A perspective on the importance of reproductive mode in astrobiology

Reproduction is a vital characteristic of life, and sex is the most common reproductive mode in the eukaryotic world. Sex and reproduction are not necessarily linked mechanisms: Sexuality without reproduction exists, while several forms of asexual reproduction are known. The occurrence of sexuality itself is paradoxical, as it is very costly in evolutionary terms. Most of the hypotheses (more than 20) attempting to explain the prevalence of sex fall into two categories: Sex either creates good gene combinations for adaptation to environments or eliminates bad gene combinations counteracting the accumulation of mutations. In spite of this apparent wealth of beneficial effects of sex, asexuality is not rare. Most eukaryotic, asexual lineages are short-lived and can only persist through the presence of sexual roots, but at least two animal groups, bdelloid rotifers and darwinulid ostracods, seem to claim the status of ancient asexuals. Research on (a)sexuality is relevant to astrobiology in a number of ways. First, strong relationships between the origin and persistence of life in extreme environments and reproductive mode are known. Second, the "habitability" of nonterrestrial environments to life greatly depends on reproductive mode. Whereas asexuals can do equally well or better in harsh environments, they fail to adapt fast enough to changing abiotic and biotic environments. Third, it has been shown that plants reproduce mainly asexually in space, and sperm production and motility in some vertebrates are hampered. Both findings indicate that extraterrestrial life under conditions different from Earth might be dominated by asexual reproduction. Finally, for exchange of biological material between planets, the choice of reproductive mode will be important.     

Bone and body mass changes during space flight

Long duration space flight has shown us that humans have significant bone loss and mineral changes because they are living in microgravity. Skylab and the longer Salyut and Mir missions, are providing us useful data and allowing us to explore the mechanism involved in skeletal turnover. Bone redistribution occurs throughout space flight with bone loss predominately in the weight bearing bones of posture and locomotion. The primary health hazards which may occur during space flight induced by skeletal changes include signs and symptoms of hypercalcemia, and the risk of kidney stones and metastatic calcification. After flight lengthy recovery of bone mass and the possible increase in the risk of bone fracture should be considered. Continued research studies are being directed toward determining the mechanisms by which bone is lost in space and developing more effective countermeasures by both the US (Schneider and McDonald, 1984 and Schneider, LeBlanc & Huntoon, 1993) and Russian (Grigoriev et. al., 1989) space programs.     

The spontaneous development of biology from chemistry

Biology arose as a spontaneous development from the chemistry of the early Earth by Free Energy-driven processes that occurred in common environments involving significant populations of systems. Molecular imprinting to matrices is capable of catalysis of polymer formation and reproduction that, in association with self-assembled membranes, could lead to proto-enzymes, proto-ribosomes, and proto-cells. Proto-cells would evolve via processes analogous to Darwinian natural selection. These hypotheses are testable by controlled laboratory experiments. What we call "life" is the sum of properties of such highly evolved systems.     

Nakagami衰落包络的空时频相关性研究

多天线分集接收系统的性能与各支路信号衰落的相关性密切相关,通过分析Nakagami与瑞利衰落的内在联系,推导给出了不同Nakagami衰落包络之间的空时频相关性解析式,该表达式适用于任意散射条件和不同衰落系数。最后,通过数值仿真分析各参数对Nakagami衰落之间相关性的影响,并给出相干距离(时间、频率)的近似表达式,该结论对多天线系统的性能评估和参数设计非常重要。

     

Bone loss during long term space flight is prevented by the application of a short term impulsive mechanical stimulus

In long term space flight, the mechanical forces applied to the skeleton are substantially reduced and are altered in character. This reduced skeletal loading results in a reduction in bone mass. Exercise techniques currently used in space can maintain muscle mass but the mechanical stimulus provided by this exercise does not prevent bone loss. By applying an external impulsive load for a short period each day, which is intended to mimic the heel strike transient, to the lower limb of an astronaut during a long term space flight (5 months), this study tests the hypothesis that the bone cells can be activated by an appropriate external mechanical stimulus to maintain bone mass throughout prolonged periods of weightlessness. A mechanical loading device was developed to produce a loading of the os-calcis similar to that observed during the heel strike transient. The device is activated by the astronaut to provide a transient load to the heel of one leg whilst providing an equivalent exercising load to the other leg. During the EUROMIR95 mission on the MIR space station, an astronaut used this device for a short period daily throughout the duration of the mission. Pre- and post-flight measurements of bone mineral density (BMD) of the os-calcis and femoral neck of the astronaut were made to determine the efficacy of the device in preventing loss of bone mineral during the mission. On the os-calcis which received the mechanical stimulus, BMD was maintained throughout the period of the flight, while it was reduced by up to 7% on the os-calcis which received no stimulus. Post-flight, BMD in both the stimulated and non-stimulated os-calcis reduces, the extent of this reduction however is less in the stimulated os-calcis. For the femoral neck, the mechanical stimulation does not produce a positive effect.     

