The Cassini-Huygens Cosmic Dust Analyzer (CDA) is intended to provide direct observations of dust grains with masses between 10−19 and 10−9 kg in interplanetary space and in the jovian and saturnian systems, to investigate their physical, chemical and dynamical properties as functions of the distances to the Sun, to Jupiter and to Saturn and its satellites and rings, to study their interaction with the saturnian rings, satellites and magnetosphere. Chemical composition of interplanetary meteoroids will be compared with asteroidal and cometary dust, as well as with Saturn dust, ejecta from rings and satellites. Ring and satellites phenomena which might be effects of meteoroid impacts will be compared with the interplanetary dust environment. Electrical charges of particulate matter in the magnetosphere and its consequences will be studied, e.g. the effects of the ambient plasma and the magnetic field on the trajectories of dust particles as well as fragmentation of particles due to electrostatic disruption.The investigation will be performed with an instrument that measures the mass, composition, electric charge, speed, and flight direction of individual dust particles. It is a highly reliable and versatile instrument with a mass sensitivity 106 times higher than that of the Pioneer 10 and 11 dust detectors which measured dust in the saturnian system. The Cosmic Dust Analyzer has significant inheritance from former space instrumentation developed for the VEGA, Giotto, Galileo, and Ulysses missions. It will reliably measure impacts from as low as 1 impact per month up to 104 impacts per second. The instrument weighs 17 kg and consumes 12 W, the integrated time-of-flight mass spectrometer has a mass resolution of up to 50. The nominal data transmission rate is 524 bits/s and varies between 50 and 4192 bps.This revised version was published online in July 2005 with a corrected cover date. 相似文献
The source region of solar wind plasma is observed to be directly reflected in the compositional pattern of both elemental
and charge state compositions. Slow solar wind associated with streamers shows higher freeze-in temperatures and larger FIP
enhancements than coronal hole associated wind. Also, the variability of virtually all compositional parameters is much higher
for slow solar wind compared to coronal hole associated wind. We show that these compositional patterns persist even though
stream-stream interactions complicate the identification based on in situ plasma parameters.
This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date. 相似文献
The STEREO/WAVES experiment is designed to measure the electric component of radio emission from interplanetary radio bursts and in situ plasma waves and fluctuations in the solar wind. Interplanetary radio bursts are generated from electron beams at interplanetary shocks and solar flares and are observed from near the Sun to 1 AU, corresponding to frequencies of approximately 16 MHz to 10 kHz. In situ plasma waves occur in a range of wavelengths larger than the Debye length in the solar wind plasma λD≈10 m and appear Doppler-shifted into the frequency regime down to a fraction of a Hertz. These phenomena are measured by STEREO/WAVES with a set of three orthogonal electric monopole antennas. This paper describes the electrical and mechanical design of the antenna system and discusses efforts to model the antenna pattern and response and methods for in-flight calibration. 相似文献
Because the solar radiation and particle environment plays a major role in all atmospheric processes such as ionization, dissociation,
heating of the upper atmospheres, and thermal and non-thermal atmospheric loss processes, the long-time evolution of planetary
atmospheres and their water inventories can only be understood within the context of the evolving Sun. We compare the effect
of solar induced X-ray and EUV (XUV) heating on the upper atmospheres of Earth, Venus and Mars since the time when the Sun
arrived at the Zero-Age-Main-Sequence (ZAMS) about 4.6 Gyr ago. We apply a diffusive-gravitational equilibrium and thermal
balance model for studying heating of the early thermospheres by photodissociation and ionization processes, due to exothermic
chemical reactions and cooling by IR-radiating molecules like CO2, NO, OH, etc. Our model simulations result in extended thermospheres for early Earth, Venus and Mars. The exospheric temperatures
obtained for all the three planets during this time period lead to diffusion-limited hydrodynamic escape of atomic hydrogen
and high Jeans’ escape rates for heavier species like H2, He, C, N, O, etc. The duration of this blow-off phase for atomic hydrogen depends essentially on the mixing ratios of CO2, N2 and H2O in the atmospheres and could last from ∼100 to several hundred million years. Furthermore, we study the efficiency of various
non-thermal atmospheric loss processes on Venus and Mars and investigate the possible protecting effect of the early martian
magnetosphere against solar wind induced ion pick up erosion. We find that the early martian magnetic field could decrease
the ion-related non-thermal escape rates by a great amount. It is possible that non-magnetized early Mars could have lost
