Hydrothermal systems in small ocean planets

We examine means for driving hydrothermal activity in extraterrestrial oceans on planets and satellites of less than one Earth mass, with implications for sustaining a low level of biological activity over geological timescales. Assuming ocean planets have olivine-dominated lithospheres, a model for cooling-induced thermal cracking shows how variation in planet size and internal thermal energy may drive variation in the dominant type of hydrothermal system-for example, high or low temperature system or chemically driven system. As radiogenic heating diminishes over time, progressive exposure of new rock continues to the current epoch. Where fluid-rock interactions propagate slowly into a deep brittle layer, thermal energy from serpentinization may be the primary cause of hydrothermal activity in small ocean planets. We show that the time-varying hydrostatic head of a tidally forced ice shell may drive hydrothermal fluid flow through the seafloor, which can generate moderate but potentially important heat through viscous interaction with the matrix of porous seafloor rock. Considering all presently known potential ocean planets-Mars, a number of icy satellites, Pluto, and other trans-neptunian objects-and applying Earth-like material properties and cooling rates, we find depths of circulation are more than an order of magnitude greater than in Earth. In Europa and Enceladus, tidal flexing may drive hydrothermal circulation and, in Europa, may generate heat on the same order as present-day radiogenic heat flux at Earth's surface. In all objects, progressive serpentinization generates heat on a globally averaged basis at a fraction of a percent of present-day radiogenic heating and hydrogen is produced at rates between 10(9) and 10(10) molecules cm(2) s(1).     

超声速液体射流的气动特性

介绍了有关脉冲超声速水射流以及柴油射流气动特性的研究结果。水射流实验是在一台垂直设置的内径为8mm的火药枪设备上进行的。用出口直径为5mm的喷嘴,产生了速度为600m／s的水射流。用纹影仪观察了射流及激波形状,从而测量了激波与前体驻点之间的离开距离。柴油射流实验是在一台水平设置的高压氮气气枪设备上进行的。     

Formation of polymer micro-agglomerations in ultralow-binder-content composite based on lunar soil simulant

We report results from an experiment on high-pressure compaction of lunar soil simulant (LSS) mixed with 2–5?wt% polymer binder. The LSS grains can be strongly held together, forming an inorganic-organic monolith (IOM) with the flexural strength around 30–40?MPa. The compaction pressure, the number of loadings, the binder content, and the compaction duration are important factors. The LSS-based IOM remains strong from ?200?°C to 130?°C, and is quite gas permeable.     

Michelson Interferometer for Global High-Resolution Thermospheric Imaging (MIGHTI): Instrument Design and Calibration

The Michelson Interferometer for Global High-resolution Thermospheric Imaging (MIGHTI) instrument was built for launch and operation on the NASA Ionospheric Connection Explorer (ICON) mission. The instrument was designed to measure thermospheric horizontal wind velocity profiles and thermospheric temperature in altitude regions between 90 km and 300 km, during day and night. For the wind measurements it uses two perpendicular fields of view pointed at the Earth’s limb, observing the Doppler shift of the atomic oxygen red and green lines at 630.0 nm and 557.7 nm wavelength. The wavelength shift is measured using field-widened, temperature compensated Doppler Asymmetric Spatial Heterodyne (DASH) spectrometers, employing low order échelle gratings operating at two different orders for the different atmospheric lines. The temperature measurement is accomplished by a multichannel photometric measurement of the spectral shape of the molecular oxygen A-band around 762 nm wavelength. For each field of view, the signals of the two oxygen lines and the A-band are detected on different regions of a single, cooled, frame transfer charge coupled device (CCD) detector. On-board calibration sources are used to periodically quantify thermal drifts, simultaneously with observing the atmosphere. The MIGHTI requirements, the resulting instrument design and the calibration are described.     

