Experimental and numerical analysis of non-symmetric breakage of liquid columns in an axial gravitational field rotating around an eccentric axis

An experiment in microgravity conditions aboard the TEXUS-23 mission was performed to obtain the deformation up to breakage of a cylindrical liquid column in isorotation around an eccentric axis. In previous work, breakage rotation speed was predicted by a numerical method. This method was validated by comparison with analytical and experimental results. The non-symmetric breakage of the liquid column observed in the experiment, however, was not explained by the combined effect of rotation and eccentricity.     

Role of Thermal Stresses in Degradation of High Power Laser Diodes

Catastrophic degradation of high power laser diodes is due to the generation of extended defects inside the active parts of the laser structure during the laser operation. The mechanism driving the degradation is strongly re- lated to the existence of localized thermal stresses generated during the laser operation. These thermal stresses can overcome the yield strength of the materials forming the active part of the laser diode. Different factors contribute to reduce the laser power threshold for degradation. Among them the thermal transport across the laser structure constitutes a critical issue for the reliability of the device.     

ICMEs at High Latitudes and in the Outer Heliosphere

Interplanetary coronal mass ejections (ICMEs) propagate into the outer heliosphere, where they can have a significant effect on the structure, evolution, and morphology of the solar wind, particularly during times of high solar activity. They are known to play an important role in cosmic ray modulation and the acceleration of energetic particles. ICMEs are also believed to be associated with the large global transient events that swept through the heliosphere during the declining phases of solar cycles 21 and 22. But until recently, little was known about the actual behavior of ICMEs at large heliographic latitudes and large distances from the Sun. Over the past decade, the Ulysses spacecraft has provided in situ observations of ICMEs at moderate heliographic distances over a broad range of heliographic latitudes. More recently, observations of alpha particle enhancements, proton temperature depressions, and magnetic clouds at the Voyager and Pioneer spacecraft have begun to provide comparable information regarding the behavior of ICMEs at extremely large heliocentric distances. At the same time, advances in modeling have provided new insights into the dynamics and evolution of ICMEs and their effects on cosmic rays and energetic particles.     

Overview of the effects of neutral gas releases on high-voltage sounding rocket platforms

Four recent sounding rocket experiments demonstrate that the release of neutral gas from both positively and negatively charged vehicles returns the vehicle potential to near the plasma potential. Early active experiment payloads, CHARGE-2 and SPEAR-1, observed enhanced currents from/to the vehicles during unplanned attitude thruster firings. The follow-on CHARGE-2B and SPEAR-3 payloads directly measured the changes to the vehicle potential caused by both planned argon and unplanned nitrogen releases. The gas releases from positively charged CHARGE-2B consistently reduced the potential to 20–50 V, whereas the gas releases from negatively charged SPEAR-3 brought the potential to between −200 and −500 V. The difference in grounding levels for positively and negatively charged payloads suggests that the gas responsible for grounding is near the vehicle, within a small fraction of the sheath size.     

The Interstellar Boundary Explorer High Energy (IBEX-Hi) Neutral Atom Imager

The IBEX-Hi Neutral Atom Imager of the Interstellar Boundary Explorer (IBEX) mission is designed to measure energetic neutral atoms (ENAs) originating from the interaction region between the heliosphere and the local interstellar medium (LISM). These ENAs are plasma ions that have been heated in the interaction region and neutralized by charge exchange with the cold neutral atoms of the LISM that freely flow through the interaction region. IBEX-Hi is a single pixel ENA imager that covers the ENA spectral range from 0.38 to 6 keV and shares significant energy overlap and overall design philosophy with the IBEX-Lo sensor. Because of the anticipated low flux of these ENAs at 1 AU, the sensor has a large geometric factor and incorporates numerous techniques to minimize noise and backgrounds. The IBEX-Hi sensor has a field-of-view (FOV) of 6.5°×6.5° FWHM, and a 6.5°×360° swath of the sky is imaged over each spacecraft spin. IBEX-Hi utilizes an ultrathin carbon foil to ionize ENAs in order to measure their energy by subsequent electrostatic analysis. A multiple coincidence detection scheme using channel electron multiplier (CEM) detectors enables reliable detection of ENAs in the presence of substantial noise. During normal operation, the sensor steps through six energy steps every 12 spacecraft spins. Over a single IBEX orbit of about 8 days, a single 6.5°×360° swath of the sky is viewed, and re-pointing of the spin axis toward the Sun near perigee of each IBEX orbit moves the ecliptic longitude by about 8° every orbit such that a full sky map is acquired every six months. These global maps, covering the spectral range of IBEX-Hi and coupled to the IBEX-Lo maps at lower and overlapping energies, will answer fundamental questions about the structure and dynamics of the interaction region between the heliosphere and the LISM.     

