On small active region filaments,fibrils and surges

High resolution Hα images and magnetograms (0.2 arc s) of an active region were obtained in alternating time series at 42 s cadences using the Swedish 1-m Solar Telescope on 2004 August 21. The Hα filtergrams reveal an active region filament and surges consisting of thread-like structures which have widths similar to the widths of chromospheric fibrils, both recorded down to the resolution limit in the best images. All observed structures in the active region appear highly dynamic. Fibrils show counterstreaming strongly resembling the counterstreaming threads in filaments.     

Doppler Processor Rejection of Range Ambiguous Clutter

Doppler processors are used in radar to separate target returns from clutter. When the clutter is at a range farther than the unambiguous range of the radar, the ability to reject the clutter is degraded. In this article the degradation is analyzed for an N-pulse batch processor with Dolph weighting, and the results show how degradation varies with design sidelobe level.     

Cost-driven design of small satellite remote sensing systems*

Earth remote sensing (alongside communications) is one of the key application of Earth-orbiting satellites. Civilian satellites in the LANDSAT and SPOT series provide Earth images which have been used for a vast spectrum of applications in agriculture, meteorology, hydrology, urban planning and geology, to name but a few. In the defence sector, satellite remote sensing systems are a critical tool in strategic and tactical planning – for the countries which can afford them. To date, remote sensing satellites have fallen into one of these two categories: military missions driven by the requirement for very high resolution and orbital agility; and multipurpose civil satellites using general purpose sensors to serve a diverse community of end users. For military-style missions, the drive to high resolution sets the requirements for optics, attitude control and downlink data bandwidth. For civil missions, the requirement to satisfy multiple, diverse user applications forces compromises on spectral band and orbit selection. Although there are exceptions, many small satellite remote sensing missions carry on in this tradition, concentrating on ultra high resolution products for multiple user communities. This results in satellites costing on the order of US $100 M, not optimised for any particular application. This paper explores an alternative path to satellite remote sensing, aiming simultaneously to reduce cost and to optimise imaging products for specific applications. By decreasing the cost of the remote sensing satellite system to a critical point, it becomes appropriate to optimise the sensor's spectral and temporal characteristics to fit the requirements of a small, specialised user base. The critical engineering trade-off faced in a cost driven mission is how to reduce mission cost while still delivering a useful product to the selected user. At the Surrey Space Centre, we have pursued an engineering path using two dimensional CCD array sensors, commercial off-the-shelf lenses and gravity-gradient stabilised microsatellites. In spite of the inherent limitations of such systems, recent successes with the Thai Microsatellite Company's Thai-Phutt satellite show that a system costing in the region of US $3 million, can approach the spectral and spatial characteristics of LANDSAT. Surrey's UoSAT-12 minisatellite (to be launched April, 1999) will further develop this cost-driven approach to provide 10 m panchromatic resolution and 30 m multi-spectral resolution. This paper describes the Thai-Phutt and UoSAT-12 imaging systems, explaining the engineering methods and trade-offs. Although Surrey is presently the only centre presently pursuing such implementations, our paper shows that they deserve wider consideration.     

Comet nucleus sample return: Plans and capabilities

ROSETTA — the Comet Nucleus Sample Return mission — is one of the four Cornerstone missions to which ESA has committed itself in its approved Long-Term Programme Horizon 2000. The mission is currently being studied in collaboration with NASA. The comet-nucleus samples that ROSETTA is to provide will allow us to study some of the most primitive material in the solar system and the physical and chemical processes that marked the beginning of the system 4.6 billion years ago. For ESA, ROSETTA is a new type of mission: one which will return a sample at cryogenic temperature, and where as much effort has to be spent on preparing the laboratory analysis on-ground as has to be invested in preparing the space segment with the sample acquisition and in situ documentation. As part of the preparation for this mission, ESA is now starting to consider Planetary Protection issues.     

The cosmic ray solar diurnal anisotropy

This paper reviews the present state of knowledge concerning the diurnal and semidiurnal variations in the galactic cosmic ray intensity. The analytical procedures that are required for extracting from the original data the desired information concerning the characteristics of the anisotropies outside the magnetosphere are described. These include corrections for atmospheric fluctuations, the determination of the amplitudes and phases of the daily variations, and their interpretation in terms of the free space anisotropies that give rise to them. The experimental results concerning the 24-h wave, including its long-term variations with periods of one and two solar cycles, and the characteristics of the total diurnal anisotropy are then discussed. The semidiurnal anisotropy is considered next. Transient anisotropies which manifest themselves as day-to-day variations, recurrence tendencies, cosmic ray storms, and diurnal variation trains, and which can introduce appreciable changes in the spectral parameters, are also of interest. The evolution of theoretical models developed to account for the diurnal and semidiurnal anisotropies, and fluctuations thereof, are then discussed in the light of the experimental results. Finally, the general features that are now well established, and the nature of the remaining problems, are summarized.     

Balloon altitude studies of southern hemisphere hard X-ray sources by the Imperial College-University of Tasmania-INPE collaboration

Hard X-ray balloon altitude measurements with a 1600 cm² phoswich array are described. Data from observations on Sco X-1, GX1+4, GX5−1, Nova Oph. 1977, SMC X-1, SS433, IC 4329A and MR 2251-178 are presented. The role of Comptonisation in X-ray production for Sco X-1 and GX1+4 is discussed.     

ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) Science Ground Segment (SGS)

The ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) Science Ground Segment (SGS), comprised of payload Instrument Team, ESA and Russian operational centres, is responsible for planning the science operations of the TGO mission and for the generation and archiving of the scientific data products to levels meeting the scientific aims and criteria specified by the ESA Project Scientist as advised by the Science Working Team (SWT). The ExoMars SGS builds extensively upon tools and experience acquired through earlier ESA planetary missions like Mars and Venus Express, and Rosetta, but also is breaking ground in various respects toward the science operations of future missions like BepiColombo or JUICE. A productive interaction with the Russian partners in the mission facilitates broad and effective collaboration. This paper describes the global organisation and operation of the SGS, with reference to its principal systems, interfaces and operational processes.     

Jets Downstream of Collisionless Shocks

Space Science Reviews - Particles are accelerated to very high, non-thermal energies in solar and space plasma environments. While energy spectra of accelerated electrons often exhibit a power law,...