Orion Project Research Articles

Aerothermochemical analysis of the Orion capsule in rarefied transitional flow regime during Mars entry

It is well known that NASA developed the Orion project, besides for a rescue shuttle for the International Space Station, also for the transportation of instruments and astronauts to Moon, Mars and beyond. The forthcoming use of Orion for Mars landing stimulated Zuppardi to compute global aerodynamic coefficients in rarefied, transitional flow along a high altitude entry path. A Direct Simulation Monte Carlo (DSMC) code computed the coefficients at the altitudes of 80, 90 and 100 km, in the range of angles of attack 0–180 deg. The aim of the present paper, that can be considered as the logic follow on of the previous paper by Zuppardi, is to evaluate, in high altitude entry path, the influence of: 1) chemical reactions on the flow field and on some local quantities (temperature, pressure and heat flux) along the Orion surface, 2) typology of entry trajectory (direct and orbit) on both local quantities and drag coefficient, 3) heat flux associated to the surface recombination reactions. Computations were carried out in axisymmetric flow and in the altitudes interval 60–100 km by means of a home made code for the computation of the entry trajectories and of the powerful and advanced two-dimentional/axisymmetric DSMC code (DS2V) for the solution of the flow field around Orion.

Pulsed Nuclear Space Propulsion and International Law: Some Preliminary

Pulsed Nuclear Space Propulsion, researched in the 1950s and 1960s by such eminent physicists as Freeman Dyson, Ted Taylor, Theodore von Karman, and Hans Bethe, involves propelling large spacecraft using compact nuclear explosions from specialized atomic devices. This technology is often known by the name of the Air Force project in which it was developed: Orion. It has long been believed that the 1962 Limited Test Ban Treaty prohibits the use of nuclear pulse space propulsion. After a survey of the Orion project and its results and a review of the applicable law, this Article concludes that language in the 1967 Outer Space Treaty may override the Test Ban agreement to permit non-weapons use of nuclear explosives for propulsion. With a new space race taking place and with important actors such as China not subject to the Test Ban Treaty at all, the subject of pulsed nuclear space propulsion deserves another look.

Aerodynamics of Orion in Rarefied Flow Along a Mars Entry Path

It is well known that the Orion capsule was born as a rescue shuttle for the International Space Station. NASA developed the Orion project for the transportation of instruments and astronauts to moon, Mars, and beyond. Orion is similar in shape but larger than the Apollo command module; Orion will be able to host up to six astronauts, but Apollo command module could host only three astronauts. The aerodynamics of Orion during reentry to Earth in all rarefied regimes (that is, from free molecule regime to continuum) was already studied. The forthcoming use of Orion for Mars landing stimulated the author to evaluate global aerodynamic coefficients in rarefied flow along an entry path. The study considered problems both in axisymmetric and in three-dimensional flows by means of two direct simulation Monte Carlo codes. Global aerodynamic coefficients were computed at the altitudes of 80, 90, and 100 km. Special attention was paid to longitudinal stability.

Modeling of heavy reflectors using DONJON-5

The IRSN code sequence based on DRAGON-5/DONJON-5 codes has been developed as part of the ORION project. Its goal is to provide a code sequence and computation scheme that works effectively for the study of PWR in operating conditions. The first part of the paper presents the differences between light and heavy reflectors and prove the need to validate the current computation scheme for heavy reflectors. The second part presents the validation of the DRAGON-5/DONJON-5 computation scheme by comparison of the relative power distribution with CASMO-5 which is considered as the deterministic reference for the present study. The last part deals with the optimization of the computation scheme to improve the heavy reflector model.

