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Several spacecraft missions have recently targeted asteroids to study their morphologies and physical properties (e.g. Galileo, NEAR Shoemaker), and more are planned. MUSES-C is a Japanese mission designed to rendezvous with a near-Earth asteroid (NEA). The MUSES-C spacecraft, Hayabusa, was launched successfully in May 2003. It will rendezvous with its target asteroid in 2005, and return samples to the Earth in 2007. Its target, 25143 Itokawa (1998 SF36), made a close approach to the Earth in 2001. We collected an extensive ground-based database of broadband photometry obtained during this time, which maximized the phase angle coverage, to characterize this target in preparation for the mission. Our project was designed to capitalize on the broadband UBVRI photometric observations taken with a series of telescopes, instrumentation, and observers. Photometry and spectrophotometry of Itokawa were acquired at Lowell, McDonald, Steward, Palomar, Table Mountain and Kiso Observatories. The photometric data sets were combined to calculate Hapke model parameters of the surface material of Itokawa, and examine the solar-corrected broadband color characteristics of the asteroid. Broadband photometry of an object can be used to: (1) determine its colors and thereby contribute to the understanding of its surface composition and taxonomic class, and (2) infer global physical surface properties of the target body. We present both colors from UBVRI observations of the MUSES-C target Itokawa, and physical properties derived by applying a Hapke model to the broadband BVRI photometry.

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Talks of how asteroid 1998 SF36 (25143) is the target of the Japanese/NASA MUSES-C sample return mission.

The influence of Grashof and Reynolds number in Metal Organic Chemical Vapor (MOCVD) reactors is being investigated under a combined empirical/numerical study. As part of that research, the deposition of Indium Phosphide in an MOCVD reactor is modeled using the computational code CFD-ACE. The model includes the effects of convection, conduction, and radiation as well as multi-component diffusion and multi-step surface/gas phase chemistry. The results of the prediction are compared with experimental data for a commercial reactor and analyzed with respect to the model accuracy.

Growth from the vapor under conditions of limited contact with the walls of the growth ampoule is beneficial for the quality of the growing crystal due to reduced stress and contamination which may be caused by interactions with the growth container. The technique may be of a particular interest for studies on crystal growth under microgravity conditions: elimination of some factors affecting the crystal quality may make interpretation of space-conducted processes more conclusive and meaningful. For that reason, and as a part of our continuing studies on 'contactless' growth technique, we have developed a computational model of crystal growth process in such system. The theoretical model was built, and simulations were performed using the commercial computational fluid dynamics code, (CFD) ACE. The code uses an implicit finite volume formulation with a gray discrete ordinate method radiation model which accounts for the diffuse absorption and reflection of radiation throughout the furnace. The three-dimensional model computes the heat transfer through the crystal, quartz, and gas both inside and outside the ampoule, and mass transport from the source to the crystal and the sink. The heat transport mechanisms by conduction, natural convection, and radiation, and mass transport by diffusion and convection are modeled simultaneously and include the heat of the phase transition at the solid-vapor interfaces. As the thermal boundary condition, temperature profile along the walls of the furnace is used. For different thermal profiles and furnace and ampoule dimensions, the crystal growth rate and development of the crystal-vapor and source-vapor interfaces (change of the interface shape and location with time) are obtained. Super/under-saturation in the ampoule is determined and critical factors determining the 'contactless' growth conditions are identified and discussed. The relative importance of the ampoule dimensions and geometry, the furnace dimensions and its temperature, and the properties of the grown material are analyzed. The results of the simulations are compared with related experimental results on growth of CdTe, CdZnTe, ZnTe, PbTe, and PbSnTe crystals by this technique.

A numerical model of the thermal field in the furnace-ampoule system developed for the 'contactless' Physical Vapor Transport growth geometry is presented. The model is used to assess the effect of the system geometry and growth parameters on the conditions of 'contactless' growth of cadmium telluride crystals.

Aqueous NH4Cl's solidification is often used to model metal alloy solidification processes. The present determinations of the magnitude of the variation of aqueous NH4Cl's surface tension as a function of both temperature and solutal concentration were conducted at 3, 24, and 40 C over the 72-100 wt pct water solutal range. In general, the surface tension increases 0.31 dyn/cm per percent decrease in wt pct of water, and decreases 0.13 dyn/cm for each increase in deg C. Attention is given to the experimental apparatus employed.

The environment of the NASA KC-135 low gravity aircraft was employed to examine the effects of g-jitter on the growth of a solidification diffusion layer for 28 wt pct NH4Cl-H2O, a metal alloy model material. The hypothesis that jitter (vibrational) effects account for previously observed low gravity growth anomalies was investigated by comparing optical data (central dark ground method) for 10-squared g(e) (earth's gravity) KC-135 growth conditions and 1 g(e) laboratory conditions. Accelerometer data obtained during the flight program showed the KC-135 low gravity environment to have extreme levels of jitters.

The first significant results of a ground-based experimental program which supports a low gravity space processing Spacelab experiment are reported. The phenomena which precipitate pluming and thus freckling in a metal alloy analog (ammonium chloride and water) are studied in detail and the sequential events leading to massive channeling and convection are optically documented. The pluming is shown to be other than a random burst of unstable fluid from a preferred channel but rather a natural occurrence resulting from a fundamental (Rayleigh-Benard) fluid dynamic instability at the density inversion interface. This extrapolates to critical size parameters appropriate to processing of actual metal alloys.

A general purpose, three-dimensional computational fluid dynamics code named PHOENICS, developed by CHAM Inc., is used to model the flow in the aft-platform seal cavity in the high pressure fuel pump of the space shuttle main engine. The model is used to predict the temperatures, velocities, and pressures in the cavity for six different sets of boundary conditions. The results are presented as input for further analysis of two known problems in the region, specifically: erratic pressures and temperatures in the adjacent coolant liner cavity and cracks in the blade shanks near the outer diameter of the aft-platform seal.

The Gravity Probe-B spacecraft is composed largely of a liquid helium dewar containing an experiment package. It is shown that an unsymmetric liquid helium distribution in the dewar can cause unacceptably high forces, gravitational and gravity gradient forces, at the experiment location. It is further shown that for the planned spacecraft configuration and operational parameters, it is very likely that the liquid helium distribution in the dewar will be unsymmetric. The required symmetry can be attained by using higher operational spacecraft rotation rates.

Laser Doppler anemometry, radiation thermometry, and time-lapse photography have been used to study heat induced surface-tension driven flows in silicone oil and Fluorinert FC-43 in large open containers. For silicone oil, the effect of the surface tension gradient on the velocity field was not apparent enough to be detected. Because of its high viscosity, the oil was insensitive to outside disturbances, and the flow was steady. In the case of FC-43, the fluid was noticeably influenced by outside disturbances, and the flow was unsteady. The work reported here is part of an effort to develop experimental techniques and select test fluids for future space experiments on fluid motion in materials processing.