Quasi‐trapped ion and electron populations at Mercury

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/94682/1/grl28663.pd

WKU Mechanical Engineering Supporting Local Industry

The Mechanical Engineering program at WKU actively participates with local engineering industries to support their efforts to better train the students to be capable engineering professionals when they graduate. For the 2006-2007 academic year, two teams of ME seniors are working on projects for large industrial partners. One team will design and build a system to automatically calibrate on-line infrared thickness measurement unit for Logan Aluminum in Russellville. A second team will redesign a washing machine transmission system for MTD of Leitchfield to allow higher spin speeds and a higher energy efficiency rating for the washer. Another group of students performed a reliability study for SCA in Bowling Green to improve the production line operation. The ME program seeks to be relevant to our region and to produce high quality graduates who can also impact the economic quality of Kentucky

WKU Mechanical Engineering Supporting WKU

The Mechanical Engineering (ME) program at WKU actively participates within the university community to support its strategic mission and our evolution as a leading American university with international reach. For the 2006 - 2007 academic year, four teams of ME seniors are working on projects in support of internal university partners and of an international agency. One team will design, build, and test a Centrifugal Pump Demonstration Bench for the Department of Engineering with external competitive funding provided by the American Society of Heating, Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Engineers through their undergraduate student research grant program. A second team will design, build, and test a Bio-Generated Greenhouse Heating System for the Department of Agriculture. The third will design, build, and test an Automated Water Filtration Test System for the Center for Water Resource Studies. After winning their district event hosted by the University of Missouri-Rolla last March, the final team recently competed with their Sip and Puff Controlled Fishing Rod for Quadriplegics at the ASME International Mechanical Engineering Congress and Exposition in Chicago. The ME program seeks to be relevant to our region and to produce high quality graduates who can also impact the economic quality of Kentucky within our global society

Electron transport and precipitation at Mercury during the MESSENGER flybys: Implications for electron-stimulated desorption, Planet

a b s t r a c t To examine electron transport, energization, and precipitation in Mercury's magnetosphere, a hybrid simulation study has been carried out that follows electron trajectories within the global magnetospheric electric and magnetic field configuration of Mercury. We report analysis for two solar-wind parameter conditions corresponding to the first two MESSENGER Mercury flybys on January 14, 2008, and October 6, 2008, which occurred for similar solar wind speed and density but contrasting interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) directions. During the first flyby the IMF had a northward component, while during the second flyby the IMF was southward. Electron trajectories are traced in the fields of global hybrid simulations for the two flybys. Some solar wind electrons follow complex trajectories at or near where dayside reconnection occurs and enter the magnetosphere at these locations. The entry locations depend on the IMF orientation (north or south). As the electrons move through the entry regions they can be energized as they execute non-adiabatic (demagnetized) motion. Some electrons become magnetically trapped and drift around the planet with energies on the order of 1-10 keV. The highest energy of electrons anywhere in the magnetosphere is about 25 keV, consistent with the absence of high-energy (435 keV) electrons observed during either MESSENGER flyby. Once within the magnetosphere, a fraction of the electrons precipitates at the planetary surface with fluxes on the order of 10 9 cm À 2 s À 1 and with energies of hundreds of eV. This finding has important implications for the viability of electron-stimulated desorption (ESD) as a mechanism for contributing to the formation of the exosphere and heavy ion cloud around Mercury. From laboratory estimates of ESD ion yields, a calculated ion production rate due to ESD at Mercury is found to be on par with ion sputtering yields