This final report summarizes the work performed by SAIC's Applied Physics Operation on the modeling and support of Tethered Satellite System missions (TSS-1 and TSS-1R). The SAIC team, known to be Theory and Modeling in Support of Tether (TMST) investigation, was one of the original twelve teams selected in July, 1985 for the first TSS mission. The accomplishments described in this report cover the period December 19, 1985 to September 31, 1999 and are the result of a continuous effort aimed at supporting the TSS missions in the following major areas. During the contract period, the SAIC's TMST investigation acted to: Participate in the planning and the execution on both of the TSS missions; Provide scientific understanding on the issues involved in the electrodynamic tether system operation prior to the TSS missions; Predict ionospheric conditions encountered during the re-flight mission (TSS-lR) based on realtime global ionosounde data; Perform post mission analyses to enhance our understanding on the TSS results. Specifically, we have 1) constructed and improved current collection models and enhanced our understanding on the current-voltage data; 2) investigated the effects of neutral gas in the current collection processes; 3) conducted laboratory experiments to study the discharge phenomena during and after tether-break; and 4) perform numerical simulations to understand data collected by plasma instruments SPES onboard the TSS satellite; Design and produce multi-media CD that highlights TSS mission achievements and convey the knowledge of the tether technology to the general public. Along with discussions of this work, a list of publications and presentations derived from the TMST investigation spanning the reporting period is compiled.
This paper presents a heating-capillary video-microscopy system that allows visual observation and quantification of phenomena involving biphasic dispersions with interfaces at high temperatures. The cylindrical capillaries were made to have inside diameters of ∼200 μm, while their exterior was coated with a transparent tin-doped indium oxide film that acted as an electrically heating jacket. The produced capillaries achieved temperatures ranging from ambient to at least 287 °C, the boiling temperature of n-hexadecane, a high boiling point hydrocarbon used in the temperature-calibration experiments. The generated temperatures may oscillate, with maximum deviations of about 3 °C from ambient to 80 °C, 9 °C from 80 to 170 °C, and 45 °C from 170 to 265 °C. In the range of 100−265 °C, the desired temperatures were attained at a rate from 75 to 198 °C/s and could be easily adjusted by changing the applied ac voltage with a variable transformer. Two examples of using the heating-capillary technique for interfacial studies at high temperatures are illustrated.
Abstract Recent theoretical models and preliminary observations indicate that super small striations (SSS) in the plasma density with scale size of 10 cm can be excited by F region HF heating at frequencies close to multiples of the electron gyrofrequency. We present here new experimental results using the High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program ionospheric heater at a frequency close to the fourth electron gyroharmonic with simultaneous GPS, Stimulated Electromagnetic Emission, ionosonde, and occasional Incoherent Radar Scattering diagnostics. Differential phase measurements of GPS signals through the heated region indicated the presence of SSS with extremely high amplitude ( δn / n = 0.2–0.3) at scale size comparable to the electron gyroradius. The highest amplitude of GPS scintillations coincide with the highest level of the Broad Upshifted Maximum (BUM) and occurred when the HF frequency is slightly above the fourth harmonic of the electron cyclotron frequency. Frequency sweeps indicate that the scintillation amplitude exhibits hysteresis similar to that observed for the BUM amplitude when the HF frequency is cycled about the fourth harmonic of the cyclotron frequency. The results favor a four wave parametric process as the physical mechanism of the SSS. Additional experiments allowed the determination of the excitation and decay rates of the SSS.
Electron cyclotron maser instability has been suggested as the cause of the observed short (10-20 msec), intense (an approximate brightness temperature of 10 to the 15th K) and up to 100% polarized microwave solar emission. It is shown that plasma effects and thermal cyclotron damping, ignored in previous theories, play an important role in controlling the frequency range of the emission. The radio emission is suppressed for ratios of the plasma frequency to the cyclotron frequency smaller than 0.4. An examination of the cyclotron damping, reveals that the maser action is suppressed unless a large fraction (i.e., over 10%) of the accelerated electrons participates in the emission process.
