M-ary CPSK Detection with Noisy Reference and Interferences

A general expression of the error probability on an M-ary coherent phase-shift-keyed (MCPSK) signal purturbed by a noisy reference carrier, multiple interferences, and additive Gaussian noise is presented taking into account the frequencey divider in the carrier recovery circuit. First, a new expression for the probability density function (pdf) of the phase of a composite wave of signal, multiple interferences, and additive Gaussian noise is derived. Then this result and a pdf of the phase error modified from the Tikhonov distribution are used to obtain the erro probability of an MCPSK detector. In addition, the comparison between the error probabilities with and without the frequency divider is given, and it is found that the estimation is more pessimistic when the frequency divider is included.     

Remote upgrading of a space-borne instrument

The main purposes of experiment “Obstanovka” (“Environment” in Russian) consisting of several instruments are to measure a set of electromagnetic and plasma phenomena characterizing the space weather conditions, and to evaluate how such a big and highly energy consuming body as the International Space Station disturbs the surrounding plasma, and how the station itself is charged due to the operation of so many instruments, solar batteries, life supporting devices, etc. Two identical Langmuir electrostatic probes are included in the experiment “Obstanovka”. In this paper the Langmuir probes for “Obstanovka” experiment are described, including the choice of geometry (spherical or cylindrical), a more reliable method for the sweep voltage generation, an adaptive algorithm for the probe’s operation. Special attention is paid to the possibility for remote upgrading of the instrument from the ground using the standard communication channels.     

Presynaptic transporter-mediated release of glutamate evoked by the protonophore FCCP increases under altered gravity conditions

High-affinity Na⁺-dependent glutamate transporters of the plasma membrane mediate the glutamate uptake into neurons, and thus maintain low levels of extracellular glutamate in the synaptic cleft. The study focused on the release of glutamate by reversal of Na⁺-dependent glutamate transporters from rat brain nerve terminals (synaptosomes) under conditions of centrifuge-induced hypergravity. Flow cytometric analysis revealed similarity in the size and cytoplasmic granularity between synaptosomal preparations obtained from control and G-loaded animals (10 G, 1 h). The release of cytosolic l-[¹⁴C]glutamate from synaptosomes was evaluated using the protonophore FCCP, which dissipated synaptic vesicle proton gradient, thus synaptic vesicles were not able to keep glutamate inside and the latter enriched cytosol. FCCP per se induced the greater release of l-[¹⁴C]glutamate in hypergravity as compared to control (4.8 ± 1.0% and 8.0 ± 1.0% of total label). Exocytotic release of l-[¹⁴C]glutamate evoked by depolarization was reduced down to zero after FCCP application under both conditions studied. Depolarization stimulated release of cytosolic l-[¹⁴C]glutamate from synaptosomes preliminary treated with FCCP was considerably increased from 27.0 ± 2.2% of total label in control to 35.0 ± 2.3% in hypergravity. Non-transportable inhibitor of glutamate transporter dl-threo-β-benzyloxyaspartate was found to significantly inhibit high-KCl and FCCP-stimulated release of l-[¹⁴C]glutamate, confirming the release by reversal of glutamate transporters. The enhancement of transporter-mediated release of glutamate in hypergravity was found to result at least partially from the inhibition of the activity of Na/K-ATPase in the plasma membrane of synaptosomes. We suggested that hypergravity-induced alteration in transporter-mediated release of glutamate indicated hypoxic injury of neurons.     

Equatorial anomaly according to the Interkosmos-19 data and IRI model: A comparison

The comparison of the IRI model with the foF2 distribution in the equatorial anomaly region obtained by topside sounding onboard the Interkosmos-19 satellite has been carried out. The global distribution of foF2 in terms of LT-maps was constructed by averaging Intercosmos-19 data for summer, winter, and equinox. These maps, in fact, represent an empirical model of the equatorial anomaly for high solar activity F10.7 ~ 200. The comparison is carried out for the latitudinal foF2 profiles in the characteristic longitudinal sectors of 30, 90, 210, 270, and 330°, as well as for the longitudinal variations in foF2 over the equator. The largest difference between the models (up to 60%) for any season was found in the Pacific longitudinal sector of 210°, where there are a few ground-based sounding stations. Considerable discrepancies, however, are sometimes observed in the longitudinal sectors, where there are many ground-based stations, for example, in the European or Indian sector. The discrepancies reach their maximum at 00 LT, since a decay of the equatorial anomaly begins before midnight in the IRI model and after midnight according to the Interkosmos-19 data. The discrepancies are also large in the morning at 06 LT, since in the IRI model, the foF2 growth begins long before sunrise. In the longitudinal variations in foF2 over the equator at noon, according to the satellite data, four harmonics are distinguished in the June solstice and at the equinox, and three harmonics in the December solstice, while in the IRI model only two and one harmonics respectively are revealed. In diurnal variations in foF2 and, accordingly, in the equatorial anomaly intensity, the IRI model does not adequately reproduce even the main, evening extremum.     

How do interplanetary shock impact angles control the size of the geoeffective magnetosphere?

In this paper, we investigate temporal and spatial magnetosphere response to the impact of interplanetary (IP) shocks with different inclinations and speeds on the Earth’s magnetosphere. A data set with more than 500 IP shocks is used to identify positive sudden impulse (SI⁺) events as expressed by the SuperMAG partial ring current index. The SI⁺ rise time (RT), defined as the time interval between compression onset and maximum SI⁺ signature, is obtained for each event. We use RT and a model suggested by Takeuchi et al. (2002) to calculate the geoeffective magnetospheric distance (GMD) in the shock propagation direction as a function of shock impact angle and speed for each event. GMD is a generalization of the geoeffective magnetosphere length (GML) suggested by Takeuchi et al. (2002), defined from the subsolar point along the X line toward the tail. We estimate statistical GMD and GML values which are then reported for the first time. We also show that, similarly to well-known results for RT, the highest correlation coefficient for the GMD and impact angle is found for shocks with high speeds and small impact angles, and the faster and more frontal the shock, the smaller the GMD. This result indicates that the magnetospheric response depends heavily on shock impact angle. With these results, we argue that the prediction and forecasting of space weather events, such as those caused by coronal mass ejections, will not be accurately accomplished if the disturbances’ angles of impact are not considered as an important parameter within model and observation scheme capabilities.     

