Results of Measurements of Accelerations of Technological Devices onboard the FotonSpacecraft

This paper generalizes the results of measuring the residual accelerations arising when investigations in space materials science are carried out onboard the unmanned Fotonspacecraft. The levels of vibroaccelerations are analyzed in the frequency band of 1–500 Hz for the technological devices UZ01, UZ04, and POLIZON, developed by the Federal Unitary State Enterprise Barmin Design Bureau of General Machine Building (V.P. Barmin KBOM). The levels of accelerations are estimated in the frequency band of 0–1 Hz in the zone of technological operations of these facilities. The basic sources of vibroaccelerations acting upon the frames of devices are determined in the capsule zone, where technological processes of producing new materials take place. In the frequency band of 1–500 Hz the vibroaccelerations are shown to be generated by the operation of Fotonspacecraft units and a drive of capsule translation during the technological process. On the capsule frame they reach the values of (1–3) × 10^–3 g. The level of linear accelerations in the infralow-frequency band is determined by rotational motions of the Fotonspacecraft. It depends on the device location with respect to the spacecraft center of mass and does not exceed (1–7) × 10^–6 gin the steady-state regime in the zone of technological activity.     

Analysis of Low-Frequency Microaccelerations onboard the Foton-11Satellite

The method and the results of investigating the low-frequency component of microaccelerations onboard the Foton-11satellite are presented. The investigation was based on the processing of data of the angular velocity measurements made by the German system QSAM, as well as the data of measurements of microaccelerations performed by the QSAM system and by the French accelerometer BETA. The processing was carried out in the following manner. A low-frequency (frequencies less than 0.01 Hz) component was selected from the data of measurements of each component of the angular velocity vector or of the microacceleration, and an approximation was constructed of the obtained vector function by a similar function that was calculated along the solutions to the differential equations of motion of the satellite with respect to its center of mass. The construction was carried out by the least squares method. The initial conditions of the satellite motion, its aerodynamic parameters, and constant biases in the measurement data were used as fitting parameters. The time intervals on which the approximation was constructed were from one to five hours long. The processing of the measurements performed with three different instruments produced sufficiently close results. It turned out to be that the rotational motion of the satellite during nearly the entire flight was close to the regular Eulerian precession of the axially symmetric rigid body. The angular velocity of the satellite with respect to its longitudinal axis was about 1 deg/s, while the projection of the angular velocity onto the plane perpendicular to this axis had an absolute value of about 0.2 deg/s. The magnitude of the quasistatic component of microaccelerations in the locations of the accelerometers QSAM and BETA did not exceed 5 × 10^–5–10^–4m/s²for the considered motion of the satellite.     

Radial gradient of low-energy (∼0.5–2 MeV) protons at 20–80 AU in the solar activity minima of the 22nd and 23rd cycles

The value of the radial gradient of low-energy (0.5–2 MeV) protons in the heliosphere at distances of 20–80 AU in the periods of solar activity minima in 1985–1987 and 1994–1997 was estimated using the data of the Voyager-1 and Voyager-2 spacecraft (s/c). Preliminary results on the dependence of the radial gradient on the distance were obtained for protons of these energies. The value of the radial gradient varies from –3% (AU)^–1 to –1% (AU)^–1 at distances from the Sun of 20–60 AU, reaching +0.7% (AU)^–1 at maximum considered distances (80 AU). The sign reversal of the proton radial gradient at a distance of 60–70 AU is interpreted as the appearance of a new component: up to the point of inversion there are mainly particles of the solar origin and/or accelerated in the inner heliosphere, while after the reversal of the gradients sign the fluxes of particles prevail whose source is located far from the Sun (maybe in the vicinity of the heliosphere boundary in the region of existence of the termination shock).Translated from Kosmicheskie Issledovaniya, Vol. 43, No. 1, 2005, pp. 3–8.Original Russian Text Copyright © 2005 by Logachev, Zeldovich, Surova.     

Measurement of Vibration Microaccelerations onboard the Mir Orbital Station Using the VM-09 System of Accelerometers

The results of processing the data of measurements of microaccelerations, carried out onboard the Mir orbital station using the Russian VM-09 system of accelerometers, are described. The system was developed by the Composite Research-Production Association. The sensitivity of this system was 10^–4 m/s²; its frequency band had limits from a few tenths of a hertz up to 100 Hz. The measurements were carried out in the real-time mode of data transmission to the Earth, when the orbital station flew over the telemetry data receiving point. The instrument's sampling rate was 200 measurements per second, and the length of a continuous run of measurements did not exceed 10 min. The following problems are considered in the paper: (1) isolation of cyclic trends from the measurement data; (2) estimation of spectral density of the data component with a continuous spectrum; and (3) low-frequency filtration of the measurement data     

Doppler Detection of Gravitational Bursts Using the Earth's Satellites

We discuss the possibility of detection of low-frequency gravitational waves by means of Doppler tracking of a relatively close satellite of the Earth. A detailed analysis is performed of electromagnetic fluctuations in the space communication channel and of the instrumental noise of receiving–transmitting systems. It is shown that when certain compensating procedures are used, one can detect gravitational radiation generated in star collapses and coalescences of binaries in our Galaxy in the frequency range from 2 × 10^–3 to 5 × 10^–1 Hz and with a metric variation amplitude of 10^–15 and higher.     

