Particle acceleration and loss in the million electron Volt (MeV) energy range (and above) is the least understood aspect of radiation belt science. In order to measure cleanly and separately both ...the energetic electron and energetic proton components, there is a need for a carefully designed detector system. The Relativistic Electron-Proton Telescope (REPT) on board the Radiation Belt Storm Probe (RBSP) pair of spacecraft consists of a stack of high-performance silicon solid-state detectors in a telescope configuration, a collimation aperture, and a thick case surrounding the detector stack to shield the sensors from penetrating radiation and bremsstrahlung. The instrument points perpendicular to the spin axis of the spacecraft and measures high-energy electrons (up to ∼20 MeV) with excellent sensitivity and also measures magnetospheric and solar protons to energies well above
E
=100 MeV. The instrument has a large geometric factor (
g
=0.2 cm
2
sr) to get reasonable count rates (above background) at the higher energies and yet will not saturate at the lower energy ranges. There must be fast enough electronics to avert undue dead-time limitations and chance coincidence effects. The key goal for the REPT design is to measure the directional electron intensities (in the range 10
−2
–10
6
particles/cm
2
s sr MeV) and energy spectra (Δ
E
/
E
∼25 %) throughout the slot and outer radiation belt region. Present simulations and detailed laboratory calibrations show that an excellent design has been attained for the RBSP needs. We describe the engineering design, operational approaches, science objectives, and planned data products for REPT.
This open access book serves as a concise primer introducing the non-specialist reader to the physics of solar energetic particles (SEP). It systematically reviews the evidence for the two main ...mechanisms which lead to the so-called impulsive and gradual SEP events. This second edition contains two completely new chapters discussing element abundances and shock waves, reflecting new theoretical, modeling, and observational results. Existing chapters have been substantially expanded or updated with additions placed in a broader context.More specifically, the author discusses the timing of the onsets of SEPs, their longitude distributions, their high-energy spectral shapes, their correlations with other solar phenomena, as well as the all-important elemental and isotopic abundances. The book relates impulsive SEP events to magnetic reconnection in solar flares and jets. The concept of shock acceleration by scattering on self-amplified Alfvén waves is introduced, as is the evidence of reacceleration of impulsive-SEP material in the seed population accessed by the shocks in gradual events. The text then develops processes of transport of ions out to an observer. Finally, a technique to determine the source plasma temperature in both impulsive and gradual events is demonstrated.The author also mentions the role of SEP events as a radiation hazard in space and briefly discusses the nature of the main particle telescope designs that have contributed to most of the SEP measurements.
The expansion of our civilization to the Moon and beyond is now within our reach. This book explores the importance of being a spacefaring nation. It proposes maximizing use of the Moon and shows ...that science and engineering fact are ahead of science fiction.
Space and time are both crucial characteristic dimensions of geographic events and phenomena. Although exploratory spatial data analysis (ESDA) can be used to visualize and summarize complex spatial ...patterns, it has limitations in capturing the temporal dynamics of geographic features. Efforts have been made to incorporate the time dimension into ESDA techniques to detect space-time clustering or trends. Localized space-time statistics that could help in exploratory space-time data analysis (ESTDA), however, are still lacking. Focusing on spatial panel data, our work extended Getis-Ord
and
statistics using a space-time contemporaneous weight matrix and a space-time lagged weight matrix to account for local space-time autocorrelation. Two applications in this article show that the newly developed method can be used to summarize space-time patterns from spatial panel data, identify changes of landscape more consistently, and lend the results readily to visualization.
In the 1990s, Canada, member states of the European Space Agency, Japan, the Russian Federation, and the United States entered into an international agreement Concerning Cooperation on the Civil ...International Space Station. Among the many unique infrastructure challenges, partners were to develop a comprehensive international medical system and related processes to enable crew medical certification and medical support for all phases of missions, in a framework to support a multilateral space program of unprecedented size, scope, and degree of integration. During the Shuttle/Mir Program, physicians and specialized experts from the United States and Russia studied prototype systems and developed and operated collaborative mechanisms. The 1998 NASA Memoranda of Understanding with each of the other four partners established the Multilateral Medial Policy Board, the Multilateral Space Medicine Board, and the Multilateral Medical Operations Panel as medical authority bodies to ensure International Space Station (ISS) crew health and performance. Since 1998, the medical system of the ISS Program has ensured health and excellent performance of the international crewsan essential prerequisite for the construction and operation of the ISSand prevented mission-impacting medical events and adverse health outcomes. As the ISS is completing its second decade of crewed operation, it is prudent to appraise its established medical framework for its utility moving forward in new space exploration initiatives. Not only the ISS Program participants, but other nations and space agencies as well, concomitant with commercial endeavors in human spaceflight, can benefit from this evidence for future human exploration programs.
