Conversations: with Carl Pilcher [interview by Johan Benson

An interview with Carl Pilcher, science program director for solar system exploration at NASA, examines NASA's past, present, and planned missions to explore the solar system. Specific questions relate to the status of current and planned missions, science results of the Pathfinder mission to Mars, cooperation with the Japanese space agency, the status of the search for extraterrestrial life in solar system meteoroids and asteroids, mission size for more in-depth exploration, reports of water on the moon, and the exploration of near-Earth objects.     

Investigating Earth’s Atmospheric Electricity: a Role Model for Planetary Studies

The historical development of terrestrial atmospheric electricity is described, from its beginnings with the first observations of the potential gradient to the global electric circuit model proposed by C.T.R. Wilson in the early 20th century. The properties of the terrestrial global circuit are summarised. Concepts originally needed to develop the idea of a global circuit are identified as “central tenets”, for example, the importance of radio science in establishing the conducting upper layer. The central tenets are distinguished from additional findings that merely corroborate, or are explained by, the global circuit model. Using this analysis it is possible to specify which observations are preferable for detecting global circuits in extraterrestrial atmospheres. Schumann resonances, the extremely low frequency signals generated by excitation of the surface-ionosphere cavity by electrical discharges, are identified as the most useful single measurement of electrical activity in a planetary atmosphere.     

Comments on the analysis of returned comet samples

It is first argued that, when comet sampled are returned, they should be distributed to individual laboratories for analysis in the way that lunar samples, meteorites, and interplanetary dust particles have been studied in the past. The intellectual ferment engendered by recent discoveries should ensure the viability of groups working in extraterrestrial material research into the indefinite future. Many of the recent discoveries have resulted from application of increasingly sophisticated methods of microanalysis. #the interplay between technological developments and scientific work is underscored and it is argued that increased technical support for extraterrestrial material research should lead to instrumental developments that could have widespread practical applications.A brief review of certain potentially relevant technical developments in other fields is given and it is suggested that microanalytic measurements of extraterrestrial samples at the atom-counting limit appear promising for the future. The special problems raised by the necessity for cryogenic examination of comet samples are briefly discussed and it is concluded that the lack of expertise in this area is a current weakness in the ability of the extraterrestrial material community to handle comet samples. Computer tomography scan images of a dirty snowball are presented to illustrate the importance of developing new methods for comet sample analysis.     

The extraterrestrial UV-background and the nearby interstellar medium

Recent measurements of the extraterrestrial UV- and EUV-radiation, and the various theoretical approaches used in explaining the measured features of these radiations are reviewed. Whereas the structures and intensities of extraterrestrial EUV-radiation are essentially undetermined up to now, the observations of the extraterrestrial UV-sky give a clear indication of the existence of neutral interstellar hydrogen within the solar system.The effects of solar radiation pressure, and of temporal variations and spatial asymmetries in the solar radiations, on the structure of the extraterrestrial L sky are investigated in detail, and the various attempts to derive interstellar parameters from the interpretation of the measured L intensities are discussed.From these discussions the local interstellar medium is established as a tenuous hot intercloud H i-medium. The amount of its relative motion against the solar system cannot be reliably fixed. Further activities concerning the measurement of extraterrestrial UV- and EUV-radiation features are suggested that may be highly valuable in clarifying the outstanding problems.     

Extraterrestrial Organic Matter and the Detection of Life

A fundamental goal of a number of forthcoming space missions is the detection and characterization of organic matter on planetary surfaces. Successful interpretation of data generated by in situ experiments will require discrimination between abiogenic and biogenic organic compounds. Carbon-rich meteorites provide scientists with examples of authentic extraterrestrial organic matter generated in the absence of life. Outcomes of meteorite studies include clues to protocols that will enable the unequivocal identification of organic matter derived from life. In this chapter we summarize the diagnostic abiogenic features of key compound classes involved in life detection and discuss their implications for analytical instruments destined to fly on future spacecraft missions.     

