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
The Grain Impact Analyser and Dust Accumulator (GIADA) onboard the ROSETTA mission to comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko is devoted
to study the cometary dust environment. Thanks to the rendezvous configuration of the mission, GIADA will be plunged in the
dust environment of the coma and will be able to explore dust flux evolution and grain dynamic properties with position and
time. This will represent a unique opportunity to perform measurements on key parameters that no ground-based observation
or fly-by mission is able to obtain and that no tail or coma model elaborated so far has been able to properly simulate. The
coma and nucleus properties shall be, then, clarified with consequent improvement of models describing inner and outer coma
evolution, but also of models about nucleus emission during different phases of its evolution. GIADA shall be capable to measure
mass/size of single particles larger than about 15 μm together with momentum in the range 6.5 × 10−10 ÷ 4.0 × 10−4 kg m s−1 for velocities up to about 300 m s−1. For micron/submicron particles the cumulative mass shall be detected with sensitivity 10−10 g. These performances are suitable to provide a statistically relevant set of data about dust physical and dynamic properties
in the dust environment expected for the target comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko. Pre-flight measurements and post-launch checkouts
demonstrate that GIADA is behaving as expected according to the design specifications.
The International GIADA Consortium (I, E, UK, F, D, USA). 相似文献
The Genesis mission returned samples of solar wind to Earth in September 2004 for ground-based analyses of solar-wind composition,
particularly for isotope ratios. Substrates, consisting mostly of high-purity semiconductor materials, were exposed to the
solar wind at L1 from December 2001 to April 2004. In addition to a bulk sample of the solar wind, separate samples of coronal
hole (CH), interstream (IS), and coronal mass ejection material were obtained. Although many substrates were broken upon landing
due to the failure to deploy the parachute, a number of results have been obtained, and most of the primary science objectives
will likely be met. These objectives include He, Ne, Ar, Kr, and Xe isotope ratios in the bulk solar wind and in different
solar-wind regimes, and 15N/14N and 18O/17O/16O to high precision. The greatest successes to date have been with the noble gases. Light noble gases from bulk solar wind
and separate solar-wind regime samples have now been analyzed. Helium results show clear evidence of isotopic fractionation
between CH and IS samples, consistent with simplistic Coulomb drag theory predictions of fractionation between the photosphere
and different solar-wind regimes, though fractionation by wave heating is also a possible explanation. Neon results from closed
system stepped etching of bulk metallic glass have revealed the nature of isotopic fractionation as a function of depth, which
in lunar samples have for years deceptively suggested the presence of an additional, energetic component in solar wind trapped
in lunar grains and meteorites. Isotope ratios of the heavy noble gases, nitrogen, and oxygen are in the process of being
measured. 相似文献
CMEs have been observed for over 30 years with a wide variety of instruments. It is now possible to derive detailed and quantitative information on CME morphology, velocity, acceleration and mass. Flares associated with CMEs are observed in X-rays, and several different radio signatures are also seen. Optical and UV spectra of CMEs both on the disk and at the limb provide velocities along the line of sight and diagnostics for temperature, density and composition. From the vast quantity of data we attempt to synthesize the current state of knowledge of the properties of CMEs, along with some specific observed characteristics that illuminate the physical processes occurring during CME eruption. These include the common three-part structures of CMEs, which is generally attributed to compressed material at the leading edge, a low-density magnetic bubble and dense prominence gas. Signatures of shock waves are seen, but the location of these shocks relative to the other structures and the occurrence rate at the heights where Solar Energetic Particles are produced remains controversial. The relationships among CMEs, Moreton waves, EIT waves, and EUV dimming are also cloudy. The close connection between CMEs and flares suggests that magnetic reconnection plays an important role in CME eruption and evolution. We discuss the evidence for reconnection in current sheets from white-light, X-ray, radio and UV observations. Finally, we summarize the requirements for future instrumentation that might answer the outstanding questions and the opportunities that new space-based and ground-based observatories will provide in the future. 相似文献
We have evaluated the Lyman-α limb emission from the exospheric hydrogen of Mars measured by the neutral particle detector of the ASPERA-3 instrument on Mars Express in 2004 at low solar activity (solar activity index = 42, F10.7=100). We derive estimates for the hydrogen exobase density, nH = 1010 m?3, and for the apparent temperature, T > 600 K. We conclude that the limb emission measurement is dominated by a hydrogen component that is considerably hotter than the bulk temperature at the exobase. The derived values for the exosphere density and temperature are compared with similar measurements done by the Mariner space probes in the 1969. The values found with Mars Express and Mariner data are brought in a broader context of exosphere models including the possibility of having two hydrogen components in the Martian exosphere. The present observation of the Martian hydrogen exosphere is the first one at high altitudes during low solar activity, and shows that for low solar activity exospheric densities are not higher than for high solar activity. 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.
