ALBERT

Description: A suggestion has been made that enhanced rates of hydrothermal activity during the Eocene could have caused a global warming by adding calcium to the ocean and pumping CO2 into the atmosphere (Owen and Rea, 1984). This phenomenon was purported to be consistent with the predictions of the CO2 geochemical cycle model of Berner, Lasaga and Garrels (1983) (henceforth BLAG). In fact, however, the BLAG model predicts only a weak connection between hydrothermal activity and atmospheric CO2 levels. By contrast, it predicts a strong correlation between seafloor spreading rates and pCO2, since the release rate of CO2 from carbonate metamorphism is assumed to be proportional to the mean spreading rate. The Ecocene warming can be conveniently explained if the BLAG model is extended by assuming that the rate of carbonate metamorphism is also proportional to the total length of the midocean ridges from which the spreading originates.

Description: This semester, efforts were concentrated on the design of the Lunox transfer line from the storage area to the launch site. Emphasis was placed on flow and heat transfer problems and their remedies by reducing the effect of radiation by selecting materials for storage tanks, transfer lines and insulation. The design for the storage tank was based on a medium sized Lunox production facility of 6,000 metric tons per year and the frequency of transportation of Lunox from lunar launch site to lower lunar orbit of four launches per month. The design included the selection of materials for cryogenic storage, insulation and radiation shielding. Lunox was pumped to the storage area near the launch site through a piping network designed for maximum mass flow rate with a minimum boil off. The entire network incorporated specially designed radiation shields made of material which was lightweight and low in secondary radiation.

Description: The objective of the 1986-87 space system design project was to design and procure the hardware necessary to demonstrate continuous production of oxygen from simulated Mars atmosphere. The work was an extension of a design project that was started during the previous academic year. A yttria stabilized, zirconium oxide electrochemical cell was operated in a controlled temperature environment to separate oxygen, which has been dissociated thermally from the primary constituent of the Martian atmosphere-carbon dioxide. This system was perhaps the most primitive chemical processor that could be developed as part of an extraterrestrial chemicals production demonstration project. The course began in January, 1987. Speakers were brought in to discuss the Martian environment, concepts for resource extraction and system requirements for an autonomous chemical processor. The class simultaneously refined its work plans, which were developed as part of the fall semester senior seminar course. Hardware was purchased using funds provided by the Planetary Society. However, the key hardware element was the zirconia cell. Development of that type of cell is beyond the capabilities of undergraduate engineering students. Consequently, the cell was borrowed. The design elements emphasized in this project were as follows: (1) System reliability analysis; (2) Autonomous operation and control; (3) High temperature seal design; (4) Design for minimum thermal stress; (5) Passive shut down environmental control; (6) Integrated instrumentation concepts; (7) Identification of extraterrestrial resources; (8) Evaluation of chemical processor concepts; (9) Integrated hardware design; and (10) Finite element analysis.

Description: The presence of a manned space colony on Mars may be expected to involve three phases in the utilization of planetary resources: (1) survival phase in which air, water, and food are produced, (2) self sufficiency phase in which chemicals, fuels, pharmaceuticals, polymers, and metals are produced, and (3) export to earth of materials and technology 1 phase in which the unique advantage of the extraterrestrial environment is fully exploited. The Advanced Design Project is administered as an interdisciplinary effort involving students and faculty throughout the College of Engineering. Senior students from Chemical, Civil, Electrical, and Mechanical Engineering are participating as a team. Multi discipline interfacing and coordination are stressed throughout the project. An interdisciplinary senior design course was developed and offered in the Spring of 1987. The first task of the survival phase is that of providing a supply of water and air adequate to support a ten person colony. The project has been divided into three subgroups: (1) design of a manufacturing and storage facility for air, (2) search and drill for water or water-bearing materials, and (3) retrieve, purify, and store potable water. The conceptual design phase has been completed and the project is being documented. The second task of the survival phase is that of providing a replenish able food supply. This task has two requirements: producing a supply of protein and providing an environment for growing plants for food. For the first requirement, we considered the design of a bioreactor system capable of growing beef cells for protein production. For the second, a design must be developed for a manufacturing system to produce materials needed to build a greenhouse farm.

Description: The design course is an eight semester credit multi-disciplinary engineering design course taught primarily to Engineering Science, Aerospace, Electrical and Mechanical Engineering seniors. This year the course project involved the design of the three interrelated loops: atmospheric, liquid nutrient and solid waste management, associated with growing higher plants to support man during long-term space missions. The project is complementary to the NASA Kennedy Space Center Controlled Environmental Life Support System (CELSS) project. The first semester the class worked on a preliminary design for a complete system. This effort included means for monitoring and control of composition, temperature, flow rate, etc., for the atmosphere and liquid nutrient solution; disease and contaminant monitoring and control; plant mechanical support, propagation and harvesting; solid and liquid waste recycling; and system maintenance and refurbishing. The project has significant biological, mechanical, electrical and Al/Robotics aspects. The second semester a small number of subsystems or components, identified as important and interesting during the first semester, were selected for detail design, fabrication, and testing. The class was supported by close cooperation with The Kennedy Space Center and by two teaching assistants. The availability of a dedicated, well equipped project room greatly enhanced the communication and team spirit of the class.

Description: The Department of Aerospace Engineering Sciences in conjunction with the NASA Ames Research Center has embarked upon an advanced space mission design that involves the provision for a long term space habitat. The program, by intent, is a cumulative effort of successive approximations that builds from one semester to the next. Ideas founded in the initial design exercise are carried through to the present effort. These ideas are constantly questioned and refined. This effort has been scrutinized by active professionals involved in critical design reviews and by each new group of students in the subsequent classes. Each effort consists of a balance between hardware design, concept/mission design and economic/political tradeoffs. The student activities in the course are CAD intensive, communications intensive, and research intensive. Every effort is made to produce numerous design review opportunities for each of the involved students. As part of this year's effort, the students have done a number of follow-on design projects for individuals at NASA-Ames. Finally, the course has been refined to include documentation on the design process itself. At the end of the design effort the University of Colorado should have produced rather complete documentation for a long-term space habitat and should have produced rather effective guidelines for design efforts of this type.

Description: The initial tasks addressed by the Prairie View A&M University team were the conceptual design of a breathable-air manufacturing system, a means of drilling for underground water, and a method for storing water for future use. Subsequently, the design objective of the team for the 1987-1988 academic year was the conceptual design of an integrated system for the supply of quality water for biological consumption, farming, residential and industrial use. The source of water for these applications is assumed to be artesian or subsurface. The first step of the project was to establish design criteria and major assumptions. The second step of the effort was to generate a block diagram of the expected treatment system and assign tasks to individual students. The list of processes for water purification and wastewater treatment given above suggests that there will be a need for on-site chemicals manufacturing for ion-exchange regeneration and disinfection. The third step of the project was to establish a basis for the design capacity of the system. A total need of 10,000 gal/day was assumed to be required. It was also assumed that 30,000 gallon raw-water intake volume is needed to produce the desired effluent volume.

Description: This report summarizes the design and construction of the Mars oxygen demonstration project. The basic hardware required to produce oxygen from simulated Mars atmosphere has been assembled and tested. Some design problems still remain with the sample collection and storage system. In addition, design and development of computer data acquisition and control instrumentation is continuing.

Description: The optical properties of comet p/Halley are being investigated. Initial research has revealed the basic characteristics of the nucleus and provided unique insights into the formation and structure of the coma and the plasma tail. The study is among the most intensive conducted for any comet. The results from comet p/Halley may be useful in the interpretation of results from other comets.