Mercury’s Weather-Beaten Surface: Understanding Mercury in the Context of Lunar and Asteroidal Space Weathering Studies

Mercury’s regolith, derived from the crustal bedrock, has been altered by a set of space weathering processes. Before we can interpret crustal composition, it is necessary to understand the nature of these surface alterations. The processes that space weather the surface are the same as those that form Mercury’s exosphere (micrometeoroid flux and solar wind interactions) and are moderated by the local space environment and the presence of a global magnetic field. To comprehend how space weathering acts on Mercury’s regolith, an understanding is needed of how contributing processes act as an interactive system. As no direct information (e.g., from returned samples) is available about how the system of space weathering affects Mercury’s regolith, we use as a basis for comparison the current understanding of these same processes on lunar and asteroidal regoliths as well as laboratory simulations. These comparisons suggest that Mercury’s regolith is overturned more frequently (though the characteristic surface time for a grain is unknown even relative to the lunar case), more than an order of magnitude more melt and vapor per unit time and unit area is produced by impact processes than on the Moon (creating a higher glass content via grain coatings and agglutinates), the degree of surface irradiation is comparable to or greater than that on the Moon, and photon irradiation is up to an order of magnitude greater (creating amorphous grain rims, chemically reducing the upper layers of grains to produce nanometer-scale particles of metallic iron, and depleting surface grains in volatile elements and alkali metals). The processes that chemically reduce the surface and produce nanometer-scale particles on Mercury are suggested to be more effective than similar processes on the Moon. Estimated abundances of nanometer-scale particles can account for Mercury’s dark surface relative to that of the Moon without requiring macroscopic grains of opaque minerals. The presence of nanometer-scale particles may also account for Mercury’s relatively featureless visible–near-infrared reflectance spectra. Characteristics of material returned from asteroid 25143 Itokawa demonstrate that this nanometer-scale material need not be pure iron, raising the possibility that the nanometer-scale material on Mercury may have a composition different from iron metal [such as (Fe,Mg)S]. The expected depletion of volatiles and particularly alkali metals from solar-wind interaction processes are inconsistent with the detection of sodium, potassium, and sulfur within the regolith. One plausible explanation invokes a larger fine fraction (grain size <45 μm) and more radiation-damaged grains than in the lunar surface material to create a regolith that is a more efficient reservoir for these volatiles. By this view the volatile elements detected are present not only within the grain structures, but also as adsorbates within the regolith and deposits on the surfaces of the regolith grains. The comparisons with findings from the Moon and asteroids provide a basis for predicting how compositional modifications induced by space weathering have affected Mercury’s surface composition.     

Study of highly perturbed spacecraft formation dynamics via approximation

This paper explores methods for approximating and analyzing the dynamics of highly perturbed spacecraft formations with an emphasis on computationally efficient approaches. This facilitates on-board computation or rapid preliminary mission design analysis. Perturbed formation dynamics are often approximated as linear time-varying (LTV) systems, for which Floquet theory can be used to analyze the degree of system instability. Furthermore, the angular momentum of the relative orbital state can be computed with the approximate dynamics to provide additional insight. A general methodology is developed first and then applied to the problem of unstable formation dynamics in asteroid orbits. Here the dominant perturbative effects due to low-order gravitational harmonics and solar radiation pressure are modeled. Numerical simulations validate the approach and illustrate the approximation accuracy achieved.     

A novel framework for liquid propellant engine’s cooling system design by sensitivity analysis based on RSM and multi-objective optimization using PSO

One of the challenges of combustion chamber and nozzle design in a Liquid Propellant Engine (LPE) is to predict the behavior and performance of the cooling system. Therefore, while designing, the optimization of the cooling system is always of great importance. This paper presents the multi-objective optimization of the LPE’s cooling system. To this end, a novel framework has been developed, resulting from the application of the Response Surface Method (RSM) and the correlation coefficients matrix, sensitivity analysis and the The Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO). based on this method, the input variables, constraints, objective functions, and their surfaces were identified. In terms of multi-optimization algorithms, RSM and PSO are utilized to get global optimum. In conclusion, the methodology capability is to optimize the LPE’s cooling system, 6 percentage increase in total heat transfer and 7 bar decrease cooling system pressure loss, which resulted in a 1.2-seconds increase in the specific impulse of the engine.     

