Advancing participation of blind students in Science,Technology, Engineering,and Math

Like their sighted peers, many blind students in elementary, middle, and high school are naturally interested in space. This interest can motivate them to learn fundamental scientific, quantitative, and critical thinking skills, and sometimes even lead to careers in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) disciplines. However, these students are often at a disadvantage in science because of the ubiquity of important graphical information that is generally not available in accessible formats, the unfamiliarity of teachers with non-visual teaching methods, lack of access to blind role models, and the low expectations of their teachers and parents. We discuss joint efforts by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the National Federation of the Blind’s (NFB) National Center for Blind Youth in Science (NCBYS) to develop and implement strategies to promote opportunities for blind youth in science. These include the development of tactile space science books and curriculum materials, science academies for blind middle school and high school students, and college-level internship and mentoring programs. The partnership with the NFB exemplifies the effectiveness of collaborations between NASA and consumer-directed organizations to improve opportunities for underserved and underrepresented individuals.     

The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics pre-college outreach program

Many United States, school children perceive science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) as difficult, boring and often irrelevant subjects. The possible reasons for this problem are endlessly debated. However, the economic, social, and overall national importance of producing graduates who are technically literate and enthusiastic in their support of a rational scientific world is essential to our nation. This apparent STEM crisis should motivate the