Strategic, technological and ethical aspects of establishing colonies on Moon and Mars

With the vast experience gained by Aerospace Community in the last five decades, the natural future course of action will be to expand Space Exploration. Our understanding of Moon is relatively better with a number of unmanned satellite missions carried out by the leading Space Agencies and manned missions to Moon by USA. Also a number of unmanned satellite missions and surface rover missions were carried out to Mars by those Space agencies generating many new details about Mars. While the future exploration efforts by global community will also be centered obviously on Moon and Mars, it is noteworthy that already NASA had declared its plans for establishing a Surface Base on Moon and developing the technical infrastructure required. Surface Bases on Moon and Mars give rise to a number of strategic, technical and ethical issues both in the process of development, and in the process of establishing the bases. The strategic issues related to Moon and Mars Surface Bases will be centered around development of enabling technologies, cost of the missions, and international cooperation. The obvious path for tackling both the technological development and cost issues will be through innovative and new means of international cooperation. International cooperation can take many forms like—all capable players joining a leader, or sharing of tasks at system level, or all players having their independent programmes with agreed common interfaces of the items being taken to and left on the surface of Moon/Mars. Each model has its own unique features. Among the technical issues, the first one is that of the Mission Objectives—why Surface Bases have to be developed and what will be the activity of crew on Surface Bases? Surface Bases have to meet mainly the issues on long term survivability of humans on the Mars/Moon with their specific atmosphere, gravity and surface characteristics. Moon offers excellent advantages for astronomy while posing difficulties with respect to solar power utilization and extreme temperature variations. Hence the technical challenges depend on a number of factors starting from mission requirements. Obviously the most important technical challenge to be addressed will be in the areas of crew safety, crew survivability, adequate provision to overcome contingencies, and in-situ resource utilization. Towards this, new innovations will be developed in areas such as specialized space suits, rovers, power and communication systems, and ascent and descent modules. The biggest ethical issue is whether humankind from Earth is targeting ‘habitation’ or ‘colonization’ of Moon/Mars. The next question will be whether the in-situ resource exploitation will be only for carrying out further missions to other planets from Moon/Mars or for utilization on Earth. The third ethical issue will be the long term impact of pollution on Moon/Mars due to technologies employed for power generation and other logistics on Surfaces. The paper elaborates the views of the authors on the strategic, technical and ethical aspects of establishing Surface Bases and colonies on Moon and Mars. The underlying assumptions and gray areas under each aspect will be explained with the resulting long-term implications.     

Acceleration and losses of energetic protons and electrons during magnetic storm on August 30–31, 2004

Variations of particle fluxes during a moderate magnetic storm on August 30–31, 2004 are analyzed in this paper using measurements on low-orbit polar satellites CORONAS-F and SERVIS-1. The Earth’s radiation belts were filled at this time by enhanced flux of energetic particles accelerated a month ago during magnetic storms on July 23–27. The analysis has shown that even during a moderate magnetic storm a set of several adiabatic and non-adiabatic processes is observed, which leads to acceleration or release of particles and acts selectively depending on the energy range and charge of particles.     

X-38, CRV and CRV Evolution Program Overview and European Role

The X-38 Project forms part of the “X” prototype vehicle family developed by the United States. Its development was initiated by NASA to prepare the Crew Return Vehicle (CRV). The European participation in the X-38 Program has been significantly extended since the start of the X-38 cooperation in 1997 and is realized by ESA's “Applied Reentry Technology Program” and the German/DLR “Technologies for Future Space Transportation Systems” (TETRA) Project. European contributions to the X-38 Vehicle 201, (V-201) can be found in all technical key areas. The orbital flight and reentry with the X-38 V-201 will conclude the X-38 project in 2002.The CRV will be used from about mid-2005 as ’ambulance‘, ’lifeboat‘ or as alternate return vehicle for the crew of the International Space Station. Recognizing the very productive and mutually beneficial cooperation established on X-38, NASA and ESA have decided to continue this cooperation into the development of the operational CRV. The Phase C/D will be completed shortly after the Critical Design Review, scheduled for August 2002. The CRV production phase will start in October 2002 and will cover production of four CRV vehicles, ending in 2006.Based on the objective to identify a further evolution potential of the CRV towards a Crew Cargo Transfer Vehicle (CCTV), NASA has implemented upgrade studies in the CRV Phase C/D.     

