Medical survey of European astronauts during Mir missions

This paper reviews the medical operations performed on six European astronauts during seven space missions on board the space station Mir. These missions took place between November 1988 and August 1999, and their duration ranged from 14 days to 189 days. Steps of pre-flight medical selection and flight certification are presented. Countermeasures program used during the flight, as well as rehabilitation program following short and long-duration missions are described. Also reviewed are medical problems encountered during the flight, post-flight physiological changes such as orthostatic intolerance, exercise capacity, blood composition, muscle atrophy, bone density, and radiation exposure.     

磁通门磁强计在深空探测中的应用

磁场测量是深空探测的重要任务之一,通过磁场可以遥感行星内部、研究行星演化历史、认知太阳系天体空间环境。基于法拉第电磁感应原理的磁通门磁强计,因空间适应性强、技术成熟度高、可靠性高等特点,是深空磁场测量最为常用的载荷。简要描述了磁通门磁强计的基本测量原理,探讨了地面和在轨标定的原理和实施方法,并介绍了磁强计在空间任务中的应用方式。目前,我国已经具备了星载高精度磁通门磁强计的研制能力。在不久的将来,磁通门磁强计有望在深空探测任务中发挥重要作用。     

航天测控网资源均衡分配的调度方法

研究了航天测控网资源集中管理、统一分配的工作模式,以及满足多星测控任务的测控网资源调度方法。提出了测控网均衡调度的方法。首先面向任务,将卫星测控任务按优先级划分,按最优分配的原则进行分配,使测控网能够支持的任务数量大;在此基础上,考虑测控站负荷和备份再进行优化,使测控网内各测控站的负荷均衡。相比其他方法,考虑了任务执行的成功概率,各测控站任务分配更均匀,便于测控网的管理。     

Impact analysis of the transponder time delay on radio-tracking observables

Accurate tracking of probes is one of the key points of space exploration. Range and Doppler techniques are the most commonly used. In this paper we analyze the impact of the transponder delay, $i.e$. the processing time between reception and re-emission of a two-way tracking link at the satellite, on tracking observables and on spacecraft orbits. We show that this term, only partially accounted for in the standard formulation of computed space observables, can actually be relevant for future missions with high nominal tracking accuracies or for the re-processing of old missions. We present several applications of our formulation to Earth flybys, the NASA GRAIL and the ESA BepiColombo missions.     

A proposed new policy for planetary protection

In order to control contamination of planets by terrestrial microorganisms and organic constituents, U.S. planetary missions have been governed by a planetary protection (or planetary quarantine) policy which has changed little since 1972. This policy has recently been reviewed in light of new information obtained by planetary exploration during the past decade and because of changes to, or uncertainties in, some parameters used in the existing quantitative approach. On the basis of this analysis, a new planetary protection policy, with the following key features, is proposed: deemphasizing the use of mathematical models and quantitative analyses; establishing requirements for target planet/mission type (i.e., orbiter, lander, etc.) combinations; considering sample return missions a separate category; simplifying documentation; and imposing implementing procedures (i.e., trajectory biasing, cleanroom assembly, spacecraft sterilization, etc.) by exception, i.e., only if the planet/mission combination warrants such controls. Interpretation of the new policy for missions like Galileo, Mars Surface Sample Return, Saturn Orbiter with Twin Probes, and missions to comets are considered. In general, the new policy proposes elimination of all but documentation requirements for most planetary missions and simplification of the remaining compliance procedures.     

空间科学任务及其特点综述

人类进入太空以来已经发射了近1万个人造航天器,其中大约10%执行的是空间科学和探测任务.近年来中国经济快速发展,提供了更多的基础研究经费,经济转型也对创新驱动发展提出了更高需求,中国对空间科学的投入开始逐年增加.2015年以来先后成功发射了悟空号、实践十号、墨子号和慧眼号4颗科学卫星,天宫2号空间实验室也成功实施了一系列空间科学实验.重要科学发现和成果正在不断地产出.空间科学卫星任务（或称计划）与应用卫星从提出到评价都有很大不同,因此有必要对其所具有的特点进行分析,从而引导空间科学界从科学团队、技术团队到管理团队提高认识,确保未来的空间科学任务发挥最大效益,获得最大科学产出.      

