Albert Jackson

• Doctor of Philosophy (Physics)
• Consultant at Triton Systems LLC Clear Lake

The author was a member of the Flight Crew Training Division at the Manned Spacecraft Center, Houston, Texas from January 1966 to September 1970. I was in the simulator crew training branch. After initial assignments to the Gemini flight simulator and work on a fixed base simulator for the Lunar Landing Training Vehicle I became the prime instructo...

The author was a member of the Flight Crew Training Division at the Manned Spacecraft Center, Houston, Texas from January 1966 to September 1970. I was in the simulator crew training branch. After initial assignments to the Gemini flight simulator and work on a fixed base simulator for the Lunar Landing Training Vehicle I became the prime instructo...

A. A. Jackson, Ph. D a Peter Schattschneider Ph. D b a Triton Systems, LLC, Houston (TX), USA b TU Wien, A-1040 Vienna, Austria Long ago it was noted that the mass ratio problem is for an interstellar spacecraft was an enormous problem. One solution was to acquire propellant along the route, such a propulsion system to get around the mass ratio pr...

In 1969, John Ford Fishback proposed a solution for the interstellar ramjet with magnetic scooping. With the exception of two papers published in the early 1970s, this model has not been revisited up to now for viability. Here, we analyse Fishback’s axial scoop field configuration. Computer simulations prove its functionality, albeit with absurdly...

Technosignatures can represent a sign of technology that can be used to infer the existence of intelligent life elsewhere in the universe. This had usually meant searches for extraterrestrial intelligence using narrow-band radio signals or pulsed lasers. Back in 1960 Freeman Dyson put forward the idea that advanced civilizations may construct large...

Technosignatures can represent a sign of technology that may infer the existence of intelligent life elsewhere in the universe. This had usually meant searches for extraterrestrial intelligence using narrow-band radio signals or pulsed lasers. Back in 1960 Freeman Dyson put forward the idea that advanced civilizations may construct large structures...

Observational SETI has concentrated on using electromagnetism as the carrier , namely radio waves and laser radiation. Michael Hippke [2] has pointed out that it may be possible to use neutrinos or gravitational waves as signals. Gravitational waves demand the command of the generation of very large scale amounts of energy, Jackson and Benford [3]....

The mass ratio problem in interstellar flight presents a major problem[1,[2}; a solution to this is the Interstellar Ramjet[3]. An alternative to the Bussard Ramjet was presented in 1977 [8]. The Laser Powered Interstellar Ramjet, LPIR. This vehicle uses a solar system based laser beaming power to a vehicle which scoops interstellar hydrogen and us...

Following the 2017 LIGO and VIRGO detections of colliding black holes and neutron stars, we consider how an advanced civilization might build a radiator to send gravitational wave (gravwave) signals by using black holes as radiators. Tiny black holes on the scale of centimeters can be controlled electromagnetically, through their charges and magnet...

The Breakthrough Starshot Initiative has suggested the development of a concept for propelling a small-scale spacecraft by an intense laser beam to interstellar distances [1]. If such a small-scale spacecraft could be accelerated to 20 percent of light speed, it could reach the vicinity of the Alpha Centauri system in approximately 20 years. The qu...

The Breakthrough Starshot Initiative has suggested the development of a concept for propelling a small-scale spacecraft by an intense laser beam to interstellar distances [1]. If such a small-scale spacecraft could be accelerated to 20 percent of light speed, it could reach the vicinity of the Alpha Centauri system in approximately 20 years. The qu...

Breakthrough Starshot is a study to consider the concept of ultra-fast Nano-spacecraft probes towards the stellar system Alpha Centuari. These probes leave the solar system at 20% the speed of light. The beginning of the journey and the intermediate interstellar trajectory has been the subject of preliminary studies [1].[3]. Considered here is arri...

This paper describes a beacon that uses laser transmitters and a non-rotating black hole as a beacon deployed by an advanced civilization. The idea that advanced civilizations may seek a way to communicate in optimum ways (Benford and Benford, 2010 [3]) has been put forward in recent times. In what manner could a civilization use a gravitational le...

This follow-on paper describes the principal methods of implementing, and documents the results of exercising, a set of six-degree-of-freedom rigid-body equations of motion and planetary geodetic, gravitation and atmospheric models for simple vehicles in a variety of endo-and exo-atmospheric conditions with various NASA, and one popular open-source...

The two-body problem with a generalized Stokes drag is discussed. The drag force is proportional to the product of the velocity vector and the inverse square of the distance. The generalization consists of allowing two different proportionality constants for the radial and the transverse components of the force. Under the ‘generalized Robertson tra...

