CRB: Sinusoid-Sources' Estimation using Collocated Dipoles/Loops

This work derives new asymptotic Cram?r-Rao lower bounds (CRB) for the estimation of multiple pure-tone incident signals' azimuth-elevation arrival-angles, polarization parameters, frequencies, amplitudes, and temporal phases—based on data collected by spatially collocated but orthogonally oriented dipoles and/or loops. The incident sources are pure-tones at distinct, deterministic but unknown frequencies, in contrast to the case of all incident sources at one common known frequency, as has been investigated in the existing research literature on the CRB for diversely-polarized direction-finding. The derived CRBs are closed-form expressions, explicitly in terms of the signal parameters. The new CRBs presented here reveal how a constituent dipole and/or loop's presence and orientation may affect estimation precision, thereby offering guidelines to the system engineer on what dipole(s) and/or loop(s) to include or to omit in constructing the electromagnetic vector-sensor.     

Outskirts of Galaxy Clusters

Until recently, only about 10 % of the total intracluster gas volume had been studied with high accuracy, leaving a vast region essentially unexplored. This is now changing and a wide area of hot gas physics and chemistry awaits discovery in galaxy cluster outskirts. Also, robust large-scale total mass profiles and maps are within reach. First observational and theoretical results in this emerging field have been achieved in recent years with sometimes surprising findings. Here, we summarize and illustrate the relevant underlying physical and chemical processes and review the recent progress in X-ray, Sunyaev–Zel’dovich, and weak gravitational lensing observations of cluster outskirts, including also brief discussions of technical challenges and possible future improvements.     

Development of a thin section device for space exploration: Rock cutting mechanism

We have developed a rock cutting mechanism for in situ planetary exploration based on abrasive diamond impregnated wire. Performance characteristics of the rock cutter, including cutting rate on several rock types, cutting surface lifetime, and cut rock surface finish are presented. The rock cutter was developed as part of a broader effort to develop an in situ automated rock thin section (IS-ARTS) instrument. The objective of IS-ARTS was to develop an instrument capable of producing petrographic rock thin sections on a planetary science spacecraft. The rock cutting mechanism may also be useful to other planetary science missions with in situ instruments in which sub-sampling and rock surface preparation are necessary.     

Moon first versus flexible path exploration strategies: Considering international contributions

This paper analyses potential future collaborative space exploration architectures in terms of 1) the technical capabilities of contributing partners; and 2) the constraints imposed by internal and international politics. We find that when international partners are considered endogenously, the argument for a “flexible path” approach is weakened substantially. This is because international contributions can make “Moon first” economically feasible; and characteristics of proposed “flexible path” approaches may preclude international involvement because of the disproportionate risk that those contributions inherently bear. This could have serious implications for future collaborations. We also note that while there are multiple feasible collaborative architectures, there is currently substantial overlap among the potential niche contributions identified by the international partners.     

Biological implications of the Viking mission to Mars

A central purpose of Viking was to search for evidence that life exists on Mars or may have existed in the past. The missions carried three biology experiments the prime purpose of which was to seek for existing microbial life. In addition the results of a number of the other experiments have biological implications: (1) The elemental analyses of the atmosphere and the regolith showed or implied that the elements generally considered essential to terrestrial biology are present. (2) But unexpectedly, no organic compounds were detected in Martian samples by an instrument that easily detected organic materials in the most barren of terrestrial soils. (3) Liquid water is believed to be an absolute requisite for life. Viking obtained direct evidence for the presence of water vapor and water ice, and it obtained strong inferential evidence for the existence of large amounts of subsurface permafrost now and in the Martain past. However it obtained no evidence for the current existence of liquid water possessing the high chemical potential required for at least terrestrial life, a result that is consistent with the known pressure-temperature relations on the planet's surface. On the other hand, the mission did obtain strong indications from both atmospheric analyses and orbital photographs that large quantities of liquid water flowed episodically on the Martian surface 0.5 to 2.5 G years ago.The three biology experiments produced clear evidence of chemical reactivity in soil samples, but it is becoming increasingly clear that the chemical reactions were nonbiological in origin. The unexpected release of oxygen by soil moistened with water vapor in the Gas Exchange experiment together with the negative findings of the organic analysis experiment lead to the conclusion that the surface contains powerful oxidants. This conclusion is consistent with models of the atmosphere. The oxidants appear also to have been responsible for the decarboxylation of the organic nutrients that were introduced in the Label Release experiment. The major results of the GEX and LR experiments have been simulated at least qualitatively on Earth. The third, Pyrolytic Release, experiment obtained evidence for organic synthesis by soil samples. Although the mechanism of the synthesis is obscure, the thermal stability of the reaction makes a biological explanation most unlikely. Furthermore, the response of soil samples in all three experiments to the addition of water is not consistent with a biological interpretation.The conditions now known to exist at and below the Martian surface are such that no known terrestrial organism could grow and function. Although the evidence does not absolutely rule out the existence of favourable oases, it renders their existence extremely unlikely. The limiting conditions for the functioning of terrestrial organisms are not the limits for conceivable life elsewhere, and accordingly one cannot exclude the possibility that indigenous life forms may currently exist somewhere on Mars or may have existed sometime in the past. Nevertheless, the available information about the present Martian environment puts severe constraints and presents formidable challenges to any putative Martian organisms. The Martian environment in the past, on the other hand, appears to have been considerably less hostile biologically, and it might possibly have permitted the origin and transient establishment of a biota.     

