Development of a thin section device for space exploration: Rock cutting mechanism

We have developed a rock cutting mechanism for in situ planetary exploration based on abrasive diamond impregnated wire. Performance characteristics of the rock cutter, including cutting rate on several rock types, cutting surface lifetime, and cut rock surface finish are presented. The rock cutter was developed as part of a broader effort to develop an in situ automated rock thin section (IS-ARTS) instrument. The objective of IS-ARTS was to develop an instrument capable of producing petrographic rock thin sections on a planetary science spacecraft. The rock cutting mechanism may also be useful to other planetary science missions with in situ instruments in which sub-sampling and rock surface preparation are necessary.     

Mid-Continent LORAN-C Expansion

The Coast Guard is extending the Continental United States (CONUS) LORAN-C coverage as part of the Federal Aviation Administration project to incorporate LORAN-C into the National Airspace System. The increased coverage will expand the number of airports approved for LORAN-C non-precision instrument approaches and enable direct Instrumental Flight Rules (IFR) routing by suitably equipped aircraft in and through the mid-continent region of the United States. The project will involve construction of a new LORAN-C chain which will be linked to the existing CONUS chains. In addition to the aviation benefits, the Mid-Continent LORAN-C Expansion will broaden the availability of LORAN-C positioning to a growing number of terrestrial users such as resource management, emergency response and fleet management.     

Morphological biosignatures and the search for life on Mars

This report provides a rationale for the advances in instrumentation and understanding needed to assess claims of ancient and extraterrestrial life made on the basis of morphological biosignatures. Morphological biosignatures consist of bona fide microbial fossils as well as microbially influenced sedimentary structures. To be recognized as evidence of life, microbial fossils must contain chemical and structural attributes uniquely indicative of microbial cells or cellular or extracellular processes. When combined with various research strategies, high-resolution instruments can reveal such attributes and elucidate how morphological fossils form and become altered, thereby improving the ability to recognize them in the geological record on Earth or other planets. Also, before fossilized microbially influenced sedimentary structures can provide evidence of life, criteria to distinguish their biogenic from non-biogenic attributes must be established. This topic can be advanced by developing process-based models. A database of images and spectroscopic data that distinguish the suite of bona fide morphological biosignatures from their abiotic mimics will avoid detection of false-positives for life. The use of high-resolution imaging and spectroscopic instruments, in conjunction with an improved knowledge base of the attributes that demonstrate life, will maximize our ability to recognize and assess the biogenicity of extraterrestrial and ancient terrestrial life.     

The NASA Astrobiology Roadmap

The NASA Astrobiology Roadmap provides guidance for research and technology development across the NASA enterprises that encompass the space, Earth, and biological sciences. The ongoing development of astrobiology roadmaps embodies the contributions of diverse scientists and technologists from government, universities, and private institutions. The Roadmap addresses three basic questions: How does life begin and evolve, does life exist elsewhere in the universe, and what is the future of life on Earth and beyond? Seven Science Goals outline the following key domains of investigation: understanding the nature and distribution of habitable environments in the universe, exploring for habitable environments and life in our own solar system, understanding the emergence of life, determining how early life on Earth interacted and evolved with its changing environment, understanding the evolutionary mechanisms and environmental limits of life, determining the principles that will shape life in the future, and recognizing signatures of life on other worlds and on early Earth. For each of these goals, Science Objectives outline more specific high-priority efforts for the next 3-5 years. These 18 objectives are being integrated with NASA strategic planning.     

Gamma-ray Lines From cr Source Regions

Gamma-ray lines arise from radioactivities produced in nucleosynthesis sites, and from deexcitation of nuclei which have been activated through energetic particle collisions. Since the bulk of nucleosynthesis activity relates to activities inside massive stars, both these processes are related to the likely sources of cosmic rays: Supernova remnants show radioactivity afterglows at time scales which bracket their likely phases of relevance as CR acceleration sites; ²⁶Al radioactivity may trace regions of intense wind interactions from groups of massive stars, and also encode information about the possible injection of matter into CR acceleration environments through interstellar dust grains. The status of -ray line measurements after the Compton Observatory mission is presented, with models and interpretations of current results, and the prospects of upcoming measurements.     

Photochemistry of planetary ionospheres

The basic photochemical processes in the upper atmospheres and ionospheres of the various bodies in our solar system (planets, moons and comets) are similar. However, there are many different factors (e.g. gas composition, energy input, gravity) which control/change the relative importance of these controlling processes. The photo-chemistry of the inner planets is reasonably well understood at this time, thus there is good agreement between model calculations and most of the observational data base. The extremely limited information that we have available on the ionospheres of the outer planets leads to significant uncertainties about some of the controlling processes. Some important questions (e.g. Is the charge exchange process H⁺ + H₂(v≥4) → H₂⁺ + H important? Is water vapor influx from the rings important?) remain unanswered at this time. In cometary atmospheres the freshly evaporated parent molecules are rapidly photodissociated and photoionized, therefore most of the chemical kinetics of cometary ionospheres involve these rapidly moving and highly reactive ions and radicals.     

Balloon-borne,high-altitude gravimetry

Gravity measurements from a high-altitude balloon can verify global and upward-continued gravity models. A gravimeter suspended beneath a balloon is in a dynamic, and largely unpredictable, environment sensing accelerations due to gravity and balloon motions. Independent measurements of balloon motions using inertial navigation data combined with ground tracking data will allow for separation of balloon-induced accelerations from gravitational accelerations. Analysis of these data must estimate: 1) vertical gravimeter accelerations due to motion and gravity, 2) horizontal velocity to estimate the Eötvös effect, and 3) gravimeter position for comparison with gravity models. The first engineering test flight occurred on 11 October 1983, during the seasonal wind reversal and was very successful. Flight duration was approximately seven hours, with two hours of data collected at each of 30 km and 26 km altitudes. The results include gravity estimates, design criteria for future flights and feasibility analysis for vertical gravity profiles during ascent and descent.     

Towards a new paradigm: from a quasi-steady description to a dynamical description of the magnetosphere

A great deal of the research done on the dynamical process of the solar wind- magnetosphere interaction is based on large-scale, quasi-steady theoretical models, such as the classical reconnection model. However, it can be argued that the theoretical and observational foundations of these commonly believed paradigms are not always strong, and support for these models is sometimes weak, controversial or inconsistent. This paper discusses the need for a transition from an oversimplified quasi-steady paradigm towards a more realistic one including the dynamics of MHD waves and wave packets. The effects of localized wave packets may be most important in active plasma regions, where ideal MHD breaks down and localized, time-dependent processes become dominant. New insights into the theories of field-aligned current generation, auroral particle acceleration and the concept of reconnection may be found by including MHD wave propagation and wave packet dynamics.     

Contents of Volume 1

Volume Contents

Contents of Volume 1