4,727 research outputs found
Electronics systems test laboratory testing of shuttle communications systems
Shuttle communications and tracking systems space to space and space to ground compatibility and performance evaluations are conducted in the NASA Johnson Space Center Electronics Systems Test Laboratory (ESTL). This evaluation is accomplished through systems verification/certification tests using orbiter communications hardware in conjunction with other shuttle communications and tracking external elements to evaluate end to end system compatibility and to verify/certify that overall system performance meets program requirements before manned flight usage. In this role, the ESTL serves as a multielement major ground test facility. The ESTL capability and program concept are discussed. The system test philosophy for the complex communications channels is described in terms of the major phases. Results of space to space and space to ground systems tests are presented. Several examples of the ESTL's unique capabilities to locate and help resolve potential problems are discussed in detail
Standard environmental testing practices
Manual on procedural requirements for performing certain environmental tests on space flight equipment provides information for test equipment designers, quality control and production engineers. Contents of manual are summarized
Global analysis of muon decay measurements
We have performed a global analysis of muon decay measurements to establish
model-independent limits on the space-time structure of the muon decay matrix
element. We find limits on the scalar, vector and tensor coupling of right- and
left-handed muons to right- and left-handed electrons. The limits on those
terms that involve the decay of right-handed muons to left-handed electrons are
more restrictive than in previous global analyses, while the limits on the
other non-standard model interactions are comparable. The value of the Michel
parameter eta found in the global analysis is -0.0036 \pm 0.0069, slightly more
precise than the value found in a more restrictive analysis of a recent
measurement. This has implications for the Fermi coupling constant G_F.Comment: 5 pages, 3 table
The first joint ESGAR/ ESPR consensus statement on the technical performance of cross-sectional small bowel and colonic imaging
Objectives: To develop guidelines describing a standardised approach to patient preparation and acquisition protocols for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), computed tomography (CT) and ultrasound (US) of the small bowel and colon, with an emphasis on imaging inflammatory bowel disease. Methods: An expert consensus committee of 13 members from the European Society of Gastrointestinal and Abdominal Radiology (ESGAR) and European Society of Paediatric Radiology (ESPR) undertook a six-stage modified Delphi process, including a detailed literature review, to create a series of consensus statements concerning patient preparation, imaging hardware and image acquisition protocols. Results: One hundred and fifty-seven statements were scored for agreement by the panel of which 129 statements (82 %) achieved immediate consensus with a further 19 (12 %) achieving consensus after appropriate modification. Nine (6 %) statements were rejected as consensus could not be reached. Conclusions: These expert consensus recommendations can be used to help guide cross-sectional radiological practice for imaging the small bowel and colon. Key points: • Cross-sectional imaging is increasingly used to evaluate the bowel • Image quality is paramount to achieving high diagnostic accuracy • Guidelines concerning patient preparation and image acquisition protocols are provided
Properties of Subsurface Soil Cores from Four Geologic Provinces Surrounding Mars Desert Research Station, Utah: Characterizing Analog Martian Soil in a Human Exploration Scenario
The DOMEX program is a NASA-MMAMA funded project featuring simulations of human crews on Mars focused on science activities that involve collecting samples from the subsurface using both manual and robotic equipment methods and analyzing them in the field and post mission. A crew simulating a human mission to Mars performed activities focused on subsurface science for 2 weeks in November 2009 at Mars Desert Research Station near Hanksville, Utah --an important chemical and morphological Mars analog site. Activities performed included 1) survey of the area to identify geologic provinces, 2) obtaining soil and rock samples from each province and characterizing their mineralogy, chemistry, and biology; 3) site selection and reconnaissance for a future drilling mission; 4) deployment and testing of Mars Underground Mole, a percussive robotic soil sampling device; and 5) recording and analyzing how crew time was used to accomplish these tasks. This paper summarizes results from analysis of soil core
Competition between normal and intruder states inside the "Island of Inversion"
The beta decay of the exotic 30Ne (N=20) is reported. For the first time, the
low-energy level structure of the N=19, 30Na (Tz = 4), is obtained from
beta-delayed gamma spectroscopy using fragment-beta-gamma-gamma coincidences.
