Processes that Promote and Deplete the Exosphere of Mercury

It has been speculated that the composition of the exosphere is related to the composition of Mercury’s crustal materials. If this relationship is true, then inferences regarding the bulk chemistry of the planet might be made from a thorough exospheric study. The most vexing of all unsolved problems is the uncertainty in the source of each component. Historically, it has been believed that H and He come primarily from the solar wind (Goldstein, B.E., et al. in J. Geophys. Res. 86:5485–5499, 1981), Na and K come from volatilized materials partitioned between Mercury’s crust and meteoritic impactors (Hunten, D.M., et al. in Mercury, pp. 562–612, 1988; Morgan, T.H., et al. in Icarus 74:156–170, 1988; Killen, R.M., et al. in Icarus 171:1–19, 2004b). The processes that eject atoms and molecules into the exosphere of Mercury are generally considered to be thermal vaporization, photon-stimulated desorption (PSD), impact vaporization, and ion sputtering. Each of these processes has its own temporal and spatial dependence. The exosphere is strongly influenced by Mercury’s highly elliptical orbit and rapid orbital speed. As a consequence the surface undergoes large fluctuations in temperature and experiences differences of insolation with longitude. Because there is no inclination of the orbital axis, there are regions at extreme northern and southern latitudes that are never exposed to direct sunlight. These cold regions may serve as traps for exospheric constituents or for material that is brought in by exogenic sources such as comets, interplanetary dust, or solar wind, etc. The source rates are dependent not only on temperature and composition of the surface, but also on such factors as porosity, mineralogy, and space weathering. They are not independent of each other. For instance, ion impact may create crystal defects which enhance diffusion of atoms through the grain, and in turn enhance the efficiency of PSD. The impact flux and the size distribution of impactors affects regolith turnover rates (gardening) and the depth dependence of vaporization rates. Gardening serves both as a sink for material and as a source for fresh material. This is extremely important in bounding the rates of the other processes. Space weathering effects, such as the creation of needle-like structures in the regolith, will limit the ejection of atoms by such processes as PSD and ion-sputtering. Therefore, the use of laboratory rates in estimates of exospheric source rates can be helpful but also are often inaccurate if not modified appropriately. Porosity effects may reduce yields by a factor of three (Cassidy, T.A., and Johnson, R.E. in Icarus 176:499–507, 2005). The loss of all atomic species from Mercury’s exosphere other than H and He must be by non-thermal escape. The relative rates of photo-ionization, loss of photo-ions to the solar wind, entrainment of ions in the magnetosphere and direct impact of photo-ions to the surface are an area of active research. These source and loss processes will be discussed in this chapter.     

The ELDORA/ASTRAIA airborne Doppler weather radar: results fromrecent field tests

The ELDORA/ASTRAIA airborne Doppler weather radar was recently placed in service by US and French atmospheric sciences research laboratories. The ELDORA/ASTRAIA radar is designed to provide high resolution measurements of the air motion and rainfall characteristics of atmospheric storms which are too large, remote or fast-moving to be adequately observed by ground-based radars. This paper discusses the measurement requirements and the design goals of the radar and presents sample measurements from a recent weather research field program     

An Alternative Interpretation of the Two-Loop, Adaptive-Control Strategy of Lee and Yu

The two-loop, adaptive-control strategy employed by Lee and Yu is shown to consist of adjustment of loop gains so that no output feedback occurs. This means that in so far as the adaptive feature is required, both loops could be dispensed with and feedback applied locally around the input modulator.     

Algorithms for Multitarget Ambiguity Removal after Coincidence Detection

A first cut at the difficult problem of the identification and removal of ambiguous responses to radar burst waveforms is presented. Assuming that two bursts are used, algorithms for multitarget ambiguity removal after coincidence detection are presented and illustrated by examples. The results may have significant application in ballistic missile defense surveillance radars.     

Cataractogenesis from high-LET radiation and the Casarett model.