浅析航天型号计量保证工作

计量保证工作是航天型号任务质量保障的基础，关系着型号任务的成败。主要介绍了航天型号任务中计量保证工作的现状和不足，结合航天型号任务的全流程工作，提出在型号任务各环节的计量保证工作建议。     

Balloon support systems performance for the cosmic rays energetics and mass mission

The Ballooncraft Support Systems were developed by NASA Wallops Flight Facility for use on ULDB class balloon missions. The support systems have now flown two missions supporting the Cosmic Rays Energetics and Mass (CREAM) experiment. The first, CREAM I, flown in December 2004, was for a record breaking 41 days, 21 h, and the second flight flown in December 2005, was for 28 days, 9 h. These support systems provide CREAM with power, telecommunications, command, and data handling including flight computers, mechanical structures, thermal management, and attitude control to help ensure a successful scientific mission. This paper addresses the performance and success of these support systems over the two missions.     

Improved kHz-SLR tracking techniques and orbit quality analysis for LEO missions

Satellite gravity field missions such as CHAMP, GRACE and GOCE are designed as low Earth orbiting spacecraft (LEO) with orbit heights of about 250–500 km. The challenging mission objectives require a very precise knowledge of the satellite orbit position in space. For these missions precise orbit information is typically provided by GPS satellite-to-satellite tracking (SST) observations supported by satellite laser ranging (SLR).     

Prospects of Russian participation in the international LWS program

This report describes current and future solar-terrestrial space missions of the Russian Federal Space Agency. They are discussed in the context of the International Living With a Star activity aimed at consolidation of efforts in developing a balanced cooperative program of solar-terrestrial and space weather oriented research. We provide information on several missions that are at different stages of realization: solar observing – CORONAS-F, CORONAS-PHOTON, and INTERHELIOPROBE; and magnetospheric – RESONANCE, ROY, and INTERBALL-PROGNOZ.     

The fundamental physics explorer: An ESA technology reference study

ESA technology reference studies are used as a process to identify key technologies and technical challenges of potential future missions not yet in the science programme. This paper reports on the study of the Fundamental Physics Explorer (FPE), a re-usable platform targeted to small missions testing fundamental laws of physics in space. The study addresses three specific areas of interest: special and general relativity tests based on atomic clocks, experiments on the Weak Equivalence Principle (WEP), and studies of Bose–Einstein condensates under microgravity conditions. Starting from preliminary science objectives and payload requirements, three reference missions in the small/medium class range are discussed, based on a re-adaptation of the LISA Pathfinder spacecraft. A 700/3600 km elliptic orbit has been selected to conduct clock tests of special and general relativity, a 700 km circular orbit to perform experiments on the Weak Equivalence Principle and to study Bose–Einstein condensates, each mission being based on a three-axis stabilised spacecraft. It was determined that adaptation of LISA Pathfinder would be required in order to meet the demands of the FPE missions. Moreover it was established that specific payload and spacecraft technology development would be required to realise such a programme.     

我国探月工程技术发展综述

我国的探月工程,在2020年前分“绕、落、回”三步实施。本文以我国探月工程各次任务为脉络,针对目前已经完成的“嫦娥1号”“嫦娥2号”“嫦娥3号”及“嫦娥5号”高速再入试验任务,简述了工程和科学目标,介绍了实施效果,总结了主要技术成就。在此基础上,展望了探月工程未来的发展趋势,给出了月球后续任务的总体思路和框架。     

Regional in situ validation of satellite altimeters: Calibration and cross-calibration results at the Corsican sites

The in situ validation of the satellite altimeter sea surface heights is generally performed either at a few local points directly flown over by the satellites or using the global tide gauge network. A regional in situ calibration method was developed by NOVELTIS in order to monitor the altimeter data quality in a perimeter of several hundred kilometres around a given in situ calibration site. The primary advantage of this technique is its applicability not only for missions flying over dedicated sites but also for missions on interleaved or non repetitive orbits. This article presents the altimeter bias estimates obtained with this method at the Corsican calibration site, for the Jason-1 mission on its nominal and interleaved orbits as well as for the Jason-2 and Envisat missions. The various regional bias estimates (8.2 cm and 7.4 cm for Jason-1 respectively on the nominal and interleaved orbits in Senetosa, 16.4 cm for Jason-2 in Senetosa and 47.0 cm for Envisat in Ajaccio, with an accuracy between 2.5 cm and 4 cm depending on the mission) are compared with the results obtained by the other in situ calibration teams. This comparison demonstrates the coherency at the centimetre level, the stability and the generic character of the method, which would also be of benefit to the new and future altimeter missions such as Cryosat-2, SARAL/AltiKa, Sentinel-3, Jason-3, Jason-CS.     

