Mars Global MHD Predictions of Magnetic Connectivity Between the Dayside Ionosphere and the Magnetospheric Flanks

Atmospheric photoelectrons have been observed well above the ionosphere of Mars by the ASPERA-3 ELS instrument on Mars Express. To systematically interpret these observations, field lines from two global MHD simulations were analyzed for connectivity to the dayside ionosphere (allowing photoelectron escape). It is found that there is a hollow cylinder behind the planet from 1–2 R _M away from the Mars-Sun line that has a high probability of containing magnetic field lines with connectivity to the dayside ionosphere. These results are in complete agreement with the ELS statistics. It is concluded that the high-altitude photoelectrons are the result of direct magnetic connectivity to the dayside at the moment of the measurement, and no extra trapping or bouncing mechanisms are needed to explain the data.     

美国人眼中的中国5.8枪族

作为冷战时代成长起来的一代．我们很难想象俄国人已经不是我们的最大敌人了，随着时光流逝．有关苏联的记忆已经慢慢淡逝了．现在俄罗斯成了我们的朋友．作为一个轻武器大国．俄罗斯拥有才华横溢的设计师和数十年积累的丰富经验。在了解了大量原苏联／俄罗斯轻武器发展的状况的同时．我们必须关注另一个国家一中国。由于现在公开的中国轻武器资料信息实在是太少了，所以我决定去为大家揭开这个神秘国家轻武器研究的面纱。     

Retrieval of a wind profile from the Galileo Probe telemetry signal

Ultrastable oscillators onboard the Galileo Probe and Orbiter will permit very accurate determinations of the frequency of the Probe's telemetry signal as the Probe descends from a pressure level of several hundred mb to a level of about 20 bars. Analysis of the time-varying frequency can provide, in principle, a unique and important definition of the vertical profile of the zonal wind speed in the Jovian atmosphere. In this paper, we develop a protocol for retrieving the zonal wind profile from the Doppler shift of the measured frequency; assess the impact of a wide range of error sources on the accuracy of the retrieved wind profile; and perform a number of simulations to illustrate our technique and to assess the likely accuracy of the retrieval.Because of unavoidably large uncertainties in the absolute frequencies of the oscillators, we use time-differenced frequencies in our analysis. Nevertheless, it is possible to recover absolute wind speeds as well as wind shears, since the Orbiter/Probe geometry changes significantly during the Probe relay link. We begin with the full relativistic Doppler shift equation. Through the use of power series expansions and a basis function representation of the wind profiles, we reduce the basic equation to a set of linear equations that can be solved with standard linear least-squares techniques.There are a very large number of instrumental and environmental factors that can introduce errors into the measured signal or to the recovery of zonal winds from the data. We provide estimates of the magnitudes of all these error sources and consider the degree to which they may be reduced by a posteriori information as well as the results of calibration tests. The most important error source is the a posteriori uncertainty in the Probe's entry longitude. The accuracy of the retrieved winds is also limited by errors in the Probe's descent velocity, as obtained from atmospheric parameters measured by several Probe experiments, and in the a posteriori knowledge of secular drifts in the oscillators' frequencies during the relay link, due, for example, to aging and radiation damage.Our simulations indicate that zonal winds may be retrieved from the Doppler data to an accuracy of several m s^-1. Therefore, it may be possible to discriminate among alternative models for the basic drive of the zonal winds, since they differ significantly in the implied zonal wind profile.     

Imprints of small-scale nonadiabatic particle dynamics on large-scale properties of dynamical magnetotail equilibria

We extend our large-scale kinetic (LSK) simulation of the magnetotail by including the global electrostatic effects generated by the field-aligned motion of electrons. Differences in electron and ion dynamics result in significant electrostatic fields near the current sheet (especially near X-lines) and in the auroral zone. In addition, E_ƒ and E alter the ion precipitation profile and affect particle loss from the system through the flanks and downtail. This work provides a basis for including transverse electron currents in our calculations.     

Scientific visualization to study Flux Transfer Events at the Community Coordinated Modeling Center

In this paper we present recent additions to the visualization toolset offered by the Community Coordinated Modeling Center (CCMC). Two suites of visualization tools are available that can address different needs during the analysis of model simulations of the magnetosphere that are provided by the CCMC. The online, server-side visualization allows the user to quickly browse through simulation runs and now can create maps of magnetic field line topology in the magnetosphere. The second tool, SWX, can be used on the client computer after data have been downloaded. With this second tool the user can interact directly with the three-dimensional objects that are being rendered. We present results from a simulation of a Flux Transfer Event that was performed at the CCMC using a magnetohydrodynamic model of the Earth’s magnetosphere with a high resolution grid focused on the dayside magnetosheath and dayside magnetopause. The simulation shows that the FTE that results from localized magnetic reconnection is a complicated three-dimensional structure that requires modern visualization techniques. Visualization techniques that are presented here allow the researcher to fully appreciate the complexity contained in magnetospheric simulation results.     

Editorial: Topical Collection on Multi-Point Measurements of the Thermosphere with the QB50 Mission

Space Science Reviews - Part of the InSight mission, the SEIS instrument (Seismic Experiment for Interior Structures), is planned to arrive on Mars in November 2018. In order to prepare its future...     

4D Lattice Flower Constellations

4D Lattice Flower Constellations is a new constellation design framework, based on the previous 2D and 3D Lattice theories of Flower Constellations, that focus on the generation of constellations whose satellites can have different semi-major axis and still present a constellation structure that is maintained during the dynamic of the system. This situation can arise when dealing with satellites with very different instruments, or when it is of interest to coordinate two different constellations. In that sense, 4D Lattice Flower Constellations constitutes the most general representation of the Flower Constellation formulation. In addition, the effects of the $J_2$ perturbation are taken into account in order to generate distributions that maintain their initial design configuration under this perturbation for longer periods of time with a low fuel budget. Finally, examples of application are presented, showing the possibilities in satellite constellation design of this new approach.     

Modeling of combustor swirl flows

Swirl is used extensively in gas turbine combustors, principally as a means of controlling flame size, shape, stability and combustion intensity. Rapid progress has been made in recent years in the development of mathematical models of combustor swirl flows which simulate the processes of turbulence, combustion, fuel droplet sprays, radiation and pollutant formation, and solve the resulting equations via a computational procedure, which seeks an optimum path to the solution of the governing set of several simultaneous nonlinear partial differential equations. This paper looks at recent advances in the modeling of combustor swirl flows, its aim being to review the difficulties, discuss developments, demonstrate that useful predictions are already being made, and indicate in what areas further research may be useful.     

R Coronae Borealis Pulsations

The Cepheid-like pulsations of some of the R CrB stars should in principle make it possible to determine their masses and hence to place constraints on possible evolution scenarios. We briefly review the evidence for these pulsations and discuss the problem of how these low-mass, hydrogen-deficient carbon stars could have evolved to their present position in the H-R diagram. Linear and nonlinear pulsation calculations are reviewed. It is found that for these large luminosity to mass ratio (L/M) stars a region of pulsation instability extends considerably hotter than for normal high luminosity Cepheids. The envelopes of these models are so nonadiabatic that the identification of modes becomes very difficult since there is frequently no clearly defined nodal structure. For the most extreme L/M cases it is found that the models are unstable in the sense that they appear on the verge of ejecting the outer layers.     

用心设计一碗大米

漏佳旎,生活美学家、跨界设计师、"漏一手"主理人。很多人初识她都不相信会有人姓这样的姓,是不是自己听错了或看错了,每次都要解释一番。熟识后,朋友们更愿意亲切地叫她漏漏。