Space: where are we headed?

In a new column, the author reviews NASA space activities since the beginning of 2003 and looks at plans for the future. Topics include the Space Shuttle Columbia, what's in store for the International Space Station (ISS), the development of an orbital space plane, orbiter safety upgrades, and the future of space exploration and research beyond the ISS. He presents arguments for sending astronauts to asteroids, the Moon, and Mars.     

Noble Gas Isotopes on the Moon

We discuss some of the major noble gas components on the Moon and their implications on the history of Moon and Sun. He, Ar, and Rn have been detected in the tenuous lunar atmosphere. The Ar and Rn abundances suggest that a sizeable fraction of the lunar interior presently loses all its freshly produced radiogenic noble gases. Part of the radiogenic Ar and Xe (the latter from now extinct radioactive isotopes of I and Pu) outgassed from the lunar interior later became retrapped in the dust grains on the lunar surface. These “parentless” gases may also be used to constrain the degassing history of the Moon, although a quantitative understanding is lacking. The dust layer on the lunar surface contains large amounts of noble gases implanted by the solar wind. The lunar regolith therefore constitutes the best available archive of the solar history of the past four billion years. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

The Lunar Orbiter Laser Altimeter Investigation on the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Mission

The Lunar Orbiter Laser Altimeter (LOLA) is an instrument on the payload of NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft (LRO) (Chin et al., in Space Sci. Rev. 129:391–419, 2007). The instrument is designed to measure the shape of the Moon by measuring precisely the range from the spacecraft to the lunar surface, and incorporating precision orbit determination of LRO, referencing surface ranges to the Moon’s center of mass. LOLA has 5 beams and operates at 28 Hz, with a nominal accuracy of 10 cm. Its primary objective is to produce a global geodetic grid for the Moon to which all other observations can be precisely referenced.     

Water and Volatile Inventories of Mercury,Venus, the Moon,and Mars

We review the geochemical observations of water, \(\mbox{D}/\mbox{H}\) and volatile element abundances of the inner Solar System bodies, Mercury, Venus, the Moon, and Mars. We focus primarily on the inventories of water in these bodies, but also consider other volatiles when they can inform us about water. For Mercury, we have no data for internal water, but the reducing nature of the surface of Mercury would suggest that some hydrogen may be retained in its core. We evaluate the current knowledge and understanding of venusian water and volatiles and conclude that the venusian mantle was likely endowed with as much water as Earth of which it retains a small but non-negligible fraction. Estimates of the abundance of the Moon’s internal water vary from Earth-like to one to two orders of magnitude more depleted. Cl, K, and Zn isotope anomalies for lunar samples argue that the giant impact left a unique geochemical fingerprint on the Moon, but not the Earth. For Mars, an early magma ocean likely generated a thick crust; this combined with a lack of crustal recycling mechanisms would have led to early isolation of the Martian mantle from later delivery of water and volatiles from surface reservoirs or late accretion. The abundance estimates of Martian mantle water are similar to those of the terrestrial mantle, suggesting some similarities in the water and volatile inventories for the terrestrial planets and the Moon.     

Lunar Exploration Neutron Detector for the NASA Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter

The design of the Lunar Exploration Neutron Detector (LEND) experiment is presented, which was optimized to address several of the primary measurement requirements of NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO): high spatial resolution hydrogen mapping of the Moon’s upper-most surface, identification of putative deposits of appreciable near-surface water ice in the Moon’s polar cold traps, and characterization of the human-relevant space radiation environment in lunar orbit. A comprehensive program of LEND instrument physical calibrations is discussed and the baseline scenario of LEND observations from the primary LRO lunar orbit is presented. LEND data products will be useful for determining the next stages of the emerging global lunar exploration program, and they will facilitate the study of the physics of hydrogen implantation and diffusion in the regolith, test the presence of water ice deposits in lunar cold polar traps, and investigate the role of neutrons within the radiation environment of the shallow lunar surface.     