its whole atmosphere due to the combined effect of its extended upper atmosphere and a dense solar wind plasma flow of the
young Sun during about 200 Myr after the Sun arrived at the ZAMS. Depending on the solar wind parameters, our model simulations
for early Venus show that ion pick up by strong solar wind from a non-magnetized planet could erode up to an equivalent amount
of ∼250 bar of O+ ions during the first several hundred million years. This accumulated loss corresponds to an equivalent mass of ∼1 terrestrial
ocean (TO (1 TO ∼1.39×1024 g or expressed as partial pressure, about 265 bar, which corresponds to ∼2900 m average depth)). Finally, we discuss and
compare our findings with the results of preceding studies. 相似文献
The MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging (MESSENGER) mission to Mercury offers our first opportunity
to explore this planet’s miniature magnetosphere since the brief flybys of Mariner 10. Mercury’s magnetosphere is unique in
many respects. The magnetosphere of Mercury is among the smallest in the solar system; its magnetic field typically stands
off the solar wind only ∼1000 to 2000 km above the surface. For this reason there are no closed drift paths for energetic
particles and, hence, no radiation belts. Magnetic reconnection at the dayside magnetopause may erode the subsolar magnetosphere,
allowing solar wind ions to impact directly the regolith. Inductive currents in Mercury’s interior may act to modify the solar
wind interaction by resisting changes due to solar wind pressure variations. Indeed, observations of these induction effects
may be an important source of information on the state of Mercury’s interior. In addition, Mercury’s magnetosphere is the
only one with its defining magnetic flux tubes rooted beneath the solid surface as opposed to an atmosphere with a conductive
ionospheric layer. This lack of an ionosphere is probably the underlying reason for the brevity of the very intense, but short-lived,
∼1–2 min, substorm-like energetic particle events observed by Mariner 10 during its first traversal of Mercury’s magnetic
tail. Because of Mercury’s proximity to the sun, 0.3–0.5 AU, this magnetosphere experiences the most extreme driving forces
in the solar system. All of these factors are expected to produce complicated interactions involving the exchange and recycling
of neutrals and ions among the solar wind, magnetosphere, and regolith. The electrodynamics of Mercury’s magnetosphere are
expected to be equally complex, with strong forcing by the solar wind, magnetic reconnection, and pick-up of planetary ions
all playing roles in the generation of field-aligned electric currents. However, these field-aligned currents do not close
in an ionosphere, but in some other manner. In addition to the insights into magnetospheric physics offered by study of the
solar wind–Mercury system, quantitative specification of the “external” magnetic field generated by magnetospheric currents
is necessary for accurate determination of the strength and multi-polar decomposition of Mercury’s intrinsic magnetic field.
MESSENGER’s highly capable instrumentation and broad orbital coverage will greatly advance our understanding of both the origin
of Mercury’s magnetic field and the acceleration of charged particles in small magnetospheres. In this article, we review
what is known about Mercury’s magnetosphere and describe the MESSENGER science team’s strategy for obtaining answers to the
outstanding science questions surrounding the interaction of the solar wind with Mercury and its small, but dynamic, magnetosphere. 相似文献
In May of 2011, NASA selected the Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, and Security–Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx) asteroid sample return mission as the third mission in the New Frontiers program. The other two New Frontiers missions are New Horizons, which explored Pluto during a flyby in July 2015 and is on its way for a flyby of Kuiper Belt object 2014 MU69 on January 1, 2019, and Juno, an orbiting mission that is studying the origin, evolution, and internal structure of Jupiter. The spacecraft departed for near-Earth asteroid (101955) Bennu aboard an United Launch Alliance Atlas V 411 evolved expendable launch vehicle at 7:05 p.m. EDT on September 8, 2016, on a seven-year journey to return samples from Bennu. The spacecraft is on an outbound-cruise trajectory that will result in a rendezvous with Bennu in November 2018. The science instruments on the spacecraft will survey Bennu to measure its physical, geological, and chemical properties, and the team will use these data to select a site on the surface to collect at least 60 g of asteroid regolith. The team will also analyze the remote-sensing data to perform a detailed study of the sample site for context, assess Bennu’s resource potential, refine estimates of its impact probability with Earth, and provide ground-truth data for the extensive astronomical data set collected on this asteroid. The spacecraft will leave Bennu in 2021 and return the sample to the Utah Test and Training Range (UTTR) on September 24, 2023.