The Magnetic Field of Mercury

The magnetic field strength of Mercury at the planet’s surface is approximately 1% that of Earth’s surface field. This comparatively low field strength presents a number of challenges, both theoretically to understand how it is generated and observationally to distinguish the internal field from that due to the solar wind interaction. Conversely, the small field also means that Mercury offers an important opportunity to advance our understanding both of planetary magnetic field generation and magnetosphere-solar wind interactions. The observations from the Mariner 10 magnetometer in 1974 and 1975, and the MESSENGER Magnetometer and plasma instruments during the probe’s first two flybys of Mercury on 14 January and 6 October 2008, provide the basis for our current knowledge of the internal field. The external field arising from the interaction of the magnetosphere with the solar wind is more prominent near Mercury than for any other magnetized planet in the Solar System, and particular attention is therefore paid to indications in the observations of deficiencies in our understanding of the external field. The second MESSENGER flyby occurred over the opposite hemisphere from the other flybys, and these newest data constrain the tilt of the planetary moment from the planet’s spin axis to be less than 5°. Considered as a dipole field, the moment is in the range 240 to 270 nT-R _M ³ , where R _M is Mercury’s radius. Multipole solutions for the planetary field yield a smaller dipole term, 180 to 220 nT-R _M ³ , and higher-order terms that together yield an equatorial surface field from 250 to 290 nT. From the spatial distribution of the fit residuals, the equatorial data are seen to reflect a weaker northward field and a strongly radial field, neither of which can be explained by a centered-dipole matched to the field measured near the pole by Mariner 10. This disparity is a major factor controlling the higher-order terms in the multipole solutions. The residuals are not largest close to the planet, and when considered in magnetospheric coordinates the residuals indicate the presence of a cross-tail current extending to within 0.5R _M altitude on the nightside. A near-tail current with a density of 0.1 μA/m² could account for the low field intensities recorded near the equator. In addition, the MESSENGER flybys include the first plasma observations from Mercury and demonstrate that solar wind plasma is present at low altitudes, below 500 km. Although we can be confident in the dipole-only moment estimates, the data in hand remain subject to ambiguities for distinguishing internal from external contributions. The anticipated observations from orbit at Mercury, first from MESSENGER beginning in March 2011 and later from the dual-spacecraft BepiColombo mission, will be essential to elucidate the higher-order structure in the magnetic field of Mercury that will reveal the telltale signatures of the physics responsible for its generation.     

Ceramic ChemCam Calibration Targets on Mars Science Laboratory

The ChemCam instrument on the Mars Science Laboratory rover Curiosity will use laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) to analyze major and minor element chemistry from sub-millimeter spot sizes, at ranges of ～1.5–7?m. To interpret the emission spectra obtained, ten calibration standards will be carried on the rover deck. Graphite, Ti?metal, and four glasses of igneous composition provide primary, homogeneous calibration targets for the laser. Four granular ceramic targets have been added to provide compositions closer to soils and sedimentary materials like those expected at the Gale Crater field site on Mars. Components used in making these ceramics include basalt, evaporite, and phyllosilicate materials that approximate the chemical compositions of detrital and authigenic constituents of clastic and evaporite sediments, including the elevated sulfate contents present in many Mars sediments and soils. Powdered components were sintered at low temperature (800?°C) with a small amount (9?wt.%) of lithium tetraborate flux to produce ceramics that retain volatile sulfur yet are durable enough for the mission. The ceramic targets are more heterogeneous than the pure element and homogenous glass standards but they provide standards with compositions more similar to the sedimentary rocks that will be Curiosity’s prime targets at Gale Crater.     

Galileo Probe Measurements of D/H and 3He/4He in Jupiter's Atmosphere

The Galileo Probe Mass Spectrometer measurements in the atmosphere of Jupiter give D/H = (2.6 ± 0.7) × 10-5 3He/4He = (1.66 ± 0.05) × 10-4These ratios supercede earlier results by Niemann et al. (1996) and are based on a reevaluation of the instrument response at high count rates and a more detailed study of the contributions of different species to the mass peak at 3 amu. The D/H ratio is consistent with Voyager and ground based data and recent spectroscopic and solar wind (SW) values obtained from the Infrared Spectroscopic Observatory (ISO) and Ulysses. The 3He/4He ratio is higher than that found in meteoritic gases (1.5 ± 0.3) × 10-4. The Galileo result for D/H when compared with that for hydrogen in the local interstellar medium (1.6 ± 0.12) × 10-5 implies a small decrease in D/H in this part of the universe during the past 4.55 billion years. Thus, it tends to support small values of primordial D/H - in the range of several times 10-5 rather than several times 10-4. These results are also quite consistent with no change in (D+3He)/H during the past 4.55 billion years in this part of our galaxy.     