Peculiarities of the Orbital Motion of Submicron Particles in the Earth's Plasmasphere

On the basis of numerical calculations of trajectories, the peculiarities of motion of submicron-sized particles in the Earth's plasmasphere are investigated. The most important result of these investigations is the found possibility of long-term residence of a microparticle in the Earth's vicinity. This effect is a result of the interaction of the electric charge, induced on a microparticle, with the magnetic field of the Earth. It is shown that the effect of microparticle capture by the Earth's magnetic field takes place in the case when the microparticles having a dimension of about 10^–2 m and made of a material having high yield of photoemission are injected into the plasmasphere at altitudes of about several thousand kilometers and also in the case when the microparticles with a dimension of about 10^–3 m and made of a material having low yield of photoemission are injected into the plasmasphere at altitudes of about 15000–20000 km and are moving close to the equatorial plane.     

Simultaneous Response of the Mid-Latitude Ionosphere to a Sudden Commencement of Strong Magnetic Storms

Using the new technology of global GPS detection of ionospheric disturbances (GLOBDET), it is found that a sharp increase of the time derivative of the magnetic field strength during magnetic storms is accompanied by a simultaneous decrease of the mid-latitude total electron content (TEC) over the entire dayside of the globe. The corresponding negative correlation coefficient is no less than 0.8, and the delay relative to the sudden commencement of magnetic storm is about 3–10 min. The effect is especially clearly pronounced for magnetic storms with sudden commencements (SSC). The analysis is carried out for a set of 90 to 300 GPS stations for 10 days (January 6 and April 23, 1998; April 6, June 8, July 13, 14, and 15, 2000; March 31, April 4 and 11, 2001) with various levels of geomagnetic activity (D _st and K _p varied from –6 to –295 nT and from 0 to 9, respectively). The amplitude of the response in the total electron content for the events considered was 0.1–0.4 × 10¹⁶ m^–2 (which is a deviation of 0.2–2.6% from the TEC background value). The velocity of the disturbance motion from the dayside to the nightside was about 10–20 km/s. The results obtained agree with the data of ionospheric parameter measurements conducted earlier by methods with high temporal resolution.     

Gravitational Sensitivity of Solutions–Melts at the Crystallization of Two-Phase InSb–InBi Alloys under Space Conditions

Analyzing the results of space and ground-based experiments carried out in the Baikov Institute of Metallurgy and Materials Science to study the processes of the melting and crystallization of two-phase InSb–InBi alloys of an indium–antimony–bismuth (In–Sb– Bi) triple system, we have demonstrated the gravitational sensitivity of the InSb-based solution– melt. It manifests itself as a certain asymmetry of the boundary of the dissolution of the InSb ingot by the InSb–InBi melt and heterogeneity of the melt along this boundary depending on the magnitude and direction of the gravity force acceleration gin the range (1–10^–3–10^–5)g ₀, where g ₀is the acceleration of the gravity force on Earth. For the first time, it is established in the experiments under analysis that the homogeneity of melts of a complex composition with components of various densities can be reached only at magnitudes of quasistationary (residual) microaccelerations g< 10^–6 g ₀.     

Manifestations of sudden commencement of a severe magnetic storm of November 20, 2003, in generation of an SC pulse, <Emphasis Type="Italic">P</Emphasis><Subscript>SC</Subscript> pulsations,and spatial modulation of the auroral brightness

The results of investigation of the geomagnetic and auroral response to the commencement of a severe magnetic storm of November 20, 2003, are presented. It is established that the onset of SC led to the brightening of the auroral arc in the dusk sector for 2–3 min with its extent to the east with a velocity of 10–20 km/s and to displacement poleward with a velocity of 1.0 km/s. Furtheron, the fast auroral expansions of short duration (5 min) to the pole up to 2–4°were observed, repeating every 5–10 min during 40 min, which led to the spatial modulation of the brightness of the glow and to generation of P_SC pulsations with similar periods of oscillations. The broadening of aurora poleward had a steplike character, with generation of new arcs poleward of previous ones 5 arcs per 1.5 min. The modulation of brightness of the glow and P_SC were observed against the background of intensification of a two-cell DP2 type current system and were accompanied by multiple turnings of the IMF B_z from south to north and back. It is assumed that the source of P_SC pulsations was a modulation of the intensity of the DP2 ionosphere currents as a result of variations of the magnetosphere convection level.Translated from Kosmicheskie Issledovaniya, Vol. 42, No. 6, 2004, pp. 608–615.Original Russian Text Copyright © 2004 by Baishev, Borisov, Velichko, Solovyev, Yumoto.     

