The Solar Isotope Spectrometer for the Advanced Composition Explorer

The Solar Isotope Spectrometer (SIS), one of nine instruments on the Advanced Composition Explorer (ACE), is designed to provide high- resolution measurements of the isotopic composition of energetic nuclei from He to Zn (Z=2 to 30) over the energy range from ∼10 to ∼100 MeV nucl−1. During large solar events SIS will measure the isotopic abundances of solar energetic particles to determine directly the composition of the solar corona and to study particle acceleration processes. During solar quiet times SIS will measure the isotopes of low-energy cosmic rays from the Galaxy and isotopes of the anomalous cosmic-ray component, which originates in the nearby interstellar medium. SIS has two telescopes composed of silicon solid-state detectors that provide measurements of the nuclear charge, mass, and kinetic energy of incident nuclei. Within each telescope, particle trajectories are measured with a pair of two-dimensional silicon-strip detectors instrumented with custom, very large-scale integrated (VLSI) electronics to provide both position and energy-loss measurements. SIS was especially designed to achieve excellent mass resolution under the extreme, high flux conditions encountered in large solar particle events. It provides a geometry factor of ∼40 cm2 sr, significantly greater than earlier solar particle isotope spectrometers. A microprocessor controls the instrument operation, sorts events into prioritized buffers on the basis of their charge, range, angle of incidence, and quality of trajectory determination, and formats data for readout by the spacecraft. This paper describes the design and operation of SIS and the scientific objectives that the instrument will address. This revised version was published online in June 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Reliability of the Station-Keeping Activator Subsystem of a Geostationary Satellite

The reliability of the station-keeping activator subsystem of a geostationary satellite using electric thrusters is analyzed by modeling the probabilistic behavior of the system as a homogeneous Markov process. The method is applied to the particular case of a 400-kg satellite using 1.5-mN cesium contact electric thrusters. lt is shown that certain system configurations offer a mass improvement without loss of reliability.     

Report on the Geneva Space Telecommunications Conference? Broadcasting Aspects

The growth of the Intelsat Global Commercial Communications Satellite System, which provides the facilities used to exchange television programs among many countries of the world, is described. Service was initiated between North America and Western Europe in 1965. Currently, some 48 separate geographic areas throughout the world are interconnected by the Intelsat System. The unique air-transportable Earth terminal, developed by the General Electric Company, at the request of the television networks, to meet the special requirements for providing live television coverage in color of the Apollo recoveries at sea, will also be described.     

On the Measurements of D/H in QSO Absorption Systems Closing in on the primordial abundance of deuterium

We present our measurements of the deuterium to hydrogen ratio (D/H) in QSO absorption systems, which give D/H = 3.40 ± 0.25 × 10-5 based on analysis of four independent systems. We discuss the properties of two systems which provide the strongest constraints on D/H. We outline the systematic effects involved in measurements of D/H and introduce a sophisticated method of analysis which properly accounts for these effects.     

The X-ray background 2–50 kev: A superposition of known sources,or evidence of a new component?

The contribution of the canonical Quasars to the XRB 2–50 keV is not likely to exceed 50%. Nay, consideration of X-ray selection effects results in a further reduction of the value of sensible estimators for the intensity ratio L_X/L_O; in addition, recent counts of radioloud and radio-quiet Quasars definitely limit the number of faint sources. A missing component with definite spectral properties should comprise a sizeable fraction of the XRB.     

Interference Due to Limiting and Demodulation of Two Angle Modulated Signals

Two angle modulated signals (FM or PM) passing through a limiter and then a demodulator are analyzed. The analysis considers the problem of adjacent carrier interference, direct adjacent channel interference (DACI) or cross talk, and adjacent channel interference (ACI). The analysis of adjacent carrier interference shows that if the 3rd order IM is not to overlap the signal spectra, the carrier frequencies must be separated by 2B where B is the bandwidth of each carrier. The ACI analysis shows that the carrier frequencies must be separated by B+2?m for no ACI, since the demodulator reduces the bandwidth of the 3rd order IM from 3B to 2B+2?m where ?m is the maximum frequency of each baseband. The DACI analysis shows that DACI does not exist in a PM system and is -52 dB for an ideal hard limiter with no bandpass filter. But the DACI is -58 dB for an ideal hard limiter with a more realistic bandpass filter.