Performance relationships between ground model and space prototype of deployable space antennas

Performance testing is very useful in the design of deployable space antennas. It is arduous and costly to carry out the prototype experiments on the ground because of the large aperture of the antenna and the difficulty of simulating space environments. Thus, a smaller replica of the antenna, called scale model, is used to achieve the performance testing for reasons of economy, convenience, and saving in time. In this paper, a two-step approach is proposed to predict the prototype performance of the antenna in the space environment according to the performance testing of the scale model. The first step is to analyze the similarity between the prototype and the model in the same environment. Different methods are adopted according to the different performance of the antenna. The scaling laws of the driving force of the deployable Astromesh antenna are established through the differential equations on the basis of the deployment dynamic equations, while the scaling laws of frequency are derived by the dimensional analysis method. The second step is to analyze the performance relationships of the scale model in the different environments. Experiments on the scale model can be performed to obtain the performance relationships. Finally, a complete example of the natural frequency analysis is given to illustrate the two-step method.     

Relationship of psychological and physiological parameters during an Arctic ski expedition.

Considerable data (primarily physiological) have been collected during expeditions in extreme environments over the last century. Physiological measurements have only recently been examined in association with the emotional or behavioral state of the subject. Establishing this psychophysiological relationship is essential to understanding fully the adaptation of humans to the stresses of extreme environments. This pilot study investigated the simultaneous collection of physiological, psychological and behavioral data from a two-man Greenland expedition in order to model how specific relationships between physiological and psychological adaptation to a polar environment may be identified. The data collected describes changes in adrenal and other hormonal activity and psychological functioning. Levels of cortisol and testosterone were calculated. Factors influencing the plasma profiles of the aforementioned included 24-hour sunlight, high calorific intake of more than 28 000 kJ/day and extreme physical exercise. There was a difference between individual psychological profiles as well as self-report stress and physiological stress.     

小卫星编队飞行动力学及其应用

由若干颗小卫星编队飞行组成一个虚拟卫星 ,其功能相当或超过一颗大卫星。这将为小卫星开拓一个完全崭新的应用领域。文章首先论述编队飞行的概念和应用 ,其次研究轨道动力学。系统地研究编队飞行三种动力学模型 ,最后进行相应数学仿真 ,分析研究各种数学模型的精度和它们的应用场合。     

硝胺固体推进剂燃烧性能计算的神经网络方法

传统的燃烧模型致力于对固体推进剂燃烧的物理化学过程的数学描述，其发展往往受到对推进剂燃烧机理认识程度的限制，本文利用误差反转（ＢＰ）神经网络建模的方法建立了硝胺固体推进剂燃烧性能及其影响因素（硝胺含量、压强、硝胺重均粒径）的定量关系，而不考虑燃烧的具体过程，根据此定量关系对硝胺固体推进剂燃烧性能的计算表明，计算结果和实验值吻合得较好，这为推进剂配方的计算机辅助设计提供了一种新方法。     

"Hairy blobs:" microbial suspects preserved in modern and ancient extremely acid lake evaporites

"Hairy blobs" are unusual clumps of organic bodies and sulfate crystals that have been found in evaporite minerals grown in acid saline lakes. Here, we document modern hairy blobs in halite and gypsum from 5 modern acid saline lakes in southern Western Australia, and Permian hairy blobs trapped in halite from the mid-Permian Opeche Shale in the subsurface of North Dakota. These are among the first microbial remains described from acid saline lake environments. They give clues about the role of microorganisms in the acidity, geochemistry, and mineralogy of these extreme environments. This study also may add to the inventory of life in extreme environments and help predict possible martian life-forms and the method of preservation.     

卫星扰动对星载SAR成像质量的影响

星载合成孔径雷达快视成像质量与卫星的运动姿态密不可分，卫星扰动主要体现在对多普勒参数的影响上，而快视成像一般利用卫星星历来估计多普勒参数。通过详细分析，找出了卫星扰动对多普勒参数的内在联系，给出了详细的数学公式并结合实际数据进行了计算机模拟，给出了平台的控制精度范围，为星载ＳＡＲ系统设计提供理论依据。     

航天器运输用包装箱被动保温性能分析

对某航天器及其包装箱整体建模,采用FLUENT软件对模型进行流动与传热耦合计算。采用瞬态求解分别计算了三种工况下包装箱的被动保温性能。通过求解发现,对于两种极端工况,包装箱被动保温4小时后能够保证箱内温度维持在0℃～40℃的要求范围内,说明包装箱的保温性能满足要求,能够在运输过程中对航天器进行有效地保护;对于第三种工况的求解,发现该包装箱在极冷和极热环境下,被动保温所能维持的时间均不会超过12个小时。     