Launch and early operations of Herschel and Planck

On 14 May 2009 the European Space Agency launched 2 space observatories: Herschel (with a 3.5 m mirror it is the largest space telescope ever) will collect long-wavelength infrared radiation and will be the only space observatory to cover the spectral range from far-infrared to sub-millimetre wavelengths, and Planck will look back at the dawn of time, close to the Big Bang, and will examine the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) radiation to a sensitivity, angular resolution and frequency range never achieved before. This paper will present the Flight Dynamics, mission analysis challenges and flight results from the first 3 months of these missions.Both satellites were launched on the same Ariane 5 and travelled to the L2 Lagrange point of the sun–earth system 1.5 million km from the earth in the opposite direction of the sun. There they were injected to a quasi-halo orbit (Herschel) with the dimension of typically 750,000 km×450,000 km, and a Lissajous orbit (Planck) of 300,000 km×300,000 km.In order to reach these Lissajous orbits it is mandatory to perform large trajectory correction manoeuvres during the first days of the mission. Herschel had its main manoeuvres on the first day. Planck had to be navigated on the first day and by a mid-course correction manoeuvre, the L2 orbit insertion manoeuvre was planned on day 50. If these slots were missed, fuel penalties would rapidly increase.This posed a heavy load on the operations teams because both spacecrafts have to be thoroughly checked out and put into the correct modes of their attitude control systems during the first hours after launch.The sequence of events will be presented and explained and the orbit determination results as well as the manoeuvre planning will be emphasised.     

Turbulent fluctuations of plasma and magnetic field parameters in the magnetosheath and the low-latitude boundary layer formation: Multisatellite observations on March 2, 1996

The results of simultaneous analysis of plasma and magnetic field characteristics measured on the INTERBALL/Tail Probe, WIND and Geotail satellites on March 2, 1996, are presented. During these observations the INTERBALL/Tail Probe crossed the low-latitude boundary layer, and the WIND and Geotail satellites measured the solar wind’s and magnetosheath’s parameters, respectively. The plasma and magnetic field characteristics in these regions have been compared. The data of the Corall, Electron, and MIF instruments on the INTERBALL/Tail Probe satellite are analyzed. Fluctuations of the magnetic field components and plasma velocity in the solar wind and magnetosheath, measured onboard the WIND and Geotail satellites, are compared. The causes resulting in appearance of plasma jet flows in the low-latitude boundary layer are analyzed. The amplitude of magnetic field fluctuations in the magnetosheath for a studied magnetosphere boundary crossing is shown to exceed the magnetic field value below the magnetopause near the cusp. The possibility of local violation of pressure balance on the magnetopause is discussed, as well as penetration of magnetosheath plasma into the magnetosphere, as a result of magnetic field and plasma flux fluctuations in the magnetosheath.     

Switzerland and space – how a small country succeeds

Is it possible for small nations to get their concerns aired or improve their industries and economies in the field of space activities? In this edited version of a speech to the international symposium on ‘The History of the European Space Agency’, held in London, 11–13 November 1998, the author demonstrates that, through judicious cooperative endeavour within the framework of ESA, and a willingness to put forward solutions rather than harping on problems, it is. Switzerland’s role in the foundation of ESA is discussed, along with various successful initiatives taken by the country. The particular difficulties presented by the country’s constitution – and how they have been overcome – are also examined. The author concludes with some thoughts on the present and futute state of space affairs in Europe.     

