Plasmaspheric Density Structures and Dynamics: Properties Observed by the CLUSTER and IMAGE Missions

Plasmaspheric density structures have been studied since the discovery of the plasmasphere in the late 1950s. But the advent of the Cluster and Image missions in 2000 has added substantially to our knowledge of density structures, thanks to the new capabilities of those missions: global imaging with Image and four-point in situ measurements with Cluster. The study of plasma sources and losses has given new results on refilling rates and erosion processes. Two-dimensional density images of the plasmasphere have been obtained. The spatial gradient of plasmaspheric density has been computed. The ratios between H⁺, He⁺ and O⁺ have been deduced from different ion measurements. Plasmaspheric plumes have been studied in detail with new tools, which provide information on their morphology, dynamics and occurrence. Density structures at smaller scales have been revealed with those missions, structures that could not be clearly distinguished before the global images from Image and the four-point measurements by Cluster became available. New terms have been given to these structures, like “shoulders”, “channels”, “fingers” and “crenulations”. This paper reviews the most relevant new results about the plasmaspheric plasma obtained since the start of the Cluster and Image missions.     

CLUSTER and IMAGE: New Ways to Study the Earth’s Plasmasphere

Ground-based instruments and a number of space missions have contributed to our knowledge of the plasmasphere since its discovery half a century ago, but it is fair to say that many questions have remained unanswered. Recently, NASA’s Image and ESA’s Cluster probes have introduced new observational concepts, thereby providing a non-local view of the plasmasphere. Image carried an extreme ultraviolet imager producing global pictures of the plasmasphere. Its instrumentation also included a radio sounder for remotely sensing the spacecraft environment. The Cluster mission provides observations at four nearby points as the four-spacecraft configuration crosses the outer plasmasphere on every perigee pass, thereby giving an idea of field and plasma gradients and of electric current density. This paper starts with a historical overview of classical single-spacecraft data interpretation, discusses the non-local nature of the Image and Cluster measurements, and emphasizes the importance of the new data interpretation tools that have been developed to extract non-local information from these observations. The paper reviews these innovative techniques and highlights some of them to give an idea of the flavor of these methods. In doing so, it is shown how the non-local perspective opens new avenues for plasmaspheric research.     

Determination of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Foton M-2</Emphasis> satellite attitude motion by the data of microacceleration measurements

The results of reconstruction of uncontrolled attitude motion of the Foton M-2 satellite using measurements with the accelerometer TAS-3 are presented. The attitude motion of this satellite has been previously determined by the measurement data of the Earth’s magnetic field and the angular velocity. The TAS-3 data for this purpose are used for the first time. These data contain a well-pronounced additional component which made impossible their direct employment for the reconstruction of the attitude motion and whose origin was unknown several years ago. Later it has become known that the additional component is caused by the influence of the Earth’s magnetic field. The disclosure of this fact allowed us to take into account a necessary correction in processing of TAS-3 data and to use them for the reconstruction of the attitude motion of Foton M-2. Here, a modified method of processing TAS-3 data is described, as well as results of its testing and employing. The testing consisted in the direct comparison of the motion reconstructed by the new method with the motion constructed by the magnetic measurements. The new method allowed us to find the actual motion of Foton M-2 in the period June 9, 2005–June 14, 2005, when no magnetic measurements were carried out.     

An analysis of low-frequency component in microacceleration measurements made onboard the <Emphasis Type="Italic">Foton M-2</Emphasis> satellite

The low-frequency component is investigated in the data of measurements performed onboard the Foton M-2 satellite with the three-component accelerometer TAS-3. Investigations consisted in comparison of this component with its calculated analog found from a reconstruction of the satellite’s attitude motion. The influence of the Earth’s magnetic field on the accelerometer readings is discovered by way of spectral analysis of the functions representing the results of determining the low-frequency microacceleration by two methods. After making correction for this influence, the results obtained by these two methods coincided within a root-mean-square error of less than 10^?6 m/s².     

