REMS: The Environmental Sensor Suite for the Mars Science Laboratory Rover

The Rover Environmental Monitoring Station (REMS) will investigate environmental factors directly tied to current habitability at the Martian surface during the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) mission. Three major habitability factors are addressed by REMS: the thermal environment, ultraviolet irradiation, and water cycling. The thermal environment is determined by a mixture of processes, chief amongst these being the meteorological. Accordingly, the REMS sensors have been designed to record air and ground temperatures, pressure, relative humidity, wind speed in the horizontal and vertical directions, as well as ultraviolet radiation in different bands. These sensors are distributed over the rover in four places: two booms located on the MSL Remote Sensing Mast, the ultraviolet sensor on the rover deck, and the pressure sensor inside the rover body. Typical daily REMS observations will collect 180 minutes of data from all sensors simultaneously (arranged in 5 minute hourly samples plus 60 additional minutes taken at times to be decided during the course of the mission). REMS will add significantly to the environmental record collected by prior missions through the range of simultaneous observations including water vapor; the ability to take measurements routinely through the night; the intended minimum of one Martian year of observations; and the first measurement of surface UV irradiation. In this paper, we describe the scientific potential of REMS measurements and describe in detail the sensors that constitute REMS and the calibration procedures.     

Static Frame Model Validation with Small Samples Solution Using Improved Kernel Density Estimation and Confidence Level Method

An improved method using kernel density estimation (KDE) and confidence level is presented for model validation with small samples. Decision making is a challenging problem because of input uncertainty and only small samples can be used due to the high costs of experimental measurements. However, model validation provides more confidence for decision makers when improving prediction accuracy at the same time. The confidence level method is introduced and the optimum sample variance is determined using a new method in kernel density estimation to increase the credibility of model validation. As a numerical example, the static frame model validation challenge problem presented by Sandia National Laboratories has been chosen. The optimum bandwidth is selected in kernel density estimation in order to build the probability model based on the calibration data. The model assessment is achieved using validation and accreditation experimental data respectively based on the probability model. Finally, the target structure prediction is performed using validated model, which are consistent with the results obtained by other researchers. The results demonstrate that the method using the improved confidence level and kernel density estimation is an effective approach to solve the model validation problem with small samples.     

Cyclic Oxidation Behavior of an EB-PVD CoCrAlY Coating Influenced by Substrate/coating Interdiffusion

To reveal the influence of substrate/coating interdiffusion on the cyclic oxidation property of a metallic coating, cyclic oxidation behavior of an EB-PVD CoCrAlY coating on directionally solidified Ni-based superalloy DZ125 at 1 050 oC is investigated. The 40 μm thick CoCrAlY coating has a cyclic oxidation life of around 160 h, and the oxidation constant is 1.915× 10.7 mg4·cm.8·s.1. However, severe spallation of the oxides containing Co, Cr, Ni, Ta and Ti occurs with longer cyclic oxidation. The degradation in oxidation resistance for the coating is related to the depletion of Al due to the oxide spallation and interdiffusion. Severe interdiffusion between the coating and underlying substrate occurs at 1 050 oC. The composition of the substrate has an important effect on the thermal cycling lifetime of the coating. The influencing mechanism is discussed.     

Space Flight Validation of Design and Engineering of the ZDPS-1A Pico-satellite

The ZDPS-1A pico-satellites are the first satellites in China within the 1-10 kg mass range that are successfully operated on orbit. Unlike common pico-satellites, they are designed to be "larger but stronger" with more powerful platforms and unique payloads so as to bear a better promise for real applications. Through their space flight mission, the functionality and performance of the two flight models are tested on orbit and validated to be mostly normal and in consistency with design and ground tests with only several inconforming occasions. Moreover, they have worked properly on orbit for one year so far, well exceeding their life expectancy of three months. Therefore, the space flight mission has reached all its goals, and verified that the design concept and the engineering process of the picosatellites are sufficient in allowing them the desired functionality and performance in, and the adaption to the launch procedure and the low-Earth orbit space environment. In the foreseeable future, the platform together with the design concept and the engineering process of the pico-satellites are expected to be applied to more complicated real space applications.     

Towards a Unified View of Inhomogeneous Stellar Winds in Isolated Supergiant Stars and Supergiant High Mass X-Ray Binaries

