Neural controllers for systems with unknown dynamics

This study presents a methodology for specifying a neural controller for a system about which no a priori model information is available. The neural design presumes that a finite duration input/output (I/O) histogram on the system is available. The design procedure extracts from the histogram sufficient information to specify the neural feedback controller. The resultant controller will drive the system along a general output reference profile (unknown during the design). The resultant controller also exhibits the capability of disturbance rejection and the capacity to stabilize unstable plants     

Imaging Plasma Density Structures in the Soft X-Rays Generated by Solar Wind Charge Exchange with Neutrals

Both heliophysics and planetary physics seek to understand the complex nature of the solar wind’s interaction with solar system obstacles like Earth’s magnetosphere, the ionospheres of Venus and Mars, and comets. Studies with this objective are frequently conducted with the help of single or multipoint in situ electromagnetic field and particle observations, guided by the predictions of both local and global numerical simulations, and placed in context by observations from far and extreme ultraviolet (FUV, EUV), hard X-ray, and energetic neutral atom imagers (ENA). Each proposed interaction mechanism (e.g., steady or transient magnetic reconnection, local or global magnetic reconnection, ion pick-up, or the Kelvin-Helmholtz instability) generates diagnostic plasma density structures. The significance of each mechanism to the overall interaction (as measured in terms of atmospheric/ionospheric loss at comets, Venus, and Mars or global magnetospheric/ionospheric convection at Earth) remains to be determined but can be evaluated on the basis of how often the density signatures that it generates are observed as a function of solar wind conditions. This paper reviews efforts to image the diagnostic plasma density structures in the soft (low energy, 0.1–2.0 keV) X-rays produced when high charge state solar wind ions exchange electrons with the exospheric neutrals surrounding solar system obstacles.The introduction notes that theory, local, and global simulations predict the characteristics of plasma boundaries such the bow shock and magnetopause (including location, density gradient, and motion) and regions such as the magnetosheath (including density and width) as a function of location, solar wind conditions, and the particular mechanism operating. In situ measurements confirm the existence of time- and spatial-dependent plasma density structures like the bow shock, magnetosheath, and magnetopause/ionopause at Venus, Mars, comets, and the Earth. However, in situ measurements rarely suffice to determine the global extent of these density structures or their global variation as a function of solar wind conditions, except in the form of empirical studies based on observations from many different times and solar wind conditions. Remote sensing observations provide global information about auroral ovals (FUV and hard X-ray), the terrestrial plasmasphere (EUV), and the terrestrial ring current (ENA). ENA instruments with low energy thresholds (\(\sim1~\mbox{keV}\)) have recently been used to obtain important information concerning the magnetosheaths of Venus, Mars, and the Earth. Recent technological developments make these magnetosheaths valuable potential targets for high-cadence wide-field-of-view soft X-ray imagers.Section 2 describes proposed dayside interaction mechanisms, including reconnection, the Kelvin-Helmholtz instability, and other processes in greater detail with an emphasis on the plasma density structures that they generate. It focuses upon the questions that remain as yet unanswered, such as the significance of each proposed interaction mode, which can be determined from its occurrence pattern as a function of location and solar wind conditions. Section 3 outlines the physics underlying the charge exchange generation of soft X-rays. Section 4 lists the background sources (helium focusing cone, planetary, and cosmic) of soft X-rays from which the charge exchange emissions generated by solar wind exchange must be distinguished. With the help of simulations employing state-of-the-art magnetohydrodynamic models for the solar wind-magnetosphere interaction, models for Earth’s exosphere, and knowledge concerning these background emissions, Sect. 5 demonstrates that boundaries and regions such as the bow shock, magnetosheath, magnetopause, and cusps can readily be identified in images of charge exchange emissions. Section 6 reviews observations by (generally narrow) field of view (FOV) astrophysical telescopes that confirm the presence of these emissions at the intensities predicted by the simulations. Section 7 describes the design of a notional wide FOV “lobster-eye” telescope capable of imaging the global interactions and shows how it might be used to extract information concerning the global interaction of the solar wind with solar system obstacles. The conclusion outlines prospects for missions employing such wide FOV imagers.     

Large-scale Coronal Heating, Clustering of Coronal Bright Points, and Concentration of Magnetic Flux

By combining quiet-region Fe XII coronal images from SOHO/EIT with magnetograms from NSO/Kitt Peak and from SOHO/MDI, we show that the population of network coronal bright points and the magnetic flux content of the network are both markedly greater under the bright half of the large-scale quiet corona than under the dim half. These results (1) support the view that the heating of the entire corona in quiet regions and coronal holes is driven by fine-scale magnetic activity (microflares, explosive events, spicules) seated low in the magnetic network, and (2) suggest that this large-scale modulation of the magnetic flux and coronal heating is a signature of giant convection cells. This revised version was published online in June 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Market-based systems for instrument development and science planning

Market-based systems are those systems in which currency is used to express demand for a limited resource. In these systems, users `own' currency and exchange it for a desired commodity. Though used for thousands of years, market-based applications to space missions are still in their infancy. The first successful application was in 1992 with the Cassini Mission to Saturn. In this case, the sum total of mass and dollars for the science instruments had to fit within the allocated resource envelope. Results from the use of a market-based system show that the entire science payload grew from original estimates by only +1% for cost, and by –7% for mass. The next application was for Space Shuttle Secondary Payloads. In this application, available shuttle lift mass, number of lockers for secondary payloads, and available astronaut time had to be allocated between 5 NASA Users. Experiments showed that a market-based system can reduce the size of the required workforce needed to produce a manifest of the same quality as one produced `by committee.' Finally, a market-based system was experimentally applied to LightSAR science planning, a proposed joint NASA/Commercial RADAR mission. In this application, users were able to produce a conflict-free timeline of events remotely, of high science value, in about half the time required by more traditional methods.     

The atmospheric Čerenkov technique in the search for PBH

Searches for primordial black holes are reviewed.     

Coronal Heating by Magnetic Explosions

From magnetic fields and coronal heating observed in flares, active regions, quiet regions, and coronal holes, we propose that exploding sheared core magnetic fields are the drivers of most of the dynamics and heating of the solar atmosphere, ranging from the largest and most powerful coronal mass ejections and flares, to the vigorous microflaring and coronal heating in active regions, to a multitude of fine-scale explosive events in the magnetic network, driving microflares, spicules, global coronal heating, and, consequently, the solar wind. This revised version was published online in June 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Toluene removal from air by Dieffenbachia in a closed environment.

Higher plants are likely to play a major role in bioregeneration systems for food, air and water supplies. Plants may also contribute by the removal of toxic organic substances from the air of a closed environment. Dieffenbachia amoena plants were exposed to 0 to 1.2 x 10(6) micrograms toluene m-3 at light intensities of 35 and 90 micromoles m-2 s-1 in sealed chambers. Toluene removal, photosynthesis and respiration were measured. An increased light intensity increased the rate of toluene removal five-fold over the rate at the lower intensity; the kinetics suggest active regulation by the plant. The removal rate saturated at 2700 micrograms toluene h-1 at the lower intensity and failed to saturate at the higher intensity. Toluene exposure inhibited photosynthesis and respiration only transiently and without correlation to toluene concentration. These plants can act as efficient scavengers of toluene in a contaminated environment.