High Excitation ISM and Gas

An overview is given of ISO results on regions of high excitation ISM and gas, i.e. HII regions, the Galactic Centre and Supernova Remnants. IR emission due to fine-structure lines, molecular hydrogen, silicates, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and dust are summarised, their diagnostic capabilities illustrated and their implications highlighted. Based on observations with ISO, an ESA project with instruments funded by ESA Member States (especially the PI countries: France, Germany, The Netherlands, and the United Kingdom), and with the participation of ISAS and NASA.     

The Cassini Cosmic Dust Analyzer

The Cassini-Huygens Cosmic Dust Analyzer (CDA) is intended to provide direct observations of dust grains with masses between 10⁻¹⁹ and 10⁻⁹ kg in interplanetary space and in the jovian and saturnian systems, to investigate their physical, chemical and dynamical properties as functions of the distances to the Sun, to Jupiter and to Saturn and its satellites and rings, to study their interaction with the saturnian rings, satellites and magnetosphere. Chemical composition of interplanetary meteoroids will be compared with asteroidal and cometary dust, as well as with Saturn dust, ejecta from rings and satellites. Ring and satellites phenomena which might be effects of meteoroid impacts will be compared with the interplanetary dust environment. Electrical charges of particulate matter in the magnetosphere and its consequences will be studied, e.g. the effects of the ambient plasma and the magnetic field on the trajectories of dust particles as well as fragmentation of particles due to electrostatic disruption.The investigation will be performed with an instrument that measures the mass, composition, electric charge, speed, and flight direction of individual dust particles. It is a highly reliable and versatile instrument with a mass sensitivity 10⁶ times higher than that of the Pioneer 10 and 11 dust detectors which measured dust in the saturnian system. The Cosmic Dust Analyzer has significant inheritance from former space instrumentation developed for the VEGA, Giotto, Galileo, and Ulysses missions. It will reliably measure impacts from as low as 1 impact per month up to 10⁴ impacts per second. The instrument weighs 17 kg and consumes 12 W, the integrated time-of-flight mass spectrometer has a mass resolution of up to 50. The nominal data transmission rate is 524 bits/s and varies between 50 and 4192 bps.This revised version was published online in July 2005 with a corrected cover date.     

The Galileo Dust Detector

The Galileo Dust Detector is intended to provide direct observations of dust grains with masses between 10^-19 and 10^-9 kg in interplanetary space and in the Jovian system, to investigate their physical and dynamical properties as functions of the distances to the Sun, to Jupiter and to its satellites, to study its interaction with the Galilean satellites and the Jovian magnetosphere. Surface phenomena of the satellites (like albedo variations), which might be effects of meteoroid impacts will be compared with the dust environment. Electric charges of particulate matter in the magnetosphere and its consequences will be studied; e.g., the effects of the magnetic field on the trajectories of dust particles and fragmentation of particles due to electrostatic disruption. The investigation is performed with an instrument that measures the mass, speed, flight direction and electric charge of individual dust particles. It is a multicoincidence detector with a mass sensitivity 10⁶ times higher than that of previous in-situ experiments which measured dust in the outer solar system. The instrument weighs 4.2 kg, consumes 2.4 W, and has a normal data transmission rate of 24 bits s^-1 in nominal spacecraft tracking mode. On December 29, 1989 the instrument was switched-on. After the instrument had been configured to flight conditions cruise science data collection started immediately. In the period to May 18, 1990 at least 168 dust impacts have been recorded. For 81 of these dust grains masses and impact speeds have been determined. First flux values are given.     

On the levels of enzymatic substrate specificity: implications for the early evolution of metabolic pathways.

The most frequently invoked explanation for the origin of metabolic pathways is the retrograde evolution hypothesis. In contrast, according to the so-called "patchwork" theory, metabolism evolved by the recruitment of relatively inefficient small enzymes of broad specificity that could react with a wide range of chemically related substrates. In this paper it is argued that both sequence comparisons and experimental results on enzyme substrate specificity support the patchwork assembly theory. The available evidence supports previous suggestions that gene duplication events followed by a gradual neoDarwinian accumulation of mutations and other minute genetic changes lead to the narrowing and modification of enzyme function in at least some primordial metabolic pathways.     

Investigations of the Mars Upper Atmosphere with ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter

Space Science Reviews - Time measured by an ideal clock crucially depends on the gravitational potential and velocity of the clock according to general relativity. Technological advances in...     

Multimodal characteristics of a piezoelectric lead zirconate titanate element impacted with iron particles having velocities above 20 km/s

The responses of a piezoelectric lead zirconate titanate (PZT) element to hypervelocity collisions were experimentally studied. In this study, the particles of masses ranging from 0.3 to 10 fg were made to collide with PZT at velocities between 20 and 96 km/s. The amplitude and the corresponding rise time of the single-pulse output signals that were produced in the piezoelectric PZT element were measured to determine the possible collision states. The results revealed an apparently multimodal output; three classes were assumed to be involved in the pulse formation mechanism. The amplitude and rise time were sensitive to the collision velocity. The multimodal behavior implied that the PZT-based cosmic dust detectors should be calibrated according to the class they belong to.     

Fast Dust in the Heliosphere

The dynamics of dust particles in the solar system is dominated by solar gravity, by solar radiation pressure, or by electromagnetic interaction of charged dust grains with the interplanetary magnetic field. For micron-sized or bigger dust particles solar gravity leads to speeds of about 30 to 40 km s^–1 at the Earths distance. Smaller particles that are generated close to the Sun and for which radiation pressure is dominant (the ratio of radiation pressure force over gravity F _rad/F _grav is generally termed ) are driven out of the solar system on hyperbolic orbits. Such a flow of -meteoroids has been observed by the Pioneer 8, 9 and Ulysses spaceprobes. Dust particles in interplanetary space are electrically charged to typically +5 V by the photo effect from solar UV radiation. The dust detector on Cassini for the first time measured the dust charge directly. The dynamics of dust particles smaller than about 0.1 m is dominated by the electromagnetic interaction with the ambient magnetic field. Effects of the solar wind magnetic field on interstellar grains passing through the solar system have been observed. Nanometer sized dust stream particles have been found which were accelerated by Jupiters magnetic field to speeds of about 300 km s^–1.