The Solar Wind Around Pluto (SWAP) Instrument Aboard New Horizons

The Solar Wind Around Pluto (SWAP) instrument on New Horizons will measure the interaction between the solar wind and ions created by atmospheric loss from Pluto. These measurements provide a characterization of the total loss rate and allow us to examine the complex plasma interactions at Pluto for the first time. Constrained to fit within minimal resources, SWAP is optimized to make plasma-ion measurements at all rotation angles as the New Horizons spacecraft scans to image Pluto and Charon during the flyby. To meet these unique requirements, we combined a cylindrically symmetric retarding potential analyzer with small deflectors, a top-hat analyzer, and a redundant/coincidence detection scheme. This configuration allows for highly sensitive measurements and a controllable energy passband at all scan angles of the spacecraft.     

Development and imperialism in space

This article analyses established models of imperialism and seeks to apply them to possible space development scenarios. Inherent in such an analysis is a critique of the predominant rationales for advanced Solar System development (permanent planetary bases, settlements and colonies). The argument that emerges suggests that no single rationale is sufficiently strong to propel humans towards Solar System expansion as yet. However, in the instance that an extraterrestrial material becomes economically valuable, Solar System development will probably proceed. Under this scenario the present politico-legal regimes which govern prospective space development (and, moreover, the philosophical inclinations of many of those involved in formulating such regimes) dictate that Solar System development will be of an imperialistic nature.     

Two centuries of study of Algol systems

The periodicity of the light variation of Algol, discovered just over 200 years ago, may be regarded as the beginning of the study of eclipsing binary systems, especially those of the Algol type. Such studies, however, gained no real momentum until Vogel, 100 years ago, demonstrated by spectroscopy that the binary hypothesis of Algol's light changes is, in its essentials, correct. Three elements were needed to give us our modern notions of evolution by mass-transfer, namely: (i) results of combined analysis of light-curves and velocity-curves, (ii) evidence of circumstellar matter within binary systems and (iii) the notion that at least one component of an Algol system was near the limit of dynamical stability. All three entered the literature within about a decade, approximately halfway through the second century of eclipsing-binary studies; but it is the computational and instrumental developments of the last 25 years that have made real progress possible. We still lack commensurate theoretical developments, and the whole question of the contribution of Algol systems to the development of the Galaxy has barely been considered.     

Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Overview: The Instrument Suite and Mission

NASA’s Lunar Precursor Robotic Program (LPRP), formulated in response to the President’s Vision for Space Exploration, will execute a series of robotic missions that will pave the way for eventual permanent human presence on the Moon. The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) is first in this series of LPRP missions, and plans to launch in October of 2008 for at least one year of operation. LRO will employ six individual instruments to produce accurate maps and high-resolution images of future landing sites, to assess potential lunar resources, and to characterize the radiation environment. LRO will also test the feasibility of one advanced technology demonstration package. The LRO payload includes: Lunar Orbiter Laser Altimeter (LOLA) which will determine the global topography of the lunar surface at high resolution, measure landing site slopes, surface roughness, and search for possible polar surface ice in shadowed regions, Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LROC) which will acquire targeted narrow angle images of the lunar surface capable of resolving meter-scale features to support landing site selection, as well as wide-angle images to characterize polar illumination conditions and to identify potential resources, Lunar Exploration Neutron Detector (LEND) which will map the flux of neutrons from the lunar surface to search for evidence of water ice, and will provide space radiation environment measurements that may be useful for future human exploration, Diviner Lunar Radiometer Experiment (DLRE) which will chart the temperature of the entire lunar surface at approximately 300 meter horizontal resolution to identify cold-traps and potential ice deposits, Lyman-Alpha Mapping Project (LAMP) which will map the entire lunar surface in the far ultraviolet. LAMP will search for surface ice and frost in the polar regions and provide images of permanently shadowed regions illuminated only by starlight. Cosmic Ray Telescope for the Effects of Radiation (CRaTER), which will investigate the effect of galactic cosmic rays on tissue-equivalent plastics as a constraint on models of biological response to background space radiation. The technology demonstration is an advanced radar (mini-RF) that will demonstrate X- and S-band radar imaging and interferometry using light weight synthetic aperture radar. This paper will give an introduction to each of these instruments and an overview of their objectives.     

