Coronal radio-sounding detection of a CME during the 1997 Galileo solar conjunction

Frequency fluctuations of the Galileo S-band radio signal were recorded nearly continuously during the spacecraft’s solar conjunction from December 1996 to February 1997. A strong propagating disturbance, most probably associated with a coronal mass ejection (CME), was detected on 7 February when the radio ray path proximate point was on the west solar limb at about 54 solar radii from the Sun. The CME passage through the line of sight is characterized by a significant increase in the fluctuation intensity of the recorded frequency and by an increase in the plasma speed from about 234 km s⁻¹ up to about 755 km s⁻¹. These velocity estimates are obtained from a correlation analysis of frequency fluctuations recorded simultaneously at two widely-separated ground stations. The density turbulence power spectrum is found to steepen behind the CME front. The Galileo radio-sounding data are compared with SOHO/LASCO observations of the CME in the corona and with WIND spacecraft data near the Earth’s orbit.     

The MELISSA pilot plant facility as as integration test-bed for advanced life support systems.

The different advances in the Micro Ecological Life Support System Alternative project (MELISSA), fostered and coordinated by the European Space Agency, as well as in other associated technologies, are integrated and demonstrated in the MELISSA Pilot Plant laboratory. During the first period of operation, the definition of the different compartments at an individual basis has been achieved, and the complete facility is being re-designed to face a new period of integration of all these compartments. The final objective is to demonstrate the potentiality of biological systems such as MELISSA as life support systems. The facility will also serve as a test bed to study the robustness and stability of the continuous operation of a complex biological system. This includes testing of the associated instrumentation and control for a safe operation, characterization of the chemical and microbial safety of the system, as well as tracking the genetic stability of the microbial strains used. The new period is envisaged as a contribution to the further development of more complete biological life support systems for long-term manned missions, that should be better defined from the knowledge to be gained from this integration phase. This contribution summarizes the current status of the Pilot Plant and the planned steps for the new period.     

On the fundamental acoustic mode in variable area,low Mach number nozzles

We consider the propagation of sound in nozzles of substantially varying cross-section, taking into account reflections from the tapering walls and non-uniform convection by the axially accelerated or decelerated mean flow. Exact solutions of the acoustic equations are obtained for the simplest case of the fundamental longitudinal mode in quasi-one-dimensional, low Mach number nozzle flow. The effects of non-uniform mean flow on sound are demonstrated by comparing horns with nozzles, and 15 properties (stated in italics and labelled P1, P2 ... P15 in the text) are proved and discussed, viz. concerning (1) relations between acoustic pressure and velocity; (2) equipartition or biasing of kinetic and compression energies; (3) conservation or evolution of wave action; (4) existence of elementary or special solutions and (5) cut-off frequencies, and amplitude and phase laws. We conclude with a simple formula for the approximate calculation of the acoustic fields; the formula can be made more accurate by using a correction factor for amplitude and phase, which is plotted against area ratio for propagation upstream or downstream in diffusers and convergent nozzles.     

Comets and life.

Some of the chemical species which have been detected in comets include H2O, HCN, CH3CN, CO, CO2, NH3, CS, C2 and C3. All of these have also been detected in the interstellar medium, indicating a probable relationship between interstellar dust and gas clouds and comets. Laboratory experiments carried out with different mixtures of these molecules give rise to the formation of the biochemical compounds which are necessary for life, such as amino acids, purines, pyrimidines, monosaccharides, etc. However, in spite of suggestions to the contrary, the presence of life in comets is unlikely. On the other hand, the capture of cometary matter by the primitive Earth is considered essential for the development of life on this planet. The amount of cometary carbon-containing matter captured by the Earth, as calculated by different authors, is several times larger than the total amount of organic matter present in the biosphere (10(18)g). The major classes of reactions which were probably involved in the formation of key biochemical compounds are discussed. Our tentative conclusions are that: 1) comets played a predominant role in the emergence of life on our planet, and 2) they are the cosmic connection with extraterrestrial life.     

Connection between the discrete auroral structures drifting equatorward during the substorm expansion phase and the energetic particle injections at the geostationary orbit

The formation of an auroral bulge with a bright dynamical arc at its polar boundary is one of the main manifestations of the magnetospheric substorm expansion phase at the ionospheric level. At the same time, the region of discrete aurora broadens not only polewards but equatorwards as well. The discrete forms of auroras moving equatorwards form a dynamical equatorial boundary of the auroral bulge shifting together with them. The paper presents a spatial-time comparison of the drifting discrete auroras to the injection of energetic particles at the geostationary orbit. It is shown that bursts in the fluxes of energetic particles at the LANL geostationary satellites located in the same sector of MLT correspond to the majority of drifting discrete auroral structures observed by the all-sky camera. In the cases when the bursts in the fluxes are absent, the minimum latitude reached by the auroral structures at the equatorward drift is higher than the ionospheric projection of the geostationary orbit. A possible relation of the drifting discrete auroras to the plasma stream jets in the plasma sheet is discussed.     

