Mars scientific investigations as a precursor for human exploration.

In the past two years, NASA has begun to develop and implement plans for investigations on robotic Mars missions which are focused toward returning data critical for planning human missions to Mars. The Mars Surveyor Program 2001 Orbiter and Lander missions will mark the first time that experiments dedicated to preparation for human exploration will be carried out. Investigations on these missions and future missions range from characterization of the physical and chemical environment of Mars, to predicting the response of biology to the Mars environment. Planning for such missions must take into account existing data from previous Mars missions which were not necessarily focused on human exploration preparation. At the same time, plans for near term missions by the international community must be considered to avoid duplication of effort. This paper reviews data requirements for human exploration and applicability of existing data. It will also describe current plans for investigations and place them within the context of related international activities.     

An Improved Algorithm for Adaptive Processing

The Widrow-Hoff least mean square (LMS) algorithm based on the method of steepest descent is conditionally stable. A modified algorithm is given which is unconditionally stable, capable of better performance when used in adaptive filter processing, and provides a more realistic means for simulating the Applebaum-Howells adaptive loop.     

Gender differences in leader and follower perceptions of social support in Antarctica

The purpose of this study was to methodologically explore the links among social support, gender, age, prior experience, leader/follower status, and leadership effectiveness noted in previous accounts from Antarctic stations. Data for this study were collected from volunteers involved in Australian National Antarctic Research Expeditions conducted from 1996 to 2001. Multilevel analysis revealed that most of the variance in perceptions of social support was at the individual level (71%). Perceptions of social support had less variance at the group level (29%) and little variance at the weekly level. At the group level, the explanatory variables we examined included leadership effectiveness, gender similarity, and age similarity. At the individual level, the explanatory variables we examined included age, gender, prior experience, and leader/follower status. An interaction between gender and leader/follower status contributed to a significant model of variation in perceptions of social support.     

Voyager 2 plasma wave observations at Uranus

At Uranus, the Voyager 2 plasma wave investigation observed very significant phenomena related to radio emissions, dust impacts and magnetospheric wave-particle interactions. On January 19, 1986 (R= 270R_U) the plasma wave investigation detected an intense radio burst at 31 and 56 kHz, and this provided the first indication that Uranus had a magnetosphere. During the encounter we observed more of these sporadic bursts, along with relatively continuous radio emissions extending down to 10 kHz, and a sporadic narrowband radio signal with f near 5 kHz. As Voyager passed through the ring plane, the plasma wave investigation recorded a large number of dust impacts. The dust ring was relatively diffuse (thickness of several thousand kilometers) and the peak impact rate was near 50 hits/second. The Voyager 2 plasma wave instrument also detected many strong electromagnetic and electrostatic plasma waves, with intensity peaks in the region within 12 Uranus adii. These waves have characteristics that can interact strongly with the local plasma and with the trapped energetic particles, leading to precipitation into the atmosphere, charged particle acceleration, and charged particle diffusion. In addition we detected strong wave activity in the region of the bow shock and moderate levels in the magnetic tail.     

The Balloon Array for RBSP Relativistic Electron Losses (BARREL)

BARREL is a multiple-balloon investigation designed to study electron losses from Earth’s Radiation Belts. Selected as a NASA Living with a Star Mission of Opportunity, BARREL augments the Radiation Belt Storm Probes mission by providing measurements of relativistic electron precipitation with a pair of Antarctic balloon campaigns that will be conducted during the Austral summers (January-February) of 2013 and 2014. During each campaign, a total of 20 small (～20 kg) stratospheric balloons will be successively launched to maintain an array of ～5 payloads spread across ～6 hours of magnetic local time in the region that magnetically maps to the radiation belts. Each balloon carries an X-ray spectrometer to measure the bremsstrahlung X-rays produced by precipitating relativistic electrons as they collide with neutrals in the atmosphere, and a DC magnetometer to measure ULF-timescale variations of the magnetic field. BARREL will provide the first balloon measurements of relativistic electron precipitation while comprehensive in situ measurements of both plasma waves and energetic particles are available, and will characterize the spatial scale of precipitation at relativistic energies. All data and analysis software will be made freely available to the scientific community.     

DEMETER卫星记录到的电离层加热现象

在法国DEMETER卫星运行期间, 地基电离层加热装置SURA和HAARP开展了一系列加热试验, 记录到各类电离层异常信息, 发现电离层加热过程中卫星观测的电离层扰动信号包括HF发射泵波及边带泵波、VLF人工源增强及频谱拓展、ULF/ELF/VLF调制波、ELF电磁扰动、ULF谐振波、等离子体特征参量扰动及高能粒子沉降等. 由于传播及耦合机制的差异, 发射泵波可以穿透电离层直达卫星高度, 其观测概率最高达到68%以上, 其他扰动受发射调制模式及当地电磁环境等影响,观测概率相对较低, 均在40%左右, 有些甚至是某次试验中出现的个别事例. 结合中国地震电磁监测试验卫星飞行轨道设计及载荷配置等,对未来开展加热试验进行了分析论证, 并参考DEMETER卫星试验结果给出了一些建议.     

航空发动机试车数据分析软件简介

介绍了使用高级程序设计语言Visual Basic开发的航空发动机试车数据分析软件的构成、功能和特点。实际应用与试验对比证明,该软件不仅结果准确,而且省时、简便、实用性强。     

An in situ laser induced breakdown spectroscope (LIBS) for Chandrayaan-2 rover: Ablation kinetics and emissivity estimations

A miniaturized in situ laser induced breakdown spectroscope-LIBS is one of the two lunar rover payloads to be flown in India’s next lunar mission Chandrayaan-2, with an objective to carry-out a precise qualitative and quantitative elemental analyses of lunar regolith at the proximity of the landing region. As per the imposed mission constraints and the executed design optimization studies, a compact and light-weight LIBS prototype model is developed at our premises. This paper mainly concerns with the estimation of theoretical aspects; especially on evaluation of elemental ablation parameters and signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) calculations for the designed instrument. Theoretical estimations and simulations yielded an incident laser power density of the order of 5 × 10¹⁰ W/cm² on the target surface at a defined lens-to-surface distance (LTSD) of 200 mm and revealed an SNR > 100 for most of the elements under consideration. This paper also addresses the impact of LTSD variation on detection capability. The estimation of plasma-temperatures was carried out utilizing the emission spectra obtained under high vacuum environments employing the LIBS laboratory model. Experimental investigations and the performed theoretical estimations asserted the successful operation of the configured LIBS instrument for in situ elemental analyses on lunar surface.     

φ5m立式风洞结构设计

φ5m立式风洞是我国第一座大型立式风洞.开口单回流形式且垂直布置的大尺寸风洞结构是该风洞的显著特点,也是该风洞与常规低速风洞结构的重要区别,笔者针对φ5m立式风洞垂直布置的结构特点主要介绍了该风洞的结构设计概况.该风洞采用钢结构、玻璃钢结构和砼结构相结合的混合结构形式,较好地解决了洞体整体稳定性、洞体悬臂结构的支撑、第一扩散段悬置、大型结构构件的安装、定位和联接、大型设备(特别动力电机)维护保养等问题.