Superlight rotating reflectors in space

There is a general possibility of creation in space of large controlled mirror reflectors for solar and electromagnetic radiation with specific mass order of 1 g m^?2 or less. Such reflectors may be used in space energetics for concentration of solar energy for its further conversion into microwave beam and transmission to the Earth. They can also be used to illuminate the Earth surface in a dark period with reflected sunlight, to control the weather, for research work and some other purposes. Such reflector is a good solar sail. The control of its orientation and position in space is performed using solar energy and light pressure without spending fuel delivered from the Earth. Its form is maintained by centrifugal forces and light pressure. The film strength permits concentrators with radii of several kilometres and nearly flat reflectors for lighting applications with radii of hundreds of metres. Large series of identical reflectors can be built in space using superthin film tape at assembly station. For a year more than a hundred reflectors with a diameter of 600 m can be assembled at such a station. The assembly station can be placed at the height of 1000 km. The reflectors transfer to synchronous or other orbit is performed using their sail-likeness. For realization of such reflectors one should solve a very difficult problem of superthin film mass production as well as assembly technology problems. Careful study and experimental checks of their lifetime should be also made.     

Airglow atmospheric imager on board the ‘IK-Bulgaria-1300’ satellite

This paper shows the possibilities of the optical scanning imager for investigation of the structure of the auroral, SAR and tropical arcs and in this way to study the particle precipitation, neutral winds across the magnetic equator, drifts, electric fields and the current systems in the ionosphere.     

The variability of stratospheric nitrogen compounds observed by LIMS in the winter of 1978–1979

The LIMS experiment was launched on the Nimbus 7 satellite for the purpose of sounding the vertical structure of temperature and key upper atmosphere trace gases on a global scale. The technique of thermal infrared limb sounding was used to obtain measurements of O₃, H₂O, NO₂, and HNO₃. LIMS collected data almost continuously from late October to late May over the latitude range from 64°S to 84°N. Two of the gases, NO₂ and HNO₃, are important elements in the NO_x chain of chemical reactions leading to ozone destruction. We will describe results for these gases in terms of zonal mean profiles and latitudinal distributions. The period selected for study is January–May 1979, when a major stratospheric warming occurred.     

X-ray diagnostics of globular clusters

The presence of compact X-ray sources in globular clusters allows diagnostic studies of both the X-ray sources themselves and the globular clusters to be carried out. A review of much of this work, primarily based on Einstein X-ray observations and supporting studies of globular clusters at radio through UV wavelengths, is presented. The compact X-ray sources in globular clusters are found to be compact binaries containing neutron stars and - in a separate lower luminosity component of an apparently bimodal luminosity function - possibly white dwarfs. Implications for the formation and evolution of compact binary X-ray sources in globular clusters and in the galactic bulge are discussed. In particular, new evidence is presented that the galactic bulge sources may be compact binaries in the remnants of disrupted globular clusters.     

The Effect of Pulse Shape and Duty Cycle on Laser Binary Communication Systems

The result of an investigation of the effects of pulse shape and duty cycle on the probability of error are presented for a pulse-gated binary modulation (PGBM) laser communication system when the background irradiance has the important Lorentzian spectral shape.     

Two-frequency radio occultation measurements with Venera-9 and Venera-10 orbiters

The experiment with two-frequency radio occultation measurements of the Venusian nightside ionosphere using the Venera-9 and 10 orbiters is described. The experiment is the first of a kind in which the radio link to one of the spacecraft is used to probe the ionosphere, while the other is measuring the variations in the integral electron number density along the path of radio ray propagation. The experiment has been designed to achieve the maximum possible accuracies in determining the parameters of the probed ionosphere using the bistatic two-frequency radio occultation method.     

Solar pulsations

Recent observational evidence on solar oscillations is reviewed; this evidence strongly favors the global interpretation for much of the observed spectrum. Implications of these observations for the study of the solar interior and atmosphere are discussed.This work was supported in part by the National Science Foundation and the Air Force Office of Scientific Research.     

Lossless compression of stromatolite images: a biogenicity index?

It has been underappreciated that inorganic processes can produce stromatolites (laminated macroscopic constructions commonly attreibuted to microbiological activity), thus calling into question the long-standing use of stromatolites as de facto evidence for ancient life. Using lossless compression on unmagnified reflectance red-green-blue (RGB) images of matched stromatolite-sediment matrix pairs as a complexity metric, the compressibility index (delta(c), the log ratio of the ratio of the compressibility of the matrix versus the target) of a putative abiotic test stromatolite is significantly less than the delta(c) of a putative biotic test stromatolite. There is a clear separation in delta(c) between the different stromatolites discernible at the outcrop scale. In terms of absolute compressibility, the sediment matrix between the stromatolite columns was low in both cases, the putative abiotic stromatolite was similar to the intracolumnar sediment, and the putative biotic stromatolite was much greater (again discernible at the outcrop scale). We propose tht this metric would be useful for evaluating the biogenicity of images obtained by the camera systems available on every Mars surface probe launched to date including Viking, Pathfinder, Beagle, and the two Mars Exploration Rovers.