InSight Mars Lander Robotics Instrument Deployment System

The InSight Mars Lander is equipped with an Instrument Deployment System (IDS) and science payload with accompanying auxiliary peripherals mounted on the Lander. The InSight science payload includes a seismometer (SEIS) and Wind and Thermal Shield (WTS), heat flow probe (Heat Flow and Physical Properties Package, HP³) and a precision tracking system (RISE) to measure the size and state of the core, mantle and crust of Mars. The InSight flight system is a close copy of the Mars Phoenix Lander and comprises a Lander, cruise stage, heatshield and backshell. The IDS comprises an Instrument Deployment Arm (IDA), scoop, five finger “claw” grapple, motor controller, arm-mounted Instrument Deployment Camera (IDC), lander-mounted Instrument Context Camera (ICC), and control software. IDS is responsible for the first precision robotic instrument placement and release of SEIS and HP³ on a planetary surface that will enable scientists to perform the first comprehensive surface-based geophysical investigation of Mars’ interior structure. This paper describes the design and operations of the Instrument Deployment Systems (IDS), a critical subsystem of the InSight Mars Lander necessary to achieve the primary scientific goals of the mission including robotic arm geology and physical properties (soil mechanics) investigations at the Landing site. In addition, we present test results of flight IDS Verification and Validation activities including thermal characterization and InSight 2017 Assembly, Test, and Launch Operations (ATLO), Deployment Scenario Test at Lockheed Martin, Denver, where all the flight payloads were successfully deployed with a balloon gravity offload fixture to compensate for Mars to Earth gravity.     

Dawn Science Planning, Operations and Archiving

The Dawn science operations team has designed the Vesta mission within the constraints of a low-cost Discovery mission, and will apply the same methodology to the Ceres mission. The design employs proactive mapping mission strategies and tactics such as functional redundancy, adaptability to trajectory uncertainties, and easy sequence updates to deliver reliable and robust sequences. Planning tools include the Science Opportunity Analyzer and other multi-mission tools, and the Science time-ordered listings. Science operations are conducted jointly by the Science Operations Support Team at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and the Dawn Science Center at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). The UCLA Dawn Science Center has primary responsibility for data archiving while the JPL team has primary responsibility for spacecraft and instrument operations. Constraints and uncertainties in the planning and sequencing environment are described, and then details of the science plan are presented for each mission sub-phase. The plans indicate that Dawn has a high probability of meeting its science objectives and requirements within the imposed constraints.     

Multi-state autonomous drilling for lunar exploration

Due to the lack of information of subsurface lunar regolith stratification which varies along depth, the drilling device may encounter lunar soil and lunar rock randomly in the drilling process. To meet the load safety requirements of unmanned sampling mission under limited orbital resources, the control strategy of autonomous drilling should adapt to the indeterminable lunar environments. Based on the analysis of two types of typical drilling media (i.e., lunar soil and lunar rock), this paper proposes a multi-state control strategy for autonomous lunar drilling. To represent the working circumstances in the lunar subsurface and reduce the complexity of the control algo-rithm, lunar drilling process was categorized into three drilling states:the interface detection, initi-ation of drilling parameters for recognition and drilling medium recognition. Support vector machine (SVM) and continuous wavelet transform were employed for the online recognition of dril-ling media and interface, respectively. Finite state machine was utilized to control the transition among different drilling states. To verify the effectiveness of the multi-state control strategy, drilling experiments were implemented with multi-layered drilling media constructed by lunar soil simulant and lunar rock simulant. The results reveal that the multi-state control method is capable of detect-ing drilling state variation and adjusting drilling parameters timely under vibration interferences. The multi-state control method provides a feasible reference for the control of extraterrestrial autonomous drilling.     

