MESSENGER: Exploring Mercury’s Magnetosphere

The MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging (MESSENGER) mission to Mercury offers our first opportunity to explore this planet’s miniature magnetosphere since the brief flybys of Mariner 10. Mercury’s magnetosphere is unique in many respects. The magnetosphere of Mercury is among the smallest in the solar system; its magnetic field typically stands off the solar wind only ∼1000 to 2000 km above the surface. For this reason there are no closed drift paths for energetic particles and, hence, no radiation belts. Magnetic reconnection at the dayside magnetopause may erode the subsolar magnetosphere, allowing solar wind ions to impact directly the regolith. Inductive currents in Mercury’s interior may act to modify the solar wind interaction by resisting changes due to solar wind pressure variations. Indeed, observations of these induction effects may be an important source of information on the state of Mercury’s interior. In addition, Mercury’s magnetosphere is the only one with its defining magnetic flux tubes rooted beneath the solid surface as opposed to an atmosphere with a conductive ionospheric layer. This lack of an ionosphere is probably the underlying reason for the brevity of the very intense, but short-lived, ∼1–2 min, substorm-like energetic particle events observed by Mariner 10 during its first traversal of Mercury’s magnetic tail. Because of Mercury’s proximity to the sun, 0.3–0.5 AU, this magnetosphere experiences the most extreme driving forces in the solar system. All of these factors are expected to produce complicated interactions involving the exchange and recycling of neutrals and ions among the solar wind, magnetosphere, and regolith. The electrodynamics of Mercury’s magnetosphere are expected to be equally complex, with strong forcing by the solar wind, magnetic reconnection, and pick-up of planetary ions all playing roles in the generation of field-aligned electric currents. However, these field-aligned currents do not close in an ionosphere, but in some other manner. In addition to the insights into magnetospheric physics offered by study of the solar wind–Mercury system, quantitative specification of the “external” magnetic field generated by magnetospheric currents is necessary for accurate determination of the strength and multi-polar decomposition of Mercury’s intrinsic magnetic field. MESSENGER’s highly capable instrumentation and broad orbital coverage will greatly advance our understanding of both the origin of Mercury’s magnetic field and the acceleration of charged particles in small magnetospheres. In this article, we review what is known about Mercury’s magnetosphere and describe the MESSENGER science team’s strategy for obtaining answers to the outstanding science questions surrounding the interaction of the solar wind with Mercury and its small, but dynamic, magnetosphere.     

A NEW EXPRESSION OF FATIGUE SIZE FACTOR

ＡＮＥＷＥＸＰＲＥＳＳＩＯＮＯＦＦＡＴＩＧＵＥＳＩＺＥＦＡＣＴＯＲ￥ＹａｏＷｅｉｘｉｎｇ（ＤｅｐａｒｔｍｅｎｔｏｆＡｉｒｃｒａｆｔＥｎｇｉｎｅｅｒｉｎｇ，ＮＵＡＡ２９ＹｕｄａｏＳｔｒｅｅｔ，Ｎａｎｊｉｎｇ２１００１６，Ｐ．Ｒ．Ｃｈｉｎａ）Ａｂｓｔｒａ...     

傍山地区的强风场特性实测研究

介绍了某傍山地区的强风现场测量研究。采用较高频响的风速风向计与实时数据检测处理系统测得了该地区的风特性,并对一次冬季强风记录进行了分析研究,给出了反映强风脉动特性的两个重要参数-湍流度和阵风系数的关系,指出脉动风速的概率分布直接影响了二者比值大小。此外,通过实测结果与邻近气象站的同期记录比较,发现二者的相关性很差,在整个强风过程中,该地区的最大瞬时风速和平均风速都远远高于气象站的记录,表明傍山地区局部风场有很大的特殊性。     

理论门槛值的研究

阐述了应力强度因子门槛值△Ｋｔｈ的重要性，讨论了理论门槛值的概念，分析了工程门槛值的局限性，提出了理论槛值的求解方法，实例分析显示了理论门槛值研究，无论对于工程应用或理论研究均具有重要意义。     

