Moderate geomagnetic storms of January 22–25, 2012 and their influences on the wave components in ionosphere and upper stratosphere-mesosphere regions

Moderate geomagnetic storms occurred during January 22–25, 2012 period. The geomagnetic storms are characterized by different indices and parameters. The SYM-H value on January 22 increased abruptly to 67 nT at sudden storm commencement (SSC), followed by a sharp decrease to −87 nT. A second SSC on January 24 followed by a shock on January 25 was also observed. These SSCs before the main storms and the short recovery periods imply the geomagnetic storms are CME  -driven. The sudden jump of solar wind dynamic pressure and IMF _Bz$B_z$ are also consistent with occurrence of CMEs. This is also reflected in the change in total electron content (TEC) during the storm relative to quiet days globally. The response of the ionospheric to geomagnetic storms can also be detected from wave components that account for the majority of TEC variance during the period. The dominant coherent modes of TEC variability are diurnal and semidiurnal signals which account upto 83% and 30% of the total TEC variance over fairly exclusive ionospheric regions respectively. Comparison of TEC anomalies attributed to diurnal (DW1) and semidiurnal (SW2) tides, as well as stationary planetary waves (SPW1) at 12 UTC shows enhancement in the positive anomalies following the storm. Moreover, the impact of the geomagnetic storms are distinctly marked in the daily time series of amplitudes of DW1, SW2 and SPW1. The abrupt changes in amplitudes of DW1 (5 TECU) and SW2 (2 TECU) are observed within 20°S–20°N latitude band and along 20°N respectively while that of SPW1 is about 3 TECU. Coherent oscillation with a period of 2.4 days between interplanetary magnetic field and TEC was detected during the storm. This oscillation is also detected in the amplitudes of DW1 over EIA regions in both hemispheres. Eventhough upward coupling of quasi two day wave (QTDWs) of the same periodicity, known to have caused such oscillation, are detected in both ionosphere and upper stratosphere, this one can likely be attributed to the geomagnetic storm as it happens after the storm commencement. Moreover, further analysis has indicated that QTDWs in the ionosphere are strengthened as a result of coherent oscillation of interplanetary magnetic field with the same frequency as QTDWs. On the otherhand, occurrences of minor SSW and geomagnetic storms in quick succession complicated clear demarcation of attribution of the respective events to variability of QTDWs amplitudes over upper stratosphere.     

Planetary protection issues of private endeavours in research,exploration, and human access to space: An environmental economics approach to forward contamination

In light of the rapidly growing New Space Economy, the landscape of space exploration and development activities will certainly become much more complicated year by year. Relevant commercial space actors have already emerged, pushing the boundaries of entrepreneurial space ventures beyond the Earth-oriented upstream and downstream market segments and opening up the path towards the novel segments of space exploration, space resources utilization, and space research. Planetary protection is usually defined as a set of guidelines concerning the avoidance of bidirectional biological material exchange between the Earth and other celestial bodies. Recent success stories of established and new-entrant NewSpace actors, although posing no realistic planetary protection threat at present, clearly indicate that serious work needs to be done in order for the relevant guidelines to keep up with the rapid advances of the technology development cycles that occur within NewSpace companies. This need may become even more urgent, as space entrepreneurs acquire and develop the resources and competencies to target the currently underserved market segments of space research, exploration, and utilization. As of now, these capabilities were maintained solely by public space agencies; thus, all planetary protection priorities, strategies, and responsibilities were discussed, agreed-upon, and delegated for implementation among national and international working groups of public stakeholders. Although top-down regulations can be effective in controlling the quality and conformity of the deliverables of private subcontractors to public contractors, international planetary protection frameworks might need to evolve even beyond such unmet public-private interaction and partnership models. For this reason, this study did not focus on the legal and political issues of mandating NewSpace actors to adhere to planetary protection guidelines; rather, drawing from the field of sustainable development on Earth, an environmental economics approach was followed, with the goal of viewing the relationship between planetary protection and private space exploration and development as another “tragedy of the commons” problem that must be settled accordingly. After the problem’s framing, i.e. the conceptual presentation and synthesis of four extraterrestrial non-excludable goods, the initial approach of their total economic value, and the negative externalities of their exploitation, a discussion of the forward contamination mitigation costs was conducted. Drawing from the literature and using examples from both the terrestrial and aerospace sectors, a pre-emptive move was suggested: the establishment of a global industry consortium for the pre-competitive collaboration in forward contamination mitigation technologies, centered on an international planetary protection analogue program and its respective testbed facility.     

Venus atmospheric platform options revisited

Various balloon systems intended as scientific platforms to float in the atmosphere of Venus at altitudes between about 35 and 65 km are briefly reviewed. Previous predictions of the altitude oscillations of balloons filled with helium gas and water vapor are largely confirmed through numerical simulation and analysis. The need for refined thermal modelling is emphasised. Several novel technical concepts are introduced. It is concluded that phase change balloons would be more suitable than non-condensing super pressure gas balloons when repeated altitude excursions are a mission requirement.     

Mars Sample Return: Do Australians trust NASA?

