A new parameter to define interplanetary coronal mass ejections

The interplanetary manifestations of coronal mass ejections, ICMEs, have many signatures in the solar wind but none of these signatures in the velocity, density, temperature, magnetic field, plasma composition or energetic particles uniquely and unambiguously identifies the occurrence of an ICME. Different investigators identify different events when confronted with the same data. Herein, we present a single physical parameter that combines information from multiple plasma components and that holds the promise of defining a beginning and an end of the region of influence ICME and an indication of the location of the encounter with the ICME relative to its central meridian. This parameter is the total plasma pressure perpendicular to the magnetic field, consisting of the sum of the magnetic pressure and plasma kinetic or thermal pressure. It provides a vehicle for classifying the nature of the ICME encounter and, in many cases, provides an unambiguous start and stop time of the event. However, it does not provide a start and stop time for any embedded flux rope. This identification depends on examination of the magnetic field.     

The interstellar heliopause probe technology reference study

The interstellar heliopause probe (IHP) is one of ESA’s technology reference studies (TRS). The TRS aim to focus the development of strategically important technologies of relevance to future science missions by studying technologically demanding and scientifically interesting missions that are currently not part of the science mission programme.

Equipped with a highly integrated payload suite (HIPS), the IHP will perform in situ exploration of the heliopause and the heliospheric interface. The HIPS, which is a standard element in all TRSs, miniaturize payloads through resource reduction by using miniaturized components and sensors, and by sharing common structures and payload functionality.

To achieve the scientific requirements of the mission, the spacecraft is to leave the heliosphere as close to the heliosphere nose as possible and reach a distance of 200 AU from the Sun within 25 years. This is possible by using a trajectory with two solar flybys and a solar sail with characteristic acceleration of 1.1 mm/s², which corresponds to a 245 × 245 m² solar sail and a sail thickness of 1–2 μm. The trajectory facilitates a modest sail design that could potentially be developed in a reasonable timeframe.

In this paper, an update to the results of studies being performed on this mission will be given and the current mission baseline and spacecraft design will be described. Furthermore, alternative solar sail systems and enabling technologies will be discussed.     

神舟3号飞船上太阳辐射测量

2002年3月至9月间，用3台太阳辐照度绝对辐射计(SIAR)组装的太阳常数监测器在神舟3号飞船轨道舱上测量了太阳辐照度．改进了SIAR辐射计的锥腔结构，把电加热丝埋在薄锥腔壁中间，提高了绝对精度．采用了用宽视场辐射计飞船在轨运动中太阳扫过其视场期间进行测量的方法，测量值与美国EOS上ACRIM Ⅲ测量数据的最大偏差在0．2％以内．     

An experiment to study solar flare effects on radio-communication signals

The occurrence of radio signal fading events caused by ionospheric absorption plays an important role in the performance of radio-communication systems. It is necessary to know the magnitude and time-scale of such events in order to specify technical parameters of the communication system to be used. Generally, fading events are associated with solar flares, which are characterized by sudden increase in the solar X-ray flux that causes an increase in the ionization in the lower ionosphere. The abrupt increase of ionization causes the absorption of radio waves propagating in the Earth–ionosphere wave-guide and is reported as radio signal fading events. A simple experiment to monitor the behavior of lower ionosphere has been carried out at the Southern Space Observatory-SSO/INPE (29.43°S, 53.8°W), located in southern Brazil. The experiment is basically a computer controlled radio receiver that records the received signal strength of Amplitude Modulated (AM) radio signals in the HF (High Frequencies) range. We analyzed data of the 6 MHz beacon signal that has been transmitted by a broadcasting radio station located about 400 km from the observation site. In this work we present initial results of daily variation of the received signal strength and fading events associated with solar flares observed in the 6 MHz signal monitored by the experiment during 2001. X-ray solar flux data from the GOES-8 satellite were used to identify X-ray solar bursts associated with solar flares. Based on the one-year data collected by the experiment, a statistical summary of fading occurrences and their correlation with solar flares, as well as the distributions of time-scales and magnitudes of such events are presented.     

