THE WAVE EXPERIMENT CONSORTIUM (WEC)

In order to get the maximum scientific return from available resources, the wave experimenters on Cluster established the Wave Experiment Consortium (WEC). The WEC's scientific objectives are described, together with its capability to achieve them in the course of the mission. The five experiments and the interfaces between them are shown in a general block diagram (Figure 1). WEC has organised technical coordination for experiment pre-delivery tests and spacecraft integration, and has also established associated working groups for data analysis and operations in orbit. All science operations aspects of WEC have been worked out in meetings with wide participation of investigators from the five WEC teams.     

The X-Ray Spectrometer on the MESSENGER Spacecraft

NASA’s MESSENGER (MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging) mission will further the understanding of the formation of the planets by examining the least studied of the terrestrial planets, Mercury. During the one-year orbital phase (beginning in 2011) and three earlier flybys (2008 and 2009), the X-Ray Spectrometer (XRS) onboard the MESSENGER spacecraft will measure the surface elemental composition. XRS will measure the characteristic X-ray emissions induced on the surface of Mercury by the incident solar flux. The Kα lines for the elements Mg, Al, Si, S, Ca, Ti, and Fe will be detected. The 12° field-of-view of the instrument will allow a spatial resolution that ranges from 42 km at periapsis to 3200 km at apoapsis due to the spacecraft’s highly elliptical orbit. XRS will provide elemental composition measurements covering the majority of Mercury’s surface, as well as potential high-spatial-resolution measurements of features of interest. This paper summarizes XRS’s science objectives, technical design, calibration, and mission observation strategy.     

An Electrostatic-Wave Topside Sounder

An electrostatic-wave topside sounder has been flown to study electron plasma resonances. Unique features of this sounder are the preservation of data spectra, a frequency synthesizer, and a gain-change mechanism. Preservation of the spectra provided frequency information with a resolution of a few hundred hertz by use of a fast Fourier transform while the synthesizer provided the necessary frequency stability. The gain-change mechanism provided information on the strength of the resonances. Resulting data support the electrostatic-wave echo theory of topside resonances.     

AGATE: A high energy gamma-ray telescope using drift chambers

The exciting results from the highly successful Energetic Gamma-Ray Experiment Telescope (EGRET) instrument on the Compton Gamma-Ray Observatory (CGRO) has contributed significantly to increasing our understanding of high energy gamma-ray astronomy. A follow-on mission to EGRET is needed to continue these scientific advances as well as to address the several new scientific questions raised by EGRET. Here we describe the work being done on the development of the Advanced Gamma-Ray Astronomy Telescope Experiment (AGATE), visualized as the successor to EGRET. In order to achieve the scientific goals, AGATE will have higher sensitivity than EGRET in the energy range 30 MeV to 30 GeV, larger effective area, better angular resolution, and an extended low and high energy range. In its design, AGATE will follow the tradition of the earlier gamma-ray telescopes, SAS-2, COS B, and EGRET, and will have the same four basic components of an anticoincidence system, directional coincidence system, track imaging, and energy measurement systems. However, due to its much larger size, AGATE will use drift chambers as its track imaging system rather than the spark chambers used by EGRET. Drift chambers are an obvious choice as they have less deadtime per event, better spatial resolution, and are relatively easy and inexpensive to build. Drift chambers have low power requirements, so that many layers of drift chambers can be included. To test the feasibility of using drift chambers, we have constructed a prototype instrument consisting of a stack of sixteen 1/2m × 1/2m drift chambers and have measured the spatial resolution using atmospheric muons. The results on the drift chamber performance in the laboratory are presented here.     

Production of high fidelity lunar agglutinate simulant

As space faring nations consider manned and unmanned missions to the Moon, there is a growing need to develop high fidelity lunar regolith simulants that can accurately reproduce the properties and behavior of lunar regolith. Such simulants will be employed to verify the performance of equipment, mechanisms, structures and processes to be used on the lunar surface. One of the significant limitations of current terrestrial-based simulants, such as the popular mare simulant, JSC-1A, is the lack of agglutinates. This paper investigates the production of a lunar mare agglutinate simulant based on JSC-1A. A modified plasma processing technique was used to expose the JSC-1A regolith simulant to high temperatures and transform it to predominantly a glassy phase. Detailed characterization results are presented to confirm that the agglutinate simulant material produced during this investigation reasonably satisfies the primary requirements of an agglutinate simulant such as amorphous/crystalline content, particle size, morphology, vesicular structure, chemistry, and presence of nanophase elemental Fe.     

Three-dimensional global simulation of multiple ICMEs’ interaction and propagation from the Sun to the heliosphere following the 25–28 October 2003 solar events

This study performs simulations of interplanetary coronal mass ejection (ICME) propagation in a realistic three-dimensional (3D) solar wind structure from the Sun to the Earth by using the newly developed hybrid code, HAFv.2+3DMHD. This model combines two simulation codes, Hakamada–Akasofu–Fry code version 2 (HAFv.2) and a fully 3D, time-dependent MHD simulation code. The solar wind structure is simulated out to 0.08 AU (18 Rs) from source surface maps using the HAFv.2 code. The outputs at 0.08 AU are then used to provide inputs for the lower boundary, at that location, of the 3D MHD code to calculate solar wind and its evolution to 1 AU and beyond. A dynamic disturbance, mimicking a particular flare’s energy output, is delivered to this non-uniform structure to model the evolution and interplanetary propagation of ICMEs (including their shocks). We then show the interaction between two ICMEs and the dynamic process during the overtaking of one shock by the other. The results show that both CMEs and heliosphere current sheet/plasma sheet were deformed by interacting with each other.     

A molecular probe of dark energy

Many theoretical models of dark energy invoke rolling scaler fields which in turn predict time varying values of the fundamental constants. Establishing the value of the fundamental constants at various times in the universe can probe and test the various dark energy theories. One of the constants that is predicted to vary is the ratio of the electron to proton mass μ. It was established early on that molecular spectra are sensitive to the value of μ and can be used as probes of that value. This article describes the use of the spectrum of molecular hydrogen in high redshift Damped Lyman Alpha systems (DLAs) as a sensitive probe of the time evolution of μ.     

Transient measurements of HV interaction with the ambient and perturbed space environment

Transient measurements of current collected by a rocket payload charged to several kilovolts negative with respect to the ambient plasma were made during the SPEAR-3 sounding rocket mission. The measurements were taken in short bursts at 1MHz, coincident with the application of the high voltage. The measured current is seen to rise approximately parabolically for approximately 15μs before rolling over into an exponential decay towards steady state current collection. The exponential time constant of 40 to 50μs is interpreted as the characteristic ion-collection sheath formation time for the SPEAR-3 payload.