10Be Production in the Atmosphere by Galactic Cosmic Rays

Galactic cosmic ray nuclei and energetic protons produced in solar flares and accelerated by coronal mass ejections are the main sources of high-energy particles of extraterrestrial origin in near-Earth space and inside the Earth’s atmosphere. The intensity of galactic cosmic rays inside the heliosphere is strongly influenced by the modulation of the interstellar source particles on their way through interplanetary space. Among others, this modulation depends on the activity of the Sun, and the resulting intensity of the energetic particles in the atmosphere is an indicator of the solar activity. Therefore, rare isotopes found in historical archives and produced by spallation reactions of primary and secondary hadrons of cosmic origin in the atmosphere, so-called cosmogenic nuclides, can be used to reconstruct the solar activity in the past. The production rate of ¹⁰Be, one of the cosmogenic nuclides most adequate to study the solar activity, is presented showing its variations with geographic latitude and altitude and the dependence on different production cross-sections present in literature. In addition, estimates for altitude integrated production rates of ¹⁰Be at different locations since the early nineteen sixties are shown.     

Geoscience for Understanding Habitability in the Solar System and Beyond

Space Science Reviews - This paper reviews habitability conditions for a terrestrial planet from the point of view of geosciences. It addresses how interactions between the interior of a planet or...     

A material experiment for small satellites to characterise the behaviour of carbon nanotubes in space – development and ground validation

Over the last years, Carbon Nanotubes (CNT) drew interdisciplinary attention. Regarding space technologies a variety of potential applications were proposed and investigated. However, no complex data on the behaviour and degradation process of carbon nanotubes under space environment exist. Therefore, it is necessary to investigate the performance of these new materials in space environment and to revaluate the application potential of CNTs in space technologies.Hence, CiREX (Carbon Nanotubes – Resistance Experiment) was developed as a part of a student project. It is a small and compact experiment, which is designed for CubeSat class space satellites. These are a class of nanosatellites with a standardized size and shape. The CiREX design, electrical measurements and the satellites interfaces will be discussed in detail. CiREX is the first in-situ space material experiment for CNTs.To evaluate the data obtained from CiREX, ground validation tests are mandatory. As part of an extensive test series the behaviour of CNTs under solar ultra violet light (UV) and vacuum ultraviolet light (VUV) was examined. Single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNT), multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWNT) and MWNT/resin composite (ME) were exposed to different light sources. After the exposure, the defect density was investigated with Raman spectroscopy. There is a clear indication that UV and VUV light can increase the defect density of untreated CNTs and influence the electrical behaviour.     

航空定向技术在地下水流速流向中的应用研究

将高科技的航空定向技术与同位素稀释测井技术相结合，研制出一种智能化的地下水动态参数测量仪。在天然流场下的单井中测量了地下渗透流速、流向；垂向流速、流向，并对仪器的结构、原理、工作过程作了详细的讨论，该测量仪可广泛地应用于堤坝渗漏路径的探测、水源地的地下水勘察、煤矿涌水预测、环境保护、农田地下水溶质运移等。     

基于功率谱密度法飞机地面变速滑跑动力学分析

提出了飞机地面变速滑跑的非稳态响应分析的新方法,该方法基于频域的功率谱密度法.建立了飞机地面滑跑的起落架分析模型;引入了概率平均意义上的当量线性化方法,用该方法处理了起落架缓冲器空气弹簧、油液阻尼和库仑摩擦力以及轮胎刚度和阻尼等非线性参数.利用变量代换和傅里叶变换导出了非稳态激励下的跑道不平度的功率谱密度函数.导出并分析了具有代表性的飞机重心过载的频率响应函数.工程算例表明,在达到相同的滑跑速度条件下,飞机加速滑跑引起的飞机重心过载响应比飞机地面匀速滑跑引起的飞机重心过载响应小;并且加速度越大,在达到相同的滑跑速度条件下所产生的飞机重心过载响应越小.     

