From Disks to Planets: The Making of Planets and Their Early Atmospheres. An Introduction

This paper is an introduction to volume 56 of the Space Science Series of ISSI, “From disks to planets—the making of planets and their proto-atmospheres”, a key subject in our quest for the origins and evolutionary paths of planets, and for the causes of their diversity. Indeed, as exoplanet discoveries progressively accumulated and their characterization made spectacular progress, it became evident that the diversity of observed exoplanets can in no way be reduced to the two classes of planets that we are used to identify in the solar system, namely terrestrial planets and gas or ice giants: the exoplanet reality is just much broader. This fact is no doubt the result of the exceptional diversity of the evolutionary paths linking planetary systems as a whole as well as individual exoplanets and their proto-atmospheres to their parent circumstellar disks: this diversity and its causes are exactly what this paper explores. For each of the main phases of the formation and evolution of planetary systems and of individual planets, we summarize what we believe we understand and what are the important open questions needing further in-depth examination, and offer some suggestions on ways towards solutions.We start with the formation mechanisms of circumstellar disks, with their gas and disk components in which chemical composition plays a very important role in planet formation. We summarize how dust accretion within the disk generates planet cores, while gas accretion on these cores can lead to the diversity of their fluid envelopes. The temporal evolution of the parent disk itself, and its final dissipation, put strong constraints on how and how far planetary formation can proceed. The radiation output of the central star also plays an important role in this whole story. This early phase of planet evolution, from disk formation to dissipation, is characterized by a co-evolution of the disk and its daughter planets. During this co-evolution, planets and their protoatmospheres not only grow, but they also migrate radially as a result of their interaction with the disk, thus moving progressively from their distance of formation to their final location. The formation of planetary fluid envelopes (proto-atmospheres and oceans), is an essential product of this planet formation scenario which strongly constrains their possible evolution towards habitability. We discuss the effects of the initial conditions in the disk, of the location, size and mass of the planetary core, of the disk lifetime and of the radiation output and activity of the central star, on the formation of these envelopes and on their relative extensions with respect to the planet core. Overall, a fraction of the planets retain the primary proto-atmosphere they initially accreted from the gas disk. For those which lose it in this early evolution, outgassing of volatiles from the planetary core and mantle, together with some contributions of volatiles from colliding bodies, give them a chance to form a “secondary” atmosphere, like that of our own Earth.When the disk finally dissipates, usually before 10 Million years of age, it leaves us with the combination of a planetary system and a debris disk, each with a specific radial distribution with respect to their parent star(s). Whereas the dynamics of protoplanetary disks is dominated by gas-solid dynamical coupling, debris disks are dominated by gravitational dynamics acting on diverse families of planetesimals. Solid-body collisions between them and giant impacts on young planetary surfaces generate a new population of gas and dust in those disks. Synergies between solar system and exoplanet studies are particularly fruitful and need to be stimulated even more, because they give access to different and complementary components of debris disks: whereas the different families of planetesimals can be extensively studied in the solar system, they remain unobserved in exoplanet systems. But, in those systems, long-wavelength telescopic observations of dust provide a wealth of indirect information about the unobserved population of planetesimals. Promising progress is being currently made to observe the gas component as well, using millimetre and sub-millimetre giant radio interferometers.Within planetary systems themselves, individual planets are the assembly of a solid body and a fluid envelope, including their planetary atmosphere when there is one. Their characteristics range from terrestrial planets through sub-Neptunes and Neptunes and to gas giants, each type covering most of the orbital distances probed by present-day techniques. With the continuous progress in detection and characterization techniques and the advent of major providers of new data like the Kepler mission, the architecture of these planetary systems can be studied more and more accurately in a statistically meaningful sense and compared to the one of our own solar system, which does not appear to be an exceptional case. Finally, our understanding of exoplanets atmospheres has made spectacular advances recently using the occultation spectroscopy techniques implemented on the currently operating space and ground-based observing facilities.The powerful new observing facilities planned for the near and more distant future will make it possible to address many of the most challenging current questions of the science of exoplanets and their systems. There is little doubt that, using this new generation of facilities, we will be able to reconstruct more and more accurately the complex evolutionary paths which link stellar genesis to the possible emergence of habitable worlds.     

Solar Isotopic Composition as Determined Using Solar Energetic Particles

Solar energetic particles (SEPs) provide a sample of the Sun from which solar composition may be determined. Using high-resolution measurements from the Solar Isotope Spectrometer (SIS) onboard NASA’s Advanced Composition Explorer (ACE) spacecraft, we have studied the isotopic composition of SEPs at energies ≥20 MeV/nucleon in large SEP events. We present SEP isotope measurements of C, O, Ne, Mg, Si, S, Ar, Ca, Fe, and Ni made in 49 large events from late 1997 to the present. The isotopic composition is highly variable from one SEP event to another due to variations in seed particle composition or due to mass fractionation that occurs during the acceleration and/or transport of these particles. We show that various isotopic and elemental enhancements are correlated with each other, discuss the empirical corrections used to account for the compositional variability, and obtain estimated solar isotopic abundances. We compare the solar values and their uncertainties inferred from SEPs with solar wind and other solar system abundances and find generally good agreement.     