Ⅰ型极值分布的环境因子

本文通过对Ⅰ型极值分布的理论分析和环境因子的二因子法，分别得到了Ⅰ型极大值分布和Ⅰ型极小值分布的环境因子，它们与正态分布的环境因子^[1]具有相同的形式，对Ⅰ型极值分布的环境因子进行了点估计，提出了用环境因子进行数据转换和综合的步骤。     

SoftBase查询优化器的设计与实现

查询优化是数据库系统中一个必不可少的模块，本文在当前查询优化技术发展的基础上讨论了SoftBase数据库的查询优化器的设计和实现，给出了SAoftBase数据库查询优化处理的一般过程，并着重探讨了查询优化的两个主要模块，查询重写和基于代价评估的计划优化。在计划优化模块中，详细讨论了存取路径的选择和代价评估的计算方法，最后对测试结果进行了分析，结果表明优化后的SoftBase查询效率比原系统有了明显的提高。     

TE_(111)模式微波腔的研究

上海天文台已经设计了一种尺寸小、重量轻的TE_111模式微波腔体。对腔体的特性及振荡因子进行了讨论,结果表明。     

Using gamma-ray burst prompt emission to probe relativistic shock acceleration

It is widely accepted that the prompt transient signal in the 10 keV–10 GeV band from gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) arises from multiple shocks internal to the ultra-relativistic expansion. The detailed understanding of the dissipation and accompanying acceleration at these shocks is a currently topical subject. This paper explores the relationship between GRB prompt emission spectra and the electron (or ion) acceleration properties at the relativistic shocks that pertain to GRB models. The focus is on the array of possible high-energy power-law indices in accelerated populations, highlighting how spectra above 1 MeV can probe the field obliquity in GRB internal shocks, and the character of hydromagnetic turbulence in their environs. It is emphasized that diffusive shock acceleration theory generates no canonical spectrum at relativistic MHD discontinuities. This diversity is commensurate with the significant range of spectral indices discerned in prompt burst emission. Such system diagnostics are now being enhanced by the broad-band spectral coverage of bursts by the Fermi Gamma-Ray Space Telescope; while the Gamma-Ray Burst Monitor (GBM) provides key diagnostics on the lower energy portions of the particle population, the focus here is on constraints in the non-thermal, power-law regime of the particle distribution that are provided by the Large Area Telescope (LAT).     

A simple control law for reducing the effective characteristic acceleration of a solar sail

The direction and magnitude of a solar sail acceleration are strongly related. For this reason, once the characteristic acceleration has been fixed, it is not possible to modulate the acceleration in a particular direction. In this work, a semi-analytical switching control law is derived, enabling a solar sail to emulate a smaller effective characteristic acceleration (without changes in geometry or optical properties); by periodically changing the pitch (cone) angle of the sail, in average over time, the acceleration produced by the sail matches exactly (in both direction and magnitude) that of a “smaller” sail. The range in which this is possible is determined, and the limitations on this range due to the size difference is computed. The method is validated on optimal Earth-Mars trajectories.     

Hexapod多自由度微激励系统的振动时域波形控制

摘要： Hexapod多自由度微激励系统常用于航天器有效载荷在轨微振动环境的模拟，但采用现有控制方法无法精确稳定跟踪低频正弦加速度，这是由于系统耦合度高、非线性在低频段较强，被控对象相位滞后过大造成的.针对此问题，基于传统离线迭代控制方法，提出一种复合超前校正、多倍频陷波滤波器的改进离线迭代控制方法.其中，离线迭代进行补偿控制，超前校正进一步补偿系统相位，多倍频陷波滤波器去除非线性干扰.跟踪低频定频正弦加速度的实验结果表明，对比传统离线迭代控制方法，改进方法收敛快、控制精度高；对比现有自适应正弦振动控制方法，改进方法将符合精度要求的加速度控制频带下限由14.5 Hz扩宽至8 Hz.实验结果验证了所提方法的有效性.