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The Cluster mission was the first constellation using four identical spacecraft to study Sun‐Earth connection plasma processes. Using four spacecraft in a tetrahedron shape, it could measure, for the first time, 3D quantities such as electrical currents, plasma gradients or divergence of the electron pressure tensor and 3D structures such as boundaries, surface waves or vortices. Launched in pairs in July and August 2000, on two Soyuz rockets from Baikonur, the four spacecraft have been collecting data continuously for more than 20 years. The mission faced many challenges during the years of operations as some spacecraft subsystems had a lifetime of a few years beyond the initial two‐year mission. The major one was to operate without functioning batteries and to successfully pass short and long eclipses, up to 3 h long, without damaging the on‐board computers and transmitters and without freezing the fuel. More than 1,000 eclipses have been successfully passed since 2010 using a specially made procedure which switches off the complete spacecraft before entering into eclipse and switches it on when the Sun is again illuminating the solar panels. During 20 years, many discoveries and science results have been published in more than 2,700 scientific papers. A few highlights are presented here, focusing on how varying the spacecraft separation was essential to achieve the science goals of the mission. The Cluster Science Data System and the Cluster archive allows public access to all science data as well as spacecraft ancillary data.

Reserve carbohydrate and auxinspresent in the stalk are involved in the development of sugarcane plant. Thus, this study aimed to quantify total sugarsand auxin of type indoleacetic acid (IAA) content in the initial development of stalks and sugarcane buds, as a function of diameter and position in the stalk. The experiment was conducted in a 3x3 factorial scheme (diameter x stalk section), with four replicates. Eleven-month-old plants stalks were classified into three diameters (fine < 2 cm; medium 2-3 cm; thick > 3 cm) and divided into three sections (apex, middle and base). Data were submitted to analysis of variance, and when significant the means were compared by the Tukey (p≤0.05). The diameter factor resulted in greater interference in the content of the biochemical variables evaluated (sugars and auxin), in comparation to stalk section. Biometric variables (length and dry mass of shoot and roots, budding and budding speed index), in general, were mostly affected by stalk section factor. The diameter factor interfered in the content of endogenous auxin in the stalk and buds. Root growth was related to endogenous auxin concentration and the highest sprouting percentage was obtained from the apical section of the talk due to the availability of reducing sugars content.The use of mini-stalks for the propagation of sugarcane proved feasible.Keyword:apical dominance;plant hormone; propagation;Saccharum spp.

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