Time variations of cosmic-ray helium isotopes with BESS-Polar I

The Balloon-borne Experiment with a Superconducting Spectrometer (BESS) is configured with a solenoidal superconducting magnet and a suite of precision particle detectors, including time-of-flight hodoscopes based on plastic scintillators, a silica-aerogel Cherenkov detector, and a high resolution tracking system with a central jet-type drift chamber. The charges of incident particles are determined from energy losses in the scintillators. Their magnetic rigidities (momentum/charge) are measured by reconstructing each particle trajectory in the magnetic field, and their velocities are obtained by using the time-of-flight system. Together, these measurements can accurately identify helium isotopes among the incoming cosmic-ray helium nuclei up to energies in the GeV per nucleon region. The BESS-Polar I instrument flew for 8.5 days over Antarctica from December 13th to December 21st, 2004. Its long-duration flight and large geometric acceptance allow the time variations of isotopic fluxes to be studied for the first time. The time variations of helium isotope fluxes are presented here for rigidities from 1.2 to 2.5 GV and results are compared to previously reported proton data and neutron monitor data.     

3D Imaging of the OH mesospheric emissive layer

A new and original stereo imaging method is introduced to measure the altitude of the OH nightglow layer and provide a 3D perspective map of the altitude of the layer centroid. Near-IR photographs of the OH layer are taken at two sites separated by a 645 km distance. Each photograph is processed in order to provide a satellite view of the layer. When superposed, the two views present a common diamond-shaped area. Pairs of matched points that correspond to a physical emissive point in the common area are identified in calculating a normalized cross-correlation coefficient (NCC). This method is suitable for obtaining 3D representations in the case of low-contrast objects. An observational campaign was conducted in July 2006 in Peru. The images were taken simultaneously at Cerro Cosmos (12°09′08.2″ S, 75°33′49.3″ W, altitude 4630 m) close to Huancayo and Cerro Verde Tellolo (16°33′17.6″ S, 71°39′59.4″ W, altitude 2272 m) close to Arequipa. 3D maps of the layer surface were retrieved and compared with pseudo-relief intensity maps of the same region. The mean altitude of the emission barycenter is located at 86.3 km on July 26. Comparable relief wavy features appear in the 3D and intensity maps. It is shown that the vertical amplitude of the wave system varies as exp (Δz/2H) within the altitude range Δz = 83.5–88.0 km, H being the scale height. The oscillatory kinetic energy at the altitude of the OH layer is comprised between 3 × 10⁻⁴ and 5.4 × 10⁻⁴ J/m³, which is 2–3 times smaller than the values derived from partial radio wave at 52°N latitude.     

无人机系统适航标准剪裁案例分析

无人机系统的使用日益广泛,因此将无人机系统并入到现有的空域管理系统中显得尤为迫切。在技术层面,无人机系统有一系列独特的适航特点。因此,应重点发展针对无人机系统的适航标准与验证。研究了有人驾驶飞行器的适航标准(CS-23),及其通过剪裁后成为专门适用于无人机系统的适航标准(STANAG4671),这将促进无人机系统的技术更加标准化,并有利于国内无人机系统民用适航标准的发展。     

空间绕飞航天器间电磁兼容仿真分析方法

研究了空间绕飞任务中主、从航天器之间的电磁干扰问题,提出了绕飞过程中航天器间电磁兼容仿真分析方法。根据主、从航天器天线的发射功率、带外抑制、接收机灵敏度的信息,解算出了发射天线对接收天线的等效干扰。在假定计算模型作为仿真输入的前提下,得到了航天器间电磁兼容分析结果。仿真结果表明,所提出的仿真分析方法能够对绕飞任务中航天器间的电磁干扰进行预测,可为实际任务的顺利完成提供技术支持。     

ALTEA: anomalous long term effects in astronauts. A probe on the influence of cosmic radiation and microgravity on the central nervous system during long flights.

The ALTEA project participates to the quest for increasing the safety of manned space flights. It addresses the problems related to possible functional damage to neural cells and circuits due to particle radiation in space environment. Specifically it aims at studying the functionality of the astronauts' Central Nervous Systems (CNS) during long space flights and relating it to the peculiar environments in space, with a particular focus on the particle flux impinging in the head. The project is a large international and multidisciplinary collaboration. Competences in particle physics, neurophysiology, psychophysiology, electronics, space environment, data analyses will work together to construct the fully integrated vision electrophysiology and particle analyser system which is the core device of the project: an helmet-shaped multi-sensor device that will measure concurrently the dynamics of the functional status of the visual system and passage of each particle through the brain within a pre-determined energy window. ALTEA is scheduled to fly in the International Space Station in late 2002. One part of the multi-sensor device, one of the advanced silicon telescopes, will be launched in the ISS in early 2002 and serve as test for the final device and as discriminating dosimeter for the particle fluences within the ISS.     

Did life exist on Mars? Search for organic and inorganic signatures, one of the goals for “SAM” (sample analysis at Mars)

Observation of Mars shows signs of a past Earth-like climate, and, in that case, there is no objection to the possible development of life, in the underground or at the surface, as in the terrestrial primitive biosphere. Sample analysis at Mars (SAM) is an experiment which may be proposed for atmospheric, ground and underground in situ measurements. One of its goals is to bring direct or indirect information on the possibility for life to have developed on Mars, and to detect traces of past or present biological activity. With this aim, it focuses on the detection of organic molecules: volatile organics are extracted from the sample by simple heating, whereas refractory molecules are made analyzable (i.e. volatile), using derivatization technique or fragmentation by pyrolysis. Gaseous mixtures thus obtained are analyzed by gas chromatography associated to mass spectrometry. Beyond organics, carbonates and other salts are associated to the dense and moist atmosphere necessary to the development of life, and might have formed and accumulated in some places on Mars. They represent another target for SAM. Heating of the samples allows the analysis of structural gases of these minerals (CO₂ from carbonates, etc.), enabling to identify them. We also show, in this paper, that it may be possible to discriminate between abiotic minerals, and minerals (shells, etc.) created by living organisms.     

变速变姿态下飞机燃油体积解算技术

为准确测量飞机不规则油箱内的燃油体积,在传统的查表插值法基础上,提出了基于等效传感器的自适应步长切割法（ASCM）,用于建立燃油质量特性数据库,通过引入等效传感器概念,实现了不同姿态下多传感器的信息融合;该方法根据切片截面积的变化率调整切割步长,从而减小了燃油体积解算时的插值误差;利用多传感器的输出值实现了燃油平面的最小二乘（LMS）拟合,当有效传感器较少时,再结合等效燃油平面姿态角拟合燃油平面,消除了加速度对燃油平面的影响;对传统的三维查表插值法进行改进,减小了由于燃油平面姿态角插值引起的误差。基于UG二次开发,设计了燃油体积解算平台。实际油箱CAD仿真验证结果表明:该方法所建的数据库数据规模小,燃油解算速度快,实现了加速度和姿态误差修正,并减小了差值误差,进一步提高了燃油的测量精度。