Experiment to evaluate feasibility of utilizing Skylab-EREP remote sensing data for tectonic analysis of the Bighorn Mountains region, Wyoming-Montana

There are no author-identified significant results in this report

Weathering the Storm of Business Climate Rankings

This paper explores current usage of the term business climate. It discusses multiple definitions and measures of what constitutes a region's business climate. It also examines how usage of the term varies over time and geography. Finally, it addresses some issues related to business climate rankings, their role in economic development policy, and whether the multiplicity of published state rankings contribute consensus or confusion to the meaning of the term business climate.

A Titan exploration study: Science, technology, and mission planning options, volume 2

For abstract, see Vol.

Mixing with the radiofrequency single-electron transistor

By configuring a radio-frequency single-electron transistor as a mixer, we demonstrate a unique implementation of this device, that achieves good charge sensitivity with large bandwidth about a tunable center frequency. In our implementation we achieve a measurement bandwidth of 16 MHz, with a tunable center frequency from 0 to 1.2 GHz, demonstrated with the transistor operating at 300 mK. Ultimately this device is limited in center frequency by the RC time of the transistor's center island, which for our device is ~ 1.6 GHz, close to the measured value. The measurement bandwidth is determined by the quality factor of the readout tank circuit.Comment: Submitted to APL september 200

A Titan exploration study: Science, technology and mission planning options, volume 1

Mission concepts and technology advancements that can be used in the exploration of the outer planet satellites were examined. Titan, the seventh satellite of Saturn was selected as the target of interest. Science objectives for Titan exploration were identified, and recommended science payloads for four basic mission modes were developed (orbiter, atmospheric probe, surface penetrator and lander). Trial spacecraft and mission designs were produced for the various mission modes. Using these trial designs as a base, technology excursions were then made to find solutions to the problems resulting from these conventional approaches and to uncover new science, technology and mission planning options. Several mission modes were developed that take advantage of the unique conditions expected at Titan. They include a combined orbiter, atmosphere probe and lander vehicle, a combined probe and surface penetrator configuration and concepts for advanced remote sensing orbiters

In-situ measurement of the permittivity of helium using microwave NbN resonators

By measuring the electrical transport properties of superconducting NbN quarter-wave resonators in direct contact with a helium bath, we have demonstrated a high-speed and spatially sensitive sensor for the permittivity of helium. In our implementation a $\sim10^{-3}$ mm$^3$ sensing volume is measured with a bandwidth of 300 kHz in the temperature range 1.8 to 8.8 K. The minimum detectable change of the permittivity of helium is calculated to be $\sim6\times$$10^{-11}$ $\epsilon_0$/Hz$^{1/2}$ with a sensitivity of order $10^{-13}$ $\epsilon_0$/Hz$^{1/2}$ easily achievable. Potential applications include operation as a fast, localized helium thermometer and as a transducer in superfluid hydrodynamic experiments.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure

Launch Window Analysis for Round Trip Mars Missions

Round trip missions to Mars have been investigated to define representative launch windows and associated AV requirements. The 1982 inbound and the 1986 outbound Venus swingby missions were selected for analysis and serve to demonstrate the influence of the characteristics of the heliocentric trajectories on the launch window velocity requirements. This report presents results indicating the effects on the launch windows of velocity capability, transfer technique, and of the inclination, eccentricity, and insertion direction of the orbit. The analysis assumed a circular parking orbit at Earth and considers both circular and elliptical parking orbits at Mars. Use of one-, two-, and three-impulse transfers were investigated. The three-impulse transfer employs an intermediate elliptic orbit of 0,9 eccentricity. For all cases, insertion at planet arrival was into an orbit coplanar with the arrival asymptote and any required plane change was performed during the planet departure phase. The minimum AV requirement to transfer from a circular parking orbit to a hyperbolic asymptote occurs when the orbits are coplanar and the maneuver is performed at periapsis of the hyperbola. The study indicates that, using a three-impulse transfer, the AV penalty for non-coplanar departures, is no more than 5-10% above the minimum coplanar requirements. Therefore, use in mission analysis of the coplanar AV requirements would not result in large errors if threeimpulse transfers are acceptable. Use of fewer impulses significantly increases the error. Similar characteristics occur for elliptical parking orbits. However, due to the low coplanar AV\u27s, they provide a longer launch window for a given total AV capability

