A Dual Throat Nozzle fluidic thrust vectoring technique that achieves higher thrustvectoring efficiencies than other fluidic techniques, without sacrificing thrust efficiency has been developed at NASA Langley Research Center. The nozzle concept was designed with the aid of the structured-grid, Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes computational fluidic dynamics code PAB3D. This new concept combines the thrust efficiency of sonic-plane skewing with increased thrust-vectoring efficiencies obtained by maximizing pressure differentials in a separated cavity located downstream of the nozzle throat. By injecting secondary flow asymmetrically at the upstream minimum area, a new aerodynamic minimum area is formed downstream of the geometric minimum and the sonic line is skewed, thus vectoring the exhaust flow. The nozzle was tested in the NASA Langley Research Center Jet Exit Test Facility. Internal nozzle performance characteristics were defined for nozzle pressure ratios up to 10, with a range of secondary injection flowrrates up to 10 percent of the primary flow rate. Most of the data included in this paper shows the effect of secondary injection rate at a nozzle pressure ratio of 4. The effects of modifying cavity divergence angle, convergence angle and cavity shape on internal nozzle performance were investigated, as were effects of injection geometry, hole or slot. In agreement with computationally predicted data, experimental data verified that decreasing cavity divergence angle had a negative impact and increasing cavity convergence angle had a positive impact on thrust vector angle and thrust efficiency. A curved cavity apex provided improved thrust ratios at some injection rates. However, overall nozzle performance suffered with no secondary injection. Injection holes were more efficient than the injection slot over the range of injection rates, but the slot generated larger thrust vector angles for injection rates less than 4 percent of the primary flow rate.

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Radio tracking data associated with the February 1977 encounters between the Martian satellite Phobos and the Viking Orbiter I spacecraft have been analyzed to determine the gravitational constant (GM) of Phobos. A linear error analysis was conducted to determine the selection of data and the parameter solution set which would yield the best estimate of GM. This error analysis indicated that the optimal data set was a data arc beginning just prior to the closest encounter and spanning three consecutive spacecraft orbits; data near periapsis were deleted. The most feasible parameter solution set consisted of the Phobos GM and the spacecraft initial conditions. The result of the data analysis was an estimate of (7.3 ± 0.7) × 10−4 km³/sec² for GM of Phobos.

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