Stability of Terrestrial Planets in the Habitable Zone of Gl 777 A, HD 72659, Gl 614, 47 Uma and HD 4208

We have undertaken a thorough dynamical investigation of five extrasolar planetary systems using extensive numerical experiments. The systems Gl 777 A, HD 72659, Gl 614, 47 Uma and HD 4208 were examined concerning the question of whether they could host terrestrial like planets in their habitable zones (=HZ). First we investigated the mean motion resonances between fictitious terrestrial planets and the existing gas giants in these five extrasolar systems. Then a fine grid of initial conditions for a potential terrestrial planet within the HZ was chosen for each system, from which the stability of orbits was then assessed by direct integrations over a time interval of 1 million years. The computations were carried out using a Lie-series integration method with an adaptive step size control. This integration method achieves machine precision accuracy in a highly efficient and robust way, requiring no special adjustments when the orbits have large eccentricities. The stability of orbits was examined with a determination of the Renyi entropy, estimated from recurrence plots, and with a more straight forward method based on the maximum eccentricity achieved by the planet over the 1 million year integration. Additionally, the eccentricity is an indication of the habitability of a terrestrial planet in the HZ; any value of e>0.2 produces a significant temperature difference on a planet's surface between apoapse and periapse. The results for possible stable orbits for terrestrial planets in habitable zones for the five systems are summarized as follows: for Gl 777 A nearly the entire HZ is stable, for 47 Uma, HD 72659 and HD 4208 terrestrial planets can survive for a sufficiently long time, while for Gl 614 our results exclude terrestrial planets moving in stable orbits within the HZ.Comment: 14 pages, 18 figures submitted to A&

First Results from HaloSat – A CubeSat to Study the Hot Galactic Halo

HaloSat is the first CubeSat for astrophysics funded by NASA\u27s Science Mission Directorate and is designed to map soft X-ray oxygen line emission across the sky in order to constrain the mass and spatial distribution of hot gas in the Milky Way. HaloSat will help determine if hot halos with temperatures near a million degrees bound to galaxies make a significant contribution to the cosmological budget of the normal matter (baryons). HaloSat was deployed from the International Space Station in July 2018 and began routine science operations in October 2018. We describe the on-orbit performance including calibration of the X-ray detectors and initial scientific results including an observation of a halo field and an observation of solar wind charge exchange emission from the helium-focusing cone

Real-Time Detection and Filtering of Radio Frequency Interference On-board a Spaceborne Microwave Radiometer: The CubeRRT Mission

The Cubesat Radiometer Radio frequency interference Technology validation mission (CubeRRT) was developed to demonstrate real-time on-board detection and filtering of radio frequency interference (RFI) for wide bandwidth microwave radiometers. CubeRRT’s key technology is its radiometer digital backend (RDB) that is capable of measuring an instantaneous bandwidth of 1 GHz and of filtering the input signal into an estimated total power with and without RFI contributions. CubeRRT’s on-board RFI processing capability dramatically reduces the volume of data that must be downlinked to the ground and eliminates the need for ground-based RFI processing. RFI detection is performed by resolving the input bandwidth into 128 frequency sub-channels, with the kurtosis of each sub-channel and the variations in power across frequency used to detect non-thermal contributions. RFI filtering is performed by removing corrupted frequency sub-channels prior to the computation of the total channel power. The 1 GHz bandwidth input signals processed by the RDB are obtained from the payload’s antenna (ANT) and radiometer front end (RFE) subsystems that are capable of tuning across RF center frequencies from 6 to 40 GHz. The CubeRRT payload was installed into a 6U spacecraft bus provided by Blue Canyon Technologies that provides spacecraft power, communications, data management, and navigation functions. The design, development, integration and test, and on-orbit operations of CubeRRT are described in this paper. The spacecraft was delivered on March 22nd, 2018 for launch to the International Space Station (ISS) on May 21st, 2018. Since its deployment from the ISS on July 13th, 2018, the CubeRRT RDB has completed more than 5000 hours of operation successfully, validating its robustness as an RFI processor. Although CubeRRT’s RFE subsystem ceased operating on September 8th, 2018, causing the RDB input thereafter to consist only of internally generated noise, CubeRRT’s key RDB technology continues to operate without issue and has demonstrated its capabilities as a valuable subsystem for future radiometry missions

Comparison of the use of NiFe and CoFe as electrodes for metallic lateral spin valves

International audienc

Using domain walls to perform non-local measurements with high spin signal amplitudes

International audienc

Spin-dependent transport characterization in metallic lateral spin valves using one-dimensional and three-dimensional modeling

8 pages, 6 figuresInternational audienceWe present the analysis of the spin signals obtained in NiFe based metallic lateral spin valves. We exploit the spin dependent diffusive equations in both the conventional 1D analytic modeling as well as in 3D Finite Element Method simulations. Both approaches are used for extracting the spin diffusion length $l_{sf}^{N}$ and the effective spin polarization $P_{eff}$ in Py/Al, Py/Cu and Py/Au based lateral nano-structures at both $300\,K$ and $77\,K$. Both the analytic modeling and 3D Finite Element Method simulations give consistent results. Combination of both models provides a powerful tool for reliable spin transport characterization in all metallic spin valves and gives an insight into the spin/charge current and spin accumulations 3D distributions in these devices. We provide the necessary ingredients to develop the 3D finite element modeling of diffusive spin transport

Global observations from a well-calibrated passive microwave atmospheric sounder on a CubeSat: Temporal Experiment for Storms and Tropical Systems Technology Demonstration (TEMPEST-D) Mission (Conference Presentation)

To improve understanding of rapid, dynamic evolution of convective cloud and precipitation processes as well as the surrounding water vapor environment, we require fine time-resolution multi-frequency microwave sounding observations capable of penetrating inside the storm where the microphysical processes leading to precipitation occur. To address this critical observational need, the Temporal Experiment for Storms and Tropical Systems (TEMPEST) mission deploys a train of 6U CubeSats carrying identical low-mass, low-power millimeter-wave radiometers to sample rapid changes in convection and water vapor every 3-4 minutes for up to 30 minutes. These millimeter-wave radiometers observe at five frequencies from 87 to 181 GHz. By rapidly sampling the life cycle of convection, TEMPEST fills a critical observational gap and complements existing and future satellite missions. To demonstrate global, well-calibrated radiometric measurements to meet the needs of TEMPEST, the TEMPEST Technology Demonstration (TEMPEST-D) mission satellite was launched on May 21, 2018 on Orbital ATK’s CRS-9 mission to the ISS and deployed into a 400-km altitude and 51.6° inclination orbit by NanoRacks on July 13, 2018. TEMPEST-D has met all mission requirements on schedule and within budget. After achieving first light on September 5, 2018, the TEMPEST-D mission has achieved TRL 7 for both the instrument and spacecraft systems. TEMPEST-D brightness temperatures have been cross-calibrated with those of four NASA, NOAA and EUMETSAT reference sensors observing at similar frequencies. Results demonstrate that the TEMPEST-D on-orbit instrument is a very well-calibrated and stable radiometer with very low noise, rivaling that of much larger, more expensive operational instruments