绕月探测器的自主光学导航研究

提出了一种利用高斯-马尔科夫过程和Unscented卡尔曼滤波的绕月探测器自主光学导航算法。针对很难事先确定精确地绕月探测器轨道动力学模型问题,提出利用高斯-马尔科夫过程来近似轨道动力学中的无模型加速度,进而提高了轨道动力学模型的精度;考虑到基于扩展卡尔曼滤波的轨道确定存在的问题,提出利用基于Unscented卡尔曼滤波来估计探测器的位置、速度及无模型加速度,提高了轨道估计精度和保证了算法的稳定性。最后,通过数学仿真验证了自主光学导航算法的有效性。     

Geochemical Constraints on the Origin of the Moon and Preservation of Ancient Terrestrial Heterogeneities

Space Science Reviews - Chang’E 4 is the first mission to the far side of the Moon and consists of a lander, a rover, and a relay spacecraft. Lander and rover were launched at 18:23...     

Space, security in the forefront

The Washington Watch column reports on President Bush's recently announced human space flight program, which includes new policies for returning the shuttle to flight, finishing the International Space Station by 2010, and developing a new space vehicle to return to the Moon; challenges in the airline industry; and selection of a helicopter for use by the President.     

Electrical Activity and Dust Lifting on Earth, Mars, and Beyond

We review electrical activity in blowing sand and dusty phenomena on Earth, Mars, the Moon, and asteroids. On Earth and Mars, blowing sand and dusty phenomena such as dust devils and dust storms are important geological processes and the primary sources of atmospheric dust. Large electric fields have been measured in terrestrial dusty phenomena and are predicted to occur on Mars. We review the charging mechanisms that produce these electric fields and discuss the implications of electrical activity to dust lifting and atmospheric chemistry. In addition, we review theoretical ideas about electric discharges on Mars. Finally, we discuss the evidence that electrostatics is responsible for dust transport on the Moon and asteroids.     

A history of modern selenogony: Theoretical origins of the Moon,from capture to crash 1955–1984

The development of ideas about the origin of the Moon during the last three decades is reviewed. In the 1950s G. H. Darwin's fission theory was still occasionally mentioned but by the 1960s it had been displaced by the hypothesis of lunar capture. A few scientists favored formation of the Moon from particles in orbit around the growing Earth. Analysis of samples from the Apollo missions did not confirm any of the three theories of lunar origin. Eventually the giant impact theory, proposed by Hartmann and Davis (1974) and by Cameron and Ward (1975), was adopted as the best working hypothesis. But the problem is not yet satisfactorily solved and work continues on other hypotheses such as co-accretion.     

ARTEMIS Science Objectives

NASA??s two spacecraft ARTEMIS mission will address both heliospheric and planetary research questions, first while in orbit about the Earth with the Moon and subsequently while in orbit about the Moon. Heliospheric topics include the structure of the Earth??s magnetotail; reconnection, particle acceleration, and turbulence in the Earth??s magnetosphere, at the bow shock, and in the solar wind; and the formation and structure of the lunar wake. Planetary topics include the lunar exosphere and its relationship to the composition of the lunar surface, the effects of electric fields on dust in the exosphere, internal structure of the Moon, and the lunar crustal magnetic field. This paper describes the expected contributions of ARTEMIS to these baseline scientific objectives.     

Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory (GRAIL): Mapping the Lunar Interior from Crust to Core

The Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory (GRAIL) is a spacecraft-to-spacecraft tracking mission that was developed to map the structure of the lunar interior by producing a detailed map of the gravity field. The resulting model of the interior will be used to address outstanding questions regarding the Moon’s thermal evolution, and will be applicable more generally to the evolution of all terrestrial planets. Each GRAIL orbiter contains a Lunar Gravity Ranging System instrument that conducts dual-one-way ranging measurements to measure precisely the relative motion between them, which in turn are used to develop the lunar gravity field map. Each orbiter also carries an Education/Public Outreach payload, Moon Knowledge Acquired by Middle-School Students (MoonKAM), in which middle school students target images of the Moon for subsequent classroom analysis. Subsequent to a successful launch on September 10, 2011, the twin GRAIL orbiters embarked on independent trajectories on a 3.5-month-long cruise to the Moon via the EL-1 Lagrange point. The spacecraft were inserted into polar orbits on December 31, 2011 and January 1, 2012. After a succession of 19 maneuvers the two orbiters settled into precision formation to begin science operations in March 1, 2012 with an average altitude of 55 km. The Primary Mission, which consisted of three 27.3-day mapping cycles, was successfully completed in June 2012. The extended mission will permit a second three-month mapping phase at an average altitude of 23 km. This paper provides an overview of the mission: science objectives and measurements, spacecraft and instruments, mission development and design, and data flow and data products.     