Exobiology and Planetary Protection of icy moons

The outer solar system is an important area of investigation for exobiology, the study of life in the universe. Several moons of the outer planets involve processes and structures comparable to those thought to have played an important role in the emergence of life on Earth, such as the formation and exchange of organic materials between different reservoirs. The study of these prebiotic processes on, and in, outer solar system moons is a key goal for exobiology, together with the question of habitability and the search for evidence of past or even present life. This chapter reviews the aspects of prebiotic chemistry and potential presence of life on Europa, Enceladus and Titan, based on the most recent data obtained from space missions as well as theoretical and experimental laboratory models. The habitability of these extraterrestrial environments, which are likely to include large reservoirs of liquid water in their internal structure, is discussed as well as the particular case of Titan’s hydrocarbon lakes. The question of planetary protection, especially in the case of Europa, is also presented.     

Ionospheric absorption of cosmic radio noise

The development of the field of study of ionospheric absorption of cosmic radio noise since 1962 is reviewed. Contributions to the basic theory and methods of analysis are first dealt with. News concerning measuring technique are then briefly treated. In the main part of the paper the development of our knowledge of sudden cosmic noise absorption, polar cap absorption, and auroral absorption is reviewed. The emphasis is on the ionospheric effects. The solar disturbances associated with the absorption effects, the propagation of particles from the Sun to the Earth, and other extraterrestrial sides of the story are not treated.Part of this review paper was presented at the Second Symposium on Radio Astronomical and Satellite Studies of the Atmosphere, Boston, October 1965.     

A Model for Extraterrestrial Solar Degradation of Zinc Oxide

Discoloration of ZnO from ultraviolet absorption can be produced in the laboratory, but is most severe in extraterrestrial environments, when microcrystalline ZnO is used as a pigment for spacecraft thermal control surfaces. Understanding of this degradation process should lead to development of pigments with improved thermal stability under prolonged ultraviolet exposure. It is noted that movement of photoexcited holes to the surfaces of crystallites, followed by oxygen evolution from the lattice and the creation of interstitial zinc (which causes the optical degradation), can continue indefinitely if the interstitial zinc is able to migrate inwards. The evidence supports a finite mobility for interstitial zinc at temperatures as low as 300°K. Doping techniques aimed at minimizing the tendency towards continued degradation are discussed.     

空间在轨装配技术综述

代表国家科技实力的空间站、空间望远镜、大型通信天线、空间太阳能电站、在轨燃料补给站、深空探测中转站及地外基地等空间大型平台和基础设施的建设需求日益迫切,如何对此进行智能自主建造是当前的巨大技术挑战。鉴于大型平台与基础设施在未来空间探索中的重要性,国内外航天研究机构均提出并发展了在轨装配的系列技术方案。本文主要对在轨装配研究现状和技术发展情况进行系统地综述。首先分析了有人与无人在轨装配的国内外技术进展,总结了在轨装配技术的发展路线、装配层次与方法;然后在此基础上,详细梳理了在轨装配的技术需求和应用前景,并得出在轨装配的使能关键技术——模块化技术、机器人技术和地面模拟装配技术,预期为中国未来的空间在轨装配研究提供有益的参考。     

THEMIS Operations

THEMIS—a five-spacecraft constellation to study magnetospheric events leading to auroral outbursts—launched on February 17, 2007. All aspects of operations are conducted at the Mission Operations Center at the University of California at Berkeley. Activities of the multi-mission operations team include mission and science operations, flight dynamics and ground station operations. Communications with the constellation are primarily established via the Berkeley Ground Station, while NASA’s Ground Network provides secondary pass coverage. In addition, NASA’s Space Network supports maneuver operations near perigee. Following a successful launch campaign, the operations team performed on-orbit probe bus and instrument check-out and commissioning tasks, and placed the constellation initially into a coast phase orbit configuration to control orbit dispersion and conduct initial science operations during the summer of 2007. Mission orbit placement was completed in the fall of 2007, in time for the first winter observing season in the Earth’s magnetospheric tail. Over the course of the first 18 months of on-orbit constellation operations, procedures for instrument configuration, science data acquisition and navigation were refined, and software systems were enhanced. Overall, the implemented ground systems at the Mission Operations Center proved to be very successful and completely adequate to support reliable and efficient constellation operations. A high degree of systems automation is employed to support lights-out operations during off-hours.     