ASTRONOMY WITH SMALL TELESCOPES

We have designed and built three cost effective observatories, in distinct models, which can house Schmidt-Cassegrain type small telescopes having aperture sizes up to 16 inches. Using the available small telescopes, we provided the people of Manipura State in the far north-east corner of India the opportunity to observe directly with their own eyes the rare, spectacular events of the solar eclipse of January 15, 2010, lunar eclipse of December 10, 2011 and the transit of Venus of June 6, 2012. Apart from sharing a platform with the public for astronomy education and popularization through public outreach programs such as workshops, seminars and night watch programs, we have also developed a laboratory infrastructure and gained expertise in observational techniques based on photoelectric photometry, CCD imaging, CCD photometry and spectroscopy. Our team has become a partner in the ongoing international 'Orion project' headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona, USA which will be producing high quality photometric and spectroscopic data for five stars in the Orion constellation, namely Betelgeuse (alpha Orionis), Rigel (beta Orionis), Mintaka (delta Orionis), Alnilam (epsilon Orionis) and Alnitak (zeta Orionis). In the present paper, the authors would like to give a detailed report of their activities for the growth of astronomy in the state of Manipur, India.

ORION - A Global Approach to Waste Management.

In the ORION project supported by the European Commission, 20 partners work together to manage organic waste from agro-food industries. The goal is to develop a small, automatic and user-friendly digestion machine to facilitate the domestic on-site treatment of a wide range of organic waste from around 100 and up to 5000 tonnes per year at low cost and with limited maintenance. Simon Crelier at the HES-SO Valais/Wallis is part of the network.

Filamentary Structure of the Orion A Molecular Cloud

Interstellar filaments pervade molecular clouds on all scales providing a bridge between the gas with relatively low densities and the dense clumps. In this work, we characterize various physical properties of filaments in the Orion A molecular cloud using preliminary datasets from the CARMA Orion project. We use an automated filament finding algorithm, DisPerSE, on 3D datacubes, and custom characterization algorithms.

Doing Astronomy with Small Telescopes

We are playing a lead role for growth of astronomy and its quality teaching and research in Manipur, a State located at northeast India (longitude = 93°58'E; latitude = 24°44'N; altitude = 782 m). We have innovatively designed and constructed three cost effective observatories, each costing a few hundred USD. These observatories are completely different in design and are perfectly usable for doing serious work on astronomical observation and measurements, using small ground-based telescopes. One Celestron CGE1400 telescope is housed with equatorial mounting in one of three constructed observatories and the same observatory has been inducted, since January 2012, as one of the members of the “Orion Project”, which is an international project headquartered at Phoenix, Arizona, USA, dedicated for photometric and spectroscopic observations of five bright variable stars of the Orion constellation. We have been producing high precision BVRI photometric data that match well with those produced by other observatories enrolled in the Orion project. Our photometric data were presented and discussed in the 33rd Annual Conference of the Society for Astronomical Sciences: Symposium on Telescope Science, held at Ontario, California, USA during June 12 - 14, 2014. Further, we could successfully demonstrate them to the entire population of the State and play live shows of the observation of three spectacular astronomical events namely, solar eclipse of 15th January 2010, lunar eclipse of 10th December 2011 and Transit of Venus of June 6, 2012. We have conducted a number of seminars and workshops for training and research in astronomy. In the present paper, we would like describe our self-built observatories, our observational facilities, the BVRI photometric data that we acquired for the Orion project, and other activities undertaken for growth of astronomy activities in the State of Manipur, India.

