The first of the two missions foreseen in the ExoMars program was successfully launched on 14th March 2016. It included the Trace Gas Orbiter and the Schiaparelli Entry descent and landing ...Demonstrator Module. Schiaparelli hosted the DREAMS instrument suite that was the only scientific payload designed to operate after the touchdown. DREAMS is a meteorological station with the capability of measuring the electric properties of the Martian atmosphere. It was a completely autonomous instrument, relying on its internal battery for the power supply. Even with low resources (mass, energy), DREAMS would be able to perform novel measurements on Mars (atmospheric electric field) and further our understanding of the Martian environment, including the dust cycle. DREAMS sensors were designed to operate in a very dusty environment, because the experiment was designed to operate on Mars during the dust storm season (October 2016 in Meridiani Planum). Unfortunately, the Schiaparelli module failed part of the descent and the landing and crashed onto the surface of Mars. Nevertheless, several seconds before the crash, the module central computer switched the DREAMS instrument on, and sent back housekeeping data indicating that the DREAMS sensors were performing nominally. This article describes the instrument in terms of scientific goals, design, working principle and performances, as well as the results of calibration and field tests. The spare model is mature and available to fly in a future mission.
Enteroviruses (EVs) are among the most common viruses infecting humans. One-third of EV infections affect children under 1 year of age. Neonatal EV infections lead to a wide range of clinical ...manifestations, from mild febrile illness to severe, potentially fatal sepsis-like conditions with multiorgan failure. EV detections by serotype are reported by the National Reference Centre for EV Infections Lyon on a monthly basis. Demographic, clinical, and biological data were also collected in neonates hospitalized in 2012 for EV infection. Two subgroups were identified according to the beginning of symptoms: until 8 days of life (D8) or strictly after D8. There were 120 neonatal EV infections. Before D8, children with severe infection were born more prematurely with a low birth weight. The EVs most commonly detected in neonates were CV-B4 and E-11. Risk factors for severe EV infections included liver (73% before D8) and hematological damage (thrombocytopenia, 82%; coagulopathy, 64% before D8). This study suggests that systematic serotyping of neonatal EV infections and biological monitoring of liver function could be useful for early identification of children at high risk of clinical severity and fatality.
The ESA-Roscosmos ExoMars platform and rover mission will have complex interactions with the martian surface. In order to plan and perform landing, roving and scientific operations, the morphological ...characteristics of the terrain surrounding the rover need to be characterized from the decameter to the centimeter spatial scale. The smallest possible features currently identifiable are typically >0.75 m in size, corresponding to three times the ground sampling resolution of the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO). We have developed a synthetic topography with a ground sampling resolution of 0.01 m by integrating 1) a modeled topography of small-scale topographic features (e.g., rocks) into 2) a 0.25 m resolution digital elevation model (DTM) built by applying stereo and shape-from-shading techniques to HiRISE data. The modeled topography of small-scale topographic features is based on the extrapolation of the abundance and spatial distribution pattern of geological features measurable in HiRISE data. We determined that the cumulative fractional area covered by relief, i.e., float blocks and ridged outcrops, over the entire Oxia Planum landing site spans the range 0–30% with a mean abundance of relief of 7 ± 5%. The synthetic topography can be used for highly realistic environment simulations and rover drive planning. Artificial rover camera images produced with the synthetic topography incorporate orbital-based geomorphological units and can be used for improved planning and analyses of actual rover images.
•A synthetic topography at the ExoMars landing site Oxia Planum was produced at a spatial resolution of 1 cm.•Artificial rover camera images are produced with the new topography to improve image acquisition planning and interpretation of actual images.•The synthetic topography provides a highly realistic geometric environment to be used in rover drive simulations.
A scientific camera system would provide valuable geological context from the surface for lunar lander missions. Here, we describe the PanCam instrument from the ESA ExoMars rover and its possible ...adaptation for the proposed ESA lunar lander. The scientific objectives of the ESA ExoMars rover are designed to answer several key questions in the search for life on Mars. The ExoMars PanCam instrument will set the geological and morphological context for that mission. We describe the PanCam scientific objectives in geology, and atmospheric science, and 3D vision objectives. We also describe the design of PanCam, which includes a stereo pair of Wide Angle Cameras (WACs), each of which has a filter wheel, and a High Resolution Camera for close up investigations. The cameras are housed in an optical bench (OB) and electrical interface is provided via the PanCam Interface Unit (PIU). Additional hardware items include a PanCam Calibration Target (PCT). We also briefly discuss some PanCam testing during field trials. In addition, we examine how such a ‘Lunar PanCam’ could be adapted for use on the Lunar surface on the proposed ESA lunar lander.
► Science with a lunar surface camera. ► ExoMars PanCam scientific objectives at Mars. ► Design characteristics of ExoMars PanCam. ► ExoMars PanCam field trials. ► Adapting ExoMars PanCam for the Moon.
We present the first results from SMART-1’s science and technology payload. SMART-1 is Europe’s first lunar mission and will provide some significant advances to many issues currently active in lunar ...science, such as our understanding of lunar origin and evolution. The mission also contributes a step in developing an international program of lunar exploration. The spacecraft was launched on 27 September 2003 on an Ariane 5, as an auxiliary passenger to Geostationary Transfer Orbit (GTO), performed a 14-month long cruise using the tiny thrust of electric propulsion alone, reached lunar capture in November 2004, and lunar science orbit in March 2005. SMART-1 carries seven hardware experiments (performing 10 investigations, including three remote sensing instruments, used during the cruise, the mission’s nominal six months and one year extension in lunar science orbit). The remote sensing instruments will contribute to key planetary scientific questions related to theories of lunar origin and evolution, the global and local crustal composition, the search for cold traps at the lunar poles and the mapping of potential lunar resources.
