The Dynamic Albedo of Neutrons (DAN) experiment for NASA's 2009 Mars Science Laboratory

We present a summary of the physical principles and design of the Dynamic Albedo of Neutrons (DAN) instrument onboard NASA's 2009 Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) mission. The DAN instrument will use the method of neutron-neutron activation analysis in a space application to study the abundance and depth distribution of water in the martian subsurface along the path of the MSL rover.     

Isolated generating periodic solutions to the Beletsky equation

We study degeneracies in families of periodic solutions to the Beletsky equation which correspond to intersections of three manifolds of these solutions: the symmetric, the asymmetric, and the manifold belonging to one of the integrable cases, i.e., e = 0 or μ = 0. We obtain equations for these isolated solutions, which allow us to compute them with an arbitrary precision. It is shown that additional degeneracies take place at some of these solutions. The method we use is applicable to a wide class of nonlinear ordinary differential equations (ODEs) depending on parameters.     

Temporal changes in fluid chemistry and energy profiles in the vulcano island hydrothermal system

In June 2003, the geochemical composition of geothermal fluids was determined at 9 sites in the Vulcano hydrothermal system, including sediment seeps, geothermal wells, and submarine vents. Compositional data were combined with standard state reaction properties to determine the overall Gibbs free energy (DeltaG(r) ) for 120 potential lithotrophic and heterotrophic reactions. Lithotrophic reactions in the H-O-N-S-C-Fe system were considered, and exergonic reactions yielded up to 120 kJ per mole of electrons transferred. The potential for heterotrophy was characterized by energy yields from the complete oxidation of 6 carboxylic acids- formic, acetic, propanoic, lactic, pyruvic, and succinic-with the following redox pairs: O(2)/H(2)O, SO(4) (2)/H(2)S, NO(3) ()/NH(4) (+), S(0)/H(2)S, and Fe(3)O(4)/Fe(2+). Heterotrophic reactions yielded 6-111 kJ/mol e(). Energy yields from both lithotrophic and heterotrophic reactions were highly dependent on the terminal electron acceptor (TEA); reactions with O(2) yielded the most energy, followed by those with NO(3) (), Fe(III), SO(4) (2), and S(0). When only reactions with complete TEA reduction were included, the exergonic lithotrophic reactions followed a similar electron tower. Spatial variability in DeltaG(r) was significant for iron redox reactions, owing largely to the wide range in Fe(2+) and H(+) concentrations. Energy yields were compared to those obtained for samples collected in June 2001. The temporal variations in geochemical composition and energy yields observed in the Vulcano hydrothermal system between 2001 and 2003 were moderate. The largest differences in DeltaG(r) over the 2 years were from iron redox reactions, due to temporal changes in the Fe(2+) and H(+) concentrations. The observed variations in fluid composition across the Vulcano hydrothermal system have the potential to influence not only microbial diversity but also the metabolic strategies of the resident microbial communities.     

Nitrogen fixation on early Mars and other terrestrial planets: experimental demonstration of abiotic fixation reactions to nitrite and nitrate

Understanding the abiotic fixation of nitrogen is critical to understanding planetary evolution and the potential origin of life on terrestrial planets. Nitrogen, an essential biochemical element, is certainly necessary for life as we know it to arise. The loss of atmospheric nitrogen can result in an incapacity to sustain liquid water and impact planetary habitability and hydrological processes that shape the surface. However, our current understanding of how such fixation may occur is almost entirely theoretical. This work experimentally examines the chemistry, in both gas and aqueous phases, that would occur from the formation of NO and CO by the shock heating of a model carbon dioxide/nitrogen atmosphere such as is currently thought to exist on early terrestrial planets. The results show that two pathways exist for the abiotic fixation of nitrogen from the atmosphere into the crust: one via HNO and another via NO(2). Fixation via HNO, which requires liquid water, could represent fixation on a planet with liquid water (and hence would also be a source of nitrogen for the origin of life). The pathway via NO(2) does not require liquid water and shows that fixation could occur even when liquid water has been lost from a planet's surface (for example, continuing to remove nitrogen through NO(2) reaction with ice, adsorbed water, etc.).     

Radio plasma imager simulations and measurements

The Radio Plasma Imager (RPI) will be the first-of-its kind instrument designed to use radio wave sounding techniques to perform repetitive remote sensing measurements of electron number density (N _e) structures and the dynamics of the magnetosphere and plasmasphere. RPI will fly on the Imager for Magnetopause-to-Aurora Global Exploration (IMAGE) mission to be launched early in the year 2000. The design of the RPI is based on recent advances in radio transmitter and receiver design and modern digital processing techniques perfected for ground-based ionospheric sounding over the last two decades. Free-space electromagnetic waves transmitted by the RPI located in the low-density magnetospheric cavity will be reflected at distant plasma cutoffs. The location and characteristics of the plasma at those remote reflection points can then be derived from measurements of the echo amplitude, phase, delay time, frequency, polarization, Doppler shift, and echo direction. The 500 m tip-to-tip X and Y (spin plane) antennas and 20 m Z axis antenna on RPI will be used to measures echoes coming from distances of several R _E. RPI will operate at frequencies between 3 kHz to 3 MHz and will provide quantitative N _e values from 10^–1 to 10⁵ cm^–3. Ray tracing calculations, combined with specific radio imager instrument characteristics, enables simulations of RPI measurements. These simulations have been performed throughout an IMAGE orbit and under different model magnetospheric conditions. They dramatically show that radio sounding can be used quite successfully to measure a wealth of magnetospheric phenomena such as magnetopause boundary motions and plasmapause dynamics. The radio imaging technique will provide a truly exciting opportunity to study global magnetospheric dynamics in a way that was never before possible.     

