The Genesis Solar-Wind Collector Materials

Genesis (NASA Discovery Mission #5) is a sample return mission. Collectors comprised of ultra-high purity materials will be exposed to the solar wind and then returned to Earth for laboratory analysis. There is a suite of fifteen types of ultra-pure materials distributed among several locations. Most of the materials are mounted on deployable panels (‘collector arrays’), with some as targets in the focal spot of an electrostatic mirror (the ‘concentrator’). Other materials are strategically placed on the spacecraft as additional targets of opportunity to maximize the area for solar-wind collection. Most of the collection area consists of hexagonal collectors in the arrays; approximately half are silicon, the rest are for solar-wind components not retained and/or not easily measured in silicon. There are a variety of materials both in collector arrays and elsewhere targeted for the analyses of specific solar-wind components. Engineering and science factors drove the selection process. Engineering required testing of physical properties such as the ability to withstand shaking on launch and thermal cycling during deployment. Science constraints included bulk purity, surface and interface cleanliness, retentiveness with respect to individual solar-wind components, and availability. A detailed report of material parameters planned as a resource for choosing materials for study will be published on a Genesis website, and will be updated as additional information is obtained. Some material is already linked to the Genesis plasma data website (genesis.lanl.gov). Genesis should provide a reservoir of materials for allocation to the scientific community throughout the 21st Century. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Variations of the magnetic fields in large solar flares

We present preliminary results from high resolution observations obtained with the Michelson Doppler Imager (MDI) instrument on the SOHO of two large solar flares of 14 July 2000 and 24 November 2000. We show that rapid variations of the line-of-sight magnetic field occured on a time scale of a few minutes during the flare explosions. The reversibility/irreversibility of the magnetic field of both active regions is a very good tool for understanding how the magnetic energy is released in these flares. The observed sharp increase of the magnetic energy density at the time of maximum of the solar flare could involve an unknown component which deposited supplementary energy into the system. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Huygens Probe Aerosol Collector Pyrolyser Experiment

ACP's main objective is the chemical analysis of the aerosols in Titan's atmosphere. For this purpose, it will sample the aerosols during descent and prepare the collected matter (by evaporation, pyrolysis and gas products transfer) for analysis by the Huygens Gas Chromatograph Mass Spectrometer (GCMS). A sampling system is required for sampling the aerosols in the 135'32 km and 22'17 km altitude regions of Titan's atmosphere. A pump unit is used to force the gas flow through a filter. In its sampling position, the filter front face extends a few mm beyond the inlet tube. The oven is a pyrolysis furnace where a heating element can heat the filter and hence the sampled aerosols to 250 °C or 600 °C. The oven contains the filter, which has a thimble-like shape (height 28 mm). For transferring effluent gas and pyrolysis products to GCMS, the carrier gas is a labeled nitrogen ¹⁵N₂, to avoid unwanted secondary reactions with Titan's atmospheric nitrogen. Aeraulic tests under cold temperature conditions were conducted by using a cold gas test system developed by ONERA. The objective of the test was to demonstrate the functional ability of the instrument during the descent of the probe and to understand its thermal behavior, that is to test the performance of all its components, pump unit and mechanisms. In order to validate ACP's scientific performance, pyrolysis tests were conducted at LISA on solid phase material synthesized from experimental simulation. The chromatogram obtained by GCMS analysis shows many organic compounds. Some GC peaks appear clearly from the total mass spectra, with specific ions well identified thanks to the very high sensitivity of the mass spectrometer. The program selected for calibrating the flight model is directly linked to the GCMS calibration plan. In order not to pollute the two flight models with products of solid samples such as tholins, we excluded any direct pyrolysis tests through the ACP oven during the first phase of the calibration. Post probe descent simulation of flight results are planned, using the much representative GCMS and ACP spare models. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Orbits and Integrals in Self-Consistent Systems

We find the forms of the orbits in a self-consistent galactic model generated by a N-body simulation of the collapse of a protogalaxy. The model represents a stationary elliptical galaxy of type E5, which is approximately axisymmetric around its longest axis. The orbits are of three main types, box orbits (including box-like orbits), tube orbits and chaotic orbits. The box or box-like and tube orbits are represented by closed invariant curves on a Poincaré surface of section. The forms of the orbits and of the invariant curves can be explained by a third integral of motion I, that is given by the Giorgilli (1979) computer program. The nonresonant form of the third integral explains the box orbits, while a resonant form of this integral explains both the box orbits and the 1:1 tube orbits. The N-body model gives the distribution of velocities F, which is an exponential of the third integral.     

Quintessence – the Dark Energy in the Universe?

Quintessence – the energy density of a slowly evolving scalar field – may constitute a dynamical form of the homogeneous dark energy in the universe. We review the basic idea and indicate observational tests which may distinguish quintessence from a cosmological constant.     

Kalman filtering with state equality constraints

Kalman filters are commonly used to estimate the states of a dynamic system. However, in the application of Kalman filters there is often known model or signal information that is either ignored or dealt with heuristically. For instance, constraints on state values (which may be based on physical considerations) are often neglected because they do not fit easily into the structure of the Kalman filter. A rigorous analytic method of incorporating state equality constraints in the Kalman filter is developed. The constraints may be time varying. At each time step the unconstrained Kalman filter solution is projected onto the state constraint surface. This significantly improves the prediction accuracy of the filter. The use of this algorithm is demonstrated on a simple nonlinear vehicle tracking problem     

Spectral-domain covariance estimation with a priori knowledge

A knowledge-aided spectral-domain approach to estimating the interference covariance matrix used in space-time adaptive processing (STAP) is proposed. Prior knowledge of the range-Doppler clutter scene is used to identify geographic regions with homogeneous scattering statistics. Then, minimum-variance spectral estimation is used to arrive at a spectral-domain clutter estimate. Finally, space-time steering vectors are used to transform the spectral-domain estimate into a data-domain estimate of the clutter covariance matrix. The proposed technique is compared with ideal performance and to the fast maximum likelihood technique using simulated results. An investigation of the performance degradation that can occur due to various inaccurate knowledge assumptions is also presented     

Comet Geology with Deep Impact Remote Sensing

The Deep Impact mission will provide the highest resolution images yet of a comet nucleus. Our knowledge of the makeup and structure of cometary nuclei, and the processes shaping their surfaces, is extremely limited, thus use of the Deep Impact data to show the geological context of the cratering experiment is crucial. This article briefly discusses some of the geological issues of cometary nuclei.     

Acceleration of the solar wind

In this review, we discuss critically recent research on the acceleration of the solar wind, giving emphasis to high-speed solar wind streams emanating from solar coronal holes. We first explain why thermally driven wind models constrained by solar and interplanetary observations encounter substantial difficulties in explaining high speed streams. Then, through a general discussion of energy addition to the solar wind above the coronal base, we indicate a possible resolution of these difficulties. Finally, we consider the question of what role MHD waves might play in transporting energy through the solar atmosphere and depositing it in the solar wind, and we conclude by examining, in a simple way, the specific mechanism of solar wind acceleration by Alfvén waves and the related problem of accelerating massive stellar winds with Alfvén waves.Paper presented at the IX-th Lindau Workshop The Source Region of the Solar Wind.On leave from the Auroral Observatory, Institute of Mathematical and Physical Sciences, University of Tromsø, N-9001 Tromsø, Norway.The National Center for Atmospheric Research is sponsored by the National Science Foundation.