A preliminary survey of non-lichenized fungi cultured from the hyperarid Atacama Desert of Chile

The Atacama Desert is one of the driest environments on Earth, and has been so for over 200,000 years. Previous reports have suggested that surprisingly low numbers of culturable bacteria, counted as biomass or species diversity, are present in Atacama sands collected from the most hyperarid regions. In previous studies, the presence of eukaryotic organisms was not discussed. In this report, we describe a method of direct plating onto rich media that resulted in culturing a range of fungi from Atacama samples. All fungi identified in this preliminary survey are spore-forming saprobes that are readily dispersed by wind, a likely mechanism that accounts for their presence in the central Atacama Desert.     

Dynamic behavior of wing leading edge assembly with thermal protection coating

The paper presents an approximate solution of a problem on dynamic behavior of a wing leading edge assembly discretely reinforced by a system of ribs and coated with thermal protection coating.     

Analysis of satellite systems for the periodic survey of the Earth

Satellite systems for the periodic survey of a given range of the Earth’s latitudes have been analyzed. As a rule, the efficiency of the satellite systems is estimated based on the maximum interruption, i.e., the maximum time interval that appears when surveying. However, this performance cannot serve as a full criterion for the quality of the survey, since it does not reflect all survey interruptions with their frequencies. To adequately analyze the operation of the satellite system, it is necessary to use the frequency distribution function of the survey interruptions; its determination is a complex problem and has not yet been solved in the general case. In this paper, we propose a method for calculating the set of all interruptions and frequencies suitable for any multisatellite systems with an arbitrary structure. The method is based on the vector model of the Earth’s survey. To estimate the efficiency of the satellite system operation, a complex criterion has been recommended that takes into account all survey interruptions and their frequencies. Two examples of the application of the developed method have been presented.     

Mercury Dust Monitor (MDM) Onboard the Mio Orbiter of the BepiColombo Mission

Space Science Reviews - In this chapter, we review the contribution of space missions to the determination of the elemental and isotopic composition of Earth, Moon and the terrestrial planets, with...     

Satellite Measurements of Plasma Disturbances and Electric Currents Induced in the Midlatitude Ionosphere Modified by High-Power HF Radio Waves

Cosmic Research - We have analyzed the experimental data obtained in 2016–2019 from the measurements of plasma disturbances and electric currents induced at ionospheric altitudes upon the...     

Cometary Dust

This review presents our understanding of cometary dust at the end of 2017. For decades, insight about the dust ejected by nuclei of comets had stemmed from remote observations from Earth or Earth’s orbit, and from flybys, including the samples of dust returned to Earth for laboratory studies by the Stardust return capsule. The long-duration Rosetta mission has recently provided a huge and unique amount of data, obtained using numerous instruments, including innovative dust instruments, over a wide range of distances from the Sun and from the nucleus. The diverse approaches available to study dust in comets, together with the related theoretical and experimental studies, provide evidence of the composition and physical properties of dust particles, e.g., the presence of a large fraction of carbon in macromolecules, and of aggregates on a wide range of scales. The results have opened vivid discussions on the variety of dust-release processes and on the diversity of dust properties in comets, as well as on the formation of cometary dust, and on its presence in the near-Earth interplanetary medium. These discussions stress the significance of future explorations as a way to decipher the formation and evolution of our Solar System.     

Origin of Molecular Oxygen in Comets: Current Knowledge and Perspectives

The Rosetta Orbiter Spectrometer for Ion and Neutral Analysis (ROSINA) instrument onboard the Rosetta spacecraft has measured molecular oxygen (O₂) in the coma of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko (67P/C-G) in surprisingly high abundances. These measurements mark the first unequivocal detection of O₂ in a cometary environment. The large relative abundance of O₂ in 67P/C-G despite its high reactivity and low interstellar abundance poses a puzzle for its origin in comet 67P/C-G, and potentially other comets. Since its detection, there have been a number of hypotheses put forward to explain the production and origin of O₂ in the comet. These hypotheses cover a wide range of possibilities from various in situ production mechanisms to protosolar nebula and primordial origins. Here, we review the O₂ formation mechanisms from the literature, and provide a comprehensive summary of the current state of knowledge of the sources and origin of cometary O₂.     

3D Investigations of the High Pressure Turbine Vane Platform Convection Cooling and Convection-Film Cooling

3D ANSYS CFX conjugate calculation was carried out to compare cooling effectiveness of the high pressure turbine vane platforms with the film cooling and the convection-film cooling.     

Venus Interior Structure and Dynamics

No two rocky bodies offer a better laboratory for exploring the conditions controlling interior dynamics than Venus and Earth. Their similarities in size, density, distance from the sun, and young surfaces would suggest comparable interior dynamics. Although the two planets exhibit some of the same processes, Venus lacks Earth’s dominant process for losing heat and cycling volatiles between the interior and the surface and atmosphere: plate tectonics. One commonality is the size and number of mantle plume features which are inferred to be active today and arise at the core mantle boundary. Such mantle plumes require heat loss from the core, yet Venus lacks a measurable interior dynamo. There is evidence for plume-induced subduction on Venus, but no apparent mosaic of moving plates. Absent plate tectonics, one essential question for interior dynamics is how did Venus obtain its young resurfacing age? Via catastrophic or equilibrium processes? Related questions are how does it lose heat via past periods of plate tectonics, has it always had a stagnant lid, or might it have an entirely different mode of heat loss? Although there has been no mission dedicated to surface and interior processes since the Magellan mission in 1990, near infrared surface emissivity data that provides information on the iron content of the surface mineralogy was obtained fortuitously from Venus Express. These data imply both the presence of continental-like crust, and thus formation in the presence of water, and recent volcanism at mantle hotspots. In addition, the study of interior dynamics for both Earth and exoplanets has led to new insights on the conditions required to initiate subduction and develop plate tectonics, including the possible role of high temperature lithosphere, and a renewed drive to reveal why Venus and Earth differ. Here we review current data that constrains the interior dynamics of Venus, new insights into its interior dynamics, and the data needed to resolve key questions.