Towards an effective and adequately verifiable PPWT

The 2008 Russia–China proposal to the Conference on Disarmament on preventing space weapons has attracted wide attention. Lengthy debates have been made on the need for such a treaty and for two of its most disputed elements, namely prohibition of ground-based anti-satellite weapons and verification. This article argues that, regardless of verifiability, such a treaty is urgently needed for the benefit of international peace and security, and for the security interests of spacefaring countries. But in order to serve these purposes effectively, the treaty should at least explicitly prohibit testing, deployment and use of space-based weapons and ground-based anti-satellite weapons. Given the necessary political will, it is feasible to “adequately verify” these constraints. The verification regime should permit the incorporation of new measures in the future, combine international technical means and national technical means, combine remote-sensing technologies and on-site inspections, and be complemented by transparency and confidence-building measures.     

月球资源原位利用进展及展望

利用丰富的月球资源制造产品和开展各项服务对人类月球探测任务至关重要。文章对NASA月球资源原位利用项目的目标、技术路线、技术成熟度和制氧技术进行了综述,并针对适用于我国的月球资源原位利用项目提出建设性意见。     

Statistical analysis of turbulence in the foreshock region and in the Earth’s magnetosheath

Statistical properties of magnetic field and plasma flux fluctuations outside the Earth’s magnetosphere are studied on various time scales based on the INTERBALL-1 satellite data. The analysis of “rough” turbulence characteristics has shown that turbulence properties in various parts of the magnetosheath are distinct. The spectral density of the magnetic field undergoes a break at a frequency of ∼0.5 Hz. As a more “fine” characteristic of the fluctuations on various time scales, changes in the shape and parameters of the probability density function were studied. The analysis of the height of a maximum of the probability density function P(0) and of the kurtosis values have shown the presence of two asymptotic modes of P(0), which are characterized by different power laws. The critical scale, on which the properties of P(0) change, corresponds, presumably, to the scales of the Larmor radius of ions. Based on the results of studying structural functions of various orders, the conclusion is drawn that small-scale turbulence in the foreshock and magnetosheath is described by different phenomenological models.     

The SERENDIP SETI project: new instrumentation for SETI and results of recent observations

Over the past 30 years research into the existence of extraterrestrial life has focused on attempts to detect stable narrowband radio signals emitted in the microwave portion of the radio frequency (RF) spectrum. The SERENDIP SETI group is currently conducting search operations on the world’s largest radio telescope at the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico.The third generation SERENDIP system, SERENDIP III, is a 4 million channel FFT-based spectrum analyzer with 0.6 Hz frequency resolution. In this paper, we will discuss the results of our recent 3.5 year sky survey. SERENDIP looked at 95% of the sky visible from Arecibo in the 424–436 MHz range, analyzed 10¹⁴ spectral bins, and logged information on over 2.5×10⁸ signals.The fourth generation SERENDIP system expands on the SERENDIP III design. SERENDIP IV computes 2×10¹¹ operations each second, providing spectral analysis on 160 million channels in 1.7 s. We will discuss the design and use of the SERENDIP IV system and future observing plans.     

Spacecraft technology portfolio: Probabilistic modeling and implications for responsiveness and schedule slippage

Addressing the challenges of Responsive Space and mitigating the risk of schedule slippage in space programs require a thorough understanding of the various factors driving the development schedule of a space system. The present work contributes theoretical and practical results in this direction. A spacecraft is here conceived of as a technology portfolio. The characteristics of this portfolio are defined as its size (e.g., number of instruments), the technology maturity of each instrument and the resulting Technology Readiness Level (TRL) heterogeneity, and their effects on the delivery schedule of a spacecraft are investigated. Following a brief overview of the concept of R&D portfolio and its relevance to spacecraft design, a probabilistic model of the Time-to-Delivery of a spacecraft is formulated, which includes the development, Integration and Testing, and Shipping phases. The Mean-Time-To-Delivery (MTTD) of the spacecraft is quantified based on the portfolio characteristics, and it is shown that the Mean-Time-To-Delivery (MTTD) of the spacecraft and its schedule risk are significantly impacted by decreasing TRL and increasing portfolio size. Finally, the utility implications of varying the portfolio characteristics are investigated, and “portfolio maps” are provided as guides to help system designers identify appropriate portfolio characteristics when operating in a calendar-based design environment (which is the paradigm shift that space responsiveness introduces).     

