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
Analysis of UV spectra obtained with the HST, FUSE and other satellites provides a new understanding of the deuterium abundance
in the local region of the galactic disk. The wide range of gas-phase D/H measurements obtained outside of the Local Bubble
can now be explained as due to different amounts of deuterium depletion on carbonaceous grains. The total D/H ratio including
deuterium in the gas and dust phases is at least 23 parts per million of hydrogen, which is providing a challenge to models
of galactic chemical evolution. Analysis of HST and ground-based spectra of many lines of sight to stars within the Local
Bubble have identified interstellar velocity components that are consistent with more than 15 velocity vectors. We have identified
the structures of 15 nearby warm interstellar clouds on the basis of these velocity vectors and common temperatures and depletions.
We estimate the distances and masses of these clouds and compare their locations with cold interstellar clouds. 相似文献
A Time-Delay Integration (TDI) image acquisition and processing system has been developed to capture ICON’s Far Ultraviolet (FUV) Spectrographic Imager data. The TDI system is designed to provide variable-range motion-compensated imaging of Earth’s nightside ionospheric limb and sub-limb scenes viewed from Low Earth Orbit in the 135.6 nm emission of oxygen with an integration time of 12 seconds. As a pre-requisite of the motion compensation the TDI system is also designed to provide corrections for optical distortions generated by the FUV Imager’s optical assembly. On the dayside the TDI system is used to process 135.6 nm and 157.0 nm wavelength altitude profiles simultaneously. We present the TDI system’s design methodology and implementation as an FPGA module with an emphasis on minimization of on-board data throughput and telemetry. We also present the methods and results of testing the TDI system in simulation and with Engineering Ground Support Equipment (EGSE) to validate its performance.
This paper presents an analytical solution for static analysis of thick rectangular beams with different boundary conditions.Carrera's Unified Formulation (CUF) is used in order to consider shear deformation theories of arbitrary order.The novelty of the present work is that a boundary discontinuous Fourier approach is used to consider clamped boundary conditions in the analytical solution,unlike Navier-type solutions which are restricted to simply supported beams.Governing equations are obtained by employing the principle of virtual work.The numerical accuracy of results is ascertained by studying the convergence of the solution and comparing the results to those of a 3D finite element solution.Beams subjected to bending due to a uniform pressure load and subjected to torsion due to opposite linear forces are considered.Overall,accurate results close to those of 3D finite element solutions are obtained,which can be used to validate finite element results or other approximate methods. 相似文献
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. 相似文献
The results of research in a process of a probe rocket berthing to an asteroid are presented. Control laws were obtained as solutions of three problems, namely berthing considering transient processes in a rocket engine, fastest berthing with regard to fuel consumption and berthing in a scheduled time considering fuel consumption. A program trajectory obtained at solving of the first problem is suitable for mathematical modeling of berthing with the feedback control law and stabilization of angular motion. The solutions of the problems are reduced to simple formulas for controlling parameters calculation in the corresponding structures of control laws. The results can be applied in designing promising space vehicles intended for berthing to other space objects. 相似文献