Distributed Architectures and Constellations for γ-ray Burst Science

The gravitational wave/γ-ray burst GW/GRB170817 event marked the beginning of the era of multi-messenger astrophysics, in which new observations of Gravitational Waves (GW) are combined with traditional electromagnetic observations from the very same astrophysical source. In the next few years, Advanced LIGO/VIRGO and KAGRA in Japan and LIGO-India will reach their nominal/ultimate sensitivity. In the electromagnetic domain, the Vera C. Rubin Observatory and the Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) will come online in the next few years, and they will revolutionize the investigation of transient and variable cosmic sources in the optical and TeV bands. The operation of an efficient X-ray/γ-ray all-sky monitor with good localisation capabilities will play a pivotal role in providing the high-energy counterparts of the GW interferometers and Rubin Observatory, bringing multi-messenger astrophysics to maturity. To reach the required precision in localisation and timeliness for an unpredictable physical event in time and space requires a sensor distribution covering the whole sky. We discuss the potential of large-scale, small-platform-distributed architectures and constellations to build a sensitive X-ray/γ-ray all-sky monitor and the programmatic implications of this, including the set-up of an efficient assembly line for both hardware development and data analysis. We also discuss the potential of a constellation of small platforms operating at other wavelengths (UV/IR) that are capable of repointing quickly to follow-up high-energy transients.

Epilogue

By the time Tommy Tune received a special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in 2015, he had inspired a new generation of director-choreographers, including Susan Stroman, Jerry Mitchell, and Casey Nicholaw. They successfully adapted Tune’s seamless staging concepts, his use of show business motifs, and his ability to move forward by drawing on the past to a new, faster-paced era. Well into his seventies, Tune continued to create shows with precision and detail, but now they were of a much smaller scale and featured a cast of one. His solo traveling act took on a biographical air, with recollections of his theatrical past performed on a bare stage with just a small platform for dancing, a ladder, and evocative lighting. It was the simplicity and elegance of Nine, Grand Hotel, and My One and Only stripped to their most elemental form. For Tune, everything was still choreography, but on a diminutive scale.

BOLDigger – a Python package to identify and organise sequences with the Barcode of Life Data systems

DNA metabarcoding workflows produce hundreds to ten-thousands of Operational Taxonomic Units (OTUs) or Exact Sequence Variants (ESVs) per analysis. In most workflows, a taxonomic assignment to these generated sequences is needed. This is typically done using publicly available databases. Especially, yet not exclusively, for Eumetazoan metabarcoding, the Barcode of Life Data system (BOLD) is the most comprehensive and curated reference barcode database and, therefore, typically the first choice for taxonomic assignment. While an application programme interface (API) exists to query data in large batches, no information on the many and important unpublished data are obtained through the API. The alternative approach using the BOLD identification engine on the website provides full access, yet it is restricted to 100 sequences at once. We developed a small platform-independent and graphical user interface (GUI) software package, BOLDigger, which aims to solve this problem by automating the process of sending successive requests of up to 100 sequences without surpassing the capacities of BOLD. BOLDigger can be used to download the results of the identification engine, as well as metadata for the obtained hits. For the selection of the best fitting hit, three different methods are implemented. A new approach, combining a threshold-based approach with the metadata information, was implemented to make use of the metadata.

Low Frequency Radar (LFR) on the JUVENTAS CubeSat for HERA / ESA mission

<p>The Low Frequency Radar (LFR) on the JUVENTAS CubeSat for HERA / ESA mission to Didymos Binary Asteroid is a unique opportunity to perform direct measurements of its internal structure and regolith. LFR has been developed to fathom asteroid from a small platform. This instrument is inherited from CONSERT/Rosetta and has been redesigned in the frame of the AIDA and HERA ESA mission.</p><p>Onboard JUVENTAS, LFR is operating in monostatic mode to probe down to the first hundreds of meters into the subsurface and to achieve a full tomography of the Didymos' moonlet. Direct observations of the internal structure of asteroids can solve still open basic questions like: Is the body a monolithic piece of rock or a rubble-pile? How high is the porosity? What is the typical size of the constituent blocks? Are these blocks homogeneous or heterogeneous? How is the regolith covering its surface constituted?</p><p>The low frequency aboard the Juventas CubeSat will contribute to the solution of these open and for planetary defense crucial questions.<br>- The first LRF objective is the characterization of the moonlet interior, to identify internal structure and to analyze the size distribution and heterogeneity of constitutive blocks from sub metric to global<br>- The second objective is the estimation of average permittivity and mapping of its spatial variation especially in the crater area.<br>- The same characterization applied to the main of the binary system is among secondary objectives.<br>- Supporting shape modeling and determination of the dynamical state by radar ranging is a further secondary objective.</p><p>This paper will present the instrument concept and measurement strategy, its performances and the expected science return.</p>

From Early Village to Regional Center (Phase 2)

The village at Crystal River expanded greatly in size and permanence in Phase 2, which began sometime between around AD 200 and 300 and ended by around AD 500. This growth may have owed partially to a rise in sea level associated with the warmer temperatures of the Roman Warm Period, which might have made life on the seaward islands more difficult. The exchange of Hopewell exotics faded in this interval, but the societies of the Gulf Coast appear to have witnessed a fluorescence, as indicated by the widespread exchange of Swift Creek pottery and Weeden Island pottery. Crystal River was peripheral to these pottery traditions, but it may have been an important nexus between these and the Glades tradition of southern Florida, specifically with regard to the exchange of craft goods manufactured from marine shell. The gulf coast fluorescence is also indicated by a heightened pace of the construction of mounds. At Crystal River, three small platform mounds were initiated in this interval, clearly differentiating it from its peers in the region.