Large and sharp changes of solar wind dynamic pressure and disturbances of the magnetospheric magnetic field at geosynchronous orbit caused by these variations

The large and sharp changes of solar wind dynamic pressure, found from the INTERBALL-1 satellite and WIND spacecraft data, are compared with simultaneous magnetic field disturbances in the magnetosphere measured by geosynchronous GOES-8, GOES-9, and GOES-10 satellites. For this purpose, about 200 events in the solar wind, associated with sharp changes of the dynamic pressure, were selected from the INTERBALL-1 satellite data obtained during 1996–1999. The large and sharp changes of the solar wind dynamic pressure were shown to result in rapid variations of the magnetic field strength in the outer magnetosphere, the increase (drop) of the solar wind dynamic pressure always lead to an increase (drop) of the geosynchronous magnetic field magnitude. The value of the geomagnetic field variation strongly depends on the local time of the observation point, reaching a maximum value near the noon meridian. It is shown that the direction of the B _z component of the interplanetary magnetic field has virtually no effect on the geomagnetic field variation because of a sharp jump of pressure. The time shift between an event in the solar wind and its response in the magnetosphere at a geosynchronous orbit essentially depends on the inclination of the front of a solar wind disturbance to the Sun-Earth line.     

Strategic,technological and ethical aspects of establishing colonies on Moon and Mars

With the vast experience gained by Aerospace Community in the last five decades, the natural future course of action will be to expand Space Exploration. Our understanding of Moon is relatively better with a number of unmanned satellite missions carried out by the leading Space Agencies and manned missions to Moon by USA. Also a number of unmanned satellite missions and surface rover missions were carried out to Mars by those Space agencies generating many new details about Mars. While the future exploration efforts by global community will also be centered obviously on Moon and Mars, it is noteworthy that already NASA had declared its plans for establishing a Surface Base on Moon and developing the technical infrastructure required. Surface Bases on Moon and Mars give rise to a number of strategic, technical and ethical issues both in the process of development, and in the process of establishing the bases. The strategic issues related to Moon and Mars Surface Bases will be centered around development of enabling technologies, cost of the missions, and international cooperation. The obvious path for tackling both the technological development and cost issues will be through innovative and new means of international cooperation. International cooperation can take many forms like—all capable players joining a leader, or sharing of tasks at system level, or all players having their independent programmes with agreed common interfaces of the items being taken to and left on the surface of Moon/Mars. Each model has its own unique features. Among the technical issues, the first one is that of the Mission Objectives—why Surface Bases have to be developed and what will be the activity of crew on Surface Bases? Surface Bases have to meet mainly the issues on long term survivability of humans on the Mars/Moon with their specific atmosphere, gravity and surface characteristics. Moon offers excellent advantages for astronomy while posing difficulties with respect to solar power utilization and extreme temperature variations. Hence the technical challenges depend on a number of factors starting from mission requirements. Obviously the most important technical challenge to be addressed will be in the areas of crew safety, crew survivability, adequate provision to overcome contingencies, and in-situ resource utilization. Towards this, new innovations will be developed in areas such as specialized space suits, rovers, power and communication systems, and ascent and descent modules. The biggest ethical issue is whether humankind from Earth is targeting ‘habitation’ or ‘colonization’ of Moon/Mars. The next question will be whether the in-situ resource exploitation will be only for carrying out further missions to other planets from Moon/Mars or for utilization on Earth. The third ethical issue will be the long term impact of pollution on Moon/Mars due to technologies employed for power generation and other logistics on Surfaces. The paper elaborates the views of the authors on the strategic, technical and ethical aspects of establishing Surface Bases and colonies on Moon and Mars. The underlying assumptions and gray areas under each aspect will be explained with the resulting long-term implications.     