Ulysses and Galileo spacecraft have discovered interstellar dust particles entering the solar system. In general, particles trajectories not altered by Lorentz forces or radiation pressure should encounter the sun on open orbits. Under Newtonian forces alone these particles return to the interstellar medium. Dissipative forces, such as Poynting–Rob...

The population in orbit can be divided into 2 major components: operational payloads and debris. The majority of objects is debris generated by different mechanisms: operational procedures surface degradation and fragmentations. Spent intact rocket bodies and derelict payloads are also considered as debris. Orbital debris is of importance since it...

Historically, satellite fragmentation has been assumed to be the major source of small orbital debris, based on U.S. Space Command observations. Although it was always known that only a few tens of kilograms of small debris could produce a significant debris hazard, there was no hard evidence that any space operations were releasing even these smal...

The orbital evolution of interplanetary dust particles (IDPs) from both retrograde and prograde Halley-type comets is numerically simulated. It is found that dust particles nearly always get trapped into one or more mean motion resonances (MMRs) with giant planets while in retrograde orbits. Of the 1000 retrograde particles simulated 116 are trappe...

A special case of the perturbed two-body problem is discussed, with the perturbation due to a drag force proportional to the ratio v/r2. The model includes the Poynting-Robertson drag and the Stokes drag as its particular cases. The problem admits an exact solution for the distance as a function of the true longitude. The orbit solution can be expr...

Let us consider the orbital problem in which a particle is subject to the force (per unit mass) The force consists of the Newtonian two body attraction term and a drag part which is linear in both components of velocity (radial v r and transverse v t ). Depending on a physical interpretation of the parameters μ and α , as well as on the particular...

The population in orbit can be divided into 2 major components: operational payloads and debris. The majority of objects is debris generated by different mechanisms: operational procedures, surface degradation and fragmentations. Spent intact rocket bodies and derelict payloads are also considered as debris. Orbital debris is of importance since it...

NASA Management Instruction (NMI) 1700.8 directs each project office to limit orbital debris generation if this action is cost-effective and consistent with achieving mission objectives. To implement this policy, the NASA Office of Safety and Mission Assurance, the sponsor of NMI 1700.8, tasked NASA Johnson Space Center (JSC) to develop the NASA Sa...

The measured small particle population in earth orbit contains cm-sized objects that are not accounted for by breakup fragments. It was proposed that slag ejection during solid rocket motor burn is a contributor to this population. The direct evidence for such slag ejection follows from: observations of the exhausts of vehicles in flight, and engin...

This paper describes the effects of perturbations on the orbital evolution of objects in the geostationary region relevant to debris modeling. An analytic orbital propagator will be presented, which is fast enough to be useful for debris modeling and accurate enough to model all important effects caused by perturbations which affect the geosynchron...

A report is given about an orbit propagation method based on a recent development in the numerical integration of differential equations. A method called symplectic mapping. The method has been applied to the propagation of spacecraft and particles in geosynchronous orbit and other high altitude orbits. The results of this method have been compared...

In this paper, we examine the effects of radiation pressure, Poynting-Robertson (PR) drag, and solar wind drag on dust grains trapped in mean motion resonances with the Sun and Jupiter in the restricted (negligible dust mass) three-body problem. We especially examine the evolution of dust grains in the 1:1 resonance. As a first step, the Sun and Ju...

Scattered light from orbiting or coorbiting dust is a primary signature by which Earth-based observers study the activity and atmosphere of the unusual outer solar system object 2060 Chiron. Therefore, it is important to understand the lifetime, dynamics, and loss rates of dust in its coma. We report here dynamical simulations of particles in Chiro...

In this study on the evolution of dust particles from comets and asteroids, the effects of accurate many-body planetary motion on the gravitational perturbations of the dust grains are computed. In a computer simulation, dust grains of radius 10, 30, and 100 micron were released at perihelion passage from each of 36 different celestial bodies: 16 m...

The relative contributions of comets and asteroids to the reservoir of dust in the interplanetary medium is not known. There are direct observations of dust released from comets and there is evidence to associate the IRAS dust bands with possible collisions of asteroids in the main belt. A means towards sorting out the parent sources has been propo...

The phenomenon of resonance trapping with Poynting-Robertson drag in the simplest case - the circular restricted three-body problem - is elucidated. Attention is given to what determines whether a grain of a given size passes through a given resonance or is trapped there, to how and why a trapped particle's orbit evolves with time, and to why Poynt...

Analysis of IRAS data of the thermal zodiacal emission reveals an out-of-plane dust distribution near the Earth which is well-represented by a Lorentzian function. We suggest a possible explanation for the similarity as near-Earth gravitational perturbations of dust grains. Such perturbations are expected to be chaotic and will randomize any residu...

