Advanced power sources for space missions

Approaches to satisfying the power requirements of space-based Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) missions are studied. The power requirements for non-SDI military space missions and for civil space missions of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) are also considered. The more demanding SDI power requirements appear to encompass many, if not all, of the power requirements for those missions. Study results indicate that practical fulfillment of SDI requirements will necessitate substantial advances in the state of the art of power technology. SDI goals include the capability to operate space-based beam weapons, sometimes referred to as directed-energy weapons. Such weapons pose unprecedented power requirements, both during preparation for battle and during battle conditions. The power regimes for these two sets of applications are referred to as alert mode and burst mode, respectively. Alert-mode power requirements are presently stated to range from about 100 kW to a few megawatts for cumulative durations of about a year or more. Burst-mode power requirements are roughly estimated to range from tens to hundreds of megawatts for durations of a few hundred to a few thousand seconds. There are two likely energy sources, chemical and nuclear, for powering SDI directed-energy weapons during the alert and burst modes. The choice between chemical and nuclear space power systems depends in large part on the total duration during which power must be provided. Complete study findings, conclusions, and eight recommendations are reported

Electrochemical and Photophysical Properties of a Series of Group-14 Metalloles

A series of six group-14 dimethyl- or diphenyl−tetraphenylmetallacyclopentadienes were synthesized and characterized by their spectroscopic and electrochemical properties. The group-14 elements investigated were silicon, germanium, and tin. (The compounds are designated according to the heteroatom and the substituent on the heteroatom, i.e., SiMe, SiPh, ..., SnPh.) Five of the six compounds luminesce in both the solid state and in solution. The emission maxima of SiPh, GePh, and SnPh are invariant to a change in the heteroatom, while for SiMe, GeMe, and SnMe there is a strong dependence of the emission maxima on the identity of the heteroatom. SiMe emits at a longer wavelength than GeMe, while SnMe is not luminescent. The dramatic luminescence difference between the two tin compounds was investigated. 13C NMR coupling to 119/117Sn, observed in both SnMe and SnPh, was used to make 13C NMR resonance assignments. Qualitative results of semiempirical molecular orbital calculations support the 13C NMR assignments. The crystal structure data for SnPh was obtained at 20 °C:  a = 10.353(2) Å, b = 16.679(2) Å, c = 9.482(1) Å, α = 99.91(1)°, β = 106.33(1)°, γ = 77.80(1)° with Z = 2 in space group P1̄. It is proposed that the increased electron density at tin in SnMe is responsible for the deactivation of the emissive state. The presence of phenyl substituents in SnPh serves to stabilize the emissive state and luminescence is observed

Solid-Liquid Crystal Interfaces Probed by Optical Second-Harmonic Generation

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