The potential of nuclear MHD electric power systems

Comparison of turbo-MHD cycle with Brayton-MHD and turboelectric cycle

NASA Lewis H2-O2 MHD program

Performance and power costs of H2-O2 combustion powered steam-MHD central power systems are estimated. Hydrogen gas is assumed to be transmitted by pipe from a remote coal gasifier into the city and converted to electricity in a steam MHD plant having an integral gaseous oxygen plant. These steam MHD systems appear to offer an attractive alternative to both in-city clean fueled conventional steam power plants and to remote coal fired power plants with underground electric transmission into the city. Status and plans are outlined for an experimental evaluation of H2-O2 combustion-driven MHD power generators at NASA Lewis Research Center

H2-O2 combustion powered steam-MHD central power systems

Estimates are made for both the performance and the power costs of H2-O2 combustion powered steam-MHD central power systems. Hydrogen gas is assumed to be transmitted by pipe from a remote coal gasifier into the city and converted to electricity in a steam MHD plant having an integral gaseous oxygen plant. These steam MHD systems appear to offer an attractive alternative to both in-city clean fueled conventional steam power plants and to remote coal fired power plants with underground electric transmission into the city

A feasibility study: California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection utilization of infrared technologies for wildland fire suppression and management

NASA's JPL has completed a feasibility study using infrared technologies for wildland fire suppression and management. The study surveyed user needs, examined available technologies, matched the user needs with technologies, and defined an integrated infrared wildland fire mapping concept system configuration. System component trade-offs were presented for evaluation in the concept system configuration. The economic benefits of using infrared technologies in fire suppression and management were examined. Follow-on concept system configuration development and implementation were proposed

The effect of nonlinear gain on the stability of evanescently coupled semiconductor laser arrays

We show that nonlinear gain saturation can enhance the stability of evanescently coupled semiconductor laser arrays.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/71325/2/JAPIAU-73-1-459-1.pd

Regional agriculture surveys using ERTS-1 data

The Center for Remote Sensing Research has conducted studies designed to evaluate the potential application of ERTS data in performing agricultural inventories, and to develop efficient methods of data handling and analysis useful in the operational context for performing large area surveys. This work has resulted in the development of an integrated system utilizing both human and computer analysis of ground, aerial, and space imagery, which has been shown to be very efficient for regional crop acreage inventories. The technique involves: (1) the delineation of ERTS images into relatively homogeneous strata by human interpreters, (2) the point-by-point classification of the area within each strata on the basis of crop type using a human/machine interactive digital image processing system; and (3) a multistage sampling procedure for the collection of supporting aerial and ground data used in the adjustment and verification of the classification results

Hubble Space Telescope observations of the NUV transit of WASP-12b

We present new observations of four closely-spaced NUV transits of the hot Jupiter-like exoplanet WASP-12b using HST/COS, significantly increasing the phase resolution of the observed NUV light curve relative to previous observations, while minimising the temporal variation of the system. We observe significant excess NUV absorption during the transit, with mean normalised in-transit fluxes of $F_\mathrm{norm}\simeq0.97$, i.e. $\simeq$2-5 $\sigma$ deeper than the optical transit level of $\simeq0.986$ for a uniform stellar disk (the exact confidence level depending on the normalisation method used). We further observe an asymmetric transit shape, such that the post-conjunction fluxes are overall $\simeq$2-3 $\sigma$ higher than pre-conjunction values, and characterised by rapid variations in count rate between the pre-conjunction and out of transit levels. We do not find evidence for an early ingress to the NUV transit as suggested by earlier HST observations. However, we show that the NUV count rate observed prior to the optical transit is highly variable, but overall $\simeq$2.2-3.0 $\sigma$ below the post-transit values and comparable in depth to the optical transit, possibly forming a variable region of NUV absorption from at least phase $\phi\simeq$0.83, limited by the data coverage.Comment: Accepted into the Astrophysical Journa