Genetic modification and selection of microorganisms for growth on Mars

Genetic engineering has often been suggested as a mechanism for improving the survival prospects of terrestrial microoganisms when seeded on Mars. The survival characteristics that these pioneer microorganisms could be endowed with and a variety of mechanisms by which this can be achieved are discussed, together with an overview of some of the potential hurdles that must be overcome. Also, a number of biologically useful properties for these microorganisms are presented that could facilitate the initial human colonisation and ultimately the planetary engineering of Mars.     

Evolution of anticodons

Anticodons are trinucleotides in transfer RNA (tRNA) molecules. The latter carry amino acids for insertion into the polypeptide sequences of proteins during the translation of messenger RNA (mRNA) molecules. Messenger RNA molecules are transcribed from genes. Evolution of tRNA molecules has resulted in a set of anticodons for the 20 amino acids that are used in protein synthesis. This set of anticodons is slightly different in mitochondrial codes from the set that is used in the nuclear “universal” code. Theories for the evolution of the code include frozen accident, doublet expansion, repeating triplets and coevolutionary distribution. The number of codons has always been fixed at 64 by mathematical rules, but because an anticodon may pair with more than one codon, the number of anticodons is only 54 in the universal code, is smaller in mitochondrial codes, and was probably even smaller in archetypal primitive codes. Evidence of anticodon evolution can be seen by comparing mitochondrial codes with the universal code. Codes used by very primitive organisms that are now extinct might have specified fewer amino acids than are now used.     

Application of successive interference cancellation to the GPS pseudolite near-far problem

Ground-based transmitters called pseudolites have been proposed to augment the basic Global Positioning System (GPS) in environments where satellite visibility is limited. One difficulty in their use is the so-called near-far problem, where in close proximity to the ground transmitter, the pseudolite signal can be orders of magnitude stronger than the satellite signals. This large range of signal levels prevents a conventional receiver from simultaneously detecting both types of signals. This paper describes the application of a signal processing technique, known as successive interference cancellation (SIC), to the acquisition and tracking of weak satellite signals in the presence of a nearby pseudolite and possible multipath reflections of this pseudolite signal. The SIC architecture is implemented on simulated and experimental near-far data sets. The results are compared with a conventional detector and improvements in acquisition and tracking performance are illustrated.     

The Mercury Dual Imaging System on the MESSENGER Spacecraft

The Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS) on the MESSENGER spacecraft will provide critical measurements tracing Mercury’s origin and evolution. MDIS consists of a monochrome narrow-angle camera (NAC) and a multispectral wide-angle camera (WAC). The NAC is a 1.5° field-of-view (FOV) off-axis reflector, coaligned with the WAC, a four-element refractor with a 10.5° FOV and 12-color filter wheel. The focal plane electronics of each camera are identical and use a 1,024×1,024 Atmel (Thomson) TH7888A charge-coupled device detector. Only one camera operates at a time, allowing them to share a common set of control electronics. The NAC and the WAC are mounted on a pivoting platform that provides a 90° field-of-regard, extending 40° sunward and 50° anti-sunward from the spacecraft +Z-axis—the boresight direction of most of MESSENGER’s instruments. Onboard data compression provides capabilities for pixel binning, remapping of 12-bit data into 8 bits, and lossless or lossy compression. MDIS will acquire four main data sets at Mercury during three flybys and the two-Mercury-solar-day nominal mission: a monochrome global image mosaic at near-zero emission angles and moderate incidence angles, a stereo-complement map at off-nadir geometry and near-identical lighting, multicolor images at low incidence angles, and targeted high-resolution images of key surface features. These data will be used to construct a global image base map, a digital terrain model, global maps of color properties, and mosaics of high-resolution image strips. Analysis of these data will provide information on Mercury’s impact history, tectonic processes, the composition and emplacement history of volcanic materials, and the thickness distribution and compositional variations of crustal materials. This paper summarizes MDIS’s science objectives and technical design, including the common payload design of the MDIS data processing units, as well as detailed results from ground and early flight calibrations and plans for Mercury image products to be generated from MDIS data.     

Observations on the evolution of satellite launch volume and cyclicality in the space industry

Satellites have been rightly described as the lifeblood of the entire space industry and the number of satellites ordered or launched per year is an important defining metric of the industry's level of activity, such that trends and variability in this volume have significant strategic impact on the space industry. Over the past 40+ years, hundreds of satellites have been launched every year. Thus an important dataset is available for time series analysis and identification of trends and cycles in the various markets of the space industry. This article reports findings of a study for which we collected data on over 6000 satellites launched since 1960 on a yearly basis. We grouped the satellites into three broad categories – defense and intelligence, science, and commercial satellites – and identified and discussed the main trends and cyclical patterns for each of these. Institutional customers (defense and intelligence, and science) accounted for over two-thirds of all satellites launched within our time period (1960–2008), and, in the 1960s and 1970s, they accounted for 90% and 73.5%, respectively. A fair conclusion from this data is that the space industry was enabled by, and grew because of the institutional customers, not commercial market forces. However, when the launch data is examined more closely, a growing influence of the commercial sector is noticeable. Over the past two decades communication satellites accounted for roughly half of all launches, thus reflecting an important shift in the space industry in which the commercial sector is playing an equal role (on a launch volume basis) to that of the institutional market. Cyclical patterns in the satellite launch volume over the past decade are separately discussed before we sum up with a conclusion.