A mission template for exploration and damage mitigation of potential hazard of Near Earth Asteroids

The Apophis Exploratory and Mitigation Platform (AEMP) concept was developed as a prototype mission to explore and potentially deflect the Near Earth Asteroid (NEA) 99942 Apophis. Deflection of the asteroid from the potential 2036 impact will be achieved using a gravity tractor technique, while a permanent deflection, eliminating future threats, will be imparted using a novel albedo manipulation technique. This mission will serve as an archetypal template for future missions to small NEAs and could be adapted to mitigate the threat of collision with other potential Earth-crossing objects.     

Near-real time monitoring of the TEC fluctuations over the northern hemisphere using GNSS permanent networks

Since the early 1990s, global positioning system measurements have been used to study of the state and rapid changes of the Total Electron Content in the ionosphere. Currently, the increasing number of permanent stations makes it possible to generate maps of the irregularities in the ionosphere for specified regions with sub-daily resolution. The main goal of this work was to apply global navigation satellite system observations to obtain information about ionospheric variability around the North Geomagnetic Pole. In order to detect the ionospheric disturbances, 30-s observation data was used. The Rate of Total Electron Content Index was applied as a measure of the variability in the ionosphere. The first analyses were executed using more than 100 permanent stations. The results show two kinds of products: 2-hour maps in spherical geomagnetic coordinates and daily maps presenting the occurrence of the strong Total Electron Content fluctuations as a magnetic local time function, for the most disturbed days of April 2010. Apart from the main product of the algorithm, the Rate of Total Electron Content time series for individual satellite tracks was presented. The results demonstrated very good sensitivity of the obtained maps, which can detect even quite weak disturbances. The presented algorithm developed at the Geodynamic Research Laboratory of the University of Warmia and Mazury, in cooperation with Institute of Terrestrial Magnetism, Ionosphere and Radiowave Propagation, will be applied in the near future to create near-real time service of the conditions in the ionosphere based on the Global Navigation Satellite Systems observations.     

Stochastic battery discharge in portable communication devices

The objective of this work is to explore ways in which performance of battery systems can be enhanced through the use of energy-efficient battery management techniques. The phenomenon of charge recovery that takes place under pulsed discharge conditions is identified as a mechanism that can be exploited to enhance the capacity of a cell in a portable communication device. The bursty nature of many data traffic sources suggests that data transmissions in communication devices may provide natural opportunities for charge recovery. We model the data source as a stochastic process and let the cell discharge be driven by such a process. We use a model of a dual lithium ion insertion cell to identify the improvement to cell capacity that results from the stochastic discharge. The insight from this study leads us to propose discharge shaping techniques that tradeoff energy efficiency with delay in the required current supply     

Cutting the bread

Why the draft Treaty on the Prevention of the Placement of Weapons in Outer Space, the Threat or Use of Force Against Outer Space Objects (PPWT) will not work - whereas the Code of Conduct for Outer Space Activities may.     

An analysis of temperature fields in rotating fluid

A possible variant presented for solving the equation of motion of a rotating flow is more general with respect to the variants known in the literature. On the basis of the simultaneous solution of the equations of motion and energy, the temperature fields are determined under changes of the rotation nature.     

Some regularities in the relationship of limb coronal mass ejections with eruptive prominences and post-eruptive arcades

A positive correlation is shown to exist between the angular sizes (in the sky plane) of eruptive prominences and/or post-eruptive arcades and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) associated with them. New regularities are found that characterize the relationship between the latitude of eruptive prominences (post-eruptive arcades) and the latitude position of CMEs associated with them in the field of view of a coronagraph. An interpretation of these regularities is given.