Massive stars, at least \(\sim10\) times more massive than the Sun, have two key properties that make them the main drivers of evolution of star clusters, galaxies, and the Universe as a whole. On the one hand, the outer layers of massive stars are so hot that they produce most of the ionizing ultraviolet radiation of galaxies; in fact, the first massive stars helped to re-ionize the Universe after its Dark Ages. Another important property of massive stars are the strong stellar winds and outflows they produce. This mass loss, and finally the explosion of a massive star as a supernova or a gamma-ray burst, provide a significant input of mechanical and radiative energy into the interstellar space. These two properties together make massive stars one of the most important cosmic engines: they trigger the star formation and enrich the interstellar medium with heavy elements, that ultimately leads to formation of Earth-like rocky planets and the development of complex life. The study of massive star winds is thus a truly multidisciplinary field and has a wide impact on different areas of astronomy.In recent years observational and theoretical evidences have been growing that these winds are not smooth and homogeneous as previously assumed, but rather populated by dense “clumps”. The presence of these structures dramatically affects the mass loss rates derived from the study of stellar winds. Clump properties in isolated stars are nowadays inferred mostly through indirect methods (i.e., spectroscopic observations of line profiles in various wavelength regimes, and their analysis based on tailored, inhomogeneous wind models). The limited characterization of the clump physical properties (mass, size) obtained so far have led to large uncertainties in the mass loss rates from massive stars. Such uncertainties limit our understanding of the role of massive star winds in galactic and cosmic evolution.Supergiant high mass X-ray binaries (SgXBs) are among the brightest X-ray sources in the sky. A large number of them consist of a neutron star accreting from the wind of a massive companion and producing a powerful X-ray source. The characteristics of the stellar wind together with the complex interactions between the compact object and the donor star determine the observed X-ray output from all these systems. Consequently, the use of SgXBs for studies of massive stars is only possible when the physics of the stellar winds, the compact objects, and accretion mechanisms are combined together and confronted with observations.This detailed review summarises the current knowledge on the theory and observations of winds from massive stars, as well as on observations and accretion processes in wind-fed high mass X-ray binaries. The aim is to combine in the near future all available theoretical diagnostics and observational measurements to achieve a unified picture of massive star winds in isolated objects and in binary systems.     

InvesInvestigation of the Effects of Airfoil-probes on the Aerodynamic Performance of an Axial Compressor

In order to investigate the effects of the airfoil-probes on the aerodynamic performance of an axial compressor,a numerical simulation of 3D flow field is performed in a 1.5-stage axial compressor with airfoil-probes installed at the stator leading-edge(LE).The airfoil-probes have a negative influence on the compressor aerodynamic performance at all operating points.A streamwise vortex is induced by the airfoil-probe along both sides of the blade.At the mid-operating point,the vortex is notable along the pressure side and is relatively small along the suction side(SS).At the near-stall point,the vortex is slightly suppressed in the pressure surface(PS),but becomes remarkable in the suction side.A small local-separation is induced by the interactions between the vortex and the end-wall boundary layer in the corner region near the hub.That the positive pitch angle of the airfoil-probe at 6.5% span is about 15° plays an important role in the vortex evolution near the hub,which causes the fact that the airfoil-probe near the hub has the largest effects among the four airfoil-probes.In order to get a further understanding of the vortex evolution in the stator in the numerical simulation,a flow visualization experiment in a water tunnel is performed.The flow visualization results give a deep insight into the evolution of the vortex induced by the airfoil-probe.     

Effect of Stitching on Plain and Open-hole Strength of CFRP Laminates

 Experimental and analytical investigation is conducted to explore the effects of stitching on plain (without hole) and open-hole compressive and tensile strength of uniweave T300/QY9512 laminates under different environmental conditions (20 篊/dry and wet, 150 篊/dry and wet). Strength performance of stitched composite laminates is also studied using finite element analysis (FEA) model and compared with the experimental results to validate the model. It is found that under similar environmental conditions, the open-hole compressive strength of stitched laminate is decreased and open-hole tensile strength increased as compared to the unstitched laminates. Predicted tensile and compressive strengths are found to be in a good agreement with the test results and the relative error in all cases is less than 15%.     

Three-dimensional analysis of relationship between relative orientation and motion modes

Target motion modes have a close relationship with the relative orientation of missile-totarget in three-dimensional highly maneuvering target interception. From the perspective of relationship between the sensor coordinate system and the target body coordinate system, a basic model of sensor is stated and the definition of relative angular velocity between the two coordinate systems is introduced firstly. Then, the three-dimensional analytic expressions of relative angular velocity for different motion modes are derived and simplified by analyzing the influences of target centroid motion, rotation around centroid and relative motion. Finally, the relationships of the relative angular velocity directions and values with motion modes are discussed. Simulation results validate the rationality of the theoretical analysis. It is demonstrated that there are significant differences of the relative orientation in different motion modes which include luxuriant information about motion modes. The conclusions are significant for the research of motion mode identification,maneuver detection, maneuvering target tracking and interception using target signatures.     

Prediction of Group Delay Distribution Around Receiving Point Using Modified IRI Model and IGRF Model

The international reference ionosphere (IRI) model is generally accepted standard ionosphere model. It describes the ionosphere environment in quiet state and predicts the ionosphere parameters within a certain precision. In this paper, we have made a breakthrough in the application of the IRI model by modifying the model for regions of China. The main objectives of this modification are to construct the ionosphere parameters foF2 and M (3000) F2 by using the Chinese reference ionosphere (CRI) coefficients, appropriately increase hmE and hmF2 height, reduce the thickness of F layer, validate the parameter by the measured values, and solve the electron concentration distribution with quasi-parabolic segment (QPS). In this paper, 3D ray tracing algorithm is constructed based on the modified IRI model and international geomagnetic reference field (IGRF) model. In short-wave propagation, it can be used to predict the electromagnetic parameters of the receiving point, such as the receiving area, maximum useable frequency (MUF) and the distribution of the group delay etc., which can help to determine the suitability of the communication. As an example, we estimate the group delay distributions around Changchun in the detection from Qingdao to Changchun using the modified IRI model and IGRF model, and provide technical support for the short-wave communication between the two cities.