The Radio Plasma Imager investigation on the IMAGE spacecraft

Radio plasma imaging uses total reflection of electromagnetic waves from plasmas whose plasma frequencies equal the radio sounding frequency and whose electron density gradients are parallel to the wave normals. The Radio Plasma Imager (RPI) has two orthogonal 500-m long dipole antennas in the spin plane for near omni-directional transmission. The third antenna is a 20-m dipole along the spin axis. Echoes from the magnetopause, plasmasphere and cusp will be received with the three orthogonal antennas, allowing the determination of their angle-of-arrival. Thus it will be possible to create image fragments of the reflecting density structures. The instrument can execute a large variety of programmable measuring options at frequencies between 3 kHz and 3 MHz. Tuning of the transmit antennas provides optimum power transfer from the 10 W transmitter to the antennas. The instrument can operate in three active sounding modes: (1) remote sounding to probe magnetospheric boundaries, (2) local (relaxation) sounding to probe the local plasma frequency and scalar magnetic field, and (3) whistler stimulation sounding. In addition, there is a passive mode to record natural emissions, and to determine the local electron density, the scalar magnetic field, and temperature by using a thermal noise spectroscopy technique.     

面向月球科研站任务的地月准实时遥操作模拟验证系统设计与关键技术研究

针对月球科研站任务地月遥操作需求和特点,设计地月准实时遥操作模拟验证系统,对其中的关键技术海量多尺度遥感数据环境感知、空地协同高精度定位、基于混合现实的预测仿真等进行了研究。提出了基于海量多尺度遥感数据的联合处理方法,环境感知数据融合可处理米级至厘米级环境感知结果;设计基于空地多运动平台协同定位的原型软件,空地协同地标约束下,定位精度不低于轨道器影像1个像素;开发了带有力觉反馈的预测仿真验证平台,在2~3 s变时延约束下可在仿真环境下协同演示遥操作过程,真实还原从端的遥操作作业场景,提高遥操作的执行效率和安全性。为地面人员的方案设计、操作手训练、故障处置等提供实时支持,为我国未来实施月球科研站任务筑牢基础。     

A novel virtual material layer model for predicting natural frequencies of composite bolted joints

A novel virtual material layer model based on the fractal theory was proposed to predict the natural frequencies of carbon fiber reinforced plastic composite bolted joints. Rough contact surfaces of composite bolted joints are modeled with this new proposed approach. Numerical and experimental modal analyses were conducted to validate the effectiveness of the proposed model. A good consistence is noted between the numerical and experimental results. To demonstrate the necessity of accurately modeling the rough contact surfaces in the prediction of natural frequencies, virtual material layer model was compared with the widely used traditional model based on the Master-Slave contact algorithm and experiments, respectively. Results show that the proposed model has a better agreement with experiments than the widely used traditional model (the prediction accuracy is raised by 8.77% when the pre-tightening torque is 0.5 N∙m). Real contact area ratio A* of three different virtual material layers were calculated. Value of A* were discussed with dimensionless load P*, fractal dimension D and fractal roughness G. This work provides a new efficient way for accurately modeling the rough contact surfaces and predicting the natural frequencies of composite bolted joints, which can be used to help engineers in the dynamic design of composite materials.     

用户星天线空间扫描策略

 天线空间扫描过程是建立中继卫星系统星间链路的关键阶段之一。首先分析比较了水平行扫、螺旋扫描和分行螺旋扫描策略,并根据分析结果,结合轨迹预处理算法,设计了一种变速分行螺旋扫描策略。然后采用蒙特卡罗仿真分析了用户星天线开环回扫指向精度,近似确定了天线空间扫描的范围。最后通过仿真比较等速分行螺旋扫描和变速分行螺旋扫描策略,并仿真了用户星天线捕获中继卫星的过程,通过仿真结果证明所设计的变速分行螺旋扫描具有一定的工程应用价值。     

Zenith Pass Problem of Inter-satellite Linkage Antenna Based on Program Guidance Method

While adopting an elevation-over-azimuth architecture by an inter-satellite linkage antenna of a user satellite, a zenith pass problem always occurs when the antenna is tracing the tracking and data relay satellite （TDRS）. This paper deals with this problem by way of, firstly, introducing movement laws of the inter-satellite linkage to predict the movement of the user satellite antenna followed by analyzing the potential pass moment and the actual one of the zenith pass in detail. A number of specific orbit altitudes for the user satellite that can remove the blindness zone are obtained. Finally, on the base of the predicted results from the movement laws of the inter-satellite linkage, the zenith pass tracing strategies for the user satellite antenna are designed under the program guidance using a trajectory preprocessor. Simulations have confirmed the reasonability and feasibility of the strategies in dealing with the zenith pass problem.