The Radiation Assessment Detector (RAD) Investigation

The Radiation Assessment Detector (RAD) on the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) is an energetic particle detector designed to measure a broad spectrum of energetic particle radiation. It will make the first-ever direct radiation measurements on the surface of Mars, detecting galactic cosmic rays, solar energetic particles, secondary neutrons, and other secondary particles created both in the atmosphere and in the Martian regolith. The radiation environment on Mars, both past and present, may have implications for habitability and the ability to sustain life. Radiation exposure is also a major concern for future human missions. The RAD instrument combines charged- and neutral-particle detection capability over a wide dynamic range in a compact, low-mass, low-power instrument. These capabilities are required in order to measure all the important components of the radiation environment. RAD consists of the RAD Sensor Head (RSH) and the RAD Electronics Box (REB) integrated together in a small, compact volume. The RSH contains a solid-state detector telescope with three silicon PIN diodes for charged particle detection, a thallium doped Cesium Iodide scintillator, plastic scintillators for neutron detection and anti-coincidence shielding, and the front-end electronics. The REB contains three circuit boards, one with a novel mixed-signal ASIC for processing analog signals and an associated control FPGA, another with a second FPGA to communicate with the rover and perform onboard analysis of science data, and a third board with power supplies and power cycling or “sleep”-control electronics. The latter enables autonomous operation, independent of commands from the rover. RAD is a highly capable and highly configurable instrument that paves the way for future compact energetic particle detectors in space.     

Outgassing History and Escape of the Martian Atmosphere and Water Inventory

The evolution and escape of the martian atmosphere and the planet’s water inventory can be separated into an early and late evolutionary epoch. The first epoch started from the planet’s origin and lasted ～500 Myr. Because of the high EUV flux of the young Sun and Mars’ low gravity it was accompanied by hydrodynamic blow-off of hydrogen and strong thermal escape rates of dragged heavier species such as O and C atoms. After the main part of the protoatmosphere was lost, impact-related volatiles and mantle outgassing may have resulted in accumulation of a secondary CO₂ atmosphere of a few tens to a few hundred mbar around ～4–4.3 Gyr ago. The evolution of the atmospheric surface pressure and water inventory of such a secondary atmosphere during the second epoch which lasted from the end of the Noachian until today was most likely determined by a complex interplay of various nonthermal atmospheric escape processes, impacts, carbonate precipitation, and serpentinization during the Hesperian and Amazonian epochs which led to the present day surface pressure.     

Solar Wind Conditions and Composition During the Genesis Mission as Measured by in situ Spacecraft

We describe the Genesis mission solar-wind sample collection period and the solar wind conditions at the L1 point during this 2.3-year period. In order to relate the solar wind samples to solar composition, the conditions under which the samples were collected must be understood in the context of the long-term solar wind. We find that the state of the solar wind was typical of conditions over the past four solar cycles. However, Genesis spent a relatively large fraction of the time in coronal-hole flow as compared to what might have been expected for the declining phase of the solar cycle. Data from the Solar Wind Ion Composition Spectrometer (SWICS) on the Advanced Composition Explorer (ACE) are used to determine the effectiveness of the Genesis solar-wind regime selection algorithm. The data collected by SWICS confirm that the Genesis algorithm successfully separated and collected solar wind regimes having distinct solar origins, particularly in the case of the coronal hole sample. The SWICS data also demonstrate that the different regimes are elementally fractionated. When compared with Ulysses composition data from the previous solar cycle, we find a similar degree of fractionation between regimes as well as fractionation relative to the average photospheric composition. The Genesis solar wind samples are under long-term curation at NASA Johnson Space Center so that as sample analysis techniques evolve, pristine solar wind samples will be available to the scientific community in the decades to come. This article and a companion paper (Wiens et al. 2013, this issue) provide post-flight information necessary for the analysis of the Genesis array and foil solar wind samples and the Genesis solar wind ion concentrator samples, and thus serve to complement the Space Science Review volume, The Genesis Mission (v. 105, 2003).     

