Electric discharge in the Martian atmosphere,Paschen curves and implications for future missions

Electric discharge between two electrically charged surfaces occurs at a well-defined, gas-dependent combination of atmospheric pressure and the distance between those two surfaces, as described by Paschen’s law. The understanding of when the discharge will occur in the conditions present on Mars is essential for designing space-flight hardware that will operate on the Martian surface as well as understanding electrical discharge processes occurring in the Martian atmosphere. Here, we present experimentally measured Paschen curves for a gas mixture representative of the Martian atmosphere and compare our results to breakdown voltages of carbon dioxide, nitrogen, and helium as measured with our system and from the literature. We will discuss possible implications for instrument development as well as implications for processes in the Martian atmosphere. The DC voltage at which electric discharge occurred between two stainless steel spheres was measured at pressures from 10⁻² to 100 torr in all gases. We measured a minimum voltage for discharge in the Mars ambient atmosphere of 410 ± 10 V at 0.3 torr cm. As an application, the breakdown properties of space-qualified, electrical wires to be used in the Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) instrument suite on the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) were studied.     

可凝性气体对低温光学元件表面污染的测试设备

详细介绍了某些可凝性气体对低温光学元件表面污染测试设备的基本原理，基本结构及使用方法；对其主要性能进行了实验测定，并给出了系统误差分析，该设备结构简单，功能齐全,性能可靠，使用方便；测试波段从近红外直至远红外，精度优于3％，与国外同类仪器相当，可用于各类可凝性气冷凝霜层的测试研究，为进一步发展空间技术提供了有效的研究设备。     

The Mercury Atmospheric and Surface Composition Spectrometer for the MESSENGER Mission

The Mercury Atmospheric and Surface Composition Spectrometer (MASCS) is one of seven science instruments onboard the MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging (MESSENGER) spacecraft en route to the planet Mercury. MASCS consists of a small Cassegrain telescope with 257-mm effective focal length and a 50-mm aperture that simultaneously feeds an UltraViolet and Visible Spectrometer (UVVS) and a Visible and InfraRed Spectrograph (VIRS). UVVS is a 125-mm focal length, scanning grating, Ebert-Fastie monochromator equipped with three photomultiplier tube detectors that cover far ultraviolet (115–180 nm), middle ultraviolet (160–320 nm), and visible (250–600 nm) wavelengths with an average 0.6-nm spectral resolution. It will measure altitude profiles of known species in order to determine the composition and structure of Mercury’s exosphere and its variability and will search for previously undetected exospheric species. VIRS is a 210-mm focal length, fixed concave grating spectrograph equipped with a beam splitter that simultaneously disperses the spectrum onto a 512-element silicon visible photodiode array (300–1050 nm) and a 256-element indium-gallium-arsenide infrared photodiode array 850–1,450 nm. It will obtain maps of surface reflectance spectra with a 5-nm resolution in the 300–1,450 nm wavelength range that will be used to investigate mineralogical composition on spatial scales of 5 km. UVVS will also observe the surface in the far and middle ultraviolet at a 10-km or smaller spatial scale. This paper summarizes the science rationale and measurement objectives for MASCS, discusses its detailed design and its calibration requirements, and briefly outlines observation strategies for its use during MESSENGER orbital operations around Mercury.     

A practical filter error method for aerodynamic parameter estimation of aircraft in turbulence

It is common for aircraft to encounter atmospheric turbulence in flight tests. Turbulence is usually modeled as stochastic process noise in the flight dynamics equations. In this paper, parameter estimation of nonlinear dynamic system with both process and measurement noise was studied, and a practical filter error method was proposed. The linearized Kalman filter of first-order approximation was used for state estimation, in which the filter gain, along with the system parameters and the initial states, constituted the parameter vector to be estimated. The unknown parameters and measurement noise covariance were estimated alternately by a relaxation iteration method, and the sensitivities of observations to unknown parameters were calculated by finite difference approximation. Some practical aspects of the method application were discussed. The proposed filter error method was validated by the flight simulation data of a research aircraft. Then, the method was applied to the flight tests of a subscale aircraft, and the aerodynamic stability and control derivatives were estimated. All the estimation results were compared with the results of the output error method to demonstrate the effectiveness of the approach. It is shown that the filter error method is superior to the output error method for flight tests in atmospheric turbulence.     

空气净化与洁净技术的应用

生产环境的洁净对保证航天产品的高可靠、长寿命有着十分密切的联系。文章从产品质量的角度,通过对空气净化与洁净技术应用的形成、发展与展望,浅谈了一些情况,望对实现超洁环境方式与系统的选用、维护管理有所帮助。     

Development of a micro-balance system for dust and water vapour detection in the Mars atmosphere

Quartz crystal piezoelectric sensors are suitable for deposition analyses that need very high sensitivity. Due to the wide working ranges and high performances, micro-balances can measure the mass settling in average Mars conditions during a period of months before saturation is reached. This ensures a proper use for short and long term water and dust deposition monitoring. Micro-balances have been studied, calibrated and used for the GIADA (grain impact analyser and dust accumulator) experiment for the ESA-Rosetta space mission. Experience on micro-balance performance study by dust deposition has been acquired and water vapour deposition studies are in progress in a Martian atmosphere simulation chamber. Preliminary results show that micro-balances are capable to detect up to partial pressure values corresponding to parts per billion of the typical Martian atmosphere.     

Design concepts for the first 40 km a key step for the space elevator

The Marine Node for the Space Elevator Infrastructure is the base for all activities to load and unload the cargo and climbers. As the basic design of the space elevator power system is solar power only, the first 40 km is hazardous to operations and demands enclosed packaging of fragile tether climbers. A significant question is: how do we place a full-up tether climber, driven by solar power, above the atmosphere? Two approaches, starting at the Marine Node, allow the tether climber to initiate the climb with solar energy above the atmosphere. The third viable approach is to provide a platform at altitude for initiation of tether climb. These approaches would enable solar power to be the source of energy for climbing. The three approaches are:     

Recent ozone investigations over Bulgaria by remote sensing: Ground-based and satellite data

This presentation deals with the recent investigations of the dynamics of the total ozone content (TOC) and of the lower troposphere ozone over Bulgaria, South-Eastern Europe.     

Development of the EUV detector for the BepiColombo mission

An ultraviolet spectrometer, PHEBUS (Probing of Hermean Exosphere by Ultraviolet Spectroscopy) that is loaded onto the Mercury Planetary Orbiter in the BepiColombo mission is under development. The instrument, basically consisting of two spectrophotometers (EUV: 50–150 nm, FUV: 145–330 nm) and one scanning mirror, aims at measuring emission lines from molecules, atoms and ions present in the tenuous atmosphere of Mercury. The detectors employ microchannel plates as 2-D photon-counting devices. In order to enhance the quantum detection efficiencies, the surface of the top microchannel plates of EUV detector is covered with photocathode. This method enables us to identify weak atmospheric signatures such as neon (73.5 nm) and argon (104.8 nm), which could not be detected with conventional detector systems. This paper presents measurements of the performance characteristics of potassium bromide and esium iodide photocathodes, which have been evaluated for use in the EUV channel.     

液压油中污染物的影响及控制

液压油的质量直接影响着液压系统的工作质量,液压系统目前面临需要克服的难题是如何有效地控制液压油的污染。这里介绍液压油被污染的原因,污染物产生的过程和对系统的影响,以及采取的控制措施等。