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BackgroundUnderstanding enterovirus D68 (EV-D68) circulation patterns as well as risk factors for severe respiratory and neurological illness is important for developing preventive strategies.
: ...Between 2010 and 2016, 11,132 respiratory specimens from hospitalised patients in Lyon, France, were screened for EV-D68 by PCR. Phylogenetic relationships of the viral-protein-1 sequences were reconstructed using maximum-likelihood and Bayesian-Markov-Chain-Monte-Carlo approaches.
Overall, 171 infections with a biennial pattern were detected, including seven, one, 55, none, 42, one and 65 cases annually during 2010-16. Children (< 16 years-old; n = 150) were mostly affected and 71% (n = 121) of the total patients were under 5 years-old. In 146 patients with medical reviews, 73% (n = 107) presented with acute respiratory distress. Among paediatric patients with medical reviews (n = 133), 55% (n=73) had an asthma/wheezing history, while among adults (n = 13), 11 had underlying diseases. In total, 45 patients had severe infections and 28 patients needed intensive care unit stays. No acute flaccid myelitis (AFM) was detected. We found genotypes A, B1, B2 B3 and D circulating, and no associations between these and clinical presentations. During the study, new genotypes continuously emerged, being replaced over time. We estimated that ancestors of currently circulating genotypes emerged in the late-1990s to 2010. Rises of the EV-D68 effective population size in Lyon coincided with infection upsurges. Phylogenetic analyses showed ongoing diversification of EV-D68 worldwide, coinciding with more infections in recent years and increases of reported AFM paediatric cases.
Reinforcement of diagnostic capacities and clinical-based surveillance of EV-D68 infections is needed in Europe to assess the EV-D68 burden.
Urey: Mars Organic and Oxidant Detector Bada, J. L.; Ehrenfreund, P.; Grunthaner, F. ...
Space science reviews,
03/2008, Letnik:
135, Številka:
1-4
Journal Article, Conference Proceeding
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
One of the fundamental challenges facing the scientific community as we enter this new century of Mars research is to understand, in a rigorous manner, the biotic potential both past and present of ...this outermost terrestrial-like planet in our solar system. Urey: Mars Organic and Oxidant Detector has been selected for the Pasteur payload of the European Space Agency’s (ESA’s) ExoMars rover mission and is considered a fundamental instrument to achieve the mission’s scientific objectives. The instrument is named Urey in recognition of Harold Clayton Urey’s seminal contributions to cosmochemistry, geochemistry, and the study of the origin of life. The overall goal of Urey is to search for organic compounds directly in the regolith of Mars and to assess their origin. Urey will perform a groundbreaking investigation of the Martian environment that will involve searching for organic compounds indicative of life and prebiotic chemistry at a sensitivity many orders of magnitude greater than Viking or other in situ organic detection systems. Urey will perform the first in situ search for key classes of organic molecules using state-of-the-art analytical methods that provide part-per-trillion sensitivity. It will ascertain whether any of these molecules are abiotic or biotic in origin and will evaluate the survival potential of organic compounds in the environment using state-of-the-art chemoresistor oxidant sensors.
The limited knowledge about the majority of the Mercury surface leaves many open questions regarding its geological evolution, the anomalously high metal/silicate ratio, the magnetic field generation ...and exosphere evolution. An integrated suite of instruments, Spectrometer and Imagers for MPO BepiColombo-Integrated Observatory SYStem (SIMBIO-SYS), which includes a stereo imaging system (STC), a high-resolution imager (HRIC) and a visible–near-infrared imaging spectrometer (VIHI), has been selected for the ESA BepiColombo mission to Mercury. SIMBIO-SYS will scan the hermean surface with the three channels and map the physical, morphological, tectonic and compositional properties of the entire planet. The availability of high-resolution images will unveil details of specific target at an unprecedented resolution. The main scientific objectives and performances along with technical characteristics of SIMBIO-SYS are described in this paper.
The advanced Moon micro-imager experiment (AMIE) is the imaging system on board ESA mission to the Moon SMART-1; it makes use of a miniaturised detector and micro-processor electronics developed by ...SPACE X in the frame of the ESA technical programme. The AMIE micro-imager will provide high resolution CCD images of selected lunar areas and it will perform colour imaging through three filters at 750, 915 and 960
nm with a maximum resolution of 46
m/pixel at the perilune of 500
km. Specific scientific objectives will include (1) imaging of high latitude regions in the southern hemisphere, in particular the South Pole Aitken basin (SPA) and the permanently shadowed regions close to the South Pole, (2) determination of the photometric properties of the lunar surface from observations at different phase angles (physical properties of the regolith), (3) multi-band imaging for constraining the chemical and mineral composition of the surface, (4) detection and characterisation of lunar non-mare volcanic units, (5) study of lithological variations from impact craters and implications for crustal heterogeneity. The AMIE micro-imager will also support a Laser-link experiment to Earth, an On Board Autonomous Navigation investigation and a Lunar libration experiment coordinated with radio science measurements.
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