The Genesis mission returned samples of solar wind to Earth in September 2004 for ground-based analyses of solar-wind composition,
particularly for isotope ratios. Substrates, consisting mostly of high-purity semiconductor materials, were exposed to the
solar wind at L1 from December 2001 to April 2004. In addition to a bulk sample of the solar wind, separate samples of coronal
hole (CH), interstream (IS), and coronal mass ejection material were obtained. Although many substrates were broken upon landing
due to the failure to deploy the parachute, a number of results have been obtained, and most of the primary science objectives
will likely be met. These objectives include He, Ne, Ar, Kr, and Xe isotope ratios in the bulk solar wind and in different
solar-wind regimes, and 15N/14N and 18O/17O/16O to high precision. The greatest successes to date have been with the noble gases. Light noble gases from bulk solar wind
and separate solar-wind regime samples have now been analyzed. Helium results show clear evidence of isotopic fractionation
between CH and IS samples, consistent with simplistic Coulomb drag theory predictions of fractionation between the photosphere
and different solar-wind regimes, though fractionation by wave heating is also a possible explanation. Neon results from closed
system stepped etching of bulk metallic glass have revealed the nature of isotopic fractionation as a function of depth, which
in lunar samples have for years deceptively suggested the presence of an additional, energetic component in solar wind trapped
in lunar grains and meteorites. Isotope ratios of the heavy noble gases, nitrogen, and oxygen are in the process of being
measured. 相似文献
Mercury is a very difficult planet to observe from the Earth, and space missions that target Mercury are essential for a comprehensive
understanding of the planet. At the same time, it is also difficult to orbit because it is deep inside the Sun’s gravitational
well. Only one mission has visited Mercury; that was Mariner 10 in the 1970s. This paper provides a brief history of Mariner
10 and the numerous imaginative but unsuccessful mission proposals since the 1970s for another Mercury mission. In the late
1990s, two missions—MESSENGER and BepiColombo—received the go-ahead; MESSENGER is on its way to its first encounter with Mercury
in January 2008. The history, scientific objectives, mission designs, and payloads of both these missions are described in
detail. 相似文献
CMEs have been observed for over 30 years with a wide variety of instruments. It is now possible to derive detailed and quantitative information on CME morphology, velocity, acceleration and mass. Flares associated with CMEs are observed in X-rays, and several different radio signatures are also seen. Optical and UV spectra of CMEs both on the disk and at the limb provide velocities along the line of sight and diagnostics for temperature, density and composition. From the vast quantity of data we attempt to synthesize the current state of knowledge of the properties of CMEs, along with some specific observed characteristics that illuminate the physical processes occurring during CME eruption. These include the common three-part structures of CMEs, which is generally attributed to compressed material at the leading edge, a low-density magnetic bubble and dense prominence gas. Signatures of shock waves are seen, but the location of these shocks relative to the other structures and the occurrence rate at the heights where Solar Energetic Particles are produced remains controversial. The relationships among CMEs, Moreton waves, EIT waves, and EUV dimming are also cloudy. The close connection between CMEs and flares suggests that magnetic reconnection plays an important role in CME eruption and evolution. We discuss the evidence for reconnection in current sheets from white-light, X-ray, radio and UV observations. Finally, we summarize the requirements for future instrumentation that might answer the outstanding questions and the opportunities that new space-based and ground-based observatories will provide in the future. 相似文献
Space Science Reviews - We review the general theoretical concepts and observational constraints on the distribution and evolution of water vapor and ice in protoplanetary disks, with a focus on... 相似文献
In May of 2011, NASA selected the Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, and Security–Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx) asteroid sample return mission as the third mission in the New Frontiers program. The other two New Frontiers missions are New Horizons, which explored Pluto during a flyby in July 2015 and is on its way for a flyby of Kuiper Belt object 2014 MU69 on January 1, 2019, and Juno, an orbiting mission that is studying the origin, evolution, and internal structure of Jupiter. The spacecraft departed for near-Earth asteroid (101955) Bennu aboard an United Launch Alliance Atlas V 411 evolved expendable launch vehicle at 7:05 p.m. EDT on September 8, 2016, on a seven-year journey to return samples from Bennu. The spacecraft is on an outbound-cruise trajectory that will result in a rendezvous with Bennu in November 2018. The science instruments on the spacecraft will survey Bennu to measure its physical, geological, and chemical properties, and the team will use these data to select a site on the surface to collect at least 60 g of asteroid regolith. The team will also analyze the remote-sensing data to perform a detailed study of the sample site for context, assess Bennu’s resource potential, refine estimates of its impact probability with Earth, and provide ground-truth data for the extensive astronomical data set collected on this asteroid. The spacecraft will leave Bennu in 2021 and return the sample to the Utah Test and Training Range (UTTR) on September 24, 2023.
