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| Announcement of Opportunity: ExoMars Entry, Descent and Landing Demonstrator Module Science |
The main document for the Announcement of Opportunity for ExoMars Entry, Descent and Landing Demonstrator Module Science |
| Publication date: 29 Nov 2010 |
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| EDM Surface Payload Experiment - Proposal Information Package (E-PIP) |
Technical, managerial and programmatic data relevant to the Announcement of Opportunity for the Surface Payload on the ExoMars Entry, Descent and Landing Demonstrator Module |
| Publication date: 29 Nov 2010 |
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| Cassini finds an oxygen–carbon dioxide atmosphere at Saturn’s icy moon Rhea |
| The flyby measurements of the Cassini spacecraft at Saturn's moon Rhea reveal a tenuous oxygen-carbon dioxide atmosphere. The atmosphere appears to be sustained by chemical decomposition of the surface water ice under irradiation from Saturn's magnetospheric plasma. This in situ detection of an oxidizing atmosphere is consistent with remote observations of other icy bodies such as Jupiter's moons Europa and Ganymede, and suggestive of a reservoir of radiolytic O2 locked within Rhea's ice. The presence of CO2 suggests radiolysis reactions between surface oxidants and organics, or sputtering and/or outgassing of CO2 endogenic to Rhea's ice. Observations of outflowing positive and negative ions give evidence for pickup ionization as a major atmospheric loss mechanism. |
| Publication date: 26 Nov 2010 |
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| Statistical study of the quasi-perpendicular shock ramp widths |
| The width of the collisionless shock front is one of the key shock parameters. The width of the main shock transition layer is related to the nature of the collisionless process that balances nonlinearity and therefore leads to the formation of the shock itself. The shock width determines how the incoming plasma particles interact with the macroscopic fields within the front and, therefore, the processes that result in the energy redistribution at the front. Cluster and Themis measurements at the quasi-perpendicular part of the terrestrial bow shock are used to study the spatial scale of the magnetic ramp. It is shown that statistically the ramp spatial scale decreases with the increase of the shock Mach number. This decrease of the shock scale together with previously observed whistler packets in the foot of supercritical quasi-perpendicular shock indicates that it is the dispersion that determines the size of magnetic ramp even for supercritical shocks. |
| Publication date: 18 Nov 2010 |
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| Big year for small satellite - ESA's second in-orbit technology demonstrator mission: PROBA-2 |
| Less than a cubic metre in volume, PROBA-2 is one of the smallest missions ever flown by ESA. But judged by performance per kilogram, PROBA-2 can also claim to be among the most scientifically and technically productive. |
| Publication date: 15 Nov 2010 |
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| Monopolar and bipolar auroral electric fields and their effects |
| Most of the high-altitude auroral electric fields observed by CLUSTER can be classified into monopolar and bipolar structures. The observations associate monopolar electric fields with polar cap boundary arcs, while bipolar fields tend to be linked to discrete arcs within the auroral oval and to polar cap arcs. The present paper proposes an explanation for this association based on a simple model of the magnetotail configuration and kinetic model computations. The paper introduces a quasi-electrostatic model to describe the auroral current system associated with monopolar and bipolar high-altitude fields. Analytic solutions are presented. The model gives indications about the location of the up- and downward field-aligned current regions, the ionospheric and magnetospheric convection along the arc, the acceleration or deceleration of precipitating particles, and the behaviour of escaping ionospheric ions. |
| Publication date: 09 Nov 2010 |
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| The Detection of a Population of Submillimeter-Bright, Strongly-Lensed Galaxies |
| Gravitational lensing is a powerful astrophysical and cosmological probe and is particularly valuable at submillimeter wavelengths for the study of the statistical and individual properties of dusty star-forming galaxies. However, the identification of gravitational lenses is often time-intensive, involving the sifting of large volumes of imaging or spectroscopic data to find few candidates. We used early data from the Herschel Astrophysical Terahertz Large Area Survey to demonstrate that wide-area submillimeter surveys can simply and easily detect strong gravitational lensing events, with close to 100% efficiency. |
| Publication date: 05 Nov 2010 |
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| Early star-forming galaxies and the reionization of the Universe |
| Star-forming galaxies trace cosmic history. Recent observational progress with the NASA Hubble Space Telescope has led to the discovery and study of the earliest known galaxies, which correspond to a period when the Universe was only ~800 million years old. Intense ultraviolet radiation from these early galaxies probably induced a major event in cosmic history: the reionization of intergalactic hydrogen. |
| Publication date: 04 Nov 2010 |
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| Electron Physics of Asymmetric Magnetic Field Reconnection |
| There have been many significant advances in understanding magnetic field reconnection as a result of improved space measurements and two-dimensional computer simulations. While reviews of recent work have tended to focus on symmetric reconnection on ion and larger spatial scales, the present review will focus on asymmetric reconnection and on electron scale physics involving the reconnection site, parallel electric fields, and electron acceleration. |
| Publication date: 03 Nov 2010 |
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European Space Agency
Robotic Exploration Technology Plan
Programme of Work 2009-2014 (November 2010) |
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| Publication date: 01 Nov 2010 |
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| Radioactive 26Al from the Scorpius-Centaurus association |
Context. The Scorpius-Centaurus association is the most-nearby group of massive and young stars. As nuclear-fusion products are ejected by massive stars and supernovae into the surrounding interstellar medium, the search for characteristic g-rays from radioactivity is one way to probe the history of activity of such nearby massive stars on a My time scale through their nucleosynthesis. 26Al decays with a radioactivity lifetime t~1 My, 1809 keV g-rays from its decay can be measured with current g-ray telescopes. |
| Publication date: 01 Nov 2010 |
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