In a recent study we have modeled the orbital evolution of dust particles released from comets and asteroids in the solar system. The source bodies were either asteroids inside Jupiter's orbit or comets from the Jupiter family of comets. However there are other dust producing parent bodies in the solar system of interest, one of these is comet P/Sc...

Results are presented from a computer simulation in which dust grains of three different sizes were released at perihelion passage from each of (1) 15 main belt asteroids, (2) 15 short-period comets with perihelion greater than 1 AU, and (3) 5 such comets with perihelion less than 1 AU. The evolving-orbit calculations for each of the dust rains inc...

The paper presents a numerical investigation of orbital evolution for objects started in GEO or in orbits near GEO in order to study potential orbital debris problems in this region. Perturbations simulated include nonspherical terms in the earth's geopotential field, lunar and solar gravity, and solar radiation pressure. Objects simulated include...

PERIODIC variations in the arrival times of pulses from the millisecond pulsar PSR1257+12 are most straightforwardly interpreted as indicating the presence of two planet-like companions orbiting the pulsar1. Rasio et al.2have proposed that the planetary explanation is amenable to a simple test: the deduced parameters put the planets near an orbital...

The orbital evolution of objects at or near geosynchronous orbit (GEO) has been simulated to investigate possible hazards to working geosynchronous satellites. Orbits of both large satellites and small particles have been simulated, subject to perturbations by nonspherical geopotential terms, lunar and solar gravity, and solar radiation pressure. L...

The radio pulsar PSR1257+12 was first observed about two years ago at the Arecibo radio telescope. It has a pulse period of 6.2 milliseconds which makes it one of only a handful of known objects of this type that spin at a dizzying rate of several hundred times per second. Routine follow-up monitoring of this object has continued since its discover...

Numerical integrations are used here to show that small dust grains can be temporarily captured into exterior orbit-orbit resonances with the earth, lasting from less than 10,000 years to more than 100,000 years. Grains with radii of 30-100 microns, orbiting in planes less than 10 deg from the plane of the solar system and with orbital eccentriciti...

Four test orbits of a trans-Plutonian planet have been integrated forward for four million years in order to determine the effects of such a body on the stability of the Neptune–Pluto 3:2 resonance. Planets beyond Pluto with masses of 0.1 M and 1.0 Earth masses in orbits at 48.3 and 75.5 AU, respectively, do not disturb the 3:2 resonance. Test plan...

The infrared brightness of a flattened comet belt beyond the orbit of Neptune is considered using a disk-like model with a power-law density distribution of comets. This spectrum is compared with the emission from a model zodiacal dust cloud in the ecliptic and with published IRAS data and some consequences of dust in the comet belt are presented.

A model in which the 26-Myr mass extinction cycle of Raup and Sepkoski (1984) is associated with the orbital period of a solar companion star is investigated. The required semi-major axis is about 88,000 A.U., or 1.4 light year. Its highly eccentric orbit (e greater than about 0.9) periodically brings the companion into the dense inner region of th...

If planets occur around intermediate mass stars (one or two solar masses) then some time during evolution they may be engulfed by a stellar wind or an expanding envelope as the star evolves into a red giant. Interaction of the outflowing material may have an observable interaction with the planet. Shock structures resulting from gravitational accre...

Considered is the performance of a relativistic rocket which carries on-board reaction mass that is energized by a terrestrial-based laser. The mass ratio and instantaneous efficiency is calculated for the case of constant beam power and exhaust velocity. These results are then compared with the conventional relativistic rocket.

Perturbation equations for the radiative components of the Weyl tensor are given in the GHP formalism for a test mass moving radially on a Vaidya background. Present address: McDonnell-Douglass Corp., 16915 E1 Camino Real, Houston, Texas 77058, USA.

THERE have been many attempts to explain the Tunguska meteorite, ranging from the prosaic to the bizarre1-3. We suggest that a black hole of substellar mass such as those that have been postulated by Hawking4 could explain many of the mysteries associated with the event.

IF a particle of mass m is in a circular orbit of radius r around a central body of mass M >> m and if M suddenly undergoes a decrease of mass, carried to infinity by massless particles, say, the orbit of m will be perturbed as the shell of emitted particles passes its radius. The question of the escape of m and of its exact subsequent motion has b...

The orbital evolution of dust particles from retrograde comets are numerically calculated. The results show that trapping into mean motion resonances (MMRs) with planets dominates their orbital evolution. This feature is similar to that of dust grains in prograde orbits. However, an unusual phenomenon was observed in the numerical simulation. While...