Mercury Dust Monitor (MDM) Onboard the Mio Orbiter of the BepiColombo Mission

Space Science Reviews - In this chapter, we review the contribution of space missions to the determination of the elemental and isotopic composition of Earth, Moon and the terrestrial planets, with...     

Lunar Magnetic Field Observation and Initial Global Mapping of Lunar Magnetic Anomalies by MAP-LMAG Onboard SELENE (Kaguya)

The magnetic field around the Moon has been successfully observed at a nominal altitude of ～100 km by the lunar magnetometer (LMAG) on the SELENE (Kaguya) spacecraft in a polar orbit since October 29, 2007. The LMAG mission has three main objectives: (1) mapping the magnetic anomaly of the Moon, (2) measuring the electromagnetic and plasma environment around the Moon and (3) estimating the electrical conductivity structure of the Moon. Here we review the instrumentation and calibration of LMAG and report the initial global mapping of the lunar magnetic anomaly at the nominal altitude. We have applied a new de-trending technique of the Bayesian procedure to multiple-orbit datasets observed in the tail lobe and in the lunar wake. Based on the nominal observation of 14 months, global maps of lunar magnetic anomalies are obtained with 95% coverage of the lunar surface. After altitude normalization and interpolation of the magnetic anomaly field by an inverse boundary value problem, we obtained full-coverage maps of the vector magnetic field at 100 km altitude and the radial component distribution on the surface. Relatively strong anomalies are identified in several basin-antipode regions and several near-basin and near-crater regions, while the youngest basin on the Moon, the Orientale basin, has no magnetic anomaly. These features well agree with characteristics of previous maps based on the Lunar Prospector observation. Relatively weak anomalies are distributed over most of the lunar surface. The surface radial-component distribution estimated from the inverse boundary value problem in the present study shows a good correlation with the radial component distribution at 30 km altitude by Lunar Prospector. Thus these weak anomalies over the lunar surface are not artifacts but likely to be originated from the lunar crustal magnetism, suggesting possible existence of an ancient global magnetic field such as a dynamo field of the early Moon. The possibility of the early lunar dynamo and the mechanism of magnetization acquisition will be investigated by a further study using the low-altitude data of the magnetic field by Kaguya.     

