Resurfacing history of Europa from pole-to-pole geological mapping

We produced geologic maps from two regional mosaics of Galileo images across the leading and trailing hemispheres of Europa in order to investigate the temporal distribution of units in the visible geologic record. Five principal terrain types were identified (plains, bands, ridges, chaos, and crater materials), which are interpreted to result from (1) tectonic fracturing and lineament building, (2) cryovolcanic reworking of surface units, with possible emplacement of sub-surface materials, and (3) impact cratering. The geologic histories of both mapped areas are essentially similar and reflect some common trends: Tectonic resurfacing dominates the early geologic record with the formation of background plains by intricate superposition of lineaments, the opening of wide bands with infilling of inter-plate gaps, and the buildup of ridges and ridge complexes along prominent fractures in the ice. It also appears that lineaments are narrower and more widely spaced with time. The lack of impact craters overprinted by lineaments indicate that the degree of tectonic resurfacing decreased rapidly after ridged plains formation. In contrast, the degree of cryovolcanic resurfacing appears to increase with time, as chaos formation dominates the later parts of the geologic record. These trends, and the transition from tectonic- to cryovolcanic-dominated resurfacing could be attributed to the gradual thickening of Europa's cryosphere during the visible geologic history, that comprises the last 2% or 30-80 Myr of Europa's history: An originally thin, brittle ice shell could be pervasively fractured or melted through by tidal and endogenic processes; the degree of fracturing and plate displacements decreased with time in a thickening shell, and lineaments became narrower and more widely spaced; formation of chaos regions could have occurred where the thickness threshold for solid-state convection was exceeded, and can be aided by preferential tidal heating of more ductile ice. In a long-term context it is not clear at this point whether this inferred thickening trend would reflect a drastic change in the thermal evolution of the satellite, or cyclic or irregular episodes of tectonic and cryovolcanic activity.     

Constraints on the C ring parameters of Saturn at the Titan −1:0 resonance

A one-armed spiral bending wave in Saturn's rings excited by Titan's −1:0 inner vertical resonance is one of the most prominent oscillatory features observed by Voyager 1 . We study detailed dynamics of the particles inside the ring, and show that one of the main causes of the complete dissipation of the bending wave within a distance of ∼85 km from the resonance site could be as a result of the presence of a strong shear caused by radial velocity variation along the vertical direction. Assuming this to be the only source, Voyager data would suggest that if the surface density of matter is around 0.45 g cm⁻² and the amplitude of the bending wave is around 1200 m, then the upper limit of total vertical thickness of the C ring near this resonance is around 40 m.     

高轨卫星轨道预报中神经网络模型优化设计

高轨卫星是我国卫星导航系统的重要组成部分。提升该类卫星的轨道预报精度有利于用户定位精度的提高。提出了一种改进高轨卫星轨道预报精度的新方法。该方法避开了精化动力学模型的困难,尝试从轨道预报误差的规律中寻找突破。利用神经网络作为建立预报模型的工具,将某历史时刻的轨道预报误差作为训练样本,利用训练好的神经网络模型补偿当前时刻的预报轨道以提高轨道预报精度。对影响神经网络模型补偿效果的各因素进行了详细分析,制定了适应于高轨卫星短期、中期和长期预报的神经网络最优模型。利用实测数据进行了试验分析,结果表明:预报8,15及30 d应选择的训练步长分别为10,20及25 min;轨道预报8~30 d时,训练噪声均选取0.01。神经网络模型有效地改进了高轨卫星的轨道预报精度,预报4~30 d,轨道精度提高幅度为34.67%~82.37%不等。     

A Research on the Imaging Strategy and Imaging Simulation of Toutatis in the Chang’e-2 Flyby Mission

For the Chang’e-2 extended mission of asteroid exploration, the illumination conditions for imaging the asteroid Toutatis are calculated in this paper according to the orbital parameters of both the Chang’e-2 detector and the asteroid, as well as the incident angles of sunlight. On this basis, it is suggested to take photographs after flyby, and the orientation of the camera's optical axis in the coordinate system deflned by Earth's mean equator and equinox at J2000.0 is proposed to be (118.02°, 22.03°). Based on the shape model of Toutatis determined by the foreign radar data, the orientation of the asteroid in the inertial space is calculated at the rendezvous time. Using the Oren-Nayar diffuse-reflection model and the relative positions among the sun, the asteroid, and the detector, together with the cameras orientation, the imaging simulations are performed on the starry sky background respectively at the distances of 300 km, 500 km, and 1000 km from the asteroid after flyby. The results of simulations are verified further by the optical images of Toutatis obtained in the mission.     

Comparison of chaos detection methods in the circular restricted three‐body problem

In this study, a sample of orbits is considered in the framework of the planar circular restricted three‐body problem. In order to separate ordered from chaotic orbits three numerical methods are compared: the Largest Lyapunov Characteristic Exponent (LLCE) and the Smaller Alignment Index (SALI) provide a fairly good characterization of the chaotic motions, while the computational time required is of the same order; the Correlation Dimension (CD) has the advantage of correctly classifying sticky orbits, but at the expense of a longer computational time. In order to classify a given orbit, any pair of the three methods can be considered, but LLCE and SALI are recommended due to their speed. (© 2014 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Distribution of hydrate on Europa: Further evidence for sulfuric acid hydrate

Sulfuric acid hydrate has been proposed as an important species on Europa's surface, the acid being produced by radiolysis of surficial sulfur compounds. We investigated the spectral properties of disordered and crystalline forms of sulfuric acid and suggest that the hydration properties of Europa's hypothesized sulfuric acid lie between two end members: liquid sulfuric acid and its higher crystalline hydrates. The spectra of these end members are similar except for spectral shifts at the band edges. We measured the optical constants of sulfuric acid octahydrate and used these with simple radiative transfer calculations to fit Europa spectra obtained by Galileo's Near Infrared Mapping Spectrometer (NIMS). The global distribution of the hydrate that we associate here with hydrated sulfuric acid shows a strong trailing-side enhancement with a maximum fractional hydrate abundance of 90% by volume, corresponding to a sulfur atom to water molecule ratio of 10%. The hydrate concentration spatially correlates with the ultraviolet and visible absorption of the surface and with the sulfur dioxide concentration. The asymmetric global distribution is consistent with Iogenic plasma ion implantation as the source of the sulfur, possibly modified by electron irradiation and sputtering effects. The variegated distribution also correlates with geologic forms. A high spatial resolution image shows resolved lineae with less hydrate appearing within the lineae than in nearby crustal material. The low concentration of hydrated material in these lineae argues against their conveying sulfurous material to the surface from the putative ocean.