The Solar Origin of Corotating Interaction Regions and Their Formation in the Inner Heliosphere

Corotating Interaction Regions (CIRs) form as a consequence of the compression of the solar wind at the interface between fast speed streams and slow streams. Dynamic interaction of solar wind streams is a general feature of the heliospheric medium; when the sources of the solar wind streams are relatively stable, the interaction regions form a pattern which corotates with the Sun. The regions of origin of the high speed solar wind streams have been clearly identified as the coronal holes with their open magnetic field structures. The origin of the slow speed solar wind is less clear; slow streams may well originate from a range of coronal configurations adjacent to, or above magnetically closed structures. This article addresses the coronal origin of the stable pattern of solar wind streams which leads to the formation of CIRs. In particular, coronal models based on photospheric measurements are reviewed; we also examine the observations of kinematic and compositional solar wind features at 1 AU, their appearance in the stream interfaces (SIs) of CIRs, and their relationship to the structure of the solar surface and the inner corona; finally we summarise the Helios observations in the inner heliosphere of CIRs and their precursors to give a link between the optical observations on their solar origin and the in-situ plasma observations at 1 AU after their formation. The most important question that remains to be answered concerning the solar origin of CIRs is related to the origin and morphology of the slow solar wind. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Corotating Interaction Regions at High Latitudes

Ulysses observed a stable strong CIR from early 1992 through 1994 during its first journey into the southern hemisphere. After the rapid latitude scan in early 1995, Ulysses observed a weaker CIR from early 1996 to mid-1997 in the northern hemisphere as it traveled back to the ecliptic at the orbit of Jupiter. These two CIRs are the observational basis of the investigation into the latitudinal structure of CIRs. The first CIR was caused by an extension of the northern coronal hole into the southern hemisphere during declining solar activity, whereas the second CIR near solar minimum activity was caused by small warps in the streamer belt. The latitudinal structure is described through the presentation of three 26-day periods during the southern CIR. The first at ∼24°S shows the full plasma interaction region including fast and slow wind streams, the compressed shocked flows with embedded stream interface and heliospheric current sheet (HCS), and the forward and reverse shocks with associated accelerated ions and electrons. The second at 40°S exhibits only the reverse shock, accelerated particles, and the 26-day modulation of cosmic rays. The third at 60°S shows only the accelerated particles and modulated cosmic rays. The possible mechanisms for the access of the accelerated particles and the CIR-modulated cosmic rays to high latitudes above the plasma interaction region are presented. They include direct magnetic field connection across latitude due to stochastic field line weaving or to systematic weaving caused by solar differential rotation combined with non-radial expansion of the fast wind. Another possible mechanism is particle diffusion across the average magnetic field, which includes stochastic field line weaving. A constraint on connection to a distant portion of the CIR is energy loss in the solar wind, which is substantial for the relatively slow-moving accelerated ions. Finally, the weaker northern CIR is compared with the southern CIR. It is weak because the inclination of the streamer belt and HCS decreased as Ulysses traveled to lower latitudes so that the spacecraft remained at about the maximum latitudinal extent of the HCS. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

双组元高室压脉冲火箭发动机工作特性分析

为了研究高室压脉冲火箭发动机的工作特性,在分析其工作原理的基础上建立了数学模型,其中燃烧室和挤压腔采用零维模型,喷管采用一维准稳态模型,采用四阶Runge-Kutta法进行了求解.结果表明,燃烧室的最大压强和平均压强都高于推进剂供给压强,而挤压过程中进出燃烧室的质量不守恒是压强升高的原因.与常规液体火箭发动机相比较表明,脉冲火箭发动机的真空比冲提高了7.5%,而喉部面积仅为其10.2%.     

Drilling systems for extraterrestrial subsurface exploration

Drilling consists of 2 processes: breaking the formation with a bit and removing the drilled cuttings. In rotary drilling, rotational speed and weight on bit are used to control drilling, and the optimization of these parameters can markedly improve drilling performance. Although fluids are used for cuttings removal in terrestrial drilling, most planetary drilling systems conduct dry drilling with an auger. Chip removal via water-ice sublimation (when excavating water-ice-bound formations at pressure below the triple point of water) and pneumatic systems are also possible. Pneumatic systems use the gas or vaporization products of a high-density liquid brought from Earth, gas provided by an in situ compressor, or combustion products of a monopropellant. Drill bits can be divided into coring bits, which excavate an annular shaped hole, and full-faced bits. While cylindrical cores are generally superior as scientific samples, and coring drills have better performance characteristics, full-faced bits are simpler systems because the handling of a core requires a very complex robotic mechanism. The greatest constraints to extraterrestrial drilling are (1) the extreme environmental conditions, such as temperature, dust, and pressure; (2) the light-time communications delay, which necessitates highly autonomous systems; and (3) the mission and science constraints, such as mass and power budgets and the types of drilled samples needed for scientific analysis. A classification scheme based on drilling depth is proposed. Each of the 4 depth categories (surface drills, 1-meter class drills, 10-meter class drills, and deep drills) has distinct technological profiles and scientific ramifications.     