The IBEX Background Monitor

The IBEX Background Monitor (IBaM) provides a small and lightweight method for independently measuring IBEX’s high-energy proton background by integrating the flux of >～14 keV protons over a ～7° conical FOV. The IBaM is part of the IBEX-Hi sensor and has a co-aligned look direction. This paper describes the principle of the IBaM and details its design and responses. In particular, we show the response of major components to both ions and ultraviolet (UV) light background. We also provide the geometric factor and calculate expected count rates.     

Atmospheric Science with InSight

In November 2018, for the first time a dedicated geophysical station, the InSight lander, will be deployed on the surface of Mars. Along with the two main geophysical packages, the Seismic Experiment for Interior Structure (SEIS) and the Heat-Flow and Physical Properties Package (HP³), the InSight lander holds a highly sensitive pressure sensor (PS) and the Temperature and Winds for InSight (TWINS) instrument, both of which (along with the InSight FluxGate (IFG) Magnetometer) form the Auxiliary Sensor Payload Suite (APSS). Associated with the RADiometer (RAD) instrument which will measure the surface brightness temperature, and the Instrument Deployment Camera (IDC) which will be used to quantify atmospheric opacity, this will make InSight capable to act as a meteorological station at the surface of Mars. While probing the internal structure of Mars is the primary scientific goal of the mission, atmospheric science remains a key science objective for InSight. InSight has the potential to provide a more continuous and higher-frequency record of pressure, air temperature and winds at the surface of Mars than previous in situ missions. In the paper, key results from multiscale meteorological modeling, from Global Climate Models to Large-Eddy Simulations, are described as a reference for future studies based on the InSight measurements during operations. We summarize the capabilities of InSight for atmospheric observations, from profiling during Entry, Descent and Landing to surface measurements (pressure, temperature, winds, angular momentum), and the plans for how InSight’s sensors will be used during operations, as well as possible synergies with orbital observations. In a dedicated section, we describe the seismic impact of atmospheric phenomena (from the point of view of both “noise” to be decorrelated from the seismic signal and “signal” to provide information on atmospheric processes). We discuss in this framework Planetary Boundary Layer turbulence, with a focus on convective vortices and dust devils, gravity waves (with idealized modeling), and large-scale circulations. Our paper also presents possible new, exploratory, studies with the InSight instrumentation: surface layer scaling and exploration of the Monin-Obukhov model, aeolian surface changes and saltation / lifing studies, and monitoring of secular pressure changes. The InSight mission will be instrumental in broadening the knowledge of the Martian atmosphere, with a unique set of measurements from the surface of Mars.     

A Composition Analysis Tool for the Solar Wind Around Pluto (SWAP) Instrument on New Horizons

We describe the response of the Solar Wind Around Pluto (SWAP) instrument (McComas et al. in Space Sci. Rev. 140:261, 2008) to 1–40 amu ions in order to assess whether it can be used to determine plasma composition. Our goal is to enhance the scientific return on the SWAP plasma measurements obtained during the New Horizons traversal down Jupiter’s magnetotail in 2007. We present calibration data for the SWAP flight instrument and another largely flight-like SWAP sensor, dubbed “SWAP-II”. SWAP’s mass-dependent response was characterized by analyzing the count ratios from its two channel electron multipliers (CEMs). We observe significant differences in the instrument response between light (mass ≤ He) and heavy (mass > He) ions, especially for energies below ～4 keV. We attribute these differences to the mass-dependent electron emission yield from SWAP’s ultra-thin (～1 μg/cm²) carbon foil. Using these results, we develop a plasma composition analysis technique to statistically distinguish between light and heavy plasma ions measured by the instrument.     

The formation of sulfate and elemental sulfur aerosols under varying laboratory conditions: implications for early earth

The presence of sulfur mass-independent fractionation (S-MIF) in sediments more than 2.45?×?10(9) years old is thought to be evidence for an early anoxic atmosphere. Photolysis of sulfur dioxide (SO(2)) by UV light with λ?相似文献   

Surface movement radar data processing methods for airportsurveillance

An airport surveillance function operating on surface movement radar (SMR) images is proposed and evaluated. The main contributions presented are the statistical error models of the target centroid and attributes extracted from radar images, developed and applied to the design of its main data processing blocks. Besides a multihypothesis image-to-tracks assignment method, a tracking filter using the extracted orientation and a classification scheme based on target attributes is detailed. The error models confidence and processing methods performance are demonstrated through simulation in representative scenarios