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Marshall scientists recognized for work |
July 9, 1998: From Moscow to Huntsville, several space scientists working with the Space Sciences Laboratory at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center have been recognized for their scientific achievements.
Prof.
Alexander A. Chernov (right) of the Universities Space Research Association
(USRA) has been awarded the 1998 Prize of the Government of Russian Federation
in Science and Technology. As director of USRA's Alliance for Microgravity
Materials Science and Applications in Huntsville, Chernov works directly
with the Space Sciences Laboratory.
Before coming to the United States in 1996, Chernov led a team of scientists who developed the scientific background for the technology enabling the fast growth of very large, high-quality crystals of potassium dihydrogen phosphate, deuterized potassium dihydrogen phosphate, and others in the same family. They are used in light frequency multiplication in powerful laser systems. Chernov developed growth methods based on fundamental crystal growth kinetics in the presence of impurities, and on the interaction of the growth surface with the solution flow. This resulted in changes in the growth interface which led to perfect crystals. As announced in April in Russia, he will be presented an honorary diploma, medal and cash award by the Russian government later this year.
Dr. Nicholas C. Costes (left), a senior scientist at NASA/Marshall, received the Hermann Oberth Award in a ceremony held in late May. The Oberth award, named for astronautics pioneer Hermann Oberth, is presented each year by the Alabama-Mississippi section of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics "for outstanding individual scientific achievement in the field of astronautics or for the promotion and advancement of the aeronautical sciences."
During
1952-56, Costes worked with the North Carolina State Highway and Public
Works Commission. In 1956-61, he was employed by the Cold Regions Research
and Engineering Laboratory of the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers. He helped
design an under-snow camp in Greenland in which, for the first time, nuclear
reactors were installed for electrical power; he also designed the foundations
of two "Texas-tower" radar installations, extending into a 3-km-deep
snowpack, for the Defense Early Warning (DEW) Line in Greenland. He taught
soil mechanics and engineering at North Carolina State University in 1961-65,
and earned his doctorate in1965.
Since 1966, his work at NASA/Marshall's Space Sciences Laboratory has spanned a wide number of subjects. In the early 1980s, he led a NASA/Marshall team that developed physical and chemical models for use in computational fluid dynamics (CFD) to analyze fluid flows inside the Space Shuttle Main Engine. This allowed the first-ever computations of flows within the engine, including flows around a critical pump bearing. These tools were used extensively in reassessing the engines after the 51-L Challenger tragedy in 1986.
Costes is best known for work involving soil. Through the early 1970s, as a principal investigator in the Apollo program, he analyzed the mechanics of lunar soils. He also designed the wheels for the Lunar Rover Vehicles which the last three manned lunar expeditions used. Recently he has revised a 1973 design concept for an Elastic Loop Mobility System that could enhance planetary exploration.
Since the mid-1980s, he has been project scientist for the Mechanics of Granular Materials (MGM) experiments aboard the Space Shuttle. With the MGM apparatus in the microgravity of space, scientists can study the behavior of soils and powders under conditions that pass in an instant on Earth yet are important in earthquakes, road and vehicle design, and some manufacturing processes.
In addition, several other SSL employees have been recognized by NASA in an awards ceremony held here in June. They include:
NASA Exceptional Achievement Medal: James P. Downey.
MSFC Research and Technology Award: Donald Gillies, Marc Pusey, and William Witherow.
NASA Group Achievement Award: Crystal Growth Furnace Payload Team, Solar X-ray Imager Team, Liquid Metal Diffusion Team
NASA Certificates of Appreciation: Sharon Cobb, Sandor L. Lehoczky, Helen C. Matsos, Palmer N. Peters, Ching-Hua Su, Frank R. Szofran, Peter A. Curreri, Michael B. Robinson.
MSFC Group Achievement Award: Thermal Ion Dynamics Experiment Team.
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Author: Dave
Dooling
Curator: Bryan Walls
NASA Official: John M. Horack
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