A comprehensive study of the 2016 Mw 6.0 Italy earthquake based on high-rate (10 Hz) GPS data

The 2016 M_w 6.0 Italy earthquake is successfully recorded by the near-field 10?Hz GPS and 200?Hz Strong Motion (SM) stations, providing valuable data for this study. A comprehensive study of this earthquake is carried out based on GPS data, which contains coseismic deformations analysis, noise analysis, seismic wave picking, and magnitude determination. The noise of most GPS-derived displacement waveforms can be described as a combination of white noise, flicker noise, and random walk noise after the earthquake occurrence, and the spectral indices vary significantly for most stations, implying that the seismic signals have affected the noise characteristic of GPS-derived displacement waveforms. S-transform is employed to assess the GPS capability to detect the seismic arrival time. The SM station AMT and the GPS station AMAT are in good agreement in seismic wave picking, and the difference is only 1.2?s in the north component, suggesting that the outcome of seismic wave picking using GPS data is reliable. Then, a classic empirical formula is employed to determine the moment magnitude. A robust moment magnitude (Mw 5.90) can be estimated by the nine GPS stations with about 23.9?s. If four GPS stations near the epicenter is chosen to determine the magnitude, it only take 13.0?s to retrieve a reliable preliminary (Mw 5.82) magnitude, which is 5.4?s ahead of nine stations. In addition, Cross Wavelet Transform (XWT) is adopted to measuring the correlation and phase relationship between GPS and SM records. The result of XWT analysis indicates 10?Hz GPS is capable of capturing reliable and accurate coseismic dynamic deformations, as evidenced by the XWT-based semblance being close to 1 between GPS and SM records. The above results confirm the capability of 10?Hz GPS to capture coseismic dynamic deformations, detect seismic arrival time, and determine earthquake magnitude. Moreover, rapid magnitude determination based on 10?Hz GPS data can be regarded as an important supplement to Earthquake Early Warning (EEW).     

Influence of geometry and operating conditions of a centrifugal compressor stage on the radial gas force

The influence of geometry and operating conditions of the centrifugal compressor stage on the radial gas force is determined on the basis of the theoretical method and calculation program using experimental boundary conditions.     

李宏新发动机设计专家

作为长期从事飞机发动机研发工作的中航工业首席技术专家,请您谈一谈我国飞机发动机的研发现状以及需要攻克的难关。李宏新:航空发动机的研制是一个复杂的系统工程,研制道路充满艰辛和坎坷,不容丝毫懈怠和疏忽。     

Displacement simulation for spacecraft structure

The paper presents a technique of forming and evaluating the allowable clearance between a launch vehicle fairing and spacecraft.     

Interplanetary scintillations of the radio source ensemble at the maximum of cycle 24 of solar activity

The results of the interplanetary scintillation observations performed in the period of the maximum of solar activity from April 2013 to April 2014 on the BSA LPI radio telescope at the frequency 111MHz are presented. Fluctuations of the radio emission flux were recorded round the clock for all sources with a scintillating flux of more than 0.2 Jy falling in a strip of sky with a width of 50° over declinations corresponding to a 96-beam directional pattern of the radio telescope. The total number of sources observed during the day reaches 5000. The processing of the observational data was carried out on the assumption that a set of scintillating sources represents a homogeneous statistical ensemble. Daily two-dimensional maps of the distribution of the level of scintillations, whose analysis shows the strong nonstationarity and large-scale irregularity of the spatial distribution of solar wind parameters, were constructed. According to maps of the distribution of the level of scintillations averaged over monthly intervals, the global structure of the distribution of the solar wind was investigated in the period of the maximum of solar activity, which was found to be on the average close to spherically symmetric. The data show that on a spherically symmetric background an east–west asymmetry is observed, which indicates the presence of a large-scale structure of a spiral type in the solar wind.     