PAMELA observational capabilities of Jovian electrons

PAMELA is a satellite-borne experiment that has been launched on June 15th, 2006. It is designed to make long duration measurements of cosmic radiation over an extended energy range. Specifically, PAMELA is able to measure the cosmic ray antiproton and positron spectra over the largest energy range ever achieved and will search for antinuclei with unprecedented sensitivity. Furthermore, it will measure the light nuclear component of cosmic rays and investigate phenomena connected with solar and earth physics. The apparatus consists of: a time of flight system, a magnetic spectrometer, an electromagnetic imaging calorimeter, a shower tail catcher scintillator, a neutron detector and an anticoincidence system. In this work a study of the PAMELA capabilities to detect electrons is presented. The Jovian magnetosphere is a powerful accelerator of electrons up to several tens of MeV as observed at first by Pioneer 10 spacecraft (1973). The propagation of Jovian electrons to Earth is affected by modulation due to Corotating Interaction Regions (CIR). Their flux at Earth is, moreover, modulated because every 13 months Earth and Jupiter are aligned along the average direction of the Parker spiral of the Interplanetary Magnetic Field.PAMELA will be able to measure the high energy tail of the Jovian electrons in the energy range from 50 up to 130 MeV. Moreover, it will be possible to extract the Jovian component reaccelerated at the solar wind termination shock (above 130 MeV up to 2 GeV) from the galactic flux.     

一种主动悬架式火星车稳定裕度优化控制策略

针对火星车在非结构化环境下行驶存在的稳定性不足而导致倾覆的风险,提出针对一种六轮主动悬架式火星车的稳定裕度优化控制方法。首先,考虑了火星车悬架机构调整过程中车轮与接触地面滑移和侧倾等运动关系,建立和完善了六轮主动悬架式火星车行驶的运动学模型。然后,以火星车夹角调整机构角度为变量,推导火星车在非结构环境下的稳定裕度模型。之后,使用内点法求解火星车稳定裕度的最优解,并获得期望的夹角调整机构关节角度。在此基础上,对夹角调整机构的关节角度进行规划和控制,实现火星车悬架机构构型的调整,从而提高火星车在非结构化环境下行驶的稳定裕度。最后,对火星车稳定裕度优化控制策略的有效性进行仿真验证,结果表明,所提出的控制方法可有效提高火星车在非结构化环境下行驶的稳定裕度。     

航空结构动力分析系统HAJIF-Ⅱ

HAJIF-Ⅱ是中国航空研究院领导研制的航空结构动力分析系统。它可以进行结构的固有动力特性计算,以及带主动控制系统的飞机颤振计算和突风响应计算。它具有31条固定流程、2600条FORTRAN语句。允许使用99个原级子结构,每个子结构的自由度数可达7000。颤振计算和突风响应计算中,可以使用50个形态。非定常空气动力计算的分块数可达300个。在刚度矩阵和质量矩阵的管理上,采用超元矩阵方法做“宏观处理”,并用有效列方法做“微观处理”,发展了新的同时迭代算法,以提高实特征值计算的效率。设计了比较完整的形态综合法计算程序,除固定界面法和自由界面法之外,还发展了分级综合和逐步综合的新方法。非定常空气动力计算方面,引入了用曲线拟合方法把谐振荡空气动力转入拉氏平面的技术。用本系统计算了一批典型的结构,取得了良好结果。     

1-3型压电纤维主动叠层板扭转特性的研究

对4类典型铺层的1-3型压电纤维复合材料主动板的变形模式进行了理论分析。在此基础上对具有扭转变形模式的主动叠层板进行了振动特性分析,得到了该类型主动叠层板在外界电场激励下的稳态解。最后对该类主动叠层板的扭转振动特性进行了深入的研究,包括作用电场强度的大小、频率对扭转特性的影响、压电纤维铺层角和压电纤维体积比对主动叠层板扭转特性的影响等。算例表明本文计算模型和有限元得到的结果符合良好,同时算例结果表明含1-3型压电纤维复合材料主动叠层板具有良好的主动扭转特性。     

利用压电驱动器改善飞机横滚性能的试验验证

利用分布粘帖在矩形机翼上下两面的压电驱动器,探索使用该类结构提高飞行器横滚能力的可能性。通过风洞模型设计、材料性能测试、模型固有特性测试、压电柔度矩阵测试等试验项目,保证了有限元模型的计算精度,最终通过模型的风洞试验验证了利用气动弹性效应,获得了附加升力与横滚力矩的方案。该原理性试验说明利用分布式压电驱动器改善横滚性能是可行的。