Rosetta Radio Science Investigations (RSI)

The Rosetta spacecraft has been successfully launched on 2nd March 2004 to its new target comet 67 P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. The science objectives of the Rosetta Radio Science Investigations (RSI) experiment address fundamental aspects of cometary physics such as the mass and bulk density of the nucleus, its gravity field, its interplanetary orbit perturbed by nongravitational forces, its size and shape, its internal structure, the composition and roughness of the nucleus surface, the abundance of large dust grains, the plasma content in the coma and the combined dust and gas mass flux. The masses of two asteroids, Steins and Lutetia, shall be determined during flybys in 2008 and 2010, respectively. Secondary objectives are the radio sounding of the solar corona during the superior conjunctions of the spacecraft with the Sun during the cruise phase. The radio carrier links of the spacecraft Telemetry, Tracking and Command (TT&C) subsystem between the orbiter and the Earth will be used for these investigations. An Ultrastable oscillator (USO) connected to both transponders of the radio subsystem serves as a stable frequency reference source for both radio downlinks at X-band (8.4 GHz) and S-band (2.3 GHz) in the one-way mode. The simultaneous and coherent dual-frequency downlinks via the High Gain Antenna (HGA) permit separation of contributions from the classical Doppler shift and the dispersive media effects caused by the motion of the spacecraft with respect to the Earth and the propagation of the signals through the dispersive media, respectively. The investigation relies on the observation of the phase, amplitude, polarization and propagation times of radio signals transmitted from the spacecraft and received with ground station antennas on Earth. The radio signals are affected by the medium through which the signals propagate (atmospheres, ionospheres, interplanetary medium, solar corona), by the gravitational influence of the planet on the spacecraft and finally by the performance of the various systems involved both on the spacecraft and on ground.     

Coronal Hole Properties Observed with Sumer

We analyze SUMER spectra of 14 lines belonging to 12 ions, obtained on both sides of the boundary of polar coronal holes as well as at other locations along the limb. We compare line intensities, shifts and widths in coronal holes with values obtained in the quiet Sun. We find that with increasing formation temperature, spectral lines show an increasingly stronger blueshift in coronal holes relative to the quiet Sun at an equal heliospheric angle. The width of the lines is generally larger (by a few km/s) inside the coronal hole. Intensity measurements show the presence of the coronal hole in Ne VIII lines as well as in Fe XII, with evidence for a slightly enhanced emission in polar coronal holes for lines formed below 10⁵ K. This revised version was published online in June 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Neutron Monitor Records in Broader Historical Context

Man-made neutron monitors have provided a continuous detailed record of the cosmic-ray flux over only about the last 5 decades. Fortunately, nature operates its own detectors and offers the opportunity to extend the cosmic-ray records over much longer time scales. Two different types of `natural detectors' can be distinguished. The first is based on long lived radionuclides that are produced by cosmic-ray interactions in the atmosphere and subsequently become stored in archives such as ice sheets or tree rings. The second type are rocks that are exposed to cosmic-rays at a certain time and from then on integrate the production of cosmogenic nuclides over the whole exposure time. The analysis of ¹⁰Be in polar ice cores and ¹⁴C in tree rings clearly reveals solar and geomagnetic modulation of the cosmic-ray flux on different time scales ranging from decades (11-year Schwabe cycle) to millennia. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Qualitative Spatial Reasoning for Topological Map Learning

Abstract

In this paper we investigate the application of qualitative spatial reasoning methods for learning the topological map of an unknown environment. We develop a topological mapping framework that achieves robustness against ambiguity in the available information by tracking all possible graph hypotheses simultaneously. We then exploit spatial reasoning to reduce the space of possible hypotheses. The considered constraints are qualitative direction information and the assumption that the map is planar. We investigate the effects of absolute and relative direction information using two different spatial calculi and combine the approach with a real mapping system based on Voronoi graphs.     

Heavy ion induced double strand breaks in bacteria and bacteriophages.

DNA damage induced by heavy ions in bacterial cells and bacteriophages such as Bacillus subtilis, E. coli and Bacteriophage T1 were investigated by analyzing the double strand breaks in the chromosomal DNA. This kind of lesion is considered as one of the main reasons for lethal events. To analyze double strand breaks in long molecules of DNA--up to some Mbp in length--the technique of pulse field agarose gel electrophoresis has been used. This allows the detection of one double strand break per genome. Cell lysis and DNA isolation were performed in small agarose blocks directly. This procedure secured minimum DNA destruction by shearing forces. After running a gel, the DNA was stained with ethidium bromide. The light intensity of ethidium bromide fluorescence for both the outcoming (running) DNA and the remaining intact DNA were measured by scanning. The mean number of double strand breaks was calculated by determining the quotient of these intensities. Strand break induction after heavy ion and X-ray irradiation was compared.