The International Space Station (ISS) is the largest and most complex international science and technology program in history. As such, it is a laboratory for a myriad of important policy issues. ...These include crisis decision-making. Begun by President Ronald Reagan in 1984, as Freedom, it was rechristened ISS in 1993 by President Bill Clinton. Completed in 2011 under President Barack Obama, it continues to this day and is likely to extend to 2028 and beyond. The ISS represents an international partnership of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA); Roscosmos, the Russian space agency; the European Space Agency, itself a partnership of 11 nations; the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency; and the Canadian Space Agency. With NASA as the “managing partner,” the ISS coalition has endured many crises over its long history. One of the most severe came in 2003 when the Columbia Shuttle disintegrated, killing all seven astronauts aboard and grounding the shuttle fleet indefinitely. A crew was on the space station at the time. What was the partnership to do? The Columbia crisis might have torn the partnership apart. It did not and thus presents an opportunity to analyze critical factors in collaboration under stress. The following article uses a process approach to discuss key decisions in the crisis period, from 2003 through 2004. It points to a certain style of leadership as vital, along with several other factors, including interdependency, urgency, rapid decision-making, a plan of action, and political support. These and other elements held the partnership together and kept it going in a common direction. Given the fact that continuing space exploration carries grave risks and is likely to be done through international partnerships, it is highly desirable to draw policy lessons from the shuttle/ISS experience as a guide for the future.
Progress in spaceflight research has led to the introduction of various manned and unmanned reusable space vehicle concepts, opening up uncharted opportunities for the newborn space transport ...industry. For future space transport operations to be technically and commercially viable, it is critical that an acceptable level of safety is provided, requiring the development of novel mission planning and decision support tools that utilize advanced Communication, Navigation and Surveillance (CNS) technologies, and allowing a seamless integration of space operations in the current Air Traffic Management (ATM) network. A review of emerging platform operational concepts is conducted, highlighting both the challenges and the opportunities brought in by the integration with conventional atmospheric air transport. Common launch and re-entry planning methodologies are then discussed, where the physical and computational limitations of these approaches are identified and applicability to future commercial space transport operations is assessed. Attention is then turned to the on-orbit phase, where the unique hazards of the space environment are examined, followed by an overview to the necessary elements required for space object de-confliction and collision avoidance modelling. The regulatory framework evolutions required for spacecraft operations are then discussed, with a focus on space debris mitigation strategies and operational risk assessment. Within the atmospheric domain, possible extensions and alternatives to the conventional airspace segregation approaches are identified including promising Air Traffic Flow Management (ATFM) techniques to facilitate the integration of new-entrant platforms. Lastly, recent modelling approaches to meet on-orbit risk criteria are discussed and evolutionary requirements to improve current operational procedures are identified. These insights will inform future research on CNS/ATM and Avionics (CNS + A) systems and associated cyber-physical architectures for Space Traffic Management (STM).
British Design brings together leading international scholars, designers and journalists to provide new perspectives on British design in the last sixty years, and how it at once looked back to the ...past with the continuation of traditions that spoke to Britain's design heritage, and looked forwards with the embrace of modernist and postmodernist style. The book responds to and develops new ways of understanding the recent history of design in Britain, with case studies on designed spaces and objects, including domestic interiors, retail spaces, schools and university buildings and transport. The contributors address significant moments and phenomena in the historical and social history of British design, from the rise and fall of the English Country House style and the Brutalist architectural boom of the 1960s to the modern shopping space, and consider the work of key contemporary designers ranging from Tommy Roberts to Thomas Heatherwick. British Design provides new criticism and analysis on how design, from the immediate post-war period to the present day, has developed and changed how we live and how we interact with the spaces in which we live. British Design is split into 13 chapters and is richly illustrated with 65 images, 16 of which are in full colour.
BepiColombo is a joint mission between the European Space Agency, ESA, and the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency, JAXA, to perform a comprehensive exploration of Mercury. Launched on
20
th
...October 2018 from the European spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, the spacecraft is now en route to Mercury.
Two orbiters have been sent to Mercury and will be put into dedicated, polar orbits around the planet to study the planet and its environment. One orbiter, Mio, is provided by JAXA, and one orbiter, MPO, is provided by ESA. The scientific payload of both spacecraft will provide detailed information necessary to understand the origin and evolution of the planet itself and its surrounding environment. Mercury is the planet closest to the Sun, the only terrestrial planet besides Earth with a self-sustained magnetic field, and the smallest planet in our Solar System. It is a key planet for understanding the evolutionary history of our Solar System and therefore also for the question of how the Earth and our Planetary System were formed.
The scientific objectives focus on a global characterization of Mercury through the investigation of its interior, surface, exosphere, and magnetosphere. In addition, instrumentation onboard BepiColombo will be used to test Einstein’s theory of general relativity. Major effort was put into optimizing the scientific return of the mission by defining a payload such that individual measurements can be interrelated and complement each other.
PDF