Calculation of resultant vector and principal moment of light pressure forces acting upon the spacecraft with a solar sail

Two methods of calculating the resultant vector and principal moment of light pressure forces, having an effect on a spacecraft with a composite solar sail, are compared. The first method is based on analytical formulas obtained without regard to shading of some parts of the sail by others. The second method uses a detailed geometrical model of the sail, which allows one to take such shading into account. Some part of photons falling on a sail is supposed to be reflected from it in a mirror manner, while the others are completely absorbed. The range of variation of sail orientation parameters with respect to incident solar light streams, where the first method turns out to be accurate enough, is found.     

The space situational awareness program of the European Space Agency

The organization principles of constructing the European system of warning about dangerous situations in the outer space are considered in the paper.     

电渣重熔连续定向凝固René88DT合金的组织与热变形行为

自行设计开发了适合工业化生产高纯净,低偏析,无宏观缺陷铸锭的电渣重熔连续定向凝固技术(ESR-CDS)的设备和工艺,利用该技术成功制备了直径为φ150mm的René88DT合金定向凝周铸锭.采用XRD测试了定向凝固柱状晶的生长取向,结果表明,ESR-CDS René88DT铸锭柱状晶择优生长方向为<100>系晶向;ER...     

NONLINEAR PREDICTIVE CONTROL FOR TERRAIN FOLLOWING

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Co-registration of Chang’E-1 stereo images and laser altimeter data with crossover adjustment and image sensor model refinement

Topographic information is of fundamental importance for various scientific investigations in lunar and planetary exploration. To provide high-precision, seamless mapping capability, it is critical to co-register image and altimetry data, the two major data sources for topographic modeling. This paper presents a method for co-registration of Chang’E-1 (CE-1) stereo images and laser altimeter (LAM) data with crossover adjustment and refinement of the image sensor model. The crossover adjustment is tested in a larger area (0–60°N, 50–0°W); the image refinement and co-registration with LAM data are tested in an area (46.2–50.0°N, 31.8–28.8°W) within the larger area. Experimental results demonstrate that this co-registration reduces the mean differences of inconsistency from more than 200 m to just 3.21 m in the Z direction of object space. In image space, the mean errors of homologous points both in the column and row directions are reduced to below 0.1 pixel. This indicates that the proposed crossover adjustment of LAM data and refinement of the CE-1 stereo image model can effectively improve co-registration of the two data sets.     

距离信息对DDFRC算法定位误差的影响与分析

在固定单站无源定位算法中,基于角度(Direct of Arrival)、角度变化率(Direct of Arrival Rate-of-Change)、多普勒频率(Doppler Frequency)和多普勒频率变化率(Doppler Frequency Rate-of-Change)4个观测信息实现定位(即DDFRC定位)算法仅通过单次观测即可实现对目标辐射源的定位。文中通过转移观测的卡尔曼滤波对定位结果进行平滑,较原有算法拥有更好的跟踪效果。同时,对定位误差进行了定量分析,并将距离信息引入算法的仿真分析之中,详细讨论了各个观测量误差在不同距离时对算法定位性能的影响,根据仿真结果,结合定位误差的定量分析对算法性能做出评价。通过仿真分析,得到了定位算法对不同距离下各参数的精度要求,从而为在实际系统中使用该定位算法提供了参考。     

新型三阶TVD限制器性能分析

在计算流体力学(CFD)方法中,限制技术是影响计算精度和计算稳定性的重要因素,目前应用较广的经典二阶总变差衰减(TVD)限制器虽能较好地满足计算要求,但性能差异大且分辨率和耗散的性能间并未得到良好权衡。对一种新型的三阶TVD插值限制器(T-3限制器)进行了研究并将其与3种经典限制器进行对比。首先通过一维黎曼问题,得出T-3限制器兼顾较高间断分辨率和良好稳定性的特点;接着通过高超声速双锥绕流和X-33外形飞行器的数值实验,得到T-3限制器具有刻画复杂流动的能力以及较优的气动热计算性能。     

Low Latitude Ionospheric Electrodynamics

The low latitude ionosphere is strongly affected by several highly variable electrodynamic processes. Over the last two decades ground-based and satellite measurements and global numerical models have been extensively used to study the longitude-dependent climatology of low latitude electric fields and currents. These electrodynamic processes and their ionospheric effects exhibit large ranges of temporal and spatial variations during both geomagnetic quiet and disturbed conditions. Numerous recent studies have investigated the short term response of equatorial electric fields and currents to lower atmospheric transport processes and solar wind-magnetosphere driving mechanisms. This includes the large electric field and current perturbations associated with arctic sudden stratospheric warming events during geomagnetic quiet times and highly variable storm time prompt penetration and ionospheric disturbance dynamo effects. In this review, we initially describe recent experimental and numerical modeling results of the global climatology and short term variability of quiet time low latitude electrodynamic plasma drifts. Then, we examine the present understanding of equatorial electric field and current perturbation fields during periods of enhanced geomagnetic activity.