Development of Lumped Element Kinetic Inductance Detectors for NIKA

Lumped-element kinetic inductance detectors(LEKIDs) have recently shown considerable promise as direct absorption mm-wavelength detectors for astronomical applications. One major research thrust within the N\'eel Iram Kids Array (NIKA) collaboration has been to investigate the suitability of these detectors for deployment at the 30-meter IRAM telescope located on Pico Veleta in Spain. Compared to microwave kinetic inductance detectors (MKID), using quarter wavelength resonators, the resonant circuit of a LEKID consists of a discrete inductance and capacitance coupled to a feedline. A high and constant current density distribution in the inductive part of these resonators makes them very sensitive. Due to only one metal layer on a silicon substrate, the fabrication is relatively easy. In order to optimize the LEKIDs for this application, we have recently probed a wide variety of individual resonator and array parameters through simulation and physical testing. This included determining the optimal feed-line coupling, pixel geometry, resonator distribution within an array (in order to minimize pixel cross-talk), and resonator frequency spacing. Based on these results, a 144-pixel Aluminum array was fabricated and tested in a dilution fridge with optical access, yielding an average optical NEP of ~2E-16 W/Hz^1/2 (best pixels showed NEP = 6E-17 W/Hz^1/2 under 4-8 pW loading per pixel). In October 2010 the second prototype of LEKIDs has been tested at the IRAM 30 m telescope. A new LEKID geometry for 2 polarizations will be presented. Also first optical measurements of a titanium nitride array will be discussed.Comment: 5 pages, 12 figures; ISSTT 2011 Worksho

Experiment to Evaluate the Feasibility of Utilizing Skylab-EREP Remote Sensing Data for Tectonic Analysis Through a Study of the Big Horn Mountain Region, Wyoming, South Dakota and Wyoming

The author has identified the following significant results. S190B imagery was the best single product from which fairly detailed structural and some lithologic mapping could be accomplished in the Big Horn basin, the Owl Creek Mountains, and the northern Big Horn Mountains. The Nye-Bowler lineament could not be extended east of its presently mapped location although a linear (fault or monocline) was noted that may be part of the lineament, but north of postulated extensions. Much more structure was discernible in the Big Horn basin than could be seen on LANDSAT-1 imagery; RB-57 color IR photography, in turn, revealed additional folds and faults. A number of linears, several of which could be identified as faults and one a monocline, cut obliquely the east-west trending Owl Creek uplift. The heavy forest cover of the Black Hills makes direct lithologic delineation impossible. However, drainage and linear overlays revealed differences in pattern between the areas of exposed Precambrian crystalline core and the flanking Paleozoic rocks. S192 data, even precision corrected segments, were not of much use

A Large Catalog of Homogeneous Ultra-Violet/Optical GRB Afterglows: Temporal and Spectral Evolution

We present the second Swift Ultra-Violet/Optical Telescope (UVOT) gamma-ray burst (GRB) afterglow catalog, greatly expanding on the first Swift UVOT GRB afterglow catalog. The second catalog is constructed from a database containing over 120,000 independent UVOT observations of 538 GRBs first detected by Swift, the High Energy Transient Explorer 2 (HETE2), the INTErnational Gamma-Ray Astrophysics Laboratory (INTEGRAL), the Interplanetary Network (IPN), Fermi, and Astro-rivelatore Gamma a Immagini Leggero (AGILE). The catalog covers GRBs discovered from 2005 Jan 17 to 2010 Dec 25. Using photometric information in three UV bands, three optical bands, and a `white' or open filter, the data are optimally co-added to maximize the number of detections and normalized to one band to provide a detailed light curve. The catalog provides positional, temporal, and photometric information for each burst, as well as Swift Burst Alert Telescope (BAT) and X-Ray Telescope (XRT) GRB parameters. Temporal slopes are provided for each UVOT filter. The temporal slope per filter of almost half the GRBs are fit with a single power-law, but one to three breaks are required in the remaining bursts. Morphological comparisons with the X-ray reveal that approximately 75% of the UVOT light curves are similar to one of the four morphologies identified by Evans et al. (2009). The remaining approximately 25% have a newly identified morphology. For many bursts, redshift and extinction corrected UV/optical spectral slopes are also provided at 2000, 20,000, and 200,000 seconds.Comment: 44 pages, 14 figures, to be published in Astrophysical Journal Supplementa