Shock protection of penetrator-based instrumentation via a sublimation approach

It is often necessary for space-borne instrumentation to cope with substantial levels of shock acceleration both in the initial launch phase, as well as during entry, descent and landing in the case of planetary exploration. Current plans for a new generation of penetrator-based space missions will subject the associated on-board instrumentation to far greater levels of shock, and ways must therefore be found to either ruggedize or else protect any sensitive components during the impact phase. In this paper, we present an innovative method of shock protection that is suited for use in a number of planetary environments, based upon the temporary encapsulation of said components within a waxy solid which may then be sublimated to return the instrument back to its normal operation. We have tested this method experimentally using micromachined silicon suspensions under applied shock loads of up to 15,000g, and found that these were able to survive without incurring damage. Furthermore, quality factor measurements undertaken on these suspensions indicate that their mechanical performance remains unaffected by the encapsulation and subsequent sublimation process.     

Telemetry,telecommand and safety sub-systems for scientific ballooning from Hyderabad

Highly sophisticated balloon-borne scientific payloads have stringent requirement on the telemetry and command system. The development and fabrication of the on-board TT&C package for telemetry, tracking, command, safety and ranging for these experiments is done in-house at the National Balloon Facility (NBF) at Hyderabad. In the last few years, we have made major improvements both in the ground station and the on-board sub-systems, thereby improving the data quality, data handling speed and the general flight control along with aviation safety. The new system has telemetry data rate up to 1 Mbps. A reduction in weight, power and cost of the reengineered on-board integrated package has also lead to the ease of operation during field tests prior to launch and at remote recovery sites. In this paper, we describe the details of the new control package, its flight performance and our plans for portable S-band telemetry and telecommand system to cater to the balloon flights from Antarctic station and long duration balloon flights.     

Relativistic electron fluxes and dose rate variations during April–May 2010 geomagnetic disturbances in the R3DR data on ISS

Space radiation has been monitored successfully using the Radiation Risks Radiometer-Dosimeter (R3D) installed at the ESA EXPOSE-R (R3DR) facility outside of the Russian Zvezda module of the International Space Station (ISS) between March 2009 and January 2011. R3DR is a Liulin type spectrometer–dosimeter with a single Si PIN detector 2 cm² of area and 0.3 mm thick. The R3DR instrument accumulated about 2 million measurements of the absorbed dose rate and flux of 10 s resolution. The total external and internal shielding before the detector of R3DR device is 0.41 g cm⁻². The calculated stopping energy of normally incident particles to the detector is 0.78 MeV for electrons and 15.8 MeV for protons. After the Coronal Mass Ejection (CME) at 09:54 UTC on 3 April 2010, a shock was observed at the ACE spacecraft at 0756 UTC on 5 April, which led to a sudden impulse on Earth at 08:26 UTC. Nevertheless, while the magnetic substorms on 5 and 6 of April were moderate; the second largest in history of GOES fluence of electrons with energy >2 MeV was measured. The R3DR data show a relatively small amount of relativistic electrons on 5 April. The maximum dose rate of 2323 μGy day⁻¹ was reached on 7 April; by 9 April, a dose of 6600 μGy was accumulated. By the end of the period on 7 May 2010 a total dose of 11,587 μGy was absorbed. Our data were compared with AE-8 MIN, CRESS and ESA-SEE1 models using SPENVIS and with similar observations on American, Japanese and Russian satellites.     

Occurrence of equatorial plasma bubbles over Kolhapur

This paper reports the nightglow observations of OI 630.0 nm emissions, made by using all sky imager operating at low latitude station Kolhapur (16.8°N, 74.2°E and dip lat. 10.6°N) during high sunspot number years of 24th solar cycle. The images are analyzed to study the nocturnal, seasonal and solar activity dependence occurrence of plasma bubbles. We observed EPBs in images regularly during a limited period 19:30 to 02:30 LT and reach maximum probability of occurrence at 22:30 LT. The observation pattern of EPBs shows nearly no occurrence during the month of May and it maximizes during the period October–April. The equinox and solstice seasonal variations in the occurrence of plasma bubbles show nearly equal and large differences, respectively, between years of 2010–11 and 2011–12.     

Neoplastic transformation of hamster embryo cells by heavy ions

We have studied the induction of morphological transformation of Syrian hamster embryo cells by low doses of heavy ions with different linear energy transfer (LET), ranging from 13 to 400 keV/μm. Exponentially growing cells were irradiated with ¹²C or ²⁸Si ion beams generated by the Heavy Ion Medical Accelerator in Chiba (HIMAC), inoculated to culture dishes, and transformed colonies were identified when the cells were densely stacked and showed a crisscross pattern. Over the LET range examined, the frequency of transformation induced by the heavy ions increased sharply at very low doses no greater than 5 cGy. The relative biological effectiveness (RBE) of the heavy ions relative to 250 kVp X-rays showed an initial increase with LET, reaching a maximum value of about 7 at 100 keV/μm, and then decreased with the further increase in LET. Thus, we confirmed that high LET heavy ions are significantly more effective than X-rays for the induction of in vitro cell transformation.