A general calculation method to specify center-of-buoyancy for the stratospheric airship with multiple gas cells

As the lighter-than-air (LTA) flight vehicle, the stratospheric airship is a desirable platform to provide communication and surveillance services. During the ascent from sea-level to the mission altitude, the volume of the lifting gas may change significantly, which will result in the change of the center-of-buoyancy (CB). A general calculation method is developed to specify CB for the stratospheric airship with a double-ellipsoid hull and an arbitrary number of the gas cells. The cross-section-integral (CSI) method is used as a basic calculation scenario to specify CB. Considering the complexity in determining the boundary between the helium and air in the gas cell, a searching algorithm is put forward and the specification of CB can be conducted by the iterative calculation. As an important application, the stable condition of the pitch angle is analyzed when the change of CB is involved. Under different initial configurations, the stable pitch angle of the stratospheric airship during the ascent is specified and compared, which shows the advantages of the multi-gas-cell configuration. The results of this paper may provide an important reference for the engineering application of the stratospheric airship.     

Junocam: Juno’s Outreach Camera

Junocam is a wide-angle camera designed to capture the unique polar perspective of Jupiter offered by Juno’s polar orbit. Junocam’s four-color images include the best spatial resolution ever acquired of Jupiter’s cloudtops. Junocam will look for convective clouds and lightning in thunderstorms and derive the heights of the clouds. Junocam will support Juno’s radiometer experiment by identifying any unusual atmospheric conditions such as hotspots. Junocam is on the spacecraft explicitly to reach out to the public and share the excitement of space exploration. The public is an essential part of our virtual team: amateur astronomers will supply ground-based images for use in planning, the public will weigh in on which images to acquire, and the amateur image processing community will help process the data.     

Results of solar observations by the CORONAS-F payload

The CORONAS-F mission experiments and results have been reviewed. The observations with the DIFOS multi-channel photometer in a broad spectral range from 350 to 1500 nm have revealed the dependence of the relative amplitudes of p-modes of the global solar oscillations on the wavelength that agrees perfectly well with the earlier data obtained in a narrower spectral ranges. The SPIRIT EUV observations have enabled the study of various manifestations of solar activity and high-temperature events on the Sun. The data from the X-ray spectrometer RESIK, gamma spectrometer HELICON, flare spectrometer IRIS, amplitude–temporal spectrometer AVS-F, and X-ray spectrometer RPS-1 have been used to analyze the X- and gamma-ray emission from solar flares and for diagnostics of the flaring plasma. The absolute and relative content of various elements (such as potassium, argon, and sulfur) of solar plasma in flares has been determined for the first time with the X-ray spectrometer RESIK. The Solar Cosmic Ray Complex monitored the solar flare effects in the Earth’s environment. The UV emission variations recorded during solar flares in the vicinity of the 120-nm wavelength have been analyzed and the amplitude of relative variations has been determined.     

Precipitation of subrelativistic-energy electrons near the polar boundary of the Earth radiation belt according to the data of measurements on the <Emphasis Type="Italic">Vernov</Emphasis> and <Emphasis Type="Italic">Lomonosov</Emphasis> satellites

The work is devoted to observations of sharp growths of magnetospheric electron fluxes in the vicinity of the polar boundary of the outer radiation belt of the Earth according to the data of measurements on the Vernov and Lomonosov satellites. This precipitation was observed at the high-latitude boundary of the outer radiation belt toward the equator from the isotropization boundary, and can be caused by scattering waves of various physical natures, including electromagnetic and electrostatic waves.     

Designing nonuniform satellite systems for continuous global coverage using equatorial and polar circular orbits

We present a method for designing nonuniform satellite systems for continuous global coverage using a combination of equatorial and near-polar satellite segments in circular orbits. Equations are derived to determine the basic design parameters of the satellite system itself and the conditions of its closure at the joint of near-polar and equatorial segments. We analyze specific features of near-polar and equatorial satellite systems and their advantages and disadvantages compared with existing classes of near-polar phased and kinematically correct satellite systems. We estimate the minimum required number of spacecrafts in satellite systems for a given fold of coverage and present calculated dependences for classes of near-polar phased and equatorial satellite systems with different types of closure. For the class of kinematically correct satellite systems, we analyze the characteristics of systems with a minimum spacecraft flight height and reveal that the number of satellites in the orbital plane depends on the flight height for different folds of coverage. We bring examples of the best near-polar equatorial satellite systems of global coverage for different folds and a class of satellite systems with a fixed number of spacecrafts and orbital planes in them.