The geomagnetic solar flare effect identified by SIIG as an indicator of a solar flare observed by GOES satellites

This paper studies the efficiency of geomagnetic solar flare effects (gsfe) in X solar flare detection; so during the period 1999–2007 a comparison between solar flare (sf) observed by satellites of the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) programme and gsfe published by the Service International des Indices Geomagnetiques (SIIG) is made.     

Mean energy of response to galactic cosmic ray spectrum: IMP 8 and Climax neutron monitor

Solar modulations of galactic cosmic ray (GCR) intensity contain a wealth of information about their transport in the heliosphere. To extract this information from the data one studies the dependence of the observed modulations on the mean energy of response of detectors providing data for the analyses. There is a great deal of confusion about the detector energy response to GCR spectrum in the literature. We present a preliminary report on the computations of the mean energy of response for the Climax neutron monitor (CL/NM) and IMP 8 cosmic ray nuclear composition instrument to GCR protons for 1973–1998, covering the solar cycles 21 and 22. We find that for penetrating proton channel on IMP 8 the mean energy changes by a factor of over two whereas for the neutron monitor the change is only 21%. However, the corresponding change for the computed modulation function is a factor of about 3.5.     

Planetary protection issues related to human missions to Mars

In accordance with the United Nations Outer Space Treaties [United Nations, Agreement Governing the Activities of States on the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies, UN doc A/RES/34/68, resolution 38/68 of December 1979], currently maintained and promulgated by the Committee on Space Research [COSPAR Planetary Protection Panel, Planetary Protection Policy accepted by the COSPAR Council and Bureau, 20 October 2002, amended 24 March 2005, http://www.cosparhq.org/scistr/PPPolicy.htm], missions exploring the Solar system must meet planetary protection requirements. Planetary protection aims to protect celestial bodies from terrestrial contamination and to protect the Earth environment from potential biological contamination carried by returned samples or space systems that have been in contact with an extraterrestrial environment. From an exobiology perspective, Mars is one of the major targets, and several missions are currently in operation, in transit, or scheduled for its exploration. Some of them include payloads dedicated to the detection of life or traces of life. The next step, over the coming years, will be to return samples from Mars to Earth, with a view to increasing our knowledge in preparation for the first manned mission that is likely to take place within the next few decades. Robotic missions to Mars shall meet planetary protection specifications, currently well documented, and planetary protection programs are implemented in a very reliable manner given that experience in the field spans some 40 years. With regards to sample return missions, a set of stringent requirements has been approved by COSPAR [COSPAR Planetary Protection Panel, Planetary Protection Policy accepted by the COSPAR Council and Bureau, 20 October 2002, amended 24 March 2005, http://www.cosparhq.org/scistr/PPPolicy.htm], and technical challenges must now be overcome in order to preserve the Earth’s biosphere from any eventual contamination risk. In addition to the human dimension of the mission, sending astronauts to Mars will entail meeting all these constraints. Astronauts present huge sources of contamination for Mars and are also potential carriers of biohazardous material on their return to Earth. If they were to have the misfortune of being contaminated, they themselves would become a biohazard, and, as a consequence, in addition to the technical constraints, human and ethical considerations must also be taken into account.     

A Comparative Study of the Influence of the Active Young Sun on the Early Atmospheres of Earth, Venus, and Mars

Because the solar radiation and particle environment plays a major role in all atmospheric processes such as ionization, dissociation, heating of the upper atmospheres, and thermal and non-thermal atmospheric loss processes, the long-time evolution of planetary atmospheres and their water inventories can only be understood within the context of the evolving Sun. We compare the effect of solar induced X-ray and EUV (XUV) heating on the upper atmospheres of Earth, Venus and Mars since the time when the Sun arrived at the Zero-Age-Main-Sequence (ZAMS) about 4.6 Gyr ago. We apply a diffusive-gravitational equilibrium and thermal balance model for studying heating of the early thermospheres by photodissociation and ionization processes, due to exothermic chemical reactions and cooling by IR-radiating molecules like CO₂, NO, OH, etc. Our model simulations result in extended thermospheres for early Earth, Venus and Mars. The exospheric temperatures obtained for all the three planets during this time period lead to diffusion-limited hydrodynamic escape of atomic hydrogen and high Jeans’ escape rates for heavier species like H₂, He, C, N, O, etc. The duration of this blow-off phase for atomic hydrogen depends essentially on the mixing ratios of CO₂, N₂ and H₂O in the atmospheres and could last from ∼100 to several hundred million years. Furthermore, we study the efficiency of various non-thermal atmospheric loss processes on Venus and Mars and investigate the possible protecting effect of the early martian magnetosphere against solar wind induced ion pick up erosion. We find that the early martian magnetic field could decrease the ion-related non-thermal escape rates by a great amount. It is possible that non-magnetized early Mars could have lost its whole atmosphere due to the combined effect of its extended upper atmosphere and a dense solar wind plasma flow of the young Sun during about 200 Myr after the Sun arrived at the ZAMS. Depending on the solar wind parameters, our model simulations for early Venus show that ion pick up by strong solar wind from a non-magnetized planet could erode up to an equivalent amount of ∼250 bar of O⁺ ions during the first several hundred million years. This accumulated loss corresponds to an equivalent mass of ∼1 terrestrial ocean (TO (1 TO ∼1.39×10²⁴ g or expressed as partial pressure, about 265 bar, which corresponds to ∼2900 m average depth)). Finally, we discuss and compare our findings with the results of preceding studies.     