Both heliophysics and planetary physics seek to understand the complex nature of the solar wind’s interaction with solar system obstacles like Earth’s magnetosphere, the ionospheres of Venus and Mars, and comets. Studies with this objective are frequently conducted with the help of single or multipoint in situ electromagnetic field and particle observations, guided by the predictions of both local and global numerical simulations, and placed in context by observations from far and extreme ultraviolet (FUV, EUV), hard X-ray, and energetic neutral atom imagers (ENA). Each proposed interaction mechanism (e.g., steady or transient magnetic reconnection, local or global magnetic reconnection, ion pick-up, or the Kelvin-Helmholtz instability) generates diagnostic plasma density structures. The significance of each mechanism to the overall interaction (as measured in terms of atmospheric/ionospheric loss at comets, Venus, and Mars or global magnetospheric/ionospheric convection at Earth) remains to be determined but can be evaluated on the basis of how often the density signatures that it generates are observed as a function of solar wind conditions. This paper reviews efforts to image the diagnostic plasma density structures in the soft (low energy, 0.1–2.0 keV) X-rays produced when high charge state solar wind ions exchange electrons with the exospheric neutrals surrounding solar system obstacles.The introduction notes that theory, local, and global simulations predict the characteristics of plasma boundaries such the bow shock and magnetopause (including location, density gradient, and motion) and regions such as the magnetosheath (including density and width) as a function of location, solar wind conditions, and the particular mechanism operating. In situ measurements confirm the existence of time- and spatial-dependent plasma density structures like the bow shock, magnetosheath, and magnetopause/ionopause at Venus, Mars, comets, and the Earth. However, in situ measurements rarely suffice to determine the global extent of these density structures or their global variation as a function of solar wind conditions, except in the form of empirical studies based on observations from many different times and solar wind conditions. Remote sensing observations provide global information about auroral ovals (FUV and hard X-ray), the terrestrial plasmasphere (EUV), and the terrestrial ring current (ENA). ENA instruments with low energy thresholds (\(\sim1~\mbox{keV}\)) have recently been used to obtain important information concerning the magnetosheaths of Venus, Mars, and the Earth. Recent technological developments make these magnetosheaths valuable potential targets for high-cadence wide-field-of-view soft X-ray imagers.Section 2 describes proposed dayside interaction mechanisms, including reconnection, the Kelvin-Helmholtz instability, and other processes in greater detail with an emphasis on the plasma density structures that they generate. It focuses upon the questions that remain as yet unanswered, such as the significance of each proposed interaction mode, which can be determined from its occurrence pattern as a function of location and solar wind conditions. Section 3 outlines the physics underlying the charge exchange generation of soft X-rays. Section 4 lists the background sources (helium focusing cone, planetary, and cosmic) of soft X-rays from which the charge exchange emissions generated by solar wind exchange must be distinguished. With the help of simulations employing state-of-the-art magnetohydrodynamic models for the solar wind-magnetosphere interaction, models for Earth’s exosphere, and knowledge concerning these background emissions, Sect. 5 demonstrates that boundaries and regions such as the bow shock, magnetosheath, magnetopause, and cusps can readily be identified in images of charge exchange emissions. Section 6 reviews observations by (generally narrow) field of view (FOV) astrophysical telescopes that confirm the presence of these emissions at the intensities predicted by the simulations. Section 7 describes the design of a notional wide FOV “lobster-eye” telescope capable of imaging the global interactions and shows how it might be used to extract information concerning the global interaction of the solar wind with solar system obstacles. The conclusion outlines prospects for missions employing such wide FOV imagers. 相似文献