提高电铸局部电沉积速率试验研究

电铸成型是采用离子沉积的方法制造复制件，具有很好的复制精度，因此电铸技术得到了广泛的应用。但由于受极限电流密度等多方面因素的影响，电铸速率一直是制约电铸技术发展的一个瓶颈，许多学者为此做了大量的理论和试验研究，但对如何提高极限电流密度还没有提供一个比较满意的答案，为提高电铸局部电沉积速率，本文在前人工作的基础上，讨论了影响电铸速率的因素，提出了一种新型的电铸方法－喷射式电铸，并通过两组试验分析了局部电沉积速率怀电铸液流量的关系以及局部铸速率与喷嘴口径的关系，试验结果表明，采用喷射式电铸可以大大提高局部极限电流密度，从而使电铸局部电沉积速率有一个较大范围的提高，为将电铸与快速成型结合奠定了试验基础。     

基于市场的最适宜质量水平模型

以企业利润最大化为目标，引入效用的概念，提出了一个基于市场的最适宜质量水平模型。该模型突破了现有的质量经济学理论仅以质量成本确定最适宜质量水平的模式，将质量水平与产品成本，效用和市场绩效联系起来，使模型具有更为方法的适用性，本文还就市场不确定性，消费者偏好，技术进步，市场竞争等因素对模型的影响展开了讨论，揭示了质量，销量，价格，成本，技术与竞争之间的关系，为企业产品决策，技术改造决策和质量策划提供了参考依据。     

共析钢的相变超塑性扩散连接

根据高温扩散和空洞蠕变闭合理论，在恒温超塑性扩散连接基础上建立相变超塑性扩散连接数学模型，可确定各工艺参数，诸如循环上限温度、压力、循环次数以及升、降温速率等对连接的影响，作为选择合适工艺参数的依据。经过对T8共析钢相变超塑性扩散连接试验研究，证明该理论模型与试验结果吻合较好。     

华东地区围护结构节能研究

根据南京市的典型年逐时气象参数，对于该市的某一座高层建筑物，应用自编的逐时动态负荷模拟程序，输入围护结构（窗户、墙体和屋顶）相关的物理参数及其与周围环境的关系（地点及朝向等），计算围护结构冬季采暖期散热量及夏季制冷得热量。结果表明，采用双层塑窗代替单层塑窗，使用节能墙体代替传统墙体能够使得冬季围护结构传散热量减少51％，夏季围护结构总得热量减少46％。因此，这一结果为华东地区建筑节能技术提供了理论依据。     

无穷观问题的研究(Ⅲ)——‘每一''与‘所有''

本组系列论文（I）－（Ⅴ）从数学和认识论的角度系统地研究了无穷观问题的历史发展和现状，确立了无穷观背景世界的三分法原则，指出了两种穷观相互排斥的局限性，形成了统一两种无穷于同一框架中的基本观点，并建立了一个统一实无限与潜无限于同一框架中的公理集合论系统APAS。     

金属载体上线天线阻抗与辐射特性的矩量法研究

用线网格模拟金属载体表面，应用矩量法求出天线及载体网格上的电流分布，据此研究在该金属载体影响下的天线特性，在计算阻抗矩阵元素时，利用了非对称正弦偶极子辐射场的精确表达式，并采用了直接复数积分，简化了计算公式，本文给出了几种金属载体上线天线的阻抗与辐射特性的计算结果，它们与有关文献上的数据或实验结果一致，最后计算了一种舰船简单模型上两根线天线的远区辐射场及它们的自阻抗与互阻抗。