Materials trade study for lunar/gateway missions.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) administrator has identified protection from radiation hazards as one of the two biggest problems of the agency with respect to human deep space missions. The intensity and strength of cosmic radiation in deep space makes this a 'must solve' problem for space missions. The Moon and two Earth-Moon Lagrange points near Moon are being proposed as hubs for deep space missions. The focus of this study is to identify approaches to protecting astronauts and habitats from adverse effects from space radiation both for single missions and multiple missions for career astronauts to these destinations. As the great cost of added radiation shielding is a potential limiting factor in deep space missions, reduction of mass, without compromising safety, is of paramount importance. The choice of material and selection of the crew profile play major roles in design and mission operations. Material trade studies in shield design over multi-segmented missions involving multiple work and living areas in the transport and duty phase of space mission's to two Earth-Moon co-linear Lagrange points (L1) between Earth and the Moon and (L2) on back side of the moon as seen from Earth, and to the Moon have been studied. It is found that, for single missions, current state-of-the-art knowledge of material provides adequate shielding. On the other hand, the choice of shield material is absolutely critical for career astronauts and revolutionary materials need to be developed for these missions. This study also provides a guide to the effectiveness of multifunctional materials in preparation for more detailed geometry studies in progress.     

Active shielding for long duration interplanetary manned missions

For long duration interplanetary manned missions the protection of astronauts from cosmic radiation is an unavoidable problem that has been considered by many space agencies. In Europe, during 2002–2004, the European Space Agency supported two research programs on this thematic: one was the constitution of a dedicated study group (on the thematic ‘Shielding from cosmic radiation for interplanetary missions: active and passive methods’) in the framework of the ‘life and physical sciences’ report, and the other an industrial study concerning the ‘radiation exposure and mission strategies for interplanetary manned missions to Moon and Mars’. Both programs concluded that, outside the protection of the magnetosphere and in the presence of the most intense and energetic solar events, the protection cannot rely solely on the mechanical structures of the spacecraft, but a temporary shelter must be provided. Because of the limited mass budget, the shelter should be based on the use of superconducting magnetic systems. For long duration missions the astronauts must be protected from the much more energetic galactic cosmic rays during the whole mission period. This requires the protection of a large habitat where they could live and work, and not the temporary protection of a small volume shelter. With passive absorbers unable to play any significant role, the use of active shielding is mandatory. The possibilities offered by superconducting magnets are discussed, and recommendations are made about the needed R&D. The technical developments that have occurred in the meanwhile and the evolving panorama of possible near future interplanetary missions, require revising the pioneering studies of the last decades and the adoption of a strategy that considers long lasting human permanence in ‘deep’ space, moreover not only for a relatively small number of dedicated astronauts but also for citizens conducting there ‘normal’ activities.     

The simulation of lunar gravity field recovery from D-VLBI of Chang’E-1 and SELENE lunar orbiters

The lunar gravity field is a foundation to study the lunar interior structure, and to recover the evolution history of the Moon. It is still an open and key topic for lunar science. For above mentioned reasons, it becomes one of the important scientific objectives of recent lunar missions, such as KAGUYA (SELENE) the Japanese lunar mission and Chang’E-1, the Chinese lunar mission. The Chang’E-1 and the SELENE were successfully launched in 2007. It is estimated that these two missions can fly around the Moon longer than 6 months simultaneously. In these two missions, the Chinese new VLBI (Very Long Baseline Interferometry) network will be applied for precise orbit determination (POD) by using a differential VLBI (D-VLBI) method during the mission period. The same-beam D-VLBI technique will contribute to recover the lunar gravity field together with other conventional observables, i.e. R&RR (Range and Range Rate) and multi-way Doppler. Taking VLBI tracking conditions into consideration and using the GEODYNII/SOVLE software of GSFC/NASA/USA [8 and 10], we simulated the lunar gravity field recovering ability with and without D-VLBI between the Chang’E-1 and SELENE main satellite. The cases of overlapped flying and tracking period of 30 days, 60 days and 90 days have been analyzed, respectively. The results show that D-VLBI tracking between two lunar satellites can improve the gravity field recovery remarkably. The results and methods introduced in this paper will benefit the actual missions.     