The Modulation of Galactic Cosmic Rays in the Heliosphere: Theory and Models

Almost all theoretical and numerical models for the modulation of cosmic ray in the heliosphere are based on Parker's transport equation which contains all the important basic physical processes. The relative importance of the various mechanisms is however not established and may vary significantly over 22 years. The simultaneous measurements of solar wind parameters, heliospheric magnetic field properties and cosmic rays over a wide range of energies and positions in the heliosphere have brought the realization that modulation is much more complicated than what the original drift models predicted. In the process the sophistication of models based on solving Parker's equation has increased by orders of magnitude. A short review of the global modulation of cosmic rays is given from a theoretical and modelling point of view.     

Introduction

Space Science Reviews -     

Solar Wind Electron Proton Alpha Monitor (SWEPAM) for the Advanced Composition Explorer

The Solar Wind Electron Proton Alpha Monitor (SWEPAM) experiment provides the bulk solar wind observations for the Advanced Composition Explorer (ACE). These observations provide the context for elemental and isotopic composition measurements made on ACE as well as allowing the direct examination of numerous solar wind phenomena such as coronal mass ejections, interplanetary shocks, and solar wind fine structure, with advanced, 3-D plasma instrumentation. They also provide an ideal data set for both heliospheric and magnetospheric multi-spacecraft studies where they can be used in conjunction with other, simultaneous observations from spacecraft such as Ulysses. The SWEPAM observations are made simultaneously with independent electron and ion instruments. In order to save costs for the ACE project, we recycled the flight spares from the joint NASA/ESA Ulysses mission. Both instruments have undergone selective refurbishment as well as modernization and modifications required to meet the ACE mission and spacecraft accommodation requirements. Both incorporate electrostatic analyzers whose fan-shaped fields of view sweep out all pertinent look directions as the spacecraft spins. Enhancements in the SWEPAM instruments from their original forms as Ulysses spare instruments include (1) a factor of 16 increase in the accumulation interval (and hence sensitivity) for high energy, halo electrons; (2) halving of the effective ion-detecting CEM spacing from ∼5° on Ulysses to ∼2.5° for ACE; and (3) the inclusion of a 20° conical swath of enhanced sensitivity coverage in order to measure suprathermal ions outside of the solar wind beam. New control electronics and programming provide for 64-s resolution of the full electron and ion distribution functions and cull out a subset of these observations for continuous real-time telemetry for space weather purposes. This revised version was published online in June 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Ionization processes in the heliosphere — Rates and methods of their determination

The rates of the most important ionization processes acting in interplanetary space on interstellar H, He, C, O, Ne and Ar atoms are critically reviewed in the paper. Their long-term modulations in the period 1974 – 1994 are reexamined using updated information on relevant cross-sections as well as direct or indirect data on variations of the solar wind/solar EUV fluxes based on IMP 8 measurements and monitoring of the solar 10.7 cm radio emission. It is shown that solar cycle related variations are pronounced (factor of 3 between maximum and minimum) especially for species such as He, Ne, C for which photoionization is the dominant loss process. Species sensitive primarily to the charge-exchange (as H) show only moderate fluctuations 20% around average. It is also demonstrated that new techniques that make use of simultaneous observations of neutral He atoms on direct and indirect orbits, or simultaneous measurements of He⁺ and He⁺⁺ pickup ions and solar wind particles can be useful tools for narrowing the uncertainties of the He photoionization rate caused by insufficient knowledge of the solar EUV flux and its variations.     

THE WIDE-BAND PLASMA WAVE INVESTIGATION

As part of the Cluster Wave Experiment Consortium (WEC), the Wide-Band (WBD) Plasma Wave investigation is designed to provide high-resolution measurements of both electric and magnetic fields in selected frequency bands from 25 Hz to 577 kHz. Continuous waveforms are digitised and transmitted in either a 220 kbit s^-1 real-time mode or a 73 kbit s^-1 recorded mode. The real-time data are received directly by a NASA Deep-Space Network (DSN) receiving station, and the recorded data are stored in the spacecraft solid-state recorder for later playback. In both cases the waveforms are Fourier transformed on the ground to provide high-resolution frequency-time spectrograms. The WBD measurements complement those of the other WEC instruments and also provide a unique new capability for performing very-long-baseline interferometry (VLBI) measurements.     

Effects of polarization and resolution on SAR ATR

Lincoln Laboratory is investigating the detection and classification of stationary ground targets using high resolution, fully polarimetric, synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imagery. A study is summarized in which data collected by the Lincoln Laboratory 33 GHz SAR were used to perform a comprehensive comparison of automatic target recognition (ATR) performance for several polarization/resolution combinations. The Lincoln Laboratory baseline ATR algorithm suite was used, and was optimized for each polarization/resolution case. Both the HH polarization alone and the optimal combination of HH, HV, and VV were evaluated; the resolutions evaluated were 1 ft/spl times/1 ft and 1 m/spl times/1 m. The data set used for this study contained approximately 74 km/sup 2/ of clutter (56 km/sup 2/ of mixed clutter plus 18 km/sup 2/ of highly cultural clutter) and 136 tactical target images (divided equally between tanks and howitzers).