Reducing Undesirable Effects in the Human Centrifuge

The human centrifuge is used to train pilots and astronauts for flights where they are subject to large accelerations. This paper deals with the problems of simulating such linear accelerations with a rotating device and presents suitable means of reducing undesirable simulation error. The advantages of using three gimbals rather than the usual two are considered. Numerical results illustrate the problems of simulation and the improvement achieved by the use of a third gimbal.     

Kinetics of gas-Grain Reactions in the Solar Nebula

Thermochemical equilibrium calculations predict gas phase, gas-grain, and solid phase reactions as a function of pressure and temperature in the solar nebula. However, chemical reactions proceed at different rates, which generally decrease exponentially with decreasing temperature. At sufficiently low temperatures (which vary depending on the specific reaction) there may not have been enough time for the predicted equilibrium chemistry to have taken place before the local environment cooled significantly or before the gaseous solar nebula was dispersed. As a consequence, some of the high temperature chemistry established in sufficiently hot regions of the solar nebula may be quenched or frozen in without the production of predicted low temperature phases. Experimental studies and theoretical models of three exemplary low temperature reactions, the formation of troilite (FeS), magnetite (Fe₃O₄), and hydrous silicates, have been done to quantify these ideas. A comparison of the chemical reaction rates with the estimated nebular lifetime of 0.1-10 million years indicates that troilite formation proceeded to completion in the solar nebula. Magnetite formation was much slower and only thin magnetite rims could have formed on metal grains. Hydrous silicate formation is predicted to be even slower, and hydrous silicates in meteorites and interplanetary dust particles probably formed later on the parent bodies of these objects, instead of in the solar nebula. This revised version was published online in June 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Orthogonalization Techniques of a Direction Cosine Matrix

Three orthogonalization techniques to correct errors in the computeddirection cosine matrix are introduced. One of these techniques is avectorial technique based on the fact that the three rows of a directioncosine matrix constitute an orthonormal set of vectors in aree-threedimensional space. The other two iterative techniques are based onthe fact that the inverse and transpose of an orthogonal matrix areequal. In computing a time-varying direction cosine matrix computationalional errors are accompanied by the loss of the orthogonaliterty prop-rty of the matrix. When one of these three techniques is useo re-restore the orthogonality of the matrix, the computational errors arealso corrected. These techniques were tested experimentally and theresults, given in this paper, were compared with a method used by the Honeywell Corporation.     

Vertical distribution of disequilibrium species in Jupiter's troposphere

Sources of organic matter and inorganic tracers on Jupiter, including solar UV photolysis, lightning discharges, and convective quenching of hot gases from the lower atmosphere, are reviewed in light of Earth-based and Voyager data with the purpose of predicting the tropospheric steady-state abundances and vertical distributions of HCN, CH₂O, and other species.It is concluded that a steady-state mole fraction of HCN in the Jovian troposphere of only 10^-12 could be maintained by vertical transport of hot gases from the deep atmosphere. The observed HCN abundance (roughly X_HCN = 10^-9) appears to be due to photochemical reactions.After HCN, the most abundant organic disequilibrium species in the troposphere is probably C₂H₆, derived from direct photolysis of CH₄ at high altitudes, with a mole fracton of 10^-10 at the H₂O cloud level. Inorganic tracers of disequilibrium processes are also briefly summarized.     

Chemical and Physical Processing of Presolar Materials in the Solar Nebula and the Implications for Preservation of Presolar Materials in Comets

Chemical and physical processes in the outer solar nebula are reviewed. It is argued that the outer nebula was a chemically active environment with UV photochemistry and ion-molecule chemistry in its low density regions and grain-catalyzed chemistry in Jovian protoplanetary subnebulae. Presolar material was altered to greater or lesser extent by these spatially and temporally variable processes, which mimic many features of interstellar chemistry. Experiments, models, and observations are recommended to address the questions of presolar versus nebular dominance in the outer solar nebula and of how to distinguish interstellar and nebular sources of cometary volatiles. This revised version was published online in June 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Measuring Rotational Motion with Linear Accelerometers

Inertial navigation systems usually use gyroscopes to sense angular motion and use accelerometers to sense linear acceleration. It is feasible, however, using only linear accelerometers as sensors, to determine both the angular velocity and the linear acceleration of a vehicle. This paper presents and compares five configurations of linear accelerometers which may be used to determine both the angular motion and the linear motion of a vehicle.