A bacterial enrichment study and overview of the extractable lipids from paleosols in the Dry Valleys, Antarctica: implications for future Mars reconnaissance

The Dry Valleys of Antarctica are one of the coldest and driest environments on Earth with paleosols in selected areas that date to the emplacement of tills by warm-based ice during the Early Miocene. Cited as an analogue to the martian surface, the ability of the Antarctic environment to support microbial life-forms is a matter of special interest, particularly with the upcoming NASA/ESA 2018 ExoMars mission. Lipid biomarkers were extracted and analyzed by gas chromatography--mass spectrometry to assess sources of organic carbon and evaluate the contribution of microbial species to the organic matter of the paleosols. Paleosol samples from the ice-free Dry Valleys were also subsampled and cultivated in a growth medium from which DNA was extracted with the explicit purpose of the positive identification of bacteria. Several species of bacteria were grown in solution and the genus identified. A similar match of the data to sequenced DNA showed that Alphaproteobacteria, Gammaproteobacteria, Bacteriodetes, and Actinobacteridae species were cultivated. The results confirm the presence of bacteria within some paleosols, but no assumptions have been made with regard to in situ activity at present. These results underscore the need not only to further investigate Dry Valley cryosols but also to develop reconnaissance strategies to determine whether such likely Earth-like environments on the Red Planet also contain life.     

From the Heart of China

Chcngdu, in the province of Sichuan , is known as the city for brocades and silk, and no doubt many of these products were loaded to camels on the long perilous journeys, destincd for the Western world via the Silk Road. The city has a very long history for being a trading, manufacturing and distribution center to all of Western China, which now has a huge population of 300 million.     

Constraints on the Structure of the Heliospheric Interface Based on Lyα Absorption Spectra

Spectroscopic observations of the hydrogen Lyα lines from nearby stars taken by the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) sometimes show absorption signatures from the heliosphere. This absorption is a unique diagnostic of material in the outermost parts of our heliosphere. We summarize how the HST data have been used to test various models of the heliosphere, particularly new 3-dimensional MHD models that have recently become available. We also focus on new detections of heliospheric absorption in very downwind directions, which can only be modeled using heliospheric model codes with extended grids in the downwind direction. We illustrate a couple attempts to reproduce this absorption using a couple of these extended tail models.     

Instrumentation for X-ray astronomy

Less than five decades ago, the first X-ray observations of the sky were made using simple devices such as film and geiger counters with crude collimators. These instruments were carried aloft by sounding rockets and made observations lasting only a few minutes at most. Today, orbiting observatories, utilizing high-resolution CCDs at the focus of arc sec optics, have lifetimes measured in years. To maintain the pace of discovery in X-ray astronomy, detectors must continue to evolve into devices of ever increasing sensitivity and sophistication. Further progress depends upon a host of technologies: grazing incidence optics, proportional counters, semiconductors, calorimeters, etc. In this article we present a brief qualitative overview of these technologies and of the principles behind them, as well as some examples of how they are employed in scientific missions for X-ray observations at energies up to 100 keV.     

Induction of vascular endothelial phenotype and cellular proliferation from human cord blood stem cells cultured in simulated microgravity

Recent studies have demonstrated that stem cells derived from adult hematopoietic tissues are capable of trans-differentiation into non-hematopoietic cells, and that the culture in microgravity (microg) may modulate the proliferation and differentiation. We investigated the application of microg to human umbilical cord blood stem cells (CBSC) in the induction of vascular endothelial phenotype expression and cellular proliferation. CD34+ mononuclear cells were isolated from waste human umbilical cord blood samples and cultured in simulated microg for 14 days. The cells were seeded in rotary wall vessels (RWV) with or without microcarrier beads (MCB) and vascular endothelial growth factor was added during culture. Controls consisted of culture in 1 G. The cell cultures in RWV were examined by inverted microscopy. Cell counts, endothelial cell and leukocyte markers performed by flow cytometry and FACS scan were assayed at days 1, 4, 7 and at the termination of the experiments. Culture in RWV revealed significantly increased cellular proliferation with three-dimensional (3D) tissue-like aggregates. At day 4, CD34+ cells cultured in RWV bioreactor without MCB developed vascular tubular assemblies and exhibited endothelial phenotypic markers. These data suggest that CD34+ human umbilical cord blood progenitors are capable of trans-differentiation into vascular endothelial cell phenotype and assemble into 3D tissue structures. Culture of CBSC in simulated microg may be potentially beneficial in the fields of stem cell biology and somatic cell therapy.