THE PTF ORION PROJECT: A POSSIBLE PLANET TRANSITING A T-TAURI STAR

We report observations of a possible young transiting planet orbiting a previously known weak-lined T-Tauri star in the 7-10 Myr old Orion-OB1a/25-Ori region. The candidate was found as part of the Palomar Transient Factory (PTF) Orion project. It has a photometric transit period of 0.448413 +- 0.000040 days, and appears in both 2009 and 2010 PTF data. Follow-up low-precision radial velocity (RV) observations and adaptive optics imaging suggest that the star is not an eclipsing binary, and that it is unlikely that a background source is blended with the target and mimicking the observed transit. RV observations with the Hobby-Eberly and Keck telescopes yield an RV that has the same period as the photometric event, but is offset in phase from the transit center by approximately -0.22 periods. The amplitude (half range) of the RV variations is 2.4 km/s and is comparable with the expected RV amplitude that stellar spots could induce. The RV curve is likely dominated by stellar spot modulation and provides an upper limit to the projected companion mass of M_p sin i_orb < 4.8 +- 1.2 M_Jup; when combined with the orbital inclination, i orb, of the candidate planet from modeling of the transit light curve, we find an upper limit on the mass of the planetary candidate of M_p < 5.5 +- 1.4 M_Jup. This limit implies that the planet is orbiting close to, if not inside, its Roche limiting orbital radius, so that it may be undergoing active mass loss and evaporation.

THE PALOMAR TRANSIENT FACTORY ORION PROJECT: ECLIPSING BINARIES AND YOUNG STELLAR OBJECTS

The Palomar Transient Factory (PTF) Orion project is one of the experiments within the broader PTF survey, a systematic automated exploration of the sky for optical transients. Taking advantage of the wide (35 × 23) field of view available using the PTF camera installed at the Palomar 48 inch telescope, 40 nights were dedicated in 2009 December to 2010 January to perform continuous high-cadence differential photometry on a single field containing the young (7–10 Myr) 25 Ori association. Little is known empirically about the formation of planets at these young ages, and the primary motivation for the project is to search for planets around young stars in this region. The unique data set also provides for much ancillary science. In this first paper, we describe the survey and the data reduction pipeline, and present some initial results from an inspection of the most clearly varying stars relating to two of the ancillary science objectives: detection of eclipsing binaries and young stellar objects. We find 82 new eclipsing binary systems, 9 of which are good candidate 25 Ori or Orion OB1a association members. Of these, two are potential young W UMa type systems. We report on the possible low-mass (M-dwarf primary) eclipsing systems in the sample, which include six of the candidate young systems. Forty-five of the binary systems are close (mainly contact) systems, and one of these shows an orbital period among the shortest known for W UMa binaries, at 0.2156509 ± 0.0000071 days, with flat-bottomed primary eclipses, and a derived distance that appears consistent with membership in the general Orion association. One of the candidate young systems presents an unusual light curve, perhaps representing a semi-detached binary system with an inflated low-mass primary or a star with a warped disk, and may represent an additional young Orion member. Finally, we identify 14 probable new classical T-Tauri stars in our data, along with one previously known (CVSO 35) and one previously reported as a candidate weak-line T-Tauri star (SDSS J052700.12+010136.8).

Propulsion of space ships by nuclear explosion

Recent progress in the research on deuterium-tritium (D-T) inertially confined microexplosions encourages one to reconsider the nuclear propulsion of spaceships based on the concept originally proposed in the Orion project. We discuss first the acceleration of medium-sized spaceships by D-T explosions whose output is in the range of 0.1–10 t of TNT. The launching of such a ship into an Earth orbit or beyond by a large nuclear explosion in an underground cavity is sketched out in the second section of the paper, and finally we consider a hypothetical Mars mission based on these concepts. In the conclusion it is argued that propulsion based on the Orion concept only is not the best method for interplanetary travel owing to the very large number of nuclear explosion required. A combination of a super gun and subsequent rocket propulsion using advanced chemical fuels appears to be the best solution for space flights of the near future.

The ORION project

Technical innovation, process reengineering, and organizational adaptation of the ORION project are described.

ORION project: acceleration of ion clusters and highly charged biomolecules from 10 MeV to 1 GeV

To allow the acceleration of beams of metallic clusters and biomolecules up to MeV energies, modifications were made to the MP9 tandem in Orsay. An ion source and the beam injection line will be available in the terminal, a tube section of the proper design is installed in location 5. Standard tandem operation can also be used to accelerate clusters: for example, an experiment with 30 MeV C 60 fullerene ions was recently performed.