Mars Sample Return (MSR) represents an important scientific goal in space exploration. Any sample return mission will be extremely challenging from a scientific, economic and technical standpoint. But equally testing, will be communicating with a public that may have a very different perception of the mission. A MSR mission will generate international publicity and it is vital that NASA acknowledge the nature and extent of public concern about the mission risks and, perhaps equally importantly, the public’s confidence in NASA’s ability to prepare for and manage these risks. This study investigated the level of trust in NASA in an Australian population sample, and whether this trust was dependent on demographic variables. Participants completed an online survey that explored their attitudes towards NASA and a MSR mission. The results suggested that people believe NASA will complete the mission successfully but have doubts as to whether NASA will be honest when communicating with the public. The most significant finding to emerge from this study was that confidence in NASA was significantly (p < 0.05) related to the respondent’s level of knowledge regarding the risks and benefits of MSR. These results have important implications for risk management and communication.     

编队飞行卫星群相对轨道测量研究

编队飞行卫星群自主式相对轨道测量和确定是绕飞轨道的关键技术之一,考虑了利用星敏感器和雷达以及利用GPS(Global Positioning System)信号来进行相对定轨的传统方式,提出了基于伪卫星技术的定轨方案.伪卫星技术指在卫星上安装载波发生器和接收器,利用这些装置来进行卫星间的距离测量.在这些方案中,应用了差分GPS技术,采用优化方法求解多元非线性方程.这些测量方法分别适应于不同的情况.利用相对轨道要素的概念,在前面测量结果的基础上,通过卡尔曼滤波进一步提高了定轨精度.仿真计算表明这些方案可以满足不同尺度编队构型保持要求,并给出了部分结果.     

Miniaturized laser-induced plasma spectrometry for planetary in situ analysis – The case for Jupiter’s moon Europa

Jupiter’s icy moon Europa is one of most promising places in our Solar System where possible extraterrestrial life forms could exist either in the past or even presently. The Europa Lander mission, an exciting part of the international Europa Jupiter System Mission (EJSM/Laplace), considers in situ planetary exploration of the moon. The distance of Europa from the Earth and the Sun asks for autonomous analytical tools that maximize the scientific return at minimal resources, demanding new experimental concepts. We propose a novel instrument, based on the atomic spectroscopy of laser generated plasmas for the elemental analysis of Europa’s surface materials as far as it is in reach of the lander for example by a robotic arm or a mole, or just onboard the lander. The technique of laser-induced plasma spectrometry provides quantitative elemental analysis of all major and many trace elements. It is a fast technique, i.e. an analysis can be performed in a few seconds, which can be applied to many different types of material such as ice, dust or rocks and it does not require any sample preparation. The sensitivity is in the range of tens of ppm and high lateral resolution, down to 50 μm, is feasible. In addition, it provides the potential of depth profiling, up to 2 mm in rock material and up to a few cm in more transparent icy matrices. Key components of the instrument are presently developed in Germany for planetary in situ missions. This development program is accompanied by an in-depth methodical investigation of this technique under planetary environmental conditions.     

行星着陆轨迹优化技术研究进展

针对行星大气进入、动力下降过程动力学环境及约束条件等进行了分析,回顾了近年来行星着陆轨迹优化的研究现状.在此基础上,结合行星着陆轨迹优化技术在动力学特征、约束条件、不确定环境方面的特点,从非线性动力学的等价/近似变换技术、复杂约束条件下的最优轨迹快速求解技术、不确定条件下的能控/能达性分析技术三个方面,对行星着陆轨迹优...     

最优冲量交会的研究进展

 对最优冲量交会的研究进展进行综述,介绍最优冲量交会中四类比较典型的研究成果：基于冲量校正理论的最优冲量交会、Lambert最优冲量交会、利用数值方法求解的最优冲量交会和基于邻近圆轨道交会理论的最优冲量交会,并分析这些类型的最优交会的特点。     

低电离层中的行星波扰动及其垂直传播

根据武昌电离层观象台接收的罗兰－Ｃ ＬＦ无线电波的传播资料，利用小波分析方法，研究了１９８５年和１９８６年冬季的低电离层中的行星波扰动及其垂直传播。结果表明：（１）两个冬季中，在７５ｋｍ和９５ｋｍ高度上，均存在明显的行星波扰动，主要成分是５－１０天和１０－２０天周期的波动，扰动幅度随高度增长，但增长值小于理论增长值；（２）在７５ｋｍ高度上的扰动和９５ｋｍ高度上的扰动，具有十分相似的扰动形态。根据行     

International Practices to Protect the Geostationary Ring

Since more than 20 years reorbiting of geostationary satellites at the end of their mission is recommended and partially performed to protect the GEO environment. Now a worldwide accepted reorbiting altitude was defined by the Inter-Agency Space Debris Coordination Committee (IADC). Still only one-third of the aging satellites follow this IADC rule. Based on orbital data in the DISCOS database, the situation in the geostationary ring is analyzed. From 878 known objects, 305 are controlled inside their longitude slots, 353 are drifting above, below or through GEO, and 125 are in a libration orbit (status of January 2001). In the last four years (1997–2000) 58 spacecraft reached end-of-life. Twenty of them were reorbited in compliance with the IADC recommendations, 16 were reorbited below this recommendation and 22 were abandoned without any end-of-life disposal manoeuvre.