大型空间电站在轨展开与组装动力学与控制

针对大型空间电站在轨展开与组装过程中复杂的动力学环境，将桁架类大型空间电站视为一个刚柔多体系统，采用自然坐标法对刚性构件建模，基于绝对节点坐标方法描述柔性桁架结构，编写了一套动力学仿真软件，实现了大型空间电站在轨展开与组装动力学的精确仿真。仿真结果表明，采用摆线运动插值函数作为控制方程有利于提高多级展开过程的稳定性；在结构组装过程中，减小组装速度，增大组装机构阻尼系数与劲度系数，有利于提高结构稳定性。最终集成了一套针对大型空间电站的动力学仿真平台搭建方法，为大型空间电站在轨展开与组装动力学预示提供了理论依据和方法指导。     

Solar flare with a surge: Scenario,energy budget,and forecast

Based on the analysis of solar events on August 18, 1995 (SN/C1.9 limb event) and September 23, 1998 (3B/M6.9 disk event) we suggest a new scenario of a solar flare with a surge in which the return motion of a surge is a cause of additional energy release and formation of a second system of solar flare ribbons. Observations in H_α line and data on X-ray emission fluxes in the range 1–8 Å and 0.5–4 Å are supplemented for the second case by the data in line 1550 Å. The scenario specifies two stages of development. During the first one the energy release proceeds in the current layer, which makes provisions both for acceleration of eruption upward from the solar surface and for the flare itself, including flare region heating, and radiation and thermal conductance losses. The second stage of the flare is supplied with energy due to a fall of the surge substance onto the chromosphere. The second pair of flare ribbons observed at this stage is suggested as a chromospheric criterion of realization of this scenario for disk flares. The energy released during the first stage of the flare on September 23, 1998 was equal to ～3 · 10³¹ erg. Its part consumed on flare processes is about ～0.5 · 10³¹ erg. The remaining part representing the eruption energy is consistent in order of magnitude with a calculated value of the flare energy on the second stage, which does not contradict the suggested scenario. Early recognition of such a scenario for flares on the disk can be used for prompt space weather forecast. In particular, a flare with a surge allows one to predict the absence of a bright core in a coronal mass ejection.     

Ra: future policy directions and a strategic framework for solar research and applications

The authors and 50 other students from around the world participated in the International Space University's (ISU) 1996 Summer Session Solar Probe Design Project. The main product of this was a 349-page text on the future of solar exploration and applications entitled Ra: The Sun for Science and Humanity. This article condenses and highlights the policy directions, organizational initiatives and strategic framework presented in that work. In particular, these include the proposed creation of a working group on international solar exploration and applications to act as a forum for mission planning, and a model for facilitating interagency/international exchanges regarding solar missions.     

Outer space and cosmopolitics

The two superpowers engaged in power politics on Earth, the USA and the USSR, have devoted great financial and technical efforts to the exploration, control and use of outer space, primarily to gain power-political advantages. This article considers the issue of power politics in outer space. The history and the instruments of ‘cosmopolitical power’ are discussed, as well as the attempts to limit the superpowers' dominance. A united Western Europe is seen to have a major role to play in providing a counterbalance to the concentration of space power.     

Deep Structure of the Arctic and Antarctic according to Component Magnetic and Gravitational Anomalies

Cosmic Research - The results of a study of the deep structure of the Earth’s polar regions based on the interpretation of gravitational anomalies, geomagnetic-field anomalies, and...     

Space tourism, private spaceflight and the law: Key aspects

The arrival of ‘space tourism’, or more appropriately ‘private spaceflight’, requires the law of outer space to change and adapt to this revolutionary development, as deriving precisely from the principled private participation in these activities. After defining the proper concepts, this paper discusses key legal aspects of authorisation and supervision, liability and registration, and how they reflect and impact on space tourism. Key legal aspects related to certification of craft, crew and passengers, while not yet much articulated at the international level will also be touched upon precisely in order to demonstrate that the law could well be driven first and foremost by national legislative interests on a domestic level, before (possibly) reaching the level of international law. The possible use of air law or even adventure tourism law to regulate relevant activities is also touched on.