China and Brazil to Continue Cooperation in CBERS

With the roaring of the Long March 4 on the morning of October 21 2003, the CBERS-02 was placed into the predetermined orbit and so far two satellites have been launched under the joint effort of two largest developing countries, China and Brazil.     

Making Space Cooperation and Bringing Benefits to Mankind

This year is the InternationalSpace Year,therefore China carriedout a series of scientific activities tospread astronautics knowledge andsent a delegation to attend theWorld Space Congress held inWashington,to participate in spacetechnology exhibition,to carry outspace scientific and technical ex-change with our friends and to seekthe ways for space technical cooper-ation.I believe,these activitieswill surely promote the developmentand application of the world spacetechnology,serve the world peace     

Looking Forward to the Future and Strengthening Cooperation

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China to Launch 8 Satellites and 1 Spaceship This Year

China is going to launch 8 domestic satellites and 1 spaceship into space in 2003, a year featuring the numerous in number and varieties of satellites to be sent into space. Zhang Qingwei, president of China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation recently revealed the news.     

Seminar on Space Law and Technology to Be Held in April

Space law and technology experts from the whole world are to meet in Beijing from April 25 to 27 todiscuss issues concerning international space law and the development and commercial use of space technology, China Institute of Space Law released recently.     

Application of Meteorological Satellites to Rainstorm Research and Forecast in China

The rainstorm is a kind of main natural disasters in China.In recent years the Chinese meteorological scholars have used the meteorological satellite data to study it and have obtained good results.This paper describes the application of six kinds of meteorological satellite data including satellite cloud image,water vapor map,sea surface temperature (SST),outgoing longwave radiation (OLR),cloud cover and brightness temperature to the rain storm research and forecast in China.     

National Research Center of Small Satellites and Related Application to Be Established

The foundation stone ceremony of National Research Center of Small Satellites and Related Application (NRCSSRA) was held on April 20. Located beside Beijing Space City where China's spaceship was made, NRCSSRA will have great impact on China's satellite industrialization.     

HY-1 A with Problems and HY-1 B to Be Launched in 2005

Mr. Jiang Xingwei, Director of National Marine Environment Forecast Center intro-duced some problems occurred on HY-1A during its two years' operation after it was launched in May, 2002. The observation instrument suddenly faced the sun instead of the earth. However, the scientists adjusted the attitude of HY-1A by means of sending the command through a sun protection telecontrol system.     

Travel, Sex, and Food: What's Speciation Got to Do with It?

Abstract We discuss the potential interactions among travel (dispersal and gene flow), bacterial "sex" (mainly as horizontal gene transfer), and food (metabolic plasticity and responses to nutrient availability) in shaping microbial communities. With regard to our work at a unique desert oasis, the Cuatro Ciénegas Basin in Coahuila, Mexico, we propose that diversification and low phosphorus availability, in combination with mechanisms for nutrient recycling and community cohesion, result in enhanced speciation through reproductive as well as geographic isolation. We also discuss these mechanisms in the broader sense of ecology and evolution. Of special relevance to astrobiology and central to evolutionary biology, we ask why there are so many species on Earth and provide a working hypothesis and a conceptual framework within which to consider the question. Key Words: Microbial ecology-Microbial mats-Evolution-Horizontal gene transfer-Metabolism. Astrobiology 12, 634-640.     

Did mineral surface chemistry and toxicity contribute to evolution of microbial extracellular polymeric substances?

Abstract Modern ecological niches are teeming with an astonishing diversity of microbial life in biofilms closely associated with mineral surfaces, which highlights the remarkable success of microorganisms in conquering the challenges and capitalizing on the benefits presented by the mineral-water interface. Biofilm formation capability likely evolved on early Earth because biofilms provide crucial cell survival functions. The potential toxicity of mineral surfaces toward cells and the complexities of the mineral-water-cell interface in determining the toxicity mechanisms, however, have not been fully appreciated. Here, we report a previously unrecognized role for extracellular polymeric substances (EPS), which form biofilms in shielding cells against the toxicity of mineral surfaces. Using colony plating and LIVE/DEAD staining methods in oxide suspensions versus oxide-free controls, we found greater viability of wild-type, EPS-producing strains of Pseudomonas aeruginosa PAO1 compared to their isogenic knockout mutant with defective biofilm-producing capacity. Oxide toxicity was specific to its surface charge and particle size. High resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) images and assays for highly reactive oxygen species (hROS) on mineral surfaces suggested that EPS shield via both physical and chemical mechanisms. Intriguingly, qualitative as well as quantitative measures of EPS production showed that toxic minerals induced EPS production in bacteria. By determining the specific toxicity mechanisms, we provide insight into the potential impact of mineral surfaces in promoting increased complexity of cell surfaces, including EPS and biofilm formation, on early Earth. Key Words: Mineral toxicity-Bacteria-EPS evolution-Biofilms-Cytotoxicity-Silica-Anatase-Alumina. Astrobiology 12, 785-798.     