The level structure clearly displays "inversion", i.e., intruder states with
mainly 2p2h configurations displacing the normal states to higher excitation
energies. The good agreement in excitation energies and the weak and
electromagnetic decay patterns with Monte Carlo Shell Model calculations with
the SDPF-M interaction in the sdpf valence space illustrates the small d3/2 -
f7/2 shell gap. The relative position of the "normal dominant" and "intruder
dominant" excited states provides valuable information to understand better the
N=20 shell gap.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figure
Characterizing of a Mid-Latitude Ice-Rich Landing Site on Mars to Enable in Situ Habitability Studies
We suggest an ice-rich landing site at 188.5E 46.16N within Amazonis Planitia as a candidate location to support a Mars lander mission equipped to study past habitability and regions capable of preserving the physical and chemical signs of life and organic matter. Studies of the ice-rich subsurface on Mars are critical for several reasons. The subsurface environment provides protection from radiation to shield organic and biologic compounds from destruction. The ice-rich substrate is also ideal for preserving organic and biologic molecules and provides a source of H2O for biologic activity. Examination of martian ground ice can test several hypotheses such as: 1) whether ground ice supports habitable conditions, 2) that ground ice can preserve and accumulate organic compounds, and 3) that ice contains biomolecules evident of past or present biological activity on Mars. This Amazonis site, located near the successful Viking Lander 2, shows indirect evidence of subsurface ice (ubiquitous defined polygonal ground, gamma ray spectrometer hydrogen signature, and numerical modeling of ice stability) and direct evidence of exposed subsurface ice. This site also provides surface conditions favorable to a safe landing including no boulders, low rock density, minimal rough topography, and few craters
Magnetic relaxation in the Bianchi-I universe
Extended Einstein-Maxwell model and its application to the problem of
evolution of magnetized Bianchi-I Universe are considered. The evolution of
medium magnetization is governed by a relaxation type extended constitutive
equation. The series of exact solutions to the extended master equations is
obtained and discussed. The anisotropic expansion of the Bianchi-I Universe is
shown to become non-monotonic (accelerated/decelerated) in both principal
directions (along the magnetic field and orthogonal to it). A specific type of
expansion, the so-called evolution with hidden magnetic field, is shown to
appear when the magnetization effectively screens the magnetic field and the
latter disappears from the equations for gravitational field.Comment: 32 page
Nanostratification of optical excitation in self-interacting 1D arrays
The major assumption of the Lorentz-Lorenz theory about uniformity of local
fields and atomic polarization in dense material does not hold in finite groups
of atoms, as we reported earlier [A. E. Kaplan and S. N. Volkov, Phys. Rev.
Lett., v. 101, 133902 (2008)]. The uniformity is broken at sub-wavelength
scale, where the system may exhibit strong stratification of local field and
dipole polarization, with the strata period being much shorter than the
incident wavelength. In this paper, we further develop and advance that theory
for the most fundamental case of one-dimensional arrays, and study nanoscale
excitation of so called "locsitons" and their standing waves (strata) that
result in size-related resonances and related large field enhancement in finite
arrays of atoms. The locsitons may have a whole spectrum of spatial
frequencies, ranging from long waves, to an extent reminiscent of ferromagnetic
domains, -- to super-short waves, with neighboring atoms alternating their
polarizations, which are reminiscent of antiferromagnetic spin patterns. Of
great interest is the new kind of "hybrid" modes of excitation, greatly
departing from any magnetic analogies. We also study differences between
Ising-like near-neighbor approximation and the case where each atom interacts
with all other atoms in the array. We find an infinite number of "exponential
eigenmodes" in the lossless system in the latter case. At certain "magic"
numbers of atoms in the array, the system may exhibit self-induced (but linear
in the field) cancellation of resonant local-field suppression. We also studied
nonlinear modes of locsitons and found optical bistability and hysteresis in an
infinite array for the simplest modes.Comment: 39 pages, 5 figures; v2: Added the Conclusions section, corrected a
typo in Eq. (5.3), corrected minor stylistic and grammatical imperfection
- …