Interplanetary medium – A dusty plasma

The average mass of dust per volume in space equals that of the solar wind so that the interplanetary medium should provide an obvious region to study dust plasma interactions. While dust collective behavior is typically not observed in the interplanetary medium, the dust component rather consists of isolated grains screened by and interacting with the plasma. Space measurements have revealed several phenomena possibly resulting from dust plasma interactions, but most of the dust plasma interactions are at present not quantified. Examples are the production of neutrals and pick-up ions from the dust, dust impact generated field variations at spacecraft and magnetic field variations possibly caused by solar wind interacting with dust trails. Since dust particles carry a surface charge, they are exposed to the Lorentz force in the interplanetary magnetic field and for grains of sub-micrometer sizes acceleration can be substantial.     

Optimal steering law of refractive sail

The interaction between electromagnetic waves and matter is the working principle of a photon-propelled spacecraft, which extracts momentum from the solar radiation to obtain a propulsive acceleration. An example is offered by solar sails, which use a thin membrane to reflect the impinging photons. The solar radiation momentum may actually be transferred to matter by means of various optical phenomena, such as absorption, emission, or refraction. This paper deals with the novel concept of a refractive sail, through which the Sun’s light is refracted by crossing a film made of polymeric micro-prisms. The main feature of a refractive sail is to give a large transverse component of thrust even when the sail nominal plane is orthogonal to the Sun-spacecraft line. Starting from the recent literature results, this paper proposes a semi-analytical thrust model that estimates the characteristics of the propulsive acceleration vector as a function of the sail attitude angles. Such a mathematical model is then used to analyze a simplified Earth-Mars and Earth-Venus interplanetary transfer within an optimal framework.     

Cosmic ray flux at the Earth in a variable heliosphere

In recent years the variability of the cosmic ray flux has become one of the main issues not only for the interpretation of the abundances of cosmogenic isotopes in cosmochronic archives like, e.g., ice cores, but also for its potential impact on the terrestrial climate. It has been re-emphasized that the cosmic ray flux is not only varying due to the solar activity-induced changes of the solar wind but also in response to the changing state of the interstellar medium surrounding the heliosphere. We demonstrate the significance of these external boundary condition changes along the galactic orbit of the Sun for the flux as well as spectra of cosmic rays. Such interstellar–terrestrial relations are a major topic of the International Heliophysical Year 2007.     

MHD modeling of the outer heliosphere: Achievements and challenges

An overview is presented of magnetic-field-related effects in the solar wind (SW) interaction with the local interstellar medium (LISM) and the different theoretical approaches used in their investigation. We discuss the possibility that the interstellar magnetic field (ISMF) introduces north–south and east–west asymmetries of the heliosphere, which might explain observational data obtained by the Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 spacecraft. The SW–LISM interaction parameters that are responsible for the deflection of the interstellar neutral hydrogen flow from the direction of propagation of neutral helium in the inner heliosheath are outlined. The possibility of a strong ISMF, which increases the heliospheric asymmetry and the H–He flow deflection, is discussed. The effect of the combination of a slow-fast solar wind during solar minimum over the Sun’s 11-year activity cycle is illustrated. The consequences of a tilt between the Sun’s magnetic and rotational axes are analyzed. Band-like areas of an increased magnetic field distribution in the outer heliosheath are sought in order to discover regions of possible 2–3 kHz radio emission.     

Estimation of Galactic Cosmic Ray exposure inside and outside the Earth’s magnetosphere during the recent solar minimum between solar cycles 23 and 24

The evidently low solar activity observed between solar cycles 23 and 24 during the years 2008–2010 led to a substantial increase in the Galactic Cosmic Ray (GCR) intensity in comparison with preceding solar minima. As the GCRs consist of highly-ionizing charged particles having the potential to cause biological damage, they are a subject of concern for manned missions to space. With the enhanced particle fluxes observed between 2008 and 2010, it is reasonable to assume that the radiation exposure from GCR must have also increased to unusually high levels. In this paper, the GCR exposure outside and inside the Earth’s magnetosphere is numerically calculated for time periods starting from 1970 to the end of 2011 in order to investigate the increase in dose levels during the years 2008–2010 in comparison with the last three solar minima. The dose rates were calculated in a water sphere, used as a surrogate for the human body, either unshielded or surrounded by aluminium shielding of 0.3, 10 or 40 g/cm².     

中小企业技术创新的优势与劣势分析

中小企业在技术创新活动中具有自己的优势，但同时也伴有更为突出的劣势，从而造成许多中小企业生命周期过短的现象。文章分析了中小企业技术创新的优势和劣势，针对劣势提出了技术创新的若干对策。     

离心力场下多孔介质中热驱动换热的实验

以涡轮叶片新型超级冷却技术的研究为背景,在具有冷却通道的新型冷却结构中加入多孔介质,用实验的方法,模拟了离心力场下该新型冷却结构的热驱动换热现象,并与无多孔介质的情况进行了比较。实验结果表明:随着旋转速度、热流密度和冷气进口速度的增大,装有多孔介质的新型冷却结构的热驱动换热能力逐渐增强。同时实验研究发现,加入多孔介质后该新型冷却结构比未加多孔介质时具有更好的换热效果。      

压力分布传感器在飞机尾翼上粘接安装工艺研究

压力分布传感器逐步被应用到飞行载荷测量,传感器可靠安装是测量的前提。该文对压力分布传感器安装位置气动环境进行了计算分析,在传感器安装气动环境明确的条件下,通过粘贴介质剥离试验,选择合适的粘接材料,研究形成粘接工序,通过计算和飞行试验验证了粘接工序合理、粘接工艺可靠。     

半透明吸收、散射性介质内辐射传递系数的新型计算方法

为考虑半透明吸收、散射性介质内各向同性散射对辐射能量传递过程的影响，通过对辐射能量传递过程的分解，提出了一种基于辐射能量传递过程分解的射线踪迹法，该计算方法无需引入预设控制精度参数。经与其他计算方法的比较表明，该新型计算方法正确，计算精度高、计算时间短，可以用于研究介质内辐射能量传递过程的研究。