Combustion characteristics of the end burning hybrid rockets in laminar flow

In this study, we aim to clarify the blowoff mechanism for flame spreading in an opposed laminar flow in narrow solid fuel ducts. To clarify this mechanism we conducted two experiments. First, we observed the changes of the flame spread rate at various oxygen velocities, ambient pressures, and port diameters. For flame spreading in laminar flow, combustion modes could be classified into 3 distinct regimes based on the strength of the opposed flow, i.e., chemical regime, thermal regime, and stabilized regime. This result is consistent with the result in turbulent flow. In the stabilized regime, quenching distance is almost constant despite oxygen velocity. In order to investigate the effect of ambient pressure and port diameter of fuels on blowoff limit, transition oxygen velocity is observed. As a result, transition oxygen velocity is proportional to the logarithm of the ambient pressure and port diameter. This relation is applicable despite the flow condition. Furthermore, we calculated velocity gradient at the fuel surface to reveal the determining factor of the blowoff limit in laminar flow. Consequently, velocity gradient, which is considered to dominate flow separation in laminar flow, would not be constant. This is because the velocity gradient at the fuel surface could not be evaluated by only the assumption of Hagen–Poiseuille flow but other parameters, such as vaporized fuel gas and natural convection by buoyancy should be included.     

Meteorite magnetization and paleointensity

The five chemical classes of chondrite, i.e. E-, H-, L-, LL- and C-chondrite, and three major classes of achondrite, i.e. diogenite, eucrite plus howardite, and ureilite, are magnetically identified to respective separated domains on an I_s (α)/I_s versus I_s diagram, where I_s and I_s (α) denote respectively the saturation magnetization and the saturation magnetization of α-phase alone. Three major groups of iron meteorite, i.e. hexahedrite plus Ni-poor ataxite, octahedrite and Ni-rich ataxite, are magnetically identified to respective domains on an I_s (α)/I_s versus

→ α diagram, where

→ α denotes

→ α transition temperature of kamacite phase in the cooling process. The magnetic classification schemes well represent the chemical characteristics of each meteorite class. The paleointensity (F_p) of meteorites determined to date can be summarized as F_p=0.01 ～ 0.1 Oe for eucrites and ureilites, F_p^? 1 Oe for C-chondrites, and F_p^? 10 Oe for E-chondrites.     

Auroral flares and solar flares

The morphology of development of auroral flares (magnetospheric substorms) for both electron and proton auroras is summarized, based on ground-based as well as rocket-borne and satellite-borne data with specific reference to the morphology of solar flares.The growth phase of an auroral flare is produced by the inflow of the solar wind energy into the magnetosphere by the reconnection mechanism between the solar wind field and the geomagnetic field, thus the neutral and plasma sheets in the magnetotail attaining their minimum thickness with a great stretch of the geomagnetic fluxes into the tail.The onset of the expansion phase of an auroral flare is represented by the break-up of electron and proton auroras, which is associated with strong auroral electrojets, a sudden increase in CNA, VLF hiss emissions and characteristic ULF emissions. The auroral break-up is triggered by the relaxation of stretched magnetic fluxes caused by cutting off of the tail fluxes at successively formed X-type neutral lines in the magnetotail.The resultant field-aligned currents flowing between the tailward magnetosphere and the polar ionosphere produce the field-aligned anomalous resistivity owing to the electrostatic ion-cyclotron waves; the electrical potential drop thus increased further accelerates precipitating charged particles with a result of the intensification of both the field-aligned currents and the auroral electrojet. It seems that the rapid building-up of this positive feedback system for precipitating charged particles is responsible for the break-up of an auroral flare.     

Meteorites in Antarctica — Statistics on falls, concentration, recovery and alteration on ice-sheet

The Antarctic meteorites are distributed on the blue-ice area surfaces in the ablation zone of the Antarctic ice-sheet, to where meteorites have been transported by the ice-flow within the ice-sheet from the wider accumulation zone. Among the Antarctic meteorite collection H- and L-chondrites are most abundant; this is also true in the non-Antarctic meteorite collection. Meteorite showers also are involved in the collection. Several new types of stony meteorites have been discovered from the Antarctic meteorite collection. The mass and shape of Antarctic meteorites are in agreement with those of resultant fragments of high-speed impact basaltic rocks. In Antarctica, small fragments of meteorite smaller than 1 kg in weight can easily be found and collected. The solidification and the gas retention ages of Antarctic meteorites also are concentrated around 4.5×10⁹ years, but some of them are considerably younger. Their cosmic-ray exposure ages are extended up to 9×10⁶ years and their terrestrial ages are 9×10⁴-7×10⁵ years.