Characterizing high-energy-density propellants for space propulsion applications

A technique for computationally determining the thermophysical properties of high-energy-density matter (HEDM) propellants is presented. HEDM compounds are of interest in the liquid rocket engine industry due to their high density and high energy content relative to existing industry-standard propellants. In order to accurately model rocket engine performance, cost and weight in a conceptual design environment, several thermodynamic and physical properties are required over a range of temperatures and pressures. The approach presented here combines quantum mechanical and molecular dynamic (MD) calculations and group additivity methods. A method for improving the force field model coefficients used in the MD is included. This approach is used to determine thermophysical properties for two HEDM compounds of interest: quadricyclane and 2-azido-N,N-dimethylethanamine (DMAZ). The modified force field approach provides results that more accurately match experimental data than the unmodified approach. Launch vehicle and Lunar lander case studies are presented to quantify the system level impact of employing quadricyclane and DMAZ rather than industry standard propellants. In both cases, the use of HEDM propellants provides reductions in vehicle mass compared to industry standard propellants. The results demonstrate that HEDM propellants can be an attractive technology for future launch vehicle and Lunar lander applications.     

Ares I–X Flight Test Vehicle similitude to the Ares I Crew Launch Vehicle

The Ares I–X Flight Test Vehicle is the first in a series of flight test vehicles that will take the Ares I Crew Launch Vehicle design from development to operational capability. Ares I–X is scheduled for a 2009 flight date, early enough in the Ares I design and development process so that data obtained from the flight can impact the design of Ares I before its Critical Design Review. Decisions on Ares I–X scope, flight test objectives, and FTV fidelity were made prior to the Ares I systems requirements being baselined. This was necessary in order to achieve a development flight test to impact the Ares I design. Differences between the Ares I–X and the Ares I configurations are artifacts of formulating this experimental project at an early stage and the natural maturation of the Ares I design process. This paper describes the similarities and differences between the Ares I–X Flight Test Vehicle and the Ares I Crew Launch Vehicle. Areas of comparison include the outer mold line geometry, aerosciences, trajectory, structural modes, flight control architecture, separation sequence, and relevant element differences. Most of the outer mold line differences present between Ares I and Ares I–X are minor and will not have a significant effect on overall vehicle performance. The most significant impacts are related to the geometric differences in Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle at the forward end of the stack. These physical differences will cause differences in the flow physics in these areas. Even with these differences, the Ares I–X flight test is poised to meet all five primary objectives and six secondary objectives. Knowledge of what the Ares I–X flight test will provide in similitude to Ares I—as well as what the test will not provide—is important in the continued execution of the Ares I–X mission leading to its flight and the continued design and development of Ares I.     

Determination of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Foton M-2</Emphasis> satellite attitude motion by the data of microacceleration measurements

The results of reconstruction of uncontrolled attitude motion of the Foton M-2 satellite using measurements with the accelerometer TAS-3 are presented. The attitude motion of this satellite has been previously determined by the measurement data of the Earth’s magnetic field and the angular velocity. The TAS-3 data for this purpose are used for the first time. These data contain a well-pronounced additional component which made impossible their direct employment for the reconstruction of the attitude motion and whose origin was unknown several years ago. Later it has become known that the additional component is caused by the influence of the Earth’s magnetic field. The disclosure of this fact allowed us to take into account a necessary correction in processing of TAS-3 data and to use them for the reconstruction of the attitude motion of Foton M-2. Here, a modified method of processing TAS-3 data is described, as well as results of its testing and employing. The testing consisted in the direct comparison of the motion reconstructed by the new method with the motion constructed by the magnetic measurements. The new method allowed us to find the actual motion of Foton M-2 in the period June 9, 2005–June 14, 2005, when no magnetic measurements were carried out.     

Autonomous navigation of formation flying spacecrafts in deep space exploration and communication by hybrid navigation utilizing neural network filter

Autonomous navigation of spacecrafts is a difficult task, however, which is a must in future deep space exploration. With multiple spacecrafts flying in space, this aim can be achieved by formation flying spacecraft (FFS) utilizing inverse time difference of arrival (ITDOA) and inverse difference Doppler (IDD) methods, which can locate the position of earth-station from one-way uplink signals in the FFS coordinate, and by way of conversion of coordinates, the position of FFS is achieved in earth-centered earth-fixed (ECEF) coordinate. The ability of neural network (NN) filter in navigation to extract position of spacecrafts from random measuring noise of signal arrival time and Doppler shift is studied with different radius of FFS and surveying parameters. The NN filter used by spacecraft group is new way of unidirectional autonomous navigation and is of high precision of hybrid navigation.     

Doppler observations of infrasonic waves of meteorological origin at ionospheric heights

Ionospheric effects of meteorological origin observed by the continuous HF Doppler sounder over the Czech Republic are reported in this paper. We focused on detection of waves of periods 1–10 min. We discuss the influence of dynamics and intensity of active weather systems on the occurrence of short period waves and dependence of the observed ionospheric effects on the height of reflection of the sounding radio wave. We observed 3–5 min waves during a severe weather event in summer and 2.5–4 min waves during a severe weather event in winter. We excluded possible geomagnetic origin of these oscillations by the analysis of fluctuations of the local geomagnetic field. In eight cases of 10, wave activity in the analysed period range was not significantly increased comparing to quiet days. The intensity of weather systems as well as the location of potential sources of waves towards the points of HF Doppler shift observation influence significantly the occurrence of infrasonic waves in the ionosphere. The results in Central Europe differ considerably from those previously obtained in North America. As a possible reason, we discuss different intensity and dynamics of weather systems in both regions.     

