A lunar L2-Farside exploration and science mission concept with the Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle and a teleoperated lander/rover

A novel concept is presented in this paper for a human mission to the lunar L2 (Lagrange) point that would be a proving ground for future exploration missions to deep space while also overseeing scientifically important investigations. In an L2 halo orbit above the lunar farside, the astronauts aboard the Orion Crew Vehicle would travel 15% farther from Earth than did the Apollo astronauts and spend almost three times longer in deep space. Such a mission would serve as a first step beyond low Earth orbit and prove out operational spaceflight capabilities such as life support, communication, high speed re-entry, and radiation protection prior to more difficult human exploration missions. On this proposed mission, the crew would teleoperate landers/rovers on the unexplored lunar farside, which would obtain samples from the geologically interesting farside and deploy a low radio frequency telescope. Sampling the South Pole-Aitken basin, one of the oldest impact basins in the solar system, is a key science objective of the 2011 Planetary Science Decadal Survey. Observations at low radio frequencies to track the effects of the Universe’s first stars/galaxies on the intergalactic medium are a priority of the 2010 Astronomy and Astrophysics Decadal Survey. Such telerobotic oversight would also demonstrate capability for human and robotic cooperation on future, more complex deep space missions such as exploring Mars.     

The statistical features of radio bursts with fine structure at 1.1–7.6 GHz

This work presents the spectral and temporal features of radio bursts with fine structures (FSs) at broad band from 1.1 to 7.6 GHz. Fifteen burst events are studied with high frequency and temporal cadence observation from the Solar Broadband Radio Spectrometer at three frequency bands. It is found that the amount and species of radio FS decrease with increasing frequency band; the pulsation, type III burst and continuum are most frequently recorded; almost in all the burst events, more radio FSs occur before the soft X-ray (SXR) maximum than after; at 1.1–2.06 GHz, all types of radio FSs have more before the SXR peak except fiber; at 2.6–3.8 GHz, pulsation, fiber and spike prefer to appear after the peak; the separation between neighboring emission lines of zebra pattern increases with increasing frequency and the magnetic field deduced from the whistler model is 29–86 G at 1.1–2.06 GHz and 89–268 G at 2.6–3.8 GHz.     

JUXTA: A new probe of X-ray emission from the Jupiter system

For the future Japanese exploration mission of the Jupiter’s magnetosphere (JMO: Jupiter Magnetospheric Orbiter), a unique instrument named JUXTA (Jupiter X-ray Telescope Array) is being developed. It aims at the first in-situ measurement of X-ray emission associated with Jupiter and its neighborhood. Recent observations with Earth-orbiting satellites have revealed various X-ray emission from the Jupiter system. X-ray sources include Jupiter’s aurorae, disk emission, inner radiation belts, the Galilean satellites and the Io plasma torus. X-ray imaging spectroscopy can be a new probe to reveal rotationally driven activities, particle acceleration and Jupiter–satellite binary system. JUXTA is composed of an ultra-light weight X-ray telescope based on micromachining technology and a radiation-hard semiconductor pixel detector. It covers 0.3–2 keV with the energy resolution of <100 eV at 0.6 keV. Because of proximity to Jupiter (∼30 Jovian radii at periapsis), the image resolution of <5 arcmin and the on-axis effective area of >3 cm² at 0.6 keV allow extremely high photon statistics and high resolution observations.     

Coronal fast wave trains of the decimetric type IV radio event observed during the decay phase of the June 6, 2000 flare

The 22 min long decimetric type IV radio event observed during the decay phase of the June 6, 2000 flare simultaneously by the Brazilian Solar Spectroscope (BSS) and the Ond?ejov radiospectrograph in frequency range 1200–4500 MHz has been analyzed. We have found that the characteristic periods of about 60 s belong to the long-period spectral component of the fast wave trains with a tadpole pattern in their wavelet power spectra. We have detected these trains in the whole frequency range 1200–4500 MHz. The behavior of individual wave trains at lower frequencies is different from that at higher frequencies. These individual wave trains have some common as well as different properties. In this paper, we focus on two examples of wave trains in a loop segment and the main statistical parameters in their wavelet power and global spectra are studied and discussed.     

Observation of the lunar topography by the laser altimeter LALT on board Japanese lunar explorer SELENE

The SELENE Laser Altimeter (LALT) is designed to map the Moon’s topography and will be launched in summer 2007. LALT incorporates Q-switched Cr doped Nd:YAG laser (1064 nm) with an output energy of 100 mJ and 1 Hz repetition frequency for about one year mission period. The laser pulse travels to the Moon’s surface and reflections from the surface are detected by a silicon avalanche photo-diode. The ranging distance is 50–150 km with about 5 m accuracy. Several corrections for accurate ranging data are investigated. The flight hardware has been qualified and passed all the integration tests. A principal goal of the LALT instrument is to obtain a much more detailed lunar topographic map which is superior in global coverage, measurement accuracy and number of data points to previous observations and models. The overall science objectives of LALT are (1) determination of lunar global figure, (2) internal structure and surface processes, (3) exploration of the lunar pole regions, and (4) reduction of lunar occultation data.     

