International cooperation in assuring continuity of environmental satellite data

In the 25 years since the launch of the first weather satellite, meteorological observations from space have become an essential part of weather forecasting and global environmental monitoring. Beginning in the 1970s, constrained national budgets and the need for a coordinated approach to global satellite observing have caused satellite operators to pursue international cooperation to assure the continuity and compatibility of these systems. This article reviews current bilateral and multilateral cooperation and technical coordination in environmental satellite activities. It also explores the potential for alternative institutional arrangements for maintaining the continuity of environmental satellite data in the decades to come.     

Shuttle avionics verification and integration testing

The Space Shuttle Orbiter employs a fly-by-wire control system of 200 major avionic hardware devices interfacing with five flight computers through a complex data bus system. Responses to man-in-the-loop commands are dependent on the flight software. Early program development testing of the computer and avionic hardware has been accomplished at Rockwell International's Shuttle Avionics Development Laboratory (ADL). Hardware development has led to complete multi-string system testing and flight software evaluations. This paper provides an overview of the ADL. Its role and test capabilities in support of Shuttle development are defined. The nature of computer driven test programs for the Orbiter displays, the Digital Autopilot, and flight software development describe the test bed provided by the ADL.     

Real time localization of gamma ray bursts with INTEGRAL

The INTEGRAL satellite has been successfully launched in October 2002 and has recently started its operational phase. The INTEGRAL burst alert system (IBAS) will distribute in real time the coordinates of the gamma ray bursts (GRBs) detected with INTEGRAL. After a brief introduction on the INTEGRAL instruments, we describe the main IBAS characteristics and report on the initial results. During the initial performance and verification phase of the INTEGRAL mission, which lasted about two months, two GRBs have been localized with accuracy of 2–4 arcmin. These observations have allowed us to validate the IBAS software, which is now expected to provide quick (few seconds delay) and precise (few arcmin) localization for 10–15 GRBs per year.     

微波衰减测量过程失控的原因分析及解决方案

针对高频串联替代法微波衰减测量标准装置测量过程所出现的失控现象 ,从测量标准仪器、被测仪器、测量方法、人为因素等方面分析了失控的原因 ,制定并实施了相应的解决方案 ,使测量过程恢复到统计受控状态     

Exobiological exploration of Mars.

Of all the other planets in the solar system, Mars remains the most promising for further elucidating concepts about chemical evolution and the origin of life. Strategies were developed to pursue three exobiological objectives for Mars exploration: determining the abundance and distribution of the biogenic elements and organic compounds, detecting evidence of an ancient biota on Mars, and determining whether indigenous organisms exist anywhere on the planet. The three strategies are quite similar and, in fact, share the same sequence of phases. In the first phase, each requires global reconnaissance and remote sensing by orbiters to select sites of interest for detailed in situ analyses. In the second phase, lander missions are conducted to characterize the chemical and physical properties of the selected sites. The third phase involves conducting "critical" experiments at sites whose properties make them particularly attractive for exobiology. These critical experiments would include, for example, identification of organics, detection of fossils, and detection of extant life. The fourth phase is the detailed analysis of samples returned from these sites in Earth-based laboratories to confirm and extend previous discoveries. Finally, in the fifth phase, human exploration is needed to establish the geological settings for the earlier findings or to discover and explore sites that are not accessible to robotic spacecraft.     

Engineering concepts for inflatable Mars surface greenhouses.

A major challenge of designing a bioregenerative life support system for Mars is the reduction of the mass, volume, power, thermal and crew-time requirements. Structural mass of the greenhouse could be saved by operating the greenhouse at low atmospheric pressure. This paper investigates the feasibility of this concept. The method of equivalent system mass is used to compare greenhouses operated at high atmospheric pressure to greenhouses operated at low pressure for three different lighting methods: natural, artificial and hybrid lighting.     