The Solar Wind Electron Proton Alpha Monitor (SWEPAM) experiment provides the bulk solar wind observations for the Advanced
Composition Explorer (ACE). These observations provide the context for elemental and isotopic composition measurements made
on ACE as well as allowing the direct examination of numerous solar wind phenomena such as coronal mass ejections, interplanetary
shocks, and solar wind fine structure, with advanced, 3-D plasma instrumentation. They also provide an ideal data set for
both heliospheric and magnetospheric multi-spacecraft studies where they can be used in conjunction with other, simultaneous
observations from spacecraft such as Ulysses. The SWEPAM observations are made simultaneously with independent electron and
ion instruments. In order to save costs for the ACE project, we recycled the flight spares from the joint NASA/ESA Ulysses
mission. Both instruments have undergone selective refurbishment as well as modernization and modifications required to meet
the ACE mission and spacecraft accommodation requirements. Both incorporate electrostatic analyzers whose fan-shaped fields
of view sweep out all pertinent look directions as the spacecraft spins. Enhancements in the SWEPAM instruments from their
original forms as Ulysses spare instruments include (1) a factor of 16 increase in the accumulation interval (and hence sensitivity)
for high energy, halo electrons; (2) halving of the effective ion-detecting CEM spacing from ∼5° on Ulysses to ∼2.5° for ACE;
and (3) the inclusion of a 20° conical swath of enhanced sensitivity coverage in order to measure suprathermal ions outside
of the solar wind beam. New control electronics and programming provide for 64-s resolution of the full electron and ion distribution
functions and cull out a subset of these observations for continuous real-time telemetry for space weather purposes.
This revised version was published online in June 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date. 相似文献
The composition of Galactic Cosmic Ray Sources (GCRS) shows the following features: (i) an enhancement of the refractory elements
relative to the volatile ones, and (ii) an enhancement of the heavier volatile elements relative to the lighter ones; this
mass dependence should reflect a mass-to-charge (A/Q) dependence of the acceleration efficiency; among the refractory elements,
there is only a very weak enhancement of heavier species, or none at all. We consider it fortuitous that the GCRS composition
resembles that of the solar corona, which is biased according to first ionization potential. In a companion paper by Ellison
et al. (1998, this issue), this GCRS composition is interpreted in terms of a supernova shock wave acceleration of interstellar
and/or circumstellar (e.g., 22Ne-rich Wolf-Rayet wind) gas phase and especially dust grain material. These two papers summarize
and complement the content of two papers that recently appeared in Astrophys. J. (Meyer et al., 1997; Ellison et al., 1997).
This revised version was published online in June 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date. 相似文献
The Galileo Probe Mass Spectrometer measurements in the atmosphere of Jupiter give D/H = (2.6 ± 0.7) × 10-5 3He/4He = (1.66 ± 0.05) × 10-4These ratios supercede earlier results by Niemann et al. (1996) and are based on a reevaluation of the instrument response at high count rates and a more detailed study of the contributions of different species to the mass peak at 3 amu. The D/H ratio is consistent with Voyager and ground based data and recent spectroscopic and solar wind (SW) values obtained from the Infrared Spectroscopic Observatory (ISO) and Ulysses. The 3He/4He ratio is higher than that found in meteoritic gases (1.5 ± 0.3) × 10-4. The Galileo result for D/H when compared with that for hydrogen in the local interstellar medium (1.6 ± 0.12) × 10-5 implies a small decrease in D/H in this part of the universe during the past 4.55 billion years. Thus, it tends to support small values of primordial D/H - in the range of several times 10-5 rather than several times 10-4. These results are also quite consistent with no change in (D+3He)/H during the past 4.55 billion years in this part of our galaxy. 相似文献
A great deal of evidence for elemental abundance variations among different structures in the solar corona has accumulated
over the years. Many of the observations show changes in the relative abundances of high- and low-First Ionization Potential
elements, but relatively few show the absolute elemental abundances. Recent observations from the SOHO satellite give absolute
abundances in coronal streamers. Along the streamer edges, and at low heights in the streamer, they show roughly photospheric
abundances for the low-FIP elements, and a factor of 3 depletion of high-FIP elements. In the streamer core at 1.5 R·, both
high- and low-FIP elements are depleted by an additional factor of 3, which appears to result from gravitational settling.
This revised version was published online in June 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date. 相似文献
Space Science Reviews - Analysis of Homestake, Gallex and GNO measurements reveals evidence of variability of presumed solar-neutrino-flux measurements. Analysis of Super-Kamiokande neutrino... 相似文献