Hard rock cosmic ray archaeology

Recent examinations of extraterrestrial materials exposed to cosmic rays for different intervals of time during the geological history of the solar system have generated a wealth of new information on the history of cosmic radiation. This information relates to the temporal variations in

1. the flux and energy spectrum of low energy (solar) protons of ? 10 MeV kinetic energy;
2. the flux and energy spectrum of (solar) heavy nuclei of Z > 20 of kinetic energy, 0.5–10 MeV/n;
3. the integrated flux of protons and heavier nuclei of ? 0.5 GeV kinetic energy, and
4. the flux and energy spectrum of nuclei of Z > 20 of medium energy — 100–2000 MeV/n kinetic energy.

The above studies are entirely based on the natural detector method which utilises two principal cosmogenic effects observed in rocks, (i) isotopic changes and (ii) changes in the crystalline structure of rock constituents, due to cosmogenic interactions. The information available to date in the field of hard rock cosmic ray archaeology refers to meteorites and lunar rocks/soil. Additional information based on study of cosmogenic effects in man-made materials exposed to cosmic radiation in space is also discussed. It is shown that the natural detectors inspite of their extreme simplicity have begun to provide cosmic ray information in a very quantitative and precise manner comparable to the most sophisticated electronic particle detectors. The single handicap in using the hard rock detectors is however the uncertainty regarding their manner of exposure, geometry etc. At present, a variety of techniques are being used to study the evolutionary history of extraterrestrial materials and as this field grows, uncertainties in cosmic ray archaeology will correspondingly decrease.     

军民融合视角下民用飞机维修体系建设及其在国防装备保障领域的应用

随着科技的快速发展,国防装备复杂程度日益增高,目前,以军方的保障能力要想合理有效地独立完成其保障任务仍有难度。为了提供更好的供应保障,基于民用飞机维修体系,结合国防装备使用特点,从军民融合的视角提出民用飞机维修体系建设经验在国防装备保障领域的应用建议,将民用飞机维修体系中的客户需求分析、健康监控与管理技术、维修策略、保障模式等融入国防装备研究领域,健全完善国防装备的技术和保障模式。     

The Electric and Magnetic Field Instrument Suite and Integrated Science (EMFISIS) on RBSP

The Electric and Magnetic Field Instrument and Integrated Science (EMFISIS) investigation on the NASA Radiation Belt Storm Probes (now named the Van Allen Probes) mission provides key wave and very low frequency magnetic field measurements to understand radiation belt acceleration, loss, and transport. The key science objectives and the contribution that EMFISIS makes to providing measurements as well as theory and modeling are described. The key components of the instruments suite, both electronics and sensors, including key functional parameters, calibration, and performance, demonstrate that EMFISIS provides the needed measurements for the science of the RBSP mission. The EMFISIS operational modes and data products, along with online availability and data tools provide the radiation belt science community with one the most complete sets of data ever collected.     

新世纪新千年的一些联想——兼议信息科技发展

科学与文化是人类文明的两大基石,优秀的中华文化应在新世纪对人类发展做出较大的贡献。在人类进化中,人类反馈研究自身的科学——人类学领域未来将是一个挑战性重要内容,而信息科技与之结合是重要的发展趋势和内容。发展信息科技是人类进化的永恒主题,其中研究具有一定思维能力的信息处理工具是计算机发展必然的途径。信息科技、信息系统的发展是和经济、社会发展密不可分的,有很大空间,但必须符合发展系统规律。     

当今炭素材料的研究热点和发展趋势

在系统地分析了当今炭素材料研究的基础上，结合科学技术发展的方向提出了炭素科学的研究热点，认为多孔碳材料、纳米碳材料和碳基复合材料是当今炭素材料的研究热点，而由能源的开发与利用、环境的保护与治理和生命科学的发展所引出的新型应用领域则代表了未来几年乃至几十年的研究热点和发展趋势，这些炭素材料的应用则构成了当今炭素材料应用科学的主要研究内容。炭素材料的基础研究主要围绕着炭素材料的性能和应用展开。