An improved Green's function for ion beam transport.

Ion beam transport theory allows testing of material transmission properties in the laboratory environment generated by particle accelerators. This is a necessary step in materials development and evaluation for space use. The approximations used in solving the Boltzmann transport equation for the space setting are often not sufficient for laboratory work and those issues are the main emphasis of the present work. In consequence, an analytic solution of the linear Boltzmann equation is pursued in the form of a Green's function allowing flexibility in application to a broad range of boundary value problems. It has been established that simple solutions can be found for high charge and energy (HZE) ions by ignoring nuclear energy downshifts and dispersion. Such solutions were found to be supported by experimental evidence with HZE ion beams when multiple scattering was added. Lacking from the prior solutions were range and energy straggling and energy downshift with dispersion associated with nuclear events. Recently, we have found global solutions including these effects providing a broader class of HZE ion solutions.     

Software replacement of test module adapters for depot instrumentation due to obsolescence

Depot-level automatic test equipment has been used over the years by various facets of both the government and commercial industry. Over time, the instrumentation used in the depot will need to be repaired or replaced and, oftentimes, the older instruments are no longer serviceable or manufactured. This paper discusses how to replace the obsolete instrument and its associated hardware. Test module adapter with a software module and driver that allows compatibility between the original test executive and the modern instrument without re-hosting existing test program sets. Systems & Electronics, Inc. has implemented this procedure for a digitizer and precision DC power supply on a depot that utilizes the IEEE-488 general purpose interface bus (GPIB) for communication between the control computer and instrumentation.     

Cloudiness over the Eastern Equatorial Pacific for summer 1983 from geostationary satellite data

The extraordinary El-Nino event of 1982–83 started to fade out in the late spring of 1983. However the sea surface temperature of the Eastern Equatorial Pacific still remained warmer than normal in the following summer. To investigate the characteristics of this late transition phase of the 1982–83 El-Nino, the GOES-West satellite data of July and August of 1983 are analyzed. The outgoing longwave radiation field and the distribution of cloudiness, which was derived by using a new threshold technique, are obtained. The longwave radiation field is compared to monthly average climatic indices commonly used at the Climatic Analysis Center. The results of cloud analysis showed some interesting features during the decaying phase of the 1982–83 El-Nino. The diurnal variation of cloudiness indicates that total cloud amounts decrease from 8 GMT to 20 GMT over most of the area. This overall study demonstrates preliminary results of the International Satellite Cloud Climatology Project of the World Climate Research Program.     

Human Factors R&D Requirements for Future Aerospace Cockpit Systems

Cockpits are rapidly changing from dedicated instruments to multifunction displays, integrated controls, and computer controlled subsystems. Solid-state displays, voice recognition, and artificial intelligence are just a few of the emerging technologies that will help the pilot perform his mission in the future. Early investigations involving mission analysis, sensor data, software development, and evaluations will be required to insure total integration. These new technologies will require extensive human factors research in the areas of anthropometry, displays, controls, human/computer interface, automation, and workload assessment to support the integration process. This research will help provide weapons systems that have increased survivability and reduced pilot workload. This paper addresses some of the human factors research that will be needed to help develop future cockpit systems. It also reviews the basic evolution of the crew station and some of the emerging technologies that will drive human factors research in the 1990s. In the past, crew systems were designed to provide each aircraft function with a corresponding instrument display, such as airspeed indicator, altimeter, attitude direction indicator, vertical velocity indicator, etc. The bulk of the information had to be integrated by the pilot. Present systems are in a state of transition. We are rapidly moving from individual instruments to multifunction displays. The C-17, HH-60, F-15E, B-1B, F-111D, and F-16C/D aircraft use multifunction, cathode-ray tube displays, some of which are color. Another trend is the continued increase in the use of integrated controls.     

Identification Techniques for SARSAT Signals

A process for the identification of emergency locator transmitter (ELT) signals related to search and rescue satellite-aided tracking (SARSAT) is presented. The ELT identification process is particularly important in order to increase the probability of detection and eliminate sources of interference from the data set. A set of ELT signal parameters is introduced and methods for estimating these parameters are developed. A theoretical analysis and performance evaluation of these methods is provided.     

Connection between the discrete auroral structures drifting equatorward during the substorm expansion phase and the energetic particle injections at the geostationary orbit

The formation of an auroral bulge with a bright dynamical arc at its polar boundary is one of the main manifestations of the magnetospheric substorm expansion phase at the ionospheric level. At the same time, the region of discrete aurora broadens not only polewards but equatorwards as well. The discrete forms of auroras moving equatorwards form a dynamical equatorial boundary of the auroral bulge shifting together with them. The paper presents a spatial-time comparison of the drifting discrete auroras to the injection of energetic particles at the geostationary orbit. It is shown that bursts in the fluxes of energetic particles at the LANL geostationary satellites located in the same sector of MLT correspond to the majority of drifting discrete auroral structures observed by the all-sky camera. In the cases when the bursts in the fluxes are absent, the minimum latitude reached by the auroral structures at the equatorward drift is higher than the ionospheric projection of the geostationary orbit. A possible relation of the drifting discrete auroras to the plasma stream jets in the plasma sheet is discussed.     

Chemical protection against ionizing radiation.

Some of the problems related to chemical protection against ionizing radiation are discussed with emphasis on: definition, classification, degree of protection, mechanisms of action and toxicity. Results on the biological response modifyers (BRMs) and on the combination of nontoxic (i.e. low) doses of sulphydryl radioprotectors and BRMs are presented.     

Instrumentation for investigation of the depth-dose distribution by the Liulin-5 instrument of a human phantom on the Russian segment of ISS for estimation of the radiation risk during long term space flights.

Described is the Liulin-5 experiment and instrumentation, developed for investigation of the space radiation doses depth distribution in a human phantom on the Russian Segment of the International Space Station (ISS). Liulin-5 experiment is a part of the international project MATROSHKA-R on ISS. The experiment MATROSHKA-R is aimed to study the depth dose distribution at the sites of critical organs of the human body, using models of human body-anthropomorphic and spherical tissue-equivalent phantoms. The aim of Liulin-5 experiment is long term (4-5 years) investigation of the radiation environment dynamics inside the spherical tissue-equivalent phantom, mounted in different places of the Russian Segment of ISS. Energy deposition spectra, linear energy transfer spectra, flux and dose rates for protons and the biologically-relevant heavy ion components of the galactic cosmic radiation will be measured simultaneously with near real time resolution at different depths of the phantom by a telescope of silicon detectors. Data obtained together with data from other active and passive dosimeters will be used to estimate the radiation risk to the crewmembers, verify the models of radiation environment in low Earth orbit, validate body transport model and correlate organ level dose to skin dose. Presented are the test results of the prototype unit. The spherical phantom will be flown on the ISS in 2004 year and Liulin-5 experiment is planned for 2005 year.