WSO-UV project

During last three decades, astronomers have enjoyed continuous access to the 100–300 nm ultraviolet (UV) spectral range where the resonance transitions of the most abundant atoms and ions (at temperatures between 3000 and 300 000 K) reside. This UV range is not accessible from ground-based facilities. The successful International Ultraviolet Explorer (IUE) observatory, the Russian ASTRON mission and successor instruments such as the Galaxy Evolution Explorer (GALEX) mission or the COS and STIS spectrographs on-board the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) prove the major impact of observations in the UV wavelength range in modern astronomy. Future access to space-based observatories is expected to be very limited. For the next decade, the post-HST era, the World Space Observatory – Ultraviolet (WSO–UV) will be the only 2-m class UV telescope with capabilities similar to the HST. WSO–UV will be equipped with instruments for imaging and spectroscopy and it will be a facility dedicated, full-time, to UV astronomy. In this article, we briefly outline the current status of the WSO–UV mission and the science management plan.     

VHF radio response of the near Earth space during solar activity growth in October, 2003

The analysis of observations of very high frequency radio noise intensity at the middle latitude on a frequency f = 500 MHz from 14th till 26th of October, 2003 is presented. These data are compared with the solar radio bursts in the range of frequencies 1–14 MHz registered by RAD2 receiver of the WAVES device installed on board the WIND spacecraft.     

Radio fine structures in dm–cm wavelength range associated with magnetic reconnection processes

Radio bursts with fine structures in decimetric–centimetric wave range are generally believed to manifest the primary energy release process during flare/CME events. By spectropolarimeters in 1–2 GHz, 2.6–3.8 GHz, and 5.2–7.6 GHz at NAOC/Huairou with very high temporal (1.25–8 ms) and spectral (4–20 MHz) resolutions, the zebra patterns, spikes, and new types of radio fine structures with mixed frequency drift features are observed during several significant flare/CME events. In this paper we will discuss the occurrence of radio fine structures during the impulsive phase of flares and/or CME initiations, which may be connected to the magnetic reconnection processes.     

X-ray redshifts with the International X-ray Observatory (IXO)

We explore the capabilities of the future space science mission IXO (International X-ray Observatory) for obtaining cosmological redshifts of distant Active Galactic Nuclei (AGNs) using the X-ray data only. We first find in which regions of the X-ray luminosity (L_X) versus redshift (z) plane the weak but ubiquitous Fe Kα narrow emission line can deliver an accurate redshift (δz < 5%) as a function of exposure time, using a CCD-based Wide Field Imager (IXO/WFI) as the one baselined for IXO. Down to a 2–10 keV X-ray flux of 10⁻¹⁴ erg cm⁻² s⁻¹ IXO/WFI exposures of 100 ks, 300 ks and 1 Ms will deliver 20%, 40% and 60% of the redshifts. This means that in a typical 18′ × 18′ IXO/WFI field of view, 4, 10 and 25 redshifts will be obtained for free from the X-ray data alone, spanning a wide range up to z ∼ 2–3 and fairly sampling the real distribution. Measuring redshifts of fainter sources will indeed need spectroscopy at other wavebands.     

The Radio Observatory on the Lunar Surface for Solar studies

The Radio Observatory on the Lunar Surface for Solar studies (ROLSS) is a concept for a near-side low radio frequency imaging interferometric array designed to study particle acceleration at the Sun and in the inner heliosphere. The prime science mission is to image the radio emission generated by Type II and III solar radio burst processes with the aim of determining the sites at and mechanisms by which the radiating particles are accelerated. Specific questions to be addressed include the following: (1) Isolating the sites of electron acceleration responsible for Type II and III solar radio bursts during coronal mass ejections (CMEs); and (2) Determining if and the mechanism(s) by which multiple, successive CMEs produce unusually efficient particle acceleration and intense radio emission. Secondary science goals include constraining the density of the lunar ionosphere by searching for a low radio frequency cutoff to solar radio emission and constraining the low energy electron population in astrophysical sources. Key design requirements on ROLSS include the operational frequency and angular resolution. The electron densities in the solar corona and inner heliosphere are such that the relevant emission occurs at frequencies below 10 MHz. Second, resolving the potential sites of particle acceleration requires an instrument with an angular resolution of at least 2°, equivalent to a linear array size of approximately 1000 m. Operations would consist of data acquisition during the lunar day, with regular data downlinks. No operations would occur during lunar night.