Metering Wheel-Wire Track Wire Boom Deployment Mechanism

The NASA MMS Spin Plane Double Probe (SDP) Deployer utilizes a helical path, rotating Metering Wheel and a spring loaded Wire "Holding" Track to pay out a "fixed end" 57 meter x 1.5 mm diameter Wire Boom stored between concentric storage cylinders. Unlike rotating spool type storage devices, the storage cylinders remain stationary, and the boom wire is uncoiled along the length of the cylinder via the rotation of the Metering Wheel. This uncoiling action avoids the need for slip-ring contacts since the ends of the wire can remain stationary. Conventional fixed electrical connectors (Micro-D type) are used to terminate to operational electronics

The Plasma and Suprathermal Ion Composition (PLASTIC) investigation on the STEREO observatories

The Plasma and Suprathermal Ion Composition (PLASTIC) investigation provides the in situ solar wind and low energy heliospheric ion measurements for the NASA Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory Mission, which consists of two spacecraft (STEREO-A, STEREO-B). PLASTIC-A and PLASTIC-B are identical. Each PLASTIC is a time-of-flight/energy mass spectrometer designed to determine the elemental composition, ionic charge states, and bulk flow parameters of major solar wind ions in the mass range from hydrogen to iron. PLASTIC has nearly complete angular coverage in the ecliptic plane and an energy range from ∼0.3 to 80 keV/e, from which the distribution functions of suprathermal ions, including those ions created in pick-up and local shock acceleration processes, are also provided

Working towards a Group A Streptococcal vaccine: report of a collaborative Trans-Tasman workshop

Group A Streptococcus (GAS) infections represent a major public health burden in both developing and developed countries. In Australia and New Zealand GAS associated diseases are serious problems in Indigenous populations and a major cause of health inequality. Political recognition of these inequalities is providing impetus for strategies that reduce GAS disease and the development of a GAS vaccine now has governmental support in both Australia and New Zealand. Accordingly, an expert workshop was convened in March 2013 to consider available data on GAS vaccines. M-protein based vaccines constructed from the hyper-variable N-terminal region (30-valent vaccine) or the conserved C-repeat domain (J8 vaccine) were reviewed together with vaccine candidates identified using multi high-throughput approaches. Performing a comprehensive assessment of regional GAS strain epidemiology, defining the immune correlates of protection, and the establishment of clinical trial sites were identified as critical activities for a Trans-Tasman vaccine development programme