The NASA Time History of Events and Macroscale Interactions during Substorms (THEMIS) project is intended to investigate magnetospheric substorm phenomena, which are the manifestations of a basic instability of the magnetosphere and a dominant mechanism of plasma transport and explosive energy release. The major controversy in substorm science is the uncertainty as to whether the instability is initiated near the Earth, or in the more distant >20 Re magnetic tail. THEMIS will discriminate between the two possibilities by using five in-situ satellites and ground-based all-sky imagers and magnetometers, and inferring the propagation direction by timing the observation of the substorm initiation at multiple locations in the magnetosphere. An array of stations, consisting of 20 all-sky imagers (ASIs) and 30-plus magnetometers, has been developed and deployed in the North American continent, from Alaska to Labrador, for the broad coverage of the nightside magnetosphere. Each ground-based observatory (GBO) contains a white light imager that takes auroral images at a 3-second repetition rate (“cadence”) and a magnetometer that records the 3 axis variation of the magnetic field at 2 Hz frequency. The stations return compressed images, “thumbnails,” to two central databases: one located at UC Berkeley and the other at the University of Calgary, Canada. The full images are recorded at each station on hard drives, and these devices are physically returned to the two data centers for data copying. All data are made available for public use by scientists in “browse products,” accessible by using internet browsers or in the form of downloadable CDF data files (the “browse products” are described in detail in a later section). Twenty all-sky imager stations are installed and running at the time of this publication. An example of a substorm was observed on the 23rd of December 2006, and from the THEMIS GBO data, we found that the substorm onset brightening of the equatorward arc was a gradual process (>27 seconds), with minimal morphology changes until the arc breaks up. The breakup was timed to the nearest frame (<3 s) and located to the nearest latitude degree at about ±3oE in longitude. The data also showed that a similar breakup occurred in Alaska ~10 minutes later, highlighting the need for an array to distinguish prime onset. 相似文献
The critical flow conditions and structural forms of a two-phase flow that is formed during water efflux from the region of moderate and low pressures into a rarefied medium are analyzed. The difference in the structural forms of a flow realized at the low-head efflux from the structure of a flow occurring in the fluid flow with moderate and high initial pressures is established. The critical pressure differential characterizing the establishment of the maximum flowrate is determined and the decisive influence of turbulence on the vapor phase generation and flow conditions of a two-phase medium is shown. 相似文献
Analysis of the Genesis samples is underway. Preliminary elemental abundances based on Genesis sample analyses are in good
agreement with in situ-measured elemental abundances made by ACE/SWICS during the Genesis collection period. Comparison of
these abundances with those of earlier solar cycles indicates that the solar wind composition is relatively stable between
cycles for a given type of flow. ACE/SWICS measurements for the Genesis collection period also show a continuum in compositional
variation as a function of velocity for the quasi-stationary flow that defies the simple binning of samples into their sources
of coronal hole (CH) and interstream (IS). 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 concentrator on Genesis provided samples of increased fluences of solar wind ions for precise determination of the oxygen
isotopic composition. The concentration process caused mass fractionation as a function of the radial target position. This
fractionation was measured using Ne released by UV laser ablation and compared with modelled Ne data, obtained from ion-trajectory
simulations. Measured data show that the concentrator performed as expected and indicate a radially symmetric concentration
process. Measured concentration factors are up to ∼30 at the target centre. The total range of isotopic fractionation along
the target radius is 3.8%/amu, with monotonically decreasing 20Ne/22Ne towards the centre, which differs from model predictions. We discuss potential reasons and propose future attempts to overcome
these disagreements. 相似文献
It is widely accepted that diffusive shock acceleration is an important process in the heliosphere, in particular in producing
the energetic particles associated with interplanetary shocks driven by coronal mass ejections. In its simplest formulation
shock acceleration is expected to accelerate ions with higher mass to charge ratios less efficiently than those with lower
mass to charge. Thus it is anticipated that the Fe/O ratio in shock-accelerated ion populations will decrease with increasing
energy above some energy. We examine the circumstances of five interplanetary shocks that have been reported to have associated
populations in which Fe/O increases with increasing energy. In each event, the situation is complex, with particle contributions
from other sources in addition to the shock. Furthermore, we show that the Fe/O ratio in shock-accelerated ions can decrease
even when the shock is traveling through an Fe-rich ambient ion population. Thus, although shock acceleration of an Fe-rich
suprathermal population has been proposed to explain large Fe-rich solar particle events, we find no support for this proposal
in these observations. 相似文献
The dynamical and chemical effects of the Galactic Wind are discussed. This wind is primarily driven by the pressure gradient
of the Cosmic Rays. Assuming the latter to be accelerated in the Supernova Remnants of the disk which at the same time produce
the Hot Interstellar Medium, it is argued that the gas removed by the wind is enriched in the nucleosynthesis products of
Supernova explosions. Therefore the moderate mass loss through this wind should still be able to remove a substantial amount
of metals, opening the way for stars to produce more metals than observed in the disk, by e.g. assuming a Salpeter-type stellar
initial mass function beyond a few Solar masses. The wind also allows a global, physically appealing interpretation of Cosmic
Ray propagation and escape from the Galaxy. In addition the spiral structure of the disk induces periodic pressure waves in
the expanding wind that become a sawtooth shock wave train at large distances which can re-accelerate “knee” particles coming
from the disk sources. This new Galactic Cosmic Ray component can reach energies of a few×1018 eV and may contribute to the juncture between the particles of Galactic and extragalactic origin in the observed overall
Cosmic Ray spectrum. 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
Electrons with near-relativistic (E≳30 keV, NrR) and relativistic (E≳0.3 MeV) energies are often observed as discrete events in the inner heliosphere following solar transient activity. Several
acceleration mechanisms have been proposed for the production of those electrons. One candidate is acceleration at MHD shocks
driven by coronal mass ejections (CMEs) with speeds ≳1000 km s−1. Many NrR electron events are temporally associated only with flares while others are associated with flares as well as with
CMEs or with radio type II shock waves. Since CME onsets and associated flares are roughly simultaneous, distinguishing the
sources of electron events is a serious challenge. On a phenomenological basis two classes of solar electron events were known
several decades ago, but recent observations have presented a more complex picture. We review early and recent observational
results to deduce different electron event classes and their viable acceleration mechanisms, defined broadly as shocks versus
flares. The NrR and relativistic electrons are treated separately. Topics covered are: solar electron injection delays from
flare impulsive phases; comparisons of electron intensities and spectra with flares, CMEs and accompanying solar energetic
proton (SEP) events; multiple spacecraft observations; two-phase electron events; coronal flares; shock-associated (SA) events;
electron spectral invariance; and solar electron intensity size distributions. This evidence suggests that CME-driven shocks
are statistically the dominant acceleration mechanism of relativistic events, but most NrR electron events result from flares.
Determining the solar origin of a given NrR or relativistic electron event remains a difficult proposition, and suggestions
for future work are given. 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.