Introduction to object-oriented databases

Introduction to Object-Oriented Databases provides the first unified and coherent presentation of the essential concepts and techniques of object-oriented databases. It consolidates the results of research and development in the semantics and implementation of a full spectrum of database facilities for object-oriented systems, including data model, query, authorization, schema evolution, storage structures, query optimization, transaction management, versions, composite objects, and integration of a programming language and a database system.The book draws on the author's Orion project at MCC, currently the most advanced object-oriented database system, and places this work in a larger context by using relational database systems and other object-oriented systems for comparison.Won Kim is Director of the Object-Oriented and Distributed Systems Laboratory at Microelectronics and Computer Technology Corporation (MCC) in Austin, Texas.Contents: Introduction. Data Model. Basic Interface. Relationships with Non-Object-Oriented Databases. Schema Modification. Model of Queries. Query Language. Authorization. Storage Structures. Query Processing. Transaction Management. Semantic Extensions. Integrating Object-Oriented Programming and Databases. Architecture. Survey of Object-Oriented Database Systems. Directions for Future Research and Development.

Periodic Smoothing of Time Series

To discover and summarize regular periodic variation in a time series, $\{ y_i ,t_i \} $, we may consider approximating the observed $y_i $ with a general smooth periodic function of $t_i $:\[ y_i \approx f \left( {\omega t_i } \right) \]where $f( \cdot )$ is a periodic function with period 1 (so that $f(\omega t)$ has period $\lambda = {1 / \omega }$ as a function of t). To make such an approximation, we need to choose a function $f( \cdot )$ the frequency, $\omega $, may be known, or it may need to be chosen also. The basic suggestion presented in this paper is to choose the function, $f( \cdot )$, by smoothing $y_i $ as a function of $(\omega t_i \bmod 1)$. If $\omega $ is unknown, it can be chosen to make $f(\omega t_i )$ a good approximation to $y_i $. More complex periodic variation can be modelled using a variation of the Projection Pursuit Paradigm (Friedman and Stuetzle (1982a)) to construct approximations of the form\[ y_i \approx \sum_{k = 1}^K {f_k \left( {\omega _k t_i } \right)} . \] This approach has been developed as part of the Orion project for statistical graphics at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center; it is most useful in an interactive graphics environment, like the Orion I workstation (Friedman and Stuetzle (1981b), McDonald (1982a, b, c)). However, given moderate compromises, it can be used with profit in more conventional environments for statistical computing. Some advantages of periodic smoothing are: The observed times, ti, need not be equally spaced, which means, in particular, that missing data is not a problem. The function, $f( \cdot )$, and the frequency, $\omega $, can be chosen in a way that is insensitive to occasional gross errors in $y_i $ (and ti, for that matter). The function, $f( \cdot )$, need not be easily approximated by simple linear combinations of sines and cosines at harmonics of the fundamental frequency, $\omega $. Perhaps most importantly, the model can be constructed and modified interactively, and has a natural graphical representation.

Interstellar transport

THE ORION PROJECT, with which I was involved about 10 years ago, aimed to build space ships powered by nuclear explosions. We began work on Orion after the Russian Sputnik went up and before the US was committed to a big space program with chemical propulsion. We felt then that there was a reasonable chance that the US could jump directly into nuclear propulsion and avoid building enormous chemical rockets like Saturn V. Our plan was to send ships to Mars and Venus by 1968, at a cost that would have been only a fraction of what is now spent on the Apollo program. We never got the green light; so nobody can be sure if our schemes were sound. I am not against the Apollo program; I much prefer it to no program at all. Still, I believe that fundamentally a Saturn V bears the same relation to an Orion ship as the majestic airships of the 1930's bore to the Boeing 707. The airships were huge, flimsy, with a payload absurdly small in comparison to their size, just like the Apollo ships.