An Overview of the Instrument Suite for the Deep Impact Mission

A suite of three optical instruments has been developed to observe Comet 9P/Tempel 1, the impact of a dedicated impactor spacecraft, and the resulting crater formation for the Deep Impact mission. The high-resolution instrument (HRI) consists of an f/35 telescope with 10.5 m focal length, and a combined filtered CCD camera and IR spectrometer. The medium-resolution instrument (MRI) consists of an f/17.5 telescope with a 2.1 m focal length feeding a filtered CCD camera. The HRI and MRI are mounted on an instrument platform on the flyby spacecraft, along with the spacecraft star trackers and inertial reference unit. The third instrument is a simple unfiltered CCD camera with the same telescope as MRI, mounted within the impactor spacecraft. All three instruments use a Fairchild split-frame-transfer CCD with 1,024× 1,024 active pixels. The IR spectrometer is a two-prism (CaF₂ and ZnSe) imaging spectrometer imaged on a Rockwell HAWAII-1R HgCdTe MWIR array. The CCDs and IR FPA are read out and digitized to 14 bits by a set of dedicated instrument electronics, one set per instrument. Each electronics box is controlled by a radiation-hard TSC695F microprocessor. Software running on the microprocessor executes imaging commands from a sequence engine on the spacecraft. Commands and telemetry are transmitted via a MIL-STD-1553 interface, while image data are transmitted to the spacecraft via a low-voltage differential signaling (LVDS) interface standard. The instruments are used as the science instruments and are used for the optical navigation of both spacecraft. This paper presents an overview of the instrument suite designs, functionality, calibration and operational considerations.     

自愈合机敏复合材料综述

综述了中空纤维释放黏结剂的裂纹愈合及近期开发的机敏裂纹自愈合复合材料的研究进展。对后者微胶囊促使的机敏裂纹自愈合进行了详尽的阐述。其中包括愈合剂和催化剂的结构、微胶囊的形成和外表连接催化剂、愈合剂系统原位聚合反应、纯环氧树脂基体和复合材料中的裂纹自愈合、愈合效率及愈合复合材料微观表征等方面。一个典型的双相自愈合系统是包含于微胶囊中的二聚环戊二烯（DCPD），通过埋于环氧基体中的钌络合物催化剂进行开环转位聚合反应（ROMP），形成新的聚合物来愈合裂纹。在纯环氧树脂基体中，上述自愈合系统在室温下的愈合效率可高达90％，而在碳纤维复合材料中室温下的愈合效率大致是45％，在80℃可提高到80％。降冰片烯（Norbomene）及其衍生物具有同以上系统相似的自愈合功能。三聚呋喃和四聚马来酰亚胺可在无催化剂作用下，进行热可逆的、无终止的交联聚合反应，自动愈合裂纹。同时，对以上三种自愈合剂系统及复合材料的特点进行了比较。     

Cosmic Rays in Galactic and Extragalactic Magnetic Fields

We briefly review sources of cosmic rays, their composition and spectra as well as their propagation in the galactic and extragalactic magnetic fields, both regular and fluctuating. A special attention is paid to the recent results of the X-ray and gamma-ray observations that shed light on the origin of the galactic cosmic rays and the challenging results of Pierre Auger Observatory on the ultra high energy cosmic rays. The perspectives of both high energy astrophysics and cosmic-ray astronomy to identify the sources of ultra high energy cosmic rays, the mechanisms of particle acceleration, to measure the intergalactic radiation fields and to reveal the structure of magnetic fields of very different scales are outlined.     

Starter/generator employing resonant-converter-fed induction machine. I. Analysis

A new procedure to start a jet engine (JE) and to generate power by means of a single induction machine (IM) directly coupled to the turbine is presented. The JE is brought to an initial speed by the motoring operation of the IM. Later, the IM is taken into generating mode and the turbine is applied to its excitation. The turbine catches up and starts to drive the induction generator (IG). The generated power is converted to a three-phase, 400 Hz voltage-regulated bus via a double stage power conversion utilizing a 20 kHz parallel resonant high frequency AC link and pulse density modulated converter technology. Independent of the engine speed, a constant amplitude and constant frequency three-phase voltage-regulated AC bus is formed and maintained by the proper control of the power converters. The feasibility of operation of such a system has been demonstrated in software where the JE turbine is modeled and replaced by a DC machine. An introduction, background, operation principles of the overall system, and the related software simulations are presented and discussed.     

A Sequential Detector

The PRSD detector improves radar performance by controlling the distribution of energy in space, thus making a radar adaptive to its environment. An increase in performance over classical detectors may be realized in any of several ways: 1) greater maximum range; 2) smaller minimum detectable targets; 3) higher data rates; 4) lower average transmitted power, which allows smaller size and weight of equipment. The model of the PRSD detector described herein was tested with a semi-agile beam radar, and gave measured field performance improvement (for this particular radar) equivalent to an S/N increase ranging from 5 to 22 dB with a mean of 9.5 dB. This increase is greater than the 5-dB improvement predicted for the system in a white noise environment because many of the field tests were at locations subjected to heavy interference. The PRSD detector was extremely effective reducing the interference. In this paper, we will briefly review the theory of operation, describe the equipment and the method of test, and present experimental data. The data presented here are essential to a complete understanding of sequential detection since a rigorous theory encompassing multiple range bin radar has not been developed at this time. Finally, an extensive bibliography is appended.