碳氢燃料流向涡掺混超燃模型燃烧室冷态流场数值研究

对一种超声速燃烧模型燃烧室的冷态流场进行了数值研究。为稳定超燃火焰并提高燃烧速率和效率,取少量的冲压空气进行稳定的亚燃预燃烧,并以之作为超燃室的一个稳定火炬,其高温燃气将吸热型碳氢燃料预先蒸发汽化并部分裂解为短链小分子,最后通过城墙波瓣掺混器形成的流向涡带入超声速主流,以期实现快速高效的超燃燃烧。计算结果表明:首先,城墙波瓣掺混器能够在较小总压损失下得到显著掺混效果;其次,本文从气动结构的角度专门探究了亚/超燃接力阶段较低的隔离段进口马赫数存在热堵塞的可能性,发现较难适宜超燃启动点火。     

Application of an evolution strategy in planetary ephemeris modeling

Classical planetary ephemeris construction comprises three major steps which are to be performed iteratively: numerical integration of coupled equations of motion of a multi-body system (propagator step), reduction of observations (reduction step), and optimization of model parameters (adjustment step). In future, this approach may become challenged by further refinements in force modeling (e.g. inclusion of much more significant minor bodies than in the past), an ever-growing number of planetary observations (e.g. the vast amount of spacecraft tracking data), and big data issues in general. In order to circumvent the need for both the inversion of normal equation matrices and the determination of partial derivatives, and to prepare the ephemeris for applications apart from stand-alone solar-system planetary orbit calculations, here we propose an alternative ephemeris construction method. The main idea is to solve it as an optimization problem by straightforward direct evaluation of the whole set of mathematical formulas, rather than to solve it as an inverse problem with all its tacit mathematical assumptions and potential numerical difficulties. The usual gradient search is replaced by a stochastic search, namely an evolution strategy, the latter of which is perfect for the exploitation of parallel computing capabilities. Furthermore, this new approach allows for multi-criteria optimization and time-varying optima. These issues will become important in future once ephemeris construction is just one part of even larger optimization problems, e.g. the combined and consistent determination of a generalized physical state (orbit, size, shape, rotation, gravity, $\dots$) of celestial bodies (planets, satellites, asteroids, or comets), and/or if one seeks near real-time solutions. Here, we outline the general idea and exemplarily optimize high-correlated asteroidal ring model parameters (total mass and heliocentric radius), and individual asteroid masses, based on simulated observations.     

Repair Welding of Casting Magnesium Alloys： A Review

Magnesium (Mg) alloys have broad application prospects in the fields of aerospace, national defense, and military industries, owing to their advantages of high specific strength and stiffness, good damping properties, and excellent castabilities. However, defects such as oxidation inclusions, shrinkage cavities and porosities, and hot cracks are readily generated in Mg alloy components, which seriously reduce the performance stability of the products. Related repair welding technologies for Mg alloys can greatly reduce the rejection rate and production cost, and exhibit significant value in scientific research and engineering application. In this review, the weldability of Mg alloys is introduced firstly according to their physical and chemical properties. Then, various repair welding technologies and pre-weld treatments applicable to Mg alloys are systematically summarized, and the effects of welding parameters as well as heat treatments on the microstructure and performance of the repaired joints are clarified. Finally, the existing problems and development trends of repair welding technologies for Mg alloys are summarized based on the actual engineering application requirements.     

