MICROSCOPE On-ground and In-orbit Calibration

The MICROSCOPE mission, to be launched in 2011, will perform the test of the universality of free fall (Equivalence Principle) to an accuracy of 10^?15. The payload consists of two sensors, each controlling the free fall of a pair of test masses: the first for the test of the Equivalence Principle (titanium/platinum), the second for performance verification (platinum/platinum). The capability to detect a faint violation signal of the EP test is conditioned upon the rejection of disturbances arising from the coupling and misalignments of the instrument vectorial outputs. Therefore the performance of the mission depends on the success of the series of calibration operations which are planned during the satellite life in orbit. These operations involve forced motion of the masses with respect to the satellite. Specific data processing tools and simulations are integral parts of the calibration and performance enhancement process, as are the tests operated on ground at the ZARM drop tower. The presentation will focus on the current status of the MICROSCOPE payload, the rationale for the in-orbit calibrations, the data processing operations and the tests performed at the ZARM drop tower.     

Remote sounding of atmospheric gravity waves with satellite limb and nadir techniques

Recent advances in satellite techniques hold great potential for mapping global gravity wave (GW) processes at various altitudes. Poor understanding of small-scale GWs has been a major limitation to numerical climate and weather models for making reliable forecasts. Observations of short-scale features have important implication for validating and improving future high-resolution numerical models. This paper summarizes recent GW observations and sensitivities from several satellite instruments, including MLS, AMSU-A, AIRS, GPS, and CLAES. It is shown in an example that mountain waves with horizontal wavelengths as short as 30 km now can be observed by AIRS, reflecting the superior horizontal resolution in these modern satellite instruments. Our studies show that MLS, AMSU-A and AIRS observations reveal similar GW characteristics, with the observed variances correlated well with background winds. As a complementary technique, limb sounding instruments like CRISTA, CLAES, and GPS can detect GWs with better vertical but poorer horizontal resolutions. To resolve different parts of the broad GW spectrum, both satellite limb and nadir observing techniques are needed, and a better understanding of GW complexities requires joint analyses of these data and dedicated high-resolution model simulations.     

Two-component Bénard convection: Interfacial deformation,oscillatory instabilities and the onset of turbulence

Instabilities and convection in binary fluid mixtures (liquids with impurities, binary gas mixtures, etc.) have been the subject of intense research over the past decade. The major finding has been that mere ppm impurity concentration can play a drastic role in the stability of fluid layers subjected to thermal gradients. For layers open to ambient air the impurity cooperates or competes according to the sign of its migration in the thermal fields with the interfacial deformation thus leading to convective flows. For a layer enclosed between copper plates, say, the impurity can interplay with the slightest buoyancy or buoyancy variations in the environment thus amplifying this force and bringing instability under circumstances where with pure fluids no instability is expected. Recent predictions reported here refer to oscillatory instabilities with or without interfacial deformation and the onset of turbulence in the form of chaotic flows which correspond to irregular patterns with decaying correlations and broadband noise in their power spectra.     

Validation of the in-flight calibration procedures for the MICROSCOPE space mission

The MICROSCOPE space mission aims to test the Equivalence Principle with an accuracy of 10^-15${10}^{-15}$. The drag-free micro-satellite will orbit around the Earth and embark a differential electrostatic accelerometer including two cylindrical test masses submitted to the same gravitational field and made of different materials. The experience consists in testing the equality of the electrostatic acceleration applied to the masses to maintain them relatively motionless. The accuracy of the measurements exploited for the test of the Equivalence Principle is limited by our a priori knowledge of several physical parameters of the instrument. These parameters are partially estimated on-ground, but with an insufficient accuracy, and an in-orbit calibration is therefore required to correct the measurements. The calibration procedures have been defined and their analytical performances have been evaluated. In addition, a simulator software including the dynamics model of the instrument, the satellite drag-free system and the perturbing environment has been developed to numerically validate the analytical results. After an overall presentation of the MICROSCOPE mission, this paper will describe the calibration procedures and focus on the simulator. Such an in-flight calibration is mandatory for similar space missions taking advantage of a drag-free system.     

The Long-Term Evolution of the Atmosphere of Venus: Processes and Feedback Mechanisms

Space Science Reviews - The BepiColombo Environment Radiation Monitor (BERM) on board the European Space Agency’s Mercury Planetary Orbiter (MPO), is designed to measure the radiation...     

