The impact crater as a habitat: effects of impact processing of target materials

Impact structures are a rare habitat on Earth. However, where they do occur they can potentially have an important influence on the local ecology. Some of the types of habitat created in the immediate post-impact environment are not specific to the impact phenomenon, such as hydrothermal systems and crater lakes that can be found, for instance, in post-volcanic environments, albeit with different thermal characteristics than those associated with impact. However, some of the habitats created are specifically linked to processes of impact processing. Two examples of how impact processing of target materials has created novel habitats that improve the opportunities for colonization are found in the Haughton impact structure in the Canadian High Arctic. Impact-shocked rocks have become a habitat for endolithic microorganisms, and large, impact-shattered blocks of rock are used as resting sites by avifauna. However, some materials produced by an impact, such as melt sheet rocks, can make craters more biologically depauperate than the area surrounding them. Although there are no recent craters with which to study immediate post-impact colonization, these data yield insights into generalized mechanisms of how impact processing can influence post-impact succession. Because impact events are one of a number of processes that can bring localized destruction to ecosystems, understanding the manner in which impact structures are recolonized is of ecological interest. Impact craters are a universal phenomenon on solid planetary surfaces, and so they are of potential biological relevance on other planetary surfaces, particularly Mars.     

New microgravity fundamental physics research areas in the ISS era

NASA's microgravity fundamental physics program has used the Space Shuttle to perform high resolutions experiments in space. As we come to the end of the Shuttle era, we will begin to perform research aboard the ISS. A large stable of ground based experiments have been selected from NASA Research Announcements in a variety of disciplines. These investigations will form the backbone from which to select future flight candidates. Research in Laser Cooling and Atomic Physics will enable us to operate highly precise clocks in space. Low temperature physics experiments will use a liquid helium facility with a six-month lifetime. This facility can also support experiments in gravitational physics. Researchers in biological physics will be offered an opportunity to develop future experiments that can benefit from space experimentation. An overview of the future research directions and the benefits to the community of performing research aboard the ISS will be presented.     

East–West Station-Keeping maneuver strategy for COMS satellite using iterative process

The first Korean multi-mission geostationary satellite, Communication, Ocean, and Meteorological Satellite (COMS) will be launched in 2010. The missions of this satellite will be Ka-band communications, ocean color monitoring, and meteorological imaging. The satellite was designed with only one solar array on the south panel. This novel configuration will keep imaging instruments on the north side from heating up. Asymmetry of the spacecraft configuration requires twice-a-day thruster-based Wheel Off-Loading (WOL) operations to keep the satellite attitude for imaging and communication. Thruster firings during the WOL operations cause the satellite orbit to change two times a day. Weekly East–West Station-Keeping (EWSK) and North–South Station-Keeping (NSSK) maneuver operations are planned for the COMS satellite in order to maintain the satellite in ±0.05° box at 128.2°E longitude.     

Impedance Calculations for Elements of Sonar Arrays by Neural-Network-Based Integration

In this paper, a technique of neural network based integration is proposed to calculate the self-and mutual-impedances within arrays of sonar transducers. The multi-dimensional integrals appearing in self-and mutual-impedance formulations are transformed into neural-network-based integration and the final results can be found from look-up tables in mathematical handbooks. Initially, the integrand is modeled by a trained neural network. Integration on the integrand then becomes integration on the linear combination of weights and basis functions within the neural network. The results will become the linear combination of error functions which can be looked up in mathematical handbooks. Numerical simulation shows that the results calculated by the proposed method are consistent with those given in other existing studies. The proposed technique requires neither numerical nor artificial integration procedure. Due to the inherent learning and predicting property of neural network, only a small number of sampling points for the integrand are required in the proposed integration technique.     

Reverse-Bias Second Breakdown of High-Power Darlington Transistors

The reverse-bias second breakdown (RBSB) characteristics of high power Darlington transistors are discussed. The Darlingtons investigated are rated at 400 V maximum voltage and 100 A maximum current. Devices with and without speed-up diodes (connected between the bases of the input and output transistors) were studied. A nondestructive system for characterizing the RBSB behavior of these devices is described. The RBSB behavior was found to vary unpredictably with varying reverse base current magnitude. It was also found that the RBSB behavior of the Darlingtons was a function of the forward base current magnitude. This is in marked contrast to what has been found for discrete devices. The presence of a speed-up diode also influenced the RBSB behavior of these devices.     

Late cataractogenesis in primates and lagomorphs after exposure to particulate radiations.

Rhesus monkeys that were exposed in 1969, at the age of approximately 2 years, to low doses of "mixed-energy" protons (10- and 110-MeV) are exhibiting progressive (degenerative) lenticular changes. We have conducted regular examinations of this group of monkeys for cataractogenic development since 1987, i.e., 18 years after irradiation, and the animals began to show enhanced degrees of lenticular opacification two years later. The lenses of age-matched controls (median lifespan in captivity approximately 24 years) continue to exhibit much lower levels of opacification (senile cataracts). Trends in the new data are consistent with the cataractogenic patterns observed for other groups of monkeys that were exposed at similar ages in 1964 and 1965 to protons of different energies, and which we began to monitor only 20-21 years later. Therefore, the new information from the mixed-energy group of monkeys provides insight into the development of late cataractogenic sequelae in the other groups of animals during the 2-3 years before we began to measure them. Comparisons are also made here among recent results from the different groups of primates and from New Zealand white (NZW) rabbits that were exposed when young to 56Fe ions and monitored continuously thereafter. This is done because analogous expression of radiation-induced degenerative cataractogenesis also occurs late in the lifespan of the lagomorphs (control median lifespan in captivity approximately 5-7 years), but in this case the cataractogenic profile has been documented through most of the post-irradiation lifespan.     

Observational Constraints on Transport (and Mixing) in Pre-Main Sequence Disks

Currently available observational constraints on transport mechanisms in pre-main sequence disks are reviewed. The main observable quantity accessable by imaging the spatial structure of disks is the mass accretion rate, which constrains angular momentum transport, and migration and diffusion of disk material. This revised version was published online in June 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.