The Geology of Mercury: The View Prior to the MESSENGER Mission

Mariner 10 and Earth-based observations have revealed Mercury, the innermost of the terrestrial planetary bodies, to be an exciting laboratory for the study of Solar System geological processes. Mercury is characterized by a lunar-like surface, a global magnetic field, and an interior dominated by an iron core having a radius at least three-quarters of the radius of the planet. The 45% of the surface imaged by Mariner 10 reveals some distinctive differences from the Moon, however, with major contractional fault scarps and huge expanses of moderate-albedo Cayley-like smooth plains of uncertain origin. Our current image coverage of Mercury is comparable to that of telescopic photographs of the Earth’s Moon prior to the launch of Sputnik in 1957. We have no photographic images of one-half of the surface, the resolution of the images we do have is generally poor (∼1 km), and as with many lunar telescopic photographs, much of the available surface of Mercury is distorted by foreshortening due to viewing geometry, or poorly suited for geological analysis and impact-crater counting for age determinations because of high-Sun illumination conditions. Currently available topographic information is also very limited. Nonetheless, Mercury is a geological laboratory that represents (1) a planet where the presence of a huge iron core may be due to impact stripping of the crust and upper mantle, or alternatively, where formation of a huge core may have resulted in a residual mantle and crust of potentially unusual composition and structure; (2) a planet with an internal chemical and mechanical structure that provides new insights into planetary thermal history and the relative roles of conduction and convection in planetary heat loss; (3) a one-tectonic-plate planet where constraints on major interior processes can be deduced from the geology of the global tectonic system; (4) a planet where volcanic resurfacing may not have played a significant role in planetary history and internally generated volcanic resurfacing may have ceased at ∼3.8 Ga; (5) a planet where impact craters can be used to disentangle the fundamental roles of gravity and mean impactor velocity in determining impact crater morphology and morphometry; (6) an environment where global impact crater counts can test fundamental concepts of the distribution of impactor populations in space and time; (7) an extreme environment in which highly radar-reflective polar deposits, much more extensive than those on the Moon, can be better understood; (8) an extreme environment in which the basic processes of space weathering can be further deduced; and (9) a potential end-member in terrestrial planetary body geological evolution in which the relationships of internal and surface evolution can be clearly assessed from both a tectonic and volcanic point of view. In the half-century since the launch of Sputnik, more than 30 spacecraft have been sent to the Moon, yet only now is a second spacecraft en route to Mercury. The MESSENGER mission will address key questions about the geologic evolution of Mercury; the depth and breadth of the MESSENGER data will permit the confident reconstruction of the geological history and thermal evolution of Mercury using new imaging, topography, chemistry, mineralogy, gravity, magnetic, and environmental data.     

椭圆三体问题下月球L2低能逃逸轨道设计

针对圆形限制性三体问题下求解月球探测器逃逸轨道时,不能充分利用月球椭圆公转动力学特性节约逃逸能量的问题,对动力学模型进行拓展,在椭圆三体问题下建立月球探测器轨道动力学方程与能量表达式。首先通过理论推导,求解了探测器逃逸所需的发射能量与逃逸过程中的轨道能量随月地椭圆相对运动状态的数学表达式,对其进行分析发现,同一环月轨道上出发的逃逸探测器所需发射能量与地月距离呈正相关,而逃逸过程中探测器轨道能量变化与地月相向运动速度呈正相关,从而得出在月球接近其近地点过程中发射逃逸探测器可以最大限度节约发射能量的结论。在此基础上,引入庞加莱截面法设计探测器最低能量逃逸轨道。通过寻找使逃逸轨道所在不变流形的庞加莱截面收缩为一点的发射位置与能量,求解不同地月相位下的逃逸轨道能量需求,进而迭代求解能量最优逃逸轨道。最终,通过对比仿真结果得到,月球真近角为283°时发射逃逸探测器将最节约能量,与理论推导的结果相吻合。相对于圆形限制性三体问题下推导的最低逃逸能量,采用椭圆三体模型设计的低能量逃逸轨道可以节约8%左右的发射能量,对于深空探测等任务来说具有明显优势。     

Mercury’s Weather-Beaten Surface: Understanding Mercury in the Context of Lunar and Asteroidal Space Weathering Studies

