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Structural responses of a spacecraft during liftoff are dominated by the intense acoustic pressure field imping on the exterior of the launch vehicle. Statistical Energy Analysis model of the NASA Mars Exploration Rover spacecraft has been developed and the SEA model was analyzed to predict vibroacoustic responses of the spacecraft under the diffuse acoustic loading condition.

Mid and high frequency structural responses of a spacecraft during the launch condition are mainly dominated by the intense acoustic pressure field over the exterior of the launch vehicle. The prediction of structural responses due to the acoustic launch load is therefore an important analysis for engineers and scientists to correctly define various dynamics specifications of the spacecraft.

Determination of the form and distribution of carbon in the universe is critical to understanding the origin of life on Earth and elsewhere. Two potentially large reservoirs of carbon in the interstellar medium (ISM) remain unexplored. These are polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) and pure carbon clusters. Little information exists on the structures, properties, and transition frequencies of pure carbon clusters. The work described is designed to provide a specific inventory of laboratory frequencies and physical properties of this carbon clusters so that efforts can be made to detect them in cold interstellar sources by far-infrared astronomy. Data is given from infrared laser spectroscopy determination of the structure of C3, C4, C5, C6, C7, and C9.

The nu 3(sigma u) fundamental vibration of 1 sigma g+ Si2C3 has been observed using a laser vaporization-supersonic cluster beam-diode laser spectrometer. Forty rovibrational transitions were measured in the range of 1965.8 to 1970.9 cm-1 with a rotational temperature of 10-15 K. A least-squares fit of these transitions yielded the following molecular constants: nu 3(sigma u)=1968.188 31(18) cm-1, B"=0.031 575 1(60) cm-1, and B'=0.031 437 4(57) cm-1. These results are in excellent agreement with recent Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) measurements of Si2C3 trapped in a solid Ar matrix [J. Chem. Phys. 100, 181(1994)] and with ab initio calculations [J. Chem. Phys. 100, 175 (1994)] which suggest cumulenic-like bonding for Si2C3, analogous to the isovalent C5 carbon cluster.

We report improved measurements for the nu6 antisymmetric stretch fundamental and observation of the (nu6 + nu15) - nu15 and (nu6 + 2nu15) - 2nu15 hot bands of the linear C9 carbon cluster by direct absorption diode laser spectroscopy of a supersonic carbon cluster beam. Analysis of these bands characterizes C9 as a semirigid molecule with a bending potential similar to that of C5 and further evidences the alternation in degree of rigidity of linear carbon clusters with the g-u symmetry of the HOMO.

We report the first structural characterization of the triplet isomer of C6. Forty-one rovibrational/fine structure transitions in the nu 4(sigma u) antisymmetric stretch fundamental of the C6 cluster have been measured by diode laser absorption spectroscopy of a supersonic carbon cluster beam. The observed spectrum is characteristic of a centrosymmetric linear triplet state with cumulene-type bonding. The measured ground state rotational constant B0 = 0.048 479 (10)cm-1 and the effective bond length r(eff) = 1.2868 (1) angstroms are in good agreement with ab initio predictions for the linear triplet (3 sigma g-) state of C6.