Continuous tracking of cmes using MICA, andLASCO C2 and C3 coronagraphs

In this work we have tracked coronal mass ejections observed with the ground based Mirror Coronagraph for Argentina (MICA) and the Large Angle and Spectroscopic Coronagraph (LASCO) C2 and C3 on board of the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO). The MICA telescope is located at El Leoncito (31.8 S, 69.3 W), San Juan (Argentina), since 1997 as part of a bilateral scientific project between Germany and Argentina. SOHO is a project of international cooperation between ESA and NASA. Together these instruments are able to observe the solar corona ranging from 1.05 to 32 solar radii. MICA images the Fe XIV emission line corona and LASCO coronagraphs observe the Thomson scattered white light corona. We have selected events for which there are observations from the three coronagraphs. Using the composite data we were able to obtain height-time diagrams for the corresponding dynamical coronal features traveling outwards in order to determine some of their kinematical properties, i.e., plane of sky velocity and acceleration.     

离散事件动态系统的GSMP模型及扰动分析

对离散事件动态系统（ＤＥＤＳ）的仿真过程建立了包含中断事件集和驱动事件集的广义半马尔可夫过程（ＧＳＭＰ）模型，对参数的无穷小扰动所引起的系统状态转移时刻进行了扰动分析，最后，讨论了扰动分析所需要的可变换条件和样本性能函数的关系，并提出值得进一步研究的问题。     

中国地区MAGSAT卫星标量和矢量磁异常图

使用MAGSAT卫星资料,编绘中国及邻近地区的卫星磁异常图(10°N—60°N,70°E—140°E)。为了提取地壳异常场,必须从观测资料中消除主磁场、磁层场,感应场和电离层场。本文选用GSFC(12/83)地磁场模型,消除主磁场,磁层场和感应场。为了进一步消除电离层场的影响,改善相邻轨道磁异常的一致性,用纬度的二次多项式拟合每一条轨道的初始地壳异常,并从初始地壳磁异常值减去这一拟合值,从而获得最后的地壳异常值(△X,△Y,△Z,△F)。把研究地区分成1°×1°的网格,将每个网格内的磁异常进行平均,以获得网格中心点的异常值。根据这些网点值绘制中国及邻近地区的卫星标量和矢量磁异常图。等值线间隔为2nT。为了检验卫星磁异常图的可靠性,将卫星资料分成黎明组、黄昏组和联合组,分别进行处理和绘制卫星磁异常图。结果表明:根据上述资料绘制的卫星磁异常图有很好的一致性。中国地区的卫星磁异常值位于—10nT—10nT。卫星磁异常与区域构造特征有较好的一致性;塔里木地台、扬子地台和中朝地台是正磁异常区,西藏高原是负磁异常区。卫星磁异常反映出下地壳磁化强度的横向不均匀性。     

Surface tension-driven flows in horizontal liquid metal layers

The problem of surface tension-driven flows in horizontal liquid layers has been studied experimentally, and theoretically by direct numerical simulation and small perturbation analysis. We focus our attention on situations in which the depth of the fluid (liquid tin; small Prandtl number, Pr=0.015) is small enough to ensure the predominance of the surface tension forces over those due to the buoyancy. The surface velocity has been experimentally obtained for liquid tin layer with various aspect ratio (length to height) in the range 5<A<83. The thermal gradients are ranged from 5 to 40°K/cm. In the numerical study, the Navier-Stokes and energy equations are solved by an efficient finite difference technique. The parameters governing the flow behaviour in the liquid are varied to determine their effects on thermocapillary convection: the Reynolds number 10<Re<210⁴ and the aspect ratio 2<A<25; with Pr kept constant at Pr=0.015. The linear eigenequation resulting from small spatial disturbances of the Couette flow solution is solved using an Tau-Chebyshev approximation. A notable feature of the theoretical study is the totally different end circulations. In the region near the cold wall a multicell structure is evident. This agrees with the eigensolution which is of complex type, indicating spatial periodicity. In the hot wall region the flow is accelerated to reach the velocity value for the fully-developed Couette flow which is reached under conditions such as Re/A<20. The transition from viscous to boundary layer regime occurs for a critical value (Re/A)_c of nearly about 200, as deduced from the numerical and experimental results.