Strawberry fields in California (9,500 ha annually) are pre-plant fumigated with methyl bromide and chloropicrin to prevent serious soil pest and disease problems. Although soil fumigation with methyl bromide has ensured stability of strawberry production, its use is being discontinued because of its effect on stratospheric ozone. The likely short-term alternatives such as 1,3-dichloropropene, chloropicrin, and metham sodium, although not ozone depleters, are potentially hazardous to the environment and humans if applied improperly. Water-soluble formulations of alternative fumigants can be applied through drip irrigation systems established to irrigate crops. In comparison to conventional shank methods of injection, application of soluble formulations through drip irrigation systems would be economical and environmentally friendly, reduce worker exposure, and allow for simultaneous or sequential application of a combination of fumigants. This paper discusses techniques developed to apply alternative fumigants through drip irrigation systems, and reviews ongoing studies to determine optimum application rates, soil conditions, plastic mulches, and amount of irrigation water used to apply these alternative fumigants.

No abstract

No abstract

Downloaded From: http://proceedings.spiedigitallibrary.org/ on 06/01/2015 Terms of Use: http://spiedl.org/terms . #%'## #" "(/ (0 #-'( #))%"!!#"With a data rate of 5.6 Gbps the laser communication links reported here have been a milestone in the introduction of laser communication terminals to the space market. For the first time the major advantage of laser communication terminals compared to RF payloads -data rates larger than 1 Gbps -has been demonstrated on orbit. In terms of shortterm service realization the most imminent market applications are relay services (LEO-to-GEO-to-ground) to make the large data amount of LEO Earth observation satellites immediately available. DLR plans to utilize the laser communication capabilities for the TanDEM-X mission and took TESAT under contract to adapt the now successfully proven LEO-LEO laser communication terminals to LEO-to-GEO, GEO-GEO, and GEO-to-ground links. This GEOclass LCT is designed for up to 45,000 km distance at a maximum user data rate of 1.8 Gbps.The next figure (Fig. 8) shows the application for which TESAT has developed and currently builds laser communication terminals and a 600 Mbps Ka-band subsystem.

Europa is a premier target for advancing both planetary science and astrobiology, as well as for opening a new window into the burgeoning field of comparative oceanography. The potentially habitable subsurface ocean of Europa may harbor life, and the globally young and comparatively thin ice shell of Europa may contain biosignatures that are readily accessible to a surface lander. Europa’s icy shell also offers the opportunity to study tectonics and geologic cycles across a range of mechanisms and compositions. Here we detail the goals and mission architecture of the Europa Lander mission concept, as developed from 2015 through 2020. The science was developed by the 2016 Europa Lander Science Definition Team (SDT), and the mission architecture was developed by the preproject engineering team, in close collaboration with the SDT. In 2017 and 2018, the mission concept passed its mission concept review and delta-mission concept review, respectively. Since that time, the preproject has been advancing the technologies, and developing the hardware and software, needed to retire risks associated with technology, science, cost, and schedule.