Magnetoplasmadynamics (MPD), NASA history collection

James Hansen describes this photo as follows: "Three-quarter top view of Langley's cyanogen burner, which was located for safety reasons in a remote spot on the edge of a marsh in Langley's West Area. To the left of the get is a microwave "horn," a device for electron-concentration measurement and radio-transmission attenuation." Magnetoplasmadynamics "MPD" was able to generate plasma by creating a "hot flame fueled by the combustion of cyanogen gas and oxygen." "In 1957, [Robert] Hess came across a reference to a new experimental device at the Research Institute of Temple University in Philadelphia. This device produced an extremely hot flame by burning oxygen with cyanogen, a colorless, flammable, and poisonous gas, sometimes formed by heating mercuric cyanide. After reading about the cyanogen flame experiment, Hess hit on an idea for adapting the fame to create a hot plasma for simulating the space reentry environment. By feeding oxygen and cyanogen gas into a combustion chamber and igniting the mix, the researchers at Temple were producing a flame of more than 8000LF. This was one of the hottest flames scientists had ever produced." Hess and Macon Ellis visited Temple in June 1957 to discuss the project. "At Langley, Paul Huber with the help of the facilities engineering group quickly designed a cyanogen flame apparatus, and the funding for its construction was approved. By the time the NACA became NASA, the device had been operating for several months. As expected, the first major test program conducted in Langley's alkali-metal-seeded, cyanogen-oxygen flame explored how flow-field conditions near an ICBM nose prevented the transmission of radio signals back to earth. Researchers in the Gas dynamics Laboratory working with Joseph Burlock of IRD mounted a transmitting antenna in front of a nozzle that bathed the antenna in the hot cyanogen gas jet. Instruments then measured the rate at which the transmitter lost its signal power." "The early MPD test program demonstrated the feasibility of creating and controlling the highly ionized plasmas representative of the extreme dynamic conditions of spaceflight and recovery." Published in James R. Hansen, Spaceflight Revolution: NASA Langley Research Center From Sputnik to Apollo, NASA SP-4308, pp. 138-141.
NASA Identifier: L63-2898