Response of the low latitude geomagnetic field to the major proton event of November 2001

A major solar flare eruption occurred at 16:20 UT on 4 November 2001, followed by strong solar radiation storm and proton event recorded by the SOHO and other interplanetary satellites. Coronal mass ejection associated with the flare event triggered an interplanetary shock, which impacted the geomagnetic field after about 33 h. The shock impact was quite intense to produce a SSC magnitude of 80 nT in the low latitude ground magnetic records followed by sharp and deep main phase (Dst −300 nT) in the first stage, following the density (N_p) enhancement. High time resolution digital magnetic field data from the equatorial and low latitude stations in India are analyzed to study the influence of various IP parameters on the intensity and duration of the magnetic storm. A double step storm was found to be in progress caused by the multiple injections. During the period of recovery, after a period of 8 h, a third stage of depression in the ground magnetic field was set in, which corresponded to the southward directed Bz. The energy transfer processes associated with the event is presented.     

Force-free magnetic field in a cylindrical flux rope without a constant alpha

It is generally assumed that magnetic fields inside interplanetary magnetic clouds and flux ropes in the solar photosphere are force-free. In order to model such fields, the solution of rot B = B is commonly used where  = const. But comparisons of this solutions with observations show significant difference. To treat this problem,we examine the solutions with .     

Prediction of geosynchronous electron fluxes using an artificial neural network driven by solar wind parameters

There are hundreds of satellites operating at the geosynchronous (GEO) orbit where relativistic electrons can cause severe damage. Thus, predicting relativistic electron fluxes is significant for spacecraft safety. In this study, using GOES satellite data during 2011–2020, we propose two neural network models with two hidden layers to predict geosynchronous relativistic electron fluxes at two energy channels (>0.8 MeV and > 2 MeV). The number of input neurons of the two channels (>0.8 MeV and > 2 MeV) are determined to be 36 and 44, respectively. The > 0.8 MeV model has 22 and 9 neurons in the hidden layers, while the > 2 MeV model has 25 and 15 neurons in the hidden layers. The input parameters include the north–south component of the interplanetary magnetic field, solar wind speed, solar wind dynamic pressure and solar wind proton density. Through the analysis of different time delays, we determine that the optimal time delays of two energy channels (>0.8 MeV and > 2 MeV) are 8 days and 10 days, respectively. The training set and validation set (Jan 2011-Dec 2018) are divided by the 10-fold cross-validation method, and the remaining data (Jan 2019-Feb 2020) is used to analyze the model performance as a test set. The prediction results of both energy channels show good agreement with satellite observations indicated by low RMSE (～0.3 cm^-2sr^-1s^?1), high PE (～0.8) and CC (～0.9). These results suggest that only using solar wind parameters is capable of obtaining reasonable predictions of geosynchronous relativistic electron fluxes.     

国产超薄铝蜂窝芯材在太阳翼基板的应用

针对太阳翼基板国产高性能低密度超薄铝蜂窝的自主可控需求,开展分析和试验,验证国产超薄铝蜂窝芯材应用于太阳翼基板的技术可行性。首先建立有限元模型进行准静态载荷分析,基板蜂窝芯子最大横向剪切应力为0.345 MPa,小于剪切强度0.36 MPa,满足强度裕度要求。其次,针对目前超薄蜂窝研制批次稳定性较差、剪切模量波动性较大的问题,对蜂窝剪切模量波动对基板力学性能的影响进行分析,结果表明,基板应力应变分布水平对剪切模量变化不敏感,蜂窝剪切模量降低50%后,基板蒙皮碳纤维最大应变减小3%,蜂窝芯子最大横向剪切应力减小9%,基板最大位移增加7%,可为蜂窝评估提供数据支撑。最后,开展基板缩比件和全尺寸基板的力、热试验,试验后基板未发生损伤。分析和试验结果表明：国产超薄铝蜂窝芯材性能满足要求,可在太阳翼基板上应用。     

太阳能热动力发电系统吸热器腔体辐射计算

空间太阳能热动力发电系统是一种新型的空间电力系统，吸热器是热动力发电系统关键部件之一，吸热器腔体的热辐射将直接影响到吸热腔的热损失和吸热器的传热，建立了太阳能热动力发电系统吸热器腔体辐射模型，结合换热管的传热模型计算了吸热器的传热过程，得到了吸热器热损失，换热管最大温度，工质出口温度等结果，并进行了比较，分析、计算结果可以用于吸热器的设计。