The structure of resting bacterial populations in soil and subsoil permafrost

The structure of individual cells in microbial populations in situ of the Arctic and Antarctic permafrost was studied by scanning and transmission electron microscopy methods and compared with that of cyst-like resting forms generated under special conditions by the non-spore-forming bacteria Arthrobacter and Micrococcus isolated from the permafrost. Electron microscopy examination of microorganisms in situ revealed several types of bacterial cells having no signs of damage, including "dwarf" curved forms similar to nanoforms. Intact bacterial cells in situ and frozen cultures of the permafrost isolates differed from vegetative cells by thickened cell walls, the altered structure of cytoplasm, and the compact nucleoid, and were similar in these features to cyst-like resting forms of non-spore-forming "permafrost" bacterial strains of Arthrobacter and Micrococcus spp. Cyst-like cells, being resistant to adverse external factors, are regarded as being responsible for survival of the non-spore-formers under prolonged exposure to subzero temperatures and can be a target to search for living microorganisms in natural environments both on the Earth and on extraterrestrial bodies.     

Interplanetary travel and permanent injury to normal heart.

This hypothesis is that some crewmen on prolonged space flights may develop permanent myocardial injury despite the absence of coronary atherosclerosis and even without the hazards of radiation beyond orbit. This may resuIt from atrophy of skeletal muscle and bone resulting in magnesium ion deficiency predisposing to a vicious cycle with catecholamine elevations, with the latter aggravated by stress, dehydration-provoked angiotensin elevations, unremitting endurance exercise, and in turn a second vicious cycle with severe ischemia. Toxic free radicals can develop complicating ischemia and potential high radiation, with magnesium ion deficiency and high vascular catecholamines playing contributing roles. These free radicals may lead to inactivation of endothelium-derived relaxing factor (EDRF) causing coronary endothelial injury by a third vicious cycle, increased peripheral resistance and coronary vasospasm intensifying ischemia. Local and systemic thrombogenesis could contribute ultimately to focal fibrosis of the myocardium, if the ischemia is not recognized. Sufficient magnesium and time for repair are vital.     

Effects of Constant and Variable Accelerations on Crystals Grown onboard Spacecraft by the Method of Directional Crystallization

The effect of constant and time-dependent accelerations (vibrations) on the melt flow and heat and mass transfer in the process of crystal growth by the method of directional crystallization (Bridgman method) onboard spacecraft is numerically investigated. The mathematical formulation of the problem and the technique to solve it numerically are given. The time-averaged flow arising under the action of vibrations in a nonisothermal fluid is investigated. With the help of a rational choice of dimensionless similitude parameters, a generalized dependence on the intensity of melt flow is obtained for the radial segregation of dopants. This dependence is invariant with respect to the type of motive power and thermal boundary conditions in the region of very small velocities of melt flow (creeping flow), which are characteristic for microgravity conditions. The allowable levels of constant accelerations, as well as the frequency dependences of tolerable vibrations, are obtained for five typical semiconductor materials: Ge(Ga), GaAs(Te), InSb(Te), Si(P), and Si(B). It is shown that the radial segregation of dopant is much more sensitive to microaccelerations than the axial one. In the region of small velocities, the latter is determined by the duration of the transition regime, which depends on certain physical properties of the melt. New problems that resulted from the investigations performed are discussed.     

月面巡视探测器立体相机共线方程的建立

为了准确提取月面巡视探测器探测区域的DEM并实现对月面巡视探测器的高精度定位,需要根据月面巡视探测器携带的立体相机的成像原理和配置情况,建立立体相机的共线方程。文章讨论了在水平和垂直方向旋转摄影条件下,月面巡视探测器桅杆上的立体相机的共线方程。     

The effects of microgravity on the skeletal system--a review

Exposure of astronauts to microgravity leads to the loss of calcium from weightbearing bones. Prolonged exposure, e.g., during a journey to Mars, may present problems on return to Earth, with increased risk of fractures and premature osteoporosis in later life. The precise mechanisms of calcium loss have yet to be determined although a key feature is the absence of mechanical loading. Countermeasures aimed at reducing calcium loss to acceptable levels include the use of exercise, drugs, dietary modifications and inertia suits such as the Soviet "Penguin" suit. Missions of a number of years may, however, require the development of artificial gravity on a spacecraft. The country that first solves the physiological problems of man in space and, in particular, skeletal calcium loss, will almost certainly be the first to be able to put a man on Mars.