Experiment LEND of the NASA Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter for high-resolution mapping of neutron emission of the Moon

The scientific objectives of neutron mapping of the Moon are presented as 3 investigation tasks of NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter mission. Two tasks focus on mapping hydrogen content over the entire Moon and on testing the presence of water-ice deposits at the bottom of permanently shadowed craters at the lunar poles. The third task corresponds to the determination of neutron contribution to the total radiation dose at an altitude of 50 km above the Moon. We show that the Lunar Exploration Neutron Detector (LEND) will be capable of carrying out all 3 investigations. The design concept of LEND is presented together with results of numerical simulations of the instrument's sensitivity for hydrogen detection. The sensitivity of LEND is shown to be characterized by a hydrogen detection limit of about 100 ppm for a polar reference area with a radius of 5 km. If the presence of ice deposits in polar "cold traps" is confirmed, a unique record of many millions of years of lunar history would be obtained, by which the history of lunar impacts could be discerned from the layers of water ice and dust. Future applications of a LEND-type instrument for Mars orbital observations are also discussed.     

Spectral signatures of photosynthesis. II. Coevolution with other stars and the atmosphere on extrasolar worlds

As photosynthesis on Earth produces the primary signatures of life that can be detected astronomically at the global scale, a strong focus of the search for extrasolar life will be photosynthesis, particularly photosynthesis that has evolved with a different parent star. We take previously simulated planetary atmospheric compositions for Earth-like planets around observed F2V and K2V, modeled M1V and M5V stars, and around the active M4.5V star AD Leo; our scenarios use Earth's atmospheric composition as well as very low O2 content in case anoxygenic photosynthesis dominates. With a line-by-line radiative transfer model, we calculate the incident spectral photon flux densities at the surface of the planet and under water. We identify bands of available photosynthetically relevant radiation and find that photosynthetic pigments on planets around F2V stars may peak in absorbance in the blue, K2V in the red-orange, and M stars in the near-infrared, in bands at 0.93-1.1 microm, 1.1-1.4 microm, 1.5-1.8 microm, and 1.8-2.5 microm. However, underwater organisms will be restricted to wavelengths shorter than 1.4 microm and more likely below 1.1 microm. M star planets without oxygenic photosynthesis will have photon fluxes above 1.6 microm curtailed by methane. Longer-wavelength, multi-photo-system series would reduce the quantum yield but could allow for oxygenic photosystems at longer wavelengths. A wavelength of 1.1 microm is a possible upper cutoff for electronic transitions versus only vibrational energy; however, this cutoff is not strict, since such energetics depend on molecular configuration. M star planets could be a half to a tenth as productive as Earth in the visible, but exceed Earth if useful photons extend to 1.1 microm for anoxygenic photosynthesis. Under water, organisms would still be able to survive ultraviolet flares from young M stars and acquire adequate light for growth.     

Is there an abnormal enhancement of atmospheric aerosol before the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake?

There are extensive reports of ionospheric disturbances before the great 2008 Wenchuan earthquake, which are possibly explained by seismogenic electric field hypotheses linked with the aerosols injected in atmosphere. This paper attempts to investigate the possible change of atmospheric aerosol optical depth (AOD) associated with this earthquake by using MODIS data from both Terra and Aqua satellites. The result shows a clear enhancement of AOD along the Longmenshan faults 7 days before the quake, which is 1 day and 4 days earlier than the reported negative and positive ionospheric disturbances, respectively, and is 1 day earlier than or quasi-synchronism with other reported atmospheric anomalies including air temperature, outgoing longwave radiation and relative humidity. Particularly, the spatial distribution of AOD enhancement is very local and it is correlated well with the active faults and surface ruptures. We suggest that this unique enhancement could be associated with the Lithosphere–Atmosphere–Ionosphere coupling process during the preparation of the Wenchuan earthquake.     

Lattice Boltzmann Flux Solver： An Efficient Approach for Numerical Simulation of Fluid Flows

A lattice Boltzmann flux solver （LBFS） is presented for simulation of fluid flows. Like the conventional computational fluid dynamics （CFD） solvers, the new solver also applies the finite volume method to discretize the governing differential equations, but the numerical flux at the cell interface is not evaluated by the smooth function approximation or Riemann solvers. Instead, it is evaluated from local solution of lattice Boltzmann equation （LBE） at cell interface. Two versions of LBFS are presented in this paper. One is to locally apply one-dimensional compressible lattice Boltzmann （LB） model along the normal direction to the cell interface for simulation of compressible inviscid flows with shock waves. The other is to locally apply multi-dimensional LB model at cell interface for simulation of incompressible viscous and inviscid flows. The present solver removes the drawbacks of conventional lattice Boltzmann method （LBM） such as limitation to uniform mesh, tie-up of mesh spacing and time interval, limitation to viscous flows. Numerical examples show that the present solver can be well applied to simulate fluid flows with non-uniform mesh and curved boundary.     

Alpha Particle X-Ray Spectrometer (APXS) on-board Chandrayaan-2 rover

Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer (APXS) payload configuration for Chandrayaan-2 rover has been completed recently and fabrication of mechanical assembly, PCB layout design and fabrication are in progress. Here we present the design and performance evaluation of various subsystems developed for APXS payload. The low energy threshold of <1 keV and the energy resolution of ∼150 eV at 5.9 keV, for the Silicon Drift Detector (SDD), as measured from the developed APXS electronics is comparable to the standard spectrometers available off-the-shelf. We have also carried out experiments for measuring fluorescent X-ray spectrum from various standard samples from the USGS catalog irradiated by the laboratory X-ray source ²⁴¹Am with 1 mCi activity. It is shown that intensities of various characteristic X-ray lines are well correlated with the respective elemental concentrations.