Method and Results of Direct Measurement of the Interstellar Neutral Helium Abundance and Isotopic Composition

One of the important astrophysical problems is the determination of the abundance of helium isotopes ³He and ⁴He in different regions of the Universe, because this abundance can reflect its history by pointing to the intensity of various possible processes of the creation and decay of light elements. This paper describes the method and results of the determination (for the first time performed by a direct method) of the helium isotopic abundance in the local interstellar medium surrounding the Solar system. The experiment was carried out on the manned Mir space station by long-term space exposure of samples of metal foil with their subsequent recovery to the Earth and detailed laboratory mass-spectrometric analysis. As a result, we succeeded in obtaining an estimation of the ⁴He concentration (about 7.5 × 10^–3 cm^–3) and the isotopic ratio ³He/⁴He (about1.7 × 10^–4) for the local interstellar medium.     

基于气相色谱法的电推进航天器氙气泄漏检测系统

为了能够对电推进航天器加注后的泄漏进行检测,对氙气泄漏检测方法和关键技术进行研究,研制了一套基于气相色谱法的氙气泄漏检测系统。试验结果表明,氙气体积分数在1×10-7~5×10-4之间时,系统可以定性定量判断氙气的真实泄漏量(1.0×10-5~5.0×10-2 Pa·m3·s-1);而当氙气体积分数超过5×10-4时,则应定性判断电推进系统有大泄漏(泄漏量10-2 Pa·m3·s-1)。检测系统能够满足电推进航天器加注后泄漏检测任务的要求。     

Orbiting solar telescope on “Salyut-4” station

The orbiting solar telescope on Salyut-4 (F = 2,5 m, d = 250 mm) produces images of the Sun on the entrance slit of a stigmatic two-grating spectrograph (R₁ = 1 m, N₁ = 1200 lines/mm; R₂ = 0.5 m, N₂ = 2400 lines/mm, dispersion 16 Å/mm, spectral resolution 0,3 Å). The automatic system keeps the observed solar features on the slit of the spectrograph with an accuracy of 3–4 arc sec. The far UV-spectra (970–1400 Å) of solar flares, brightenings, flocculi and prominences were photographed and fresh coatings of mirrors were made during the flight.     

The Prospects of Direct Investigations of Cosmic Rays of Very High and Superhigh Energies

Basic lines of investigating cosmic ray particles with energies of 10¹²–10¹⁶ eV by direct methods are formulated. A particular variant of a universal instrument with spherically symmetric characteristics is considered. This instrument is capable of giving experimental solutions to basic problems intimately related to the main problem: the problem of the origin of cosmic rays.     

An analysis of low-frequency component in microacceleration measurements made onboard the <Emphasis Type="Italic">Foton M-2</Emphasis> satellite

The low-frequency component is investigated in the data of measurements performed onboard the Foton M-2 satellite with the three-component accelerometer TAS-3. Investigations consisted in comparison of this component with its calculated analog found from a reconstruction of the satellite’s attitude motion. The influence of the Earth’s magnetic field on the accelerometer readings is discovered by way of spectral analysis of the functions representing the results of determining the low-frequency microacceleration by two methods. After making correction for this influence, the results obtained by these two methods coincided within a root-mean-square error of less than 10^?6 m/s².     

The SERENDIP SETI project: new instrumentation for SETI and results of recent observations

Over the past 30 years research into the existence of extraterrestrial life has focused on attempts to detect stable narrowband radio signals emitted in the microwave portion of the radio frequency (RF) spectrum. The SERENDIP SETI group is currently conducting search operations on the world’s largest radio telescope at the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico.The third generation SERENDIP system, SERENDIP III, is a 4 million channel FFT-based spectrum analyzer with 0.6 Hz frequency resolution. In this paper, we will discuss the results of our recent 3.5 year sky survey. SERENDIP looked at 95% of the sky visible from Arecibo in the 424–436 MHz range, analyzed 10¹⁴ spectral bins, and logged information on over 2.5×10⁸ signals.The fourth generation SERENDIP system expands on the SERENDIP III design. SERENDIP IV computes 2×10¹¹ operations each second, providing spectral analysis on 160 million channels in 1.7 s. We will discuss the design and use of the SERENDIP IV system and future observing plans.     