Plasma Motion and Kinematics in Cool and Hot Stars

The environments of both hot and cool stars are the sites of highly dynamic processes involving motion of gas and plasma in winds, flows across shocks, plasma motions in closed magnetic fields, or streams along magnetospheric accretion funnels. X-ray spectroscopy has opened new windows toward the study of these processes. Kinematics are evident in line shifts and line broadening, and also more indirectly through the analysis and interpretation of density-sensitive lines. In hot stellar winds, expanding-wind kinematics are directly seen in broadened lines although the broadening has turned out to often be smaller than anticipated, and some lines are so narrow that coronal models have been revived. Although X-ray spectra of cool stars have shown line shifts and broadening due to the kinematics of the entire corona, e.g., in binary systems, intrinsic mass motions are challenging to observe at the presently available resolution. Much indirect evidence for mass motion in magnetic coronae is nevertheless available. And finally, spectral diagnostics has also led to a new picture of X-ray production in accreting pre-main sequence stars where massive accretion flows collide with the photospheric gas, producing shocks in which gas is heated to high temperatures. We summarize evidence for the above mechanisms based on spectroscopic data from XMM-Newton and Chandra.     

Recent advancements in the EST project

The European Solar Telescope (EST) is a project of a new-generation solar telescope. It has a large aperture of 4?m, which is necessary for achieving high spatial and temporal resolution. The high polarimetric sensitivity of the EST will allow to measure the magnetic field in the solar atmosphere with unprecedented precision. Here, we summarise the recent advancements in the realisation of the EST project regarding the hardware development and the refinement of the science requirements.     

Influence of solar-geomagnetic disturbances on SABER measurements of 4.3 μm emission and the retrieval of kinetic temperature and carbon dioxide

Thermospheric infrared radiance at 4.3 μm is susceptible to the influence of solar-geomagnetic disturbances. Ionization processes followed by ion-neutral chemical reactions lead to vibrationally excited NO⁺ (i.e., NO⁺(v)) and subsequent 4.3 μm emission in the ionospheric E-region. Large enhancements of nighttime 4.3 μm emission were observed by the TIMED/SABER instrument during the April 2002 and October–November 2003 solar storms. Global measurements of infrared 4.3 μm emission provide an excellent proxy to observe the nighttime E-region response to auroral dosing and to conduct a detailed study of E-region ion-neutral chemistry and energy transfer mechanisms. Furthermore, we find that photoionization processes followed by ion-neutral reactions during quiescent, daytime conditions increase the NO⁺ concentration enough to introduce biases in the TIMED/SABER operational processing of kinetic temperature and CO₂ data, with the largest effect at summer solstice. In this paper, we discuss solar storm enhancements of 4.3 μm emission observed from SABER and assess the impact of NO⁺(v) 4.3 μm emission on quiescent, daytime retrievals of Tk/CO₂ from the SABER instrument.     

Determination of the Equivalence Principle Violation Signal for the MICROSCOPE Space Mission: Optimization of the Signal Processing

The MICROSCOPE space mission aims at testing the Equivalence Principle (EP) with an accuracy of 10^?15. The test is based on the precise measurement delivered by a differential electrostatic accelerometer on-board a drag-free microsatellite which includes two cylindrical test masses submitted to the same gravitational field and made of different materials. The experiment consists in testing the equality of the electrostatic acceleration applied to the masses to maintain them relatively motionless at a well-known frequency. This high precision experiment is compatible with only very little perturbations. However, aliasing arises from the finite time span of the measurement, and is amplified by measurement losses. These effects perturb the measurement analysis. Numerical simulations have been run to estimate the contribution of a perturbation at any frequency on the EP violation frequency and to test its compatibility with the mission specifications. Moreover, different data analysis procedures have been considered to select the one minimizing these effects taking into account the uncertainty about the frequencies of the implicated signals.     

Partially Ionized Plasmas in Astrophysics

Partially ionized plasmas are found across the Universe in many different astrophysical environments. They constitute an essential ingredient of the solar atmosphere, molecular clouds, planetary ionospheres and protoplanetary disks, among other environments, and display a richness of physical effects which are not present in fully ionized plasmas. This review provides an overview of the physics of partially ionized plasmas, including recent advances in different astrophysical areas in which partial ionization plays a fundamental role. We outline outstanding observational and theoretical questions and discuss possible directions for future progress.