EXPOSE-E: an ESA astrobiology mission 1.5 years in space

The multi-user facility EXPOSE-E was designed by the European Space Agency to enable astrobiology research in space (low-Earth orbit). On 7 February 2008, EXPOSE-E was carried to the International Space Station (ISS) on the European Technology Exposure Facility (EuTEF) platform in the cargo bay of Space Shuttle STS-122 Atlantis. The facility was installed at the starboard cone of the Columbus module by extravehicular activity, where it remained in space for 1.5 years. EXPOSE-E was returned to Earth with STS-128 Discovery on 12 September 2009 for subsequent sample analysis. EXPOSE-E provided accommodation in three exposure trays for a variety of astrobiological test samples that were exposed to selected space conditions: either to space vacuum, solar electromagnetic radiation at >110?nm and cosmic radiation (trays 1 and 3) or to simulated martian surface conditions (tray 2). Data on UV radiation, cosmic radiation, and temperature were measured every 10?s and downlinked by telemetry. A parallel mission ground reference (MGR) experiment was performed on ground with a parallel set of hardware and samples under simulated space conditions. EXPOSE-E performed a successful 1.5-year mission in space.     

Survival of spores of the UV-resistant Bacillus subtilis strain MW01 after exposure to low-earth orbit and simulated martian conditions: data from the space experiment ADAPT on EXPOSE-E

In the space experiment "Molecular adaptation strategies of microorganisms to different space and planetary UV climate conditions" (ADAPT), bacterial endospores of the highly UV-resistant Bacillus subtilis strain MW01 were exposed to low-Earth orbit (LEO) and simulated martian surface conditions for 559 days on board the European Space Agency's exposure facility EXPOSE-E, mounted outside the International Space Station. The survival of B. subtilis MW01 spores from both assays (LEO and simulated martian conditions) was determined by a colony-formation assay after retrieval. It was clearly shown that solar extraterrestrial UV radiation (λ≥110?nm) as well as the martian UV spectrum (λ≥200?nm) was the most deleterious factor applied; in some samples only a few spore survivors were recovered from B. subtilis MW01 spores exposed in monolayers. However, if shielded from solar irradiation, about 8% of MW01 spores survived in LEO conditions, and 100% survived in simulated martian conditions, compared to the laboratory controls. The results demonstrate the effect of shielding against the high inactivation potential of extraterrestrial solar UV radiation, which limits the chances of survival of even the highly UV-resistant strain of B. subtilis MW01 in the harsh environments of outer space and the martian surface.     

Observations on the evolution of satellite launch volume and cyclicality in the space industry

Satellites have been rightly described as the lifeblood of the entire space industry and the number of satellites ordered or launched per year is an important defining metric of the industry's level of activity, such that trends and variability in this volume have significant strategic impact on the space industry. Over the past 40+ years, hundreds of satellites have been launched every year. Thus an important dataset is available for time series analysis and identification of trends and cycles in the various markets of the space industry. This article reports findings of a study for which we collected data on over 6000 satellites launched since 1960 on a yearly basis. We grouped the satellites into three broad categories – defense and intelligence, science, and commercial satellites – and identified and discussed the main trends and cyclical patterns for each of these. Institutional customers (defense and intelligence, and science) accounted for over two-thirds of all satellites launched within our time period (1960–2008), and, in the 1960s and 1970s, they accounted for 90% and 73.5%, respectively. A fair conclusion from this data is that the space industry was enabled by, and grew because of the institutional customers, not commercial market forces. However, when the launch data is examined more closely, a growing influence of the commercial sector is noticeable. Over the past two decades communication satellites accounted for roughly half of all launches, thus reflecting an important shift in the space industry in which the commercial sector is playing an equal role (on a launch volume basis) to that of the institutional market. Cyclical patterns in the satellite launch volume over the past decade are separately discussed before we sum up with a conclusion.     

Spatial memory exclusivity: Examining performance of multiple object-location memories

Research on location memory suggests that integration of separate sources of information does not occur when recalling the position of a common target object. In a relatively simple task, previous research shows no observable benefit from holding two spatial memories compared to one. It has been suggested that exclusively utilizing only one of two memories may account for this finding. The current research tests the robustness of this idea as well as an alternative in the form of an averaging approach to combining spatial information. The results suggest that exclusivity may not be the best account for performance of multiple object-location memories. Rather, memories may well combine in a manner similar to averaging, where information is available for each memory but combined in a nonbeneficial way.