Study of long path VLF signal propagation characteristics as observed from Indian Antarctic station,Maitri

To examine the quality and propagation characteristics of the Very Low Frequency (VLF) radio waves in a very long propagation path, Indian Centre for Space Physics, Kolkata, participated in the 27th Indian scientific expedition to Antarctica during 2007–2008. One Stanford University made AWESOME VLF receiving system was installed at the Indian Antarctic station Maitri and about five weeks of data were recorded successfully from the Indian transmitter VTX and several other transmitting stations worldwide. The quality of the signal from the VTX transmitter was found to be very good, consistent and highly stable in day and night. The signal shows the evidences of the presence of the 24 h solar radiation in the Antarctic region during local summer. Here we report the both narrow band and broadband VLF observations from this site. The diurnal variations of VTX signal (18.2 kHz) are presented systematically for Antarctica path and also compared the same with the variations for a short propagation path (VTX-Kolkata). We compute the spatial distribution of the VTX signal along the VTX-Antarctica path using the most well-known LWPC model for an all-day and all-night propagation conditions. The calculated signal amplitudes corresponding to those conditions relatively corroborate the observations. We also present the attenuation rate of the dominant waveguide modes corresponding to those propagation conditions where the effects of the Antarctic polar ice on the attenuation of different propagating waveguide modes are visible.     

Regolith-derived ferrosilicon as a potential feedstock material for wire-based additive manufacturing

Ferrosilicon is a primary metallic alloy produced during the reduction of metal oxides contained in lunar and Martian regolith by a variety of techniques. This study examines the usefulness of ferrosilicon as a candidate feedstock material for wire-based 3D printers designed for in-space manufacturing. Alloys of composition ranging from pure iron to 12?wt% Si were synthesized and their electrical and mechanical properties characterized. The melts were cast into rods for mechanical testing to determine ultimate strength and ductility. It was determined that the samples above 3?wt% Si were too brittle to be pulled into wire and ruptured at low strain values. The 3?wt% Si sample and iron had comparable mechanical properties relative to samples of higher silicon content but with differences in ductility and ultimate strength. Microstructure and compositional studies revealed the differences between the ductile and brittle samples as being the complete ferrite phase presence on the iron and low-Si content samples. This study establishes an upper limit on the Si content at 3?wt% in ferrosilicon materials to be used in wire feedstock in additive manufacturing for in-space applications.