft concepts with power levels ranging from tens to hundreds of kilowatts for robotic and piloted missions to asteroids and Mars. This paper describes nine electric and hybrid solar electric/chemical propulsion concepts developed over the last 5 years and discusses how they might be used for human exploration of the inner solar system
NASA GRC Compass Team Conceptual Point Design and Trades of a Hybrid Solar Electric Propulsion (SEP)/Chemical Propulsion Human Mars Deep Space Transport (DST) Vehicle
NASA has long been conducting studies which apply different in-space propulsion technology assumptions to the mission of sending humans to Mars. Two of the technologies under study that are considered to be the most near-term with respect to technology readiness level (TRL) are traditional chemical propulsion systems and high-power Solar Electric Propulsion (SEP) systems. The benefit of relatively low trip times inherent in using impulsive chemical propulsion systems to perform the full round-trip delta V is hampered by the large propellant mass required to perform these burns for human Mars missions. SEP systems offer the benefit of much lower propellant requirements to perform the same round-trip missions, at the cost of longer trip times. Traditionally, impulsive chemical systems are better suited than SEP when used in a gravity well, and SEP systems are more efficient than traditional impulsive systems when used in interplanetary space. A mission to Mars includes both of these scenarios, and thus several NASA architecture studies performed over the last few years have looked to combine the use of both SEP and chemical propulsion systems where they are the most beneficial to human Mars missions. This combined propulsion system concept has been referred to as a SEP/Chem hybrid Mars Transfer Vehicle and is currently shown as the concept Deep Space Transport (DST) in the March 2017 NASA presentation to the National Aerospace Council (NAC)
Astrochemical Modeling of Propargyl Radical Chemistry in TMC-1
Recent detections of aromatic species in dark molecular clouds suggest
formation pathways may be efficient at very low temperatures and pressures, yet
current astrochemical models are unable to account for their derived
abundances, which can often deviate from model predictions by several orders of
magnitude. The propargyl radical, a highly abundant species in the dark
molecular cloud TMC- 1, is an important aromatic precursor in combustion flames
and possibly interstellar environments. We performed astrochemical modeling of
TMC-1 using the three-phase gas-grain code NAUTILUS and an updated chemical
network, focused on refining the chemistry of the propargyl radical and related
species. The abundance of the propargyl radical has been increased by half an
order of magnitude compared to the previous GOTHAM network. This brings it
closer in line with observations, but it remains underestimated by two orders
of magnitude compared to its observed value. Predicted abundances for the
chemically related C4H3N isomers within an order of magnitude of observed
values corroborate the high efficiency of CN addition to closed-shell
hydrocarbons under dark molecular cloud conditions. The results of our modeling
provide insight into the chemical processes of the propargyl radical in dark
molecular clouds and highlight the importance of resonance-stabilized radicals
in PAH formation.Comment: 31 pages and 17 figures (including the appendix), accepted for
publication in The Astrophysical Journa
Relationships among seismic velocity, metamorphism, and seismic and aseismic fault slip in the Salton Sea Geothermal Field region
Author Posting. © American Geophysical Union, 2015. This article is posted here by permission of American Geophysical Union for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth 120 (2015): 2600–2615, doi:10.1002/2014JB011579.The Salton Sea Geothermal Field is one of the most geothermally and seismically active areas in California and presents an opportunity to study the effect of high-temperature metamorphism on the properties of seismogenic faults. The area includes numerous active tectonic faults that have recently been imaged with active source seismic reflection and refraction. We utilize the active source surveys, along with the abundant microseismicity data from a dense borehole seismic network, to image the 3-D variations in seismic velocity in the upper 5 km of the crust. There are strong velocity variations, up to ~30%, that correlate spatially with the distribution of shallow heat flow patterns. The combination of hydrothermal circulation and high-temperature contact metamorphism has significantly altered the shallow sandstone sedimentary layers within the geothermal field to denser, more feldspathic, rock with higher P wave velocity, as is seen in the numerous exploration wells within the field. This alteration appears to have a first-order effect on the frictional stability of shallow faults. In 2005, a large earthquake swarm and deformation event occurred. Analysis of interferometric synthetic aperture radar data and earthquake relocations indicates that the shallow aseismic fault creep that occurred in 2005 was localized on the Kalin fault system that lies just outside the region of high-temperature metamorphism. In contrast, the earthquake swarm, which includes all of the M > 4 earthquakes to have occurred within the Salton Sea Geothermal Field in the last 15 years, ruptured the Main Central Fault (MCF) system that is localized in the heart of the geothermal anomaly. The background microseismicity induced by the geothermal operations is also concentrated in the high-temperature regions in the vicinity of operational wells. However, while this microseismicity occurs over a few kilometer scale region, much of it is clustered in earthquake swarms that last from hours to a few days and are localized near the MCF system.This work was funded by USGS NEHRP proposal G10AP00101 and NSF proposal 0943906.2015-10-2
Magnetoresistance Anisotropy of Polycrystalline Cobalt Films: Geometrical-Size- and Domain-Effects
The magnetoresistance (MR) of 10 nm to 200 nm thin polycrystalline Co-films,
deposited on glass and insulating Si(100), is studied in fields up to 120 kOe,
aligned along the three principal directions with respect to the current:
longitudinal, transverse (in-plane), and polar (out-of-plane). At technical
saturation, the anisotropic MR (AMR) in polar fields turns out to be up to
twice as large as in transverse fields, which resembles the yet unexplained
geometrical size-effect (GSE), previously reported for Ni- and Permalloy films.
Upon increasing temperature, the polar and transverse AMR's are reduced by
phonon-mediated sd-scattering, but their ratio, i.e. the GSE remains unchanged.
Basing on Potters's theory [Phys.Rev.B 10, 4626(1974)], we associate the GSE
with an anisotropic effect of the spin-orbit interaction on the sd-scattering
of the minority spins due to a film texture. Below magnetic saturation, the
magnitudes and signs of all three MR's depend significantly on the domain
structures depicted by magnetic force microscopy. Based on hysteresis loops and
taking into account the GSE within an effective medium approach, the three MR's
are explained by the different magnetization processes in the domain states.
These reveal the importance of in-plane uniaxial anisotropy and out-of-plane
texture for the thinnest and thickest films, respectively.Comment: 10 pages, 9 figure
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