Ionospheric response to solar flares of C and M classes in January–February 2010

The ionospheric response to solar flares is analyzed for the case of the beginning of solar activity growth, when the background ionization of the ionosphere is still low enough. It is shown that the algorithms and methods of averaging variations and derivative of the total electron content (TEC) over the entire sunlit ionosphere almost always make it possible to identify the ionospheric response even to close in time weak solar flares of the C class. It is found that the response to a solar flare rather intense in the X-ray range can have almost no manifestations, which is caused by the fact that the flare does not reveal itself in the ultraviolet part of the spectrum. A map of the TEC derivative over the Japan territory with an average resolution of ～18 km is drawn for the M6.4 flare (February 7, 2010). Before the flare maximum, the TEC derivatives are synchronously increasing over the entire Japan, while after the flare maximum the values of the TEC derivative vary not so synchronously, and local differences are seen.     

Determination of lethality rate constants and D-values for heat-resistant Bacillus spores ATCC 29669 exposed to dry heat from 125°C to 200°C

Exposing flight hardware to dry heat is a NASA-approved sterilization method for reducing microbial bioburden on spacecraft. The existing NASA specification only allows heating the flight hardware between 104°C and 125°C to reduce the number of viable microbes and bacterial spores. Also, the NASA specifications only allow a four log reduction by dry heat microbial reduction because very heat-resistant spores are presumed to exist in a diverse population (0.1%). The goal of this research was to obtain data at higher temperatures than 125°C for one of the most heat-resistant microorganisms discovered in a spacecraft assembly area. These data support expanding the NASA specifications to temperatures higher than 125°C and relaxing the four log reduction specification. Small stainless steel vessels with spores of the Bacillus strain ATCC 29669 were exposed to constant temperatures between 125°C and 200°C under both dry and ambient room humidity for set time durations. After exposures, the thermal spore exposure vessels were cooled and the remaining spores recovered and plated out. Survivor ratios, lethality rate constants, and D-values were determined at each temperature. The D-values for the spores exposed under dry humidity conditions were always found to be shorter than those under ambient humidity. The temperature dependence of the lethality rate constants was obtained by assuming that they obeyed Arrhenius behavior. The results are compared to those of B. atrophaeus ATCC 9372. In all cases, the D-values of ATCC 29669 are between 20 and 50 times longer than those of B. atrophaeus ATCC 9372.     

China Striding to Moon

China plans to send a robot to the moon In the mid-2020s, more than 50 years after man first sethis foot on lunar soil. China is pursuing a three-stage program which will take about 20 years and culminate in sending a robot to the moon.     

Address to Ministerial Conference on Space Applications for Development in Asia and the Pacific by the Chinese Delegation

First of all, please allow me, on behalf of the Chinese Government and the Chinese people, to convey my congratulations on the opening of the Ministerial Conference on Space Applications for Development in Asia and the Pacific. As a host country, we are grateful to Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific for its preparations for the Conference and grateful to the countries in Asia and Pacific region for their trust in and support to us. I believe we will reach common understanding on some important issues through discussion of     

China''''s First Astronaut to Space

At 9 am (Beijing time) October 15, 2003, Shenzhou-5 spaceship, carrying China's first astronaut Yang Liwei, was launched into space on a LM-2F from Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center. After orbiting the earth 14 circles the return module landed on the grasslands in central Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region at 6:23 am (Beijing time) October 16. Yang Liwei stepped out of the return module safely. China's first manned space flight achieved the complete success. The event has made China the third nation to independently     

CGWIC to Launch US Satellites

The China Great Wall Industrial Corporation (CGWIC) won a contract to launch two US broadcast satellites using Chinese carrier rockets.     

Brief Introduction to AP-MCSTA Initiative

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Divergence and phylogeny of firmicutes from the cuatro ciénegas basin, Mexico: a window to an ancient ocean

Abstract The Cuatro Ciénegas Basin (CCB) has been identified as a center of endemism for many life-forms. Nearly half the bacterial species found in the spring systems have their closest relatives in the ocean. This raises the question of whether the high diversity observed today is the product of an adaptive radiation similar to that of the Galapagos Islands or whether the bacterial groups are "survivors" of an ancient sea, which would be of interest for astrobiology. To help answer this question, we focused on Firmicutes from Cuatro Ciénegas (mainly Bacillus and Exiguobacterium). We reconstructed the phylogenetic relationships of Firmicutes with 28 housekeeping genes and dated the resulting tree using geological events as calibration points. Our results show that marine Bacillus diverged from other Bacillus strains 838?Ma, while Bacillus from Cuatro Ciénegas have divergence dates that range from 770 to 202?Ma. The members of Exiguobacterium from the CCB conform to a much younger group that diverged from the Andes strain 60?Ma and from the one in Yellowstone 183?Ma. Therefore, the diversity of Firmicutes in Cuatro Ciénegas is not the product of a recent radiation but the product of the isolation of lineages from an ancient ocean. Hence, Cuatro Ciénegas is not a Galapagos Archipelago for bacteria but is more like an astrobiological "time machine" in which bacterial lineages survived in an oligotrophic environment that may be very similar to that of the Precambrian. Key Words: Firmicutes-Cuatro Ciénegas-Precambrian-Molecular dating-Western Interior Seaway. Astrobiology 12, 674-684.