NASA历表在深空导航中的发展和比较

利用不同版本的数值历表,对我国正在进行的探月工程以及后续的金星、火星和木星等深空探测中的导航问题进行分析和讨论。对DE405、DE421和DE430的动力学模型及其使用的观测数据进行了分析比较,考察了历表的精度和稳定性。并根据DE430历表简单讨论了木星在我国深空探测站的可视问题,为以后深空导航提供参考。简单讨论了中科院国家天文台行星无线电研究团组基于月球无线电测距(LRR)发展我国自己的历表以及开展基于月球深空导航计划的可行性。     

Planetary protection issues and the future exploration of Mars.

A primary scientific theme for the Space Exploration Initiative (SEI) is the search for life, extant or extinct, on Mars. Because of this, concerns about Planetary Protection (PP), the prevention of biological cross-contamination between Earth and other planets during solar system exploration missions, have arisen. A recent workshop assessed the necessity for, and impact of, PP requirements on the unmanned and human missions to Mars comprising the SEI. The following ground-rules were adopted: 1) information needed for assessing PP issues must be obtained during the unmanned precursor mission phase prior to human landings; 2) returned Mars samples will be considered biologically hazardous until proven otherwise; 3) deposition of microbes on Mars and exposure of the crew to Martian materials are inevitable when humans land; and, 4) human landings are unlikely until it is demonstrated that there is no harmful effect of Martian materials on terrestrial life forms. These ground-rules dictated the development of a conservative PP strategy for precursor missions. Key features of the proposed strategy include: 1) for prevention of forward contamination, all orbiters will follow Mars Observer PP procedures for assembly, trajectory, and lifetime. All landers will follow Viking PP procedures for assembly, microbial load reduction, and bioshield; and, 2) for prevention of back contamination, all sample return missions will have PP requirements which include fail-safe sample sealing, breaking contact chain with the Martian surface, and containment and quarantine analysis in an Earth-based lab. In addition to deliberating on scientific and technical issues, the workshop made several recommendations for dealing with forward and back contamination concerns from non-scientific perspectives.     

Operations of a spaceflight experiment to investigate plant tropisms

Plants will be an important component in bioregenerative systems for long-term missions to the Moon and Mars. Since gravity is reduced both on the Moon and Mars, studies that identify the basic mechanisms of plant growth and development in altered gravity are required to ensure successful plant production on these space colonization missions. To address these issues, we have developed a project on the International Space Station (ISS) to study the interaction between gravitropism and phototropism in Arabidopsis thaliana. These experiments were termed TROPI (for tropisms) and were performed on the European Modular Cultivation System (EMCS) in 2006. In this paper, we provide an operational summary of TROPI and preliminary results on studies of tropistic curvature of seedlings grown in space. Seed germination in TROPI was lower compared to previous space experiments, and this was likely due to extended storage in hardware for up to 8 months. Video downlinks provided an important quality check on the automated experimental time line that also was monitored with telemetry. Good quality images of seedlings were obtained, but the use of analog video tapes resulted in delays in image processing and analysis procedures. Seedlings that germinated exhibited robust phototropic curvature. Frozen plant samples were returned on three space shuttle missions, and improvements in cold stowage and handing procedures in the second and third missions resulted in quality RNA extracted from the seedlings that was used in subsequent microarray analyses. While the TROPI experiment had technical and logistical difficulties, most of the procedures worked well due to refinement during the project.     

Implementing new strategic plans for NASA long duration scientific balloons

Over that past twelve years, global long duration balloon (LDB) missions have provided scientists an observation platform that offers tremendous opportunity for accomplishing monumental science. The precedence of several years of highly successful LDB missions and the capability to recover and re-fly such instruments within a relatively short period of time has created even greater demands for serving science missions in 2004 and beyond. To address NASA’s strategic plans for more missions and longer durations, new concepts are being explored and some are currently being developed, in order to enhance the current LDB mission concept.