Space radiations, especially heavy ions, constitute significant hazards to astronauts. These hazards will increase as space missions lengthen. Moreover, the dangers to astronauts will be enhanced by the persistence, or even the progression, of biological damage throughout their subsequent life spans. To assist in the assessment of risks to astronauts, we are investigating the long-term effects of heavy ions on specific animal tissues. In one study, the eyes of rabbits of various ages were exposed to a single dose of Bragg plateau 20Ne ions (LET infinity approximately equals 30 keV/micrometer). The development of cataracts has shown a pronounced age-related response during the first year after irradiation, and will be followed for two more years. In other studies, mice were exposed to single or fractionated doses of 12C ions (4-cm spread-out Bragg peak; dose-averaged LET infinity = 70-80 keV/micrometer) or 60Co gamma-photons (LET infinity = 0.3 keV/micrometer). Measurements of the frequency of posterior lens opacification have shown that the tissue sparing observed with dose fractionation of gamma-photons was absent when 12C-ion doses were fractionated. Development of posterior lens cataracts was also followed for long periods (up to 21 months) in mice exposed to single doses of Bragg plateau HZE particles (40Ar, 20Ne and 12C ions: LET infinity approximately equals 100, 30 and 10 keV/micrometer, respectively) or 225 kVp X-rays. Based on average cataract levels at the different observation times, the RBE's (RBE = relative biological effectiveness) for the ions were circa 5, 3 and 1-2, respectively, over the range of doses used (0.05-0.9 Gy). Investigations of cataractogenesis are useful for exploring the model of radiation damage proposed by Casarett and by Rubin and Casarett with a tissue not connected directly to the vasculature.     

Optimum local decision space partitioning for distributed detection

A distributed detection system is considered that consists of a number of independent local detectors and a fusion center. The decision statistics and performance characteristics (i.e. the false alarm probabilities and detection probabilities) of the local detectors are assumed as given. Communication is assumed only between each local detector and the fusion center and is one-way from the former to the latter. The fusion center receives decisions from the local detectors and combines them for a global decision. Instead of a one-bit hard decision, the authors propose that each local detector provides the fusion center with multiple-bit decision value which represents its decision and, conceptually, its degree of confidence on that decision. Generating a multiple-bit local decision entails a subpartitioning of the local decision space the optimization of which is studied. It is shown that the proposed system significantly outperforms one in which each local detector provides only a hard decision. Based on optimum subpartitioning of local decision space, the detection performance is shown to increase monotonically with the number of partitions     

Helium-ion-induced human cataractogenesis.

Retrospective and ongoing analyses of clinical records from 347 primary intraocular melanoma patients treated with helium ions at LBL will allow examination of the exposure-response data for human cataract; which is a complication of the therapy from incidental exposure of the lens. Direct particle beam traversal of at least a portion of the lens usually is unavoidable in treatment of posterior intraocular tumors. The precise treatment planned for each patient permits quantitative assessment of the lenticular dose and its radiation quality. We are reporting our preliminary results on the development of helium-ion-induced lens opacifications and cataracts in 54 of these patients who had 10% or less of their lens in the treatment field. We believe these studies will be relevant to estimating the human risk for cataract in space flight.     

Korean space food development: Ready-to-eat Kimchi, a traditional Korean fermented vegetable,sterilized with high-dose gamma irradiation

Addition of calcium lactate and vitamin C, a mild heating, deep-freezing, and gamma irradiation at 25 kGy were conducted to prepare Kimchi as a ready-to-eat space food. It was confirmed that the space food was sterilized by an irradiation at 25 kGy through incubation at 37 °C for 30 days. The hardness of the Space Kimchi (SK) was lower than the untreated Kimchi (CON), but higher than the irradiated Kimchi (IR). Also, this result was supported by the scanning electron microscopic observation. Sensory attributes of the SK were similar to CON, and maintained during preservation at 35 °C for 30 days. According to the Ames test, Kimchi sterilized with a high-dose irradiation exerted no mutagenic activity in the bacterial strains of Salmonella typhimurium. And, the SK was certificated for use in space flight conditions during 30 days by the Russian Institute of Biomedical Problems.     

Three-axis attitude determination using incomplete vector observations

Attitude determination refers to determining the orientation of a vehicle relative to its reference coordinate system. This paper presents a new algorithm for three-axis attitude determination using measurement vectors composed of incomplete vector components. The attitude determination performance of the proposed algorithm is compared with those of the TRIAD and QUEST algorithms in a simulation.