Mercury’s regolith, derived from the crustal bedrock, has been altered by a set of space weathering processes. Before we can interpret crustal composition, it is necessary to understand the nature of these surface alterations. The processes that space weather the surface are the same as those that form Mercury’s exosphere (micrometeoroid flux and solar wind interactions) and are moderated by the local space environment and the presence of a global magnetic field. To comprehend how space weathering acts on Mercury’s regolith, an understanding is needed of how contributing processes act as an interactive system. As no direct information (e.g., from returned samples) is available about how the system of space weathering affects Mercury’s regolith, we use as a basis for comparison the current understanding of these same processes on lunar and asteroidal regoliths as well as laboratory simulations. These comparisons suggest that Mercury’s regolith is overturned more frequently (though the characteristic surface time for a grain is unknown even relative to the lunar case), more than an order of magnitude more melt and vapor per unit time and unit area is produced by impact processes than on the Moon (creating a higher glass content via grain coatings and agglutinates), the degree of surface irradiation is comparable to or greater than that on the Moon, and photon irradiation is up to an order of magnitude greater (creating amorphous grain rims, chemically reducing the upper layers of grains to produce nanometer-scale particles of metallic iron, and depleting surface grains in volatile elements and alkali metals). The processes that chemically reduce the surface and produce nanometer-scale particles on Mercury are suggested to be more effective than similar processes on the Moon. Estimated abundances of nanometer-scale particles can account for Mercury’s dark surface relative to that of the Moon without requiring macroscopic grains of opaque minerals. The presence of nanometer-scale particles may also account for Mercury’s relatively featureless visible–near-infrared reflectance spectra. Characteristics of material returned from asteroid 25143 Itokawa demonstrate that this nanometer-scale material need not be pure iron, raising the possibility that the nanometer-scale material on Mercury may have a composition different from iron metal [such as (Fe,Mg)S]. The expected depletion of volatiles and particularly alkali metals from solar-wind interaction processes are inconsistent with the detection of sodium, potassium, and sulfur within the regolith. One plausible explanation invokes a larger fine fraction (grain size <45 μm) and more radiation-damaged grains than in the lunar surface material to create a regolith that is a more efficient reservoir for these volatiles. By this view the volatile elements detected are present not only within the grain structures, but also as adsorbates within the regolith and deposits on the surfaces of the regolith grains. The comparisons with findings from the Moon and asteroids provide a basis for predicting how compositional modifications induced by space weathering have affected Mercury’s surface composition.     

小推力航天器的地月低能转移轨道

 在限制性四体模型下研究基于小推力方式的地月低能转移问题,通过借助于平动点轨道的相空间结构来揭示小推力转移的机理。重点研究了小推力转移自由飞行段的构造：经由LL₁点穿越获得最小能量的低能转移;而经由LL₁点Halo轨道穿越,得到(M,N)圈穿越轨道;由于Halo轨道相对于平动点增加了一维度的选择,根据(2,2)圈穿越轨道构造该转移的自由飞行段。在地球势阱逃逸和月球势阱捕获段,分别设计了合适的小推力的控制律及发动机开/关机时间,成功实施近地球段的小推力加速和近月球段的减速。尽管未对所得到的结果进行优化,所得转移轨道的燃料消耗也与类似边界条件的SMART-1轨道基本一致。     

Creating a space exploration industry

The article provides an overview of funding for space exploration to the Moon and Mars under NASA's direction, and presents an argument for the creation of a commercial space industry.     

The IMF pile-up regions near the Earth and Venus: lessons for the solar wind - Mars interaction

The Mars Global Surveyor mission has revealed that localized crustal paleomagnetic anomalies are a common feature of the Southern Hemisphere of Mars. The magnetometer measured small-scale magnetic fields associated with many individual magnetic anomalies have magnitudes ranging from hundreds to thousands nT at altitude above 120 km. That makes Mars globally different from both Venus and Earth. The data collected by Lunar Prospector near the Moon were interpreted as evidence that above regions of inferred strong surface magnetic fields on the Moon the SW flow is deflected, and a small-scale mini-magnetosphere exists under some circumstances. With a factor of 100 stronger magnetic fields at Mars and a lower SW dynamic pressure, those conditions offer the opportunity for a larger size of small `magnetospheres' which can be formed by the crustal magnetic fields. Outside the regions of the magnetic anomalies, the SW/Mars interaction is Venus-like. Thus, at Mars the distinguishing feature of the magnetic field pile-up boundary most likely varies from Venus-like to Earth-like above the crustal magnetic field regions. The observational data regarding the IMF pile-up regions near Venus and the Earth are initially reviewed. As long as the SW/Mars interaction remains like that at Venus, the IMF penetrates deep into the Martian ionosphere under the `overpressure' conditions. Results of numerical simulations and theoretical expectations regarding the temporal evolution of the IMF inside the Venus ionosphere and appearance of superthermal electrons are also reviewed and assessed.