Identification of sources of Pc1 geomagnetic pulsations on the basis of proton aurora observations

The relationship between proton aurora and geomagnetic pulsations Pc1, which are an indicator of development of ion-cyclotron instability in the equatorial magnetosphere, are studied on the basis of the observations of proton aurora from the IMAGE satellite, observations of particle fluxes onboard the low-orbiting NOAA satellites, and geomagnetic pulsation observations at the Lovozero observatory. A conclusion is drawn that the subauroral spots in the proton emission projected into the magnetosphere near the plasmapause are two-dimensional images at the ionospheric “screen” of the region of intense scattering of energetic protons into the loss cone at the development of an ion-cyclotron instability.     

Alfven modes of solar coronal magnetic arches: Excitation of ballooning instability and modulation of flare emission

The effect of Alfven-type oscillations in a coronal magnetic arch on modulation of the gyrosynchrotron radiation and development of the ballooning instability in the arch is considered. On the basis of the energy method and the method of normal modes, the expressions are obtained for increments of ballooning instability at its swinging by natural oscillations of the arch. The conclusion is drawn that bending oscillations, which do not actually compress the plasma and, therefore, represent the Alfven-type modes, unlike the radial oscillations, are capable, under solar corona conditions, to effectively swing ballooning instability and, as a consequence, play a part of a trigger for solar flares. The ballooning instability of coronal arches is shown to be capable of causing formation of helmet-shaped structures in the lower solar corona. On the basis of calculations of the intensity modulation depth and the degree of circular polarization of non-thermal gyrosynchrotron radiation, under the assumption of excited Alfven oscillations of a coronal arch, the conclusion is drawn, that microwave observations at a frequency of > 10 GHz can be used for studying the conditions of excitation and propagation of Alfven modes in flare loops. The consequences of obtained results are discussed using the flare on April 15, 2002 as an example.     

An analysis of low-frequency component in microacceleration measurements made onboard the <Emphasis Type="Italic">Foton M-2</Emphasis> satellite

The low-frequency component is investigated in the data of measurements performed onboard the Foton M-2 satellite with the three-component accelerometer TAS-3. Investigations consisted in comparison of this component with its calculated analog found from a reconstruction of the satellite’s attitude motion. The influence of the Earth’s magnetic field on the accelerometer readings is discovered by way of spectral analysis of the functions representing the results of determining the low-frequency microacceleration by two methods. After making correction for this influence, the results obtained by these two methods coincided within a root-mean-square error of less than 10^?6 m/s².     

Electric currents from thunderstorms to the ionosphere during a solar cycle: Quasi-static modeling of the coupling mechanism

Conduction and displacement currents, and their sum the Maxwell current, generated over a thunderstorm (TS) with recurrent lightning discharges are investigated theoretically. The aim is to study better the influence of different factors on these currents, which form the link between thunderstorms and the ionosphere in the global atmospheric electrical circuit. The factors studied concern the thunderstorm characteristics (the charge separation current, and the lightning discharge parameters), as well as the atmospheric and cloud conductivity. Some of these factors may show long-term changes with the 11-year solar cycle, possibly realized through an inverse dependence of the cosmic ray flux on solar activity. Earlier investigations have suggested that the lightning-related charge redistribution and subsequent relaxation, rather than the high intensity current, is mainly the source of the energy coupled to the ionosphere. With respect to this, a quasi-electrostatic analytical model is proposed, based on Maxwell’s equations. The currents are generated by a TS modeled as a positive vertical dipole with charges which are first accumulated and then destroyed by lightning. Our computations show that the mean and peak values of the conduction and total Maxwell currents to the ionosphere depend significantly on the charge moment change. The mean currents are also sensitive to the reduction of the conductivity in thunderclouds. Small variations of the stratospheric conductivity (20% at geomagnetic latitude 40° and 40–50% at 55°) with the solar activity do not influence the currents to the ionosphere very much.     

Host–parasite interactions in closed and open microbial cultivation system

The study addresses interaction of bacteria and phages in the host–parasite system in batch and continuous cultures. The study system consists of the auxotrophic strain of Brevibacterium – Brevibacterium sp. 22L – and the bacteriophage of Brevibacterium sp., isolated from the soil by the enrichment method.

1.

Closed system. In the investigation of the relationship between the time of bacterial lysis and multiplicity of phage infection it has been found that at a lower phage amount per cell it takes a longer time for the lysis of the culture to become discernible. Another important factor determining cytolysis in liquid medium is the physiological state of bacterial population. Specific growth rate of bacteria at the moment of phage infection has been chosen as an indicator of the physiological state of bacteria. It has been shown that the shortest latent period and the largest output of the phage are observed during the logarithmic growth phase of bacteria grown under favorable nutrient conditions. In the stationary phase, bacterial cells become “a bad host” for the phage, whose reproduction rate decreases, and the lysis either slows down significantly or does not occur at all.