The Grain Impact Analyser and Dust Accumulator (GIADA) Experiment for the Rosetta Mission: Design, Performances and First Results

The Grain Impact Analyser and Dust Accumulator (GIADA) onboard the ROSETTA mission to comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko is devoted to study the cometary dust environment. Thanks to the rendezvous configuration of the mission, GIADA will be plunged in the dust environment of the coma and will be able to explore dust flux evolution and grain dynamic properties with position and time. This will represent a unique opportunity to perform measurements on key parameters that no ground-based observation or fly-by mission is able to obtain and that no tail or coma model elaborated so far has been able to properly simulate. The coma and nucleus properties shall be, then, clarified with consequent improvement of models describing inner and outer coma evolution, but also of models about nucleus emission during different phases of its evolution. GIADA shall be capable to measure mass/size of single particles larger than about 15 μm together with momentum in the range 6.5 × 10⁻¹⁰ ÷ 4.0 × 10⁻⁴ kg m s⁻¹ for velocities up to about 300 m s⁻¹. For micron/submicron particles the cumulative mass shall be detected with sensitivity 10⁻¹⁰ g. These performances are suitable to provide a statistically relevant set of data about dust physical and dynamic properties in the dust environment expected for the target comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko. Pre-flight measurements and post-launch checkouts demonstrate that GIADA is behaving as expected according to the design specifications. The International GIADA Consortium (I, E, UK, F, D, USA).     

The Genesis Solar Wind Concentrator Target: Mass Fractionation Characterised by Neon Isotopes

The concentrator on Genesis provided samples of increased fluences of solar wind ions for precise determination of the oxygen isotopic composition. The concentration process caused mass fractionation as a function of the radial target position. This fractionation was measured using Ne released by UV laser ablation and compared with modelled Ne data, obtained from ion-trajectory simulations. Measured data show that the concentrator performed as expected and indicate a radially symmetric concentration process. Measured concentration factors are up to ∼30 at the target centre. The total range of isotopic fractionation along the target radius is 3.8%/amu, with monotonically decreasing ²⁰Ne/²²Ne towards the centre, which differs from model predictions. We discuss potential reasons and propose future attempts to overcome these disagreements.     

任务期间考虑故障件报废无补给下的多级装备可用度评估

针对任务期间普遍存在的故障件报废问题,提出了一种适用于多等级多层级航空装备的可用度近似评估方法。首先通过忽略维修和运输时间将存在报废率的可修件等效为消耗件,然后分别通过后方保障中心对飞行基地备件量的分配以及下层级部件对上层级部件备件量的折算,将多等级多层级备件模型转化为单等级单层级模型,最后利用伽马分布的可加性得到整个保障系统的装备可用度。在实际算例中,通过与仿真结果的对比得出:当维修和运输时间较小或飞行基地备件配置充足时,本文提出的近似评估方法具有较高的精度。     

面向军用飞机任务能力的健康评估方法

军用飞机健康评估在工程实际中存在应用困难的问题。以军用飞机为研究对象,开展包括面向任务 的能力分析、基于故障劣化的功能分析以及参数化的健康评估等研究,得到基于任务分析的“飞机-任务功 能-影响参数暠两级映射作为健康评估的对象;综合利用劣化度、严酷度及极大熵改进区间层次分析法等多种 方法,得到飞机健康状态评估结果。结合具体实例及参数分析结果,表明该评估方法可信度高,具有较高的工 程实用价值。     

美国加速任务试车技术在军用航空发动机上的应用

加速任务试车(AMT)是目前国外研究军用航空发动机耐久性的标准试验,是发动机寿命管理的重要方法。本文以美国F404-GE-402发动机、F110-GE-100发动机为例,介绍了AMT技术在发动机设计验证、部件改进、寿命管理、维修计划等方面的具体做法,对有效提高我国发动机型号研制的风险管理与控制能力和实现发动机的高可靠性具有重要的研究与借鉴价值。     

蓄热式太阳能热光伏-热推进双模系统换热特性数值模拟研究

本文通过三维数值模拟研究蓄热式太阳能热光伏-热推进双模系统的蓄/释热特性和推进性能。在蓄热式太阳能热推进系统工程模型的基础上,通过射线光学的光路分析验证了聚光器设计的合理性,并获得吸热腔壁面能量分布情况,进一步研究了相变蓄热过程的影响因素。基于场协同原理对热光伏再生冷却结构进行了优化设计,使热光伏具有较好的散热特性,提高发电功率;通过整机流动换热仿真,分析了工质流体在推进器内部的换热情况,计算结果表明,蓄热式热推进器具有达到734s比冲和0.9N推力的推进性能,以及能够满足日蚀区微小卫星的供电和推力需求。