Cell inactivation, repair and mutation induction in bacteria after heavy ion exposure: results from experiments at accelerators and in space.

To understand the mechanisms of accelerated heavy ions on biological matter, the responses of spores of B. subtilis to this structured high LET radiation was investigated applying two different approaches. 1) By the use of the Biostack concept, the inactivation probability as a function of radial distance to single particles' trajectory (i.e. impact parameter) was determined in space experiments as well as at accelerators using low fluences of heavy ions. It was found that spores can survive even a central hit and that the effective range of inactivation extends far beyond impact parameters where inactivation by delta-ray dose would be effective. Concerning the space experiment, the inactivation cross section exceeds those from comparable accelerator experiments by roughly a factor of 20. 2) From fluence effect curves, cross sections for inactivation and mutation induction, and the efficiency of repair processes were determined. They are influenced by the ions characteristics in a complex manner. According to dependence on LET, at least 3 LET ranges can be differentiated: A low LET range (app. < 200 keV/micrometers), where cross sections for inactivation and mutation induction follow a common curve for different ions and where repair processes are effective; an intermediate LET range of the so-called saturation cross section with negligible mutagenic and repair efficiency; and a high LET range (>1000 keV/micrometers) where the biological endpoints are majorly dependent on atomic mass and energy of the ion under consideration.     

Utilization of white potatoes in CELSS.

Potatoes (Solanum tuberosum) have a strong potential as a useful crop species in a functioning CELSS. The cultivar Denali has produced 37.5 g m-2 d-1 when grown for 132 days with the first 40 days under a 12-h photoperiod and a light:dark temperature cycle of 20 degrees C:16 degrees C, and then 92 days under continuous irradiance and a temperature of 16 degrees C. Irradiance was at 725 micromoles m-2 s-1 PPF and carbon dioxide at 1000 micromoles mol-1. The dried tubers had 82% carbohydrates, 9% protein and 0.6% fat. Other studies have shown that carbon dioxide supplementation (1000 micromoles mol-1) is of significant benefit under 12-h irradiance but less benefit under 24 h irradiance. Irradiance cycles of 60 minutes light and 30 minutes dark caused a reduction of more than 50% in tuber weight compared to cycles of 16 h light and 8 h dark. A diurnal temperature change of 22 degrees C for the 12-h light period to 14 degrees C during the 12-h dark period gave increased yields of 30% and 10% for two separate cultivars, compared with plants grown under a constant 18 degrees C temperature. Cultivar screening under continuous irradiance and elevated temperatures (28 degrees C) for 8 weeks of growth indicated that the cvs Haig, Denali, Atlantic, Desiree and Rutt had the best potential for tolerance to these conditions. Harvesting of tubers from plants at weekly intervals, beginning at 8 weeks after planting, did not increase yield over a single final harvest. Spacing of plants on 0.055 centers produced greater yield per m2 than spacing at 0.11 or 0.22 m2. Plants maintained 0.33 meters apart (0.111 m2 per plant) in beds produced the same yields when separated by dividers in the root matrix as when no separation was made.     

The evolution of mirror type magnetic fluctuations in the magnetosheath based on multipoint observations

Two orbits were selected in January–February 2006 when the separation between the Cluster spacecraft was large and mirror type magnetic field fluctuations were observed by all spacecraft in different regions of the terrestrial magnetosheath. Minimum variance analysis was applied to find the mirror type fluctuations, and the amplitude of the fluctuations was determined individually. Mirror mode structures are moving along the streamlines frozen in the plasma. A model was developed for the calculation of plasma flowtime from the bow shock to the observation point. The growth rate of the field strength perturbations was estimated by comparing the amplitudes of fluctuations observed simultaneously at distant locations (∼10,000 km) based on the assumption that δB ∼ exp(γt). The obtained growth rate values were about an order of magnitude smaller than those provided by linear models and they decreased in the inner regions of the magnetosheath, indicating some saturation in the growth of the waves when proceeding towards the magnetopause. The results of these two case studies suggest that mirror type fluctuations originate from the compression region downstream of the quasi-perpendicular bow shock, and the growth of the fluctuations cannot be described by linear approximations.     

Transient Nonstationary Behavior of a Delay Line Discriminator

The development of numerical methods for studying the transient nonstationary behavior of a delay line discriminator is presented. Expressions are developed for the mean and the variance of the output noise process. For the cases where the output is stationary, power density spectra are found.