Compensation of gravitational attraction disturbance to pure gravity orbit for Inner Formation Flying System

The Inner Formation Flying System (IFFS) consisting of an outer satellite and an inner satellite which is a solid sphere proof mass freely flying in the shield cavity can construct a pure gravity orbit to precisely measure the earth gravity field. The gravitational attraction on the inner satellite due to the outer satellite is a significant disturbance source to the pure gravity orbit and is required to be limited to 10⁻¹¹ m s⁻² order. However, the gravitational disturbance force was on 10⁻⁹ m s⁻² order actually and must be reduced by dedicated compensation mass blocks. The region of relative motion of the inner satellite about its nominal position is within 1 cm in dimension, which raises the complexity of the compensation blocks design. The iterative design strategy of the compensation blocks based on reducing the gravitational attraction at the nominal position of the inner satellite is presented, aiming to guarantee the gravitational force in the relative motion region within requirements after the compensation. The compensation blocks are designed according to the current status of IFFS, and the gravitational disturbance force in the region is reduced to 10⁻¹¹ ms⁻² order with minimized adding mass.     

Dynamics of the 0.3–100 MeV Proton Energy Spectra in the Inner Heliosphere in Quiet Periods of 1974–1991

Variations of the proton spectra in the 0.3–100 MeV energy range based on the data of various instruments installed onboard the IMP-8 satellite are studied for very quiet, quiet, and quasi-stable solar activity periods during the years 1974–1991. As many as 118 spectra were approximated by two power laws: the left-hand and galactic branches of the spectrum were fitted by the AE ^– function and a dependence of the CE type, respectively, the sum J(E) = AE ^– + CE providing the total spectrum. It is shown that the spectra vary within a solar cycle with a shift of the minimum energy (E _min) to higher energies with increasing solar activity. It follows from the relations between the spectrum parameters thus obtained that, in particular periods of time, an increase (decrease) of the particle flux in the low-energy branch of the spectrum and an intensification (depression) of the GCR particle flux modulation take place simultaneously. This is manifested in a shift of the spectrum parallel to the energy axis. The study of the spectra in the most quiet time during three successive solar minima have shown that low-energy (0.3–10 MeV) protons, as well as GCR, are subject to the 22-year variation in the solar magnetic cycle.     

SIGMA: Projet d'Observatoire spatial a haute resolution angulaire pour les sources de rayons gamma

(SIGMA: Project of a high resolution space observatory for gamma rays sources)—The SIGMA space observatory is designed to obtain images of the sky in the hard X-ray/low energy gamma-ray domain (30–2000 keV range), with an angular accuracy of a few are min, within a field of ～7° × 7°, and a sensitivity for point sources down to a level of a few 10^?6 photons cm^?2s^?1keV^?1 (exposure 24 hr). The instrument is designed using the principle of the coded aperture mask telescope with a position sensitive detector derived from the Anger gamma-camera which is used in nuclear medicine. The pseudo-images of the sky are accumulated on board and transmitted to the ground stations for decoding processing. The gross weight of the instrument is 750 kg and its overall dimensions are 3 m long and 1.2 m in diameter.     

Shock–Acoustic Waves Generated during Rocket Launches and Earthquakes

Shock–acoustic waves generated during rocket launches and earthquakes are investigated by a method developed earlier for processing data from a global network of receivers of the GPS navigation system. Disturbances of the total electron content in the ionosphere accompanying the launches of the Proton, Soyuz, and Space Shuttle space vehicles from the Baikonur cosmodrome and Kennedy Space Center launch site in 1998–2000, as well as the earthquakes in Turkey on August 17 and November 12, 1999, were analyzed. It was shown that, regardless of the source type, the impulsive disturbance has the character of an N-wave with a period of 200–360 s and an amplitude exceeding background fluctuations under moderate geomagnetic conditions by a factor of 2–5 as a minimum. The elevation angle of the disturbance wave vector varies from 25° to 65°, and the phase velocity (900–1200 m/s) approaches the speed of sound at heights of the ionospheric F-region maximum. The source location corresponds to a segment of the booster trajectories at a distance of no less than 500–1000 km from the start position and to a flight altitude of no less than 100 km. In the case of earthquakes the source location approximately coincides with the epicenter.     

The Moon Treaty: prospects for the future

1995 marks the 15th anniversary of the United States' debate over ratification of the 1979 Moon Treaty.¹ The 1994–1995 season also marks the 10th anniversary of the Moon Treaty's entry into force among the small number of countries that ratified it.² These two anniversaries are significant both in themselves and because they occur at a time of reexamination regarding the Moon Treaty. This article briefly reviews the history of the agreement, and its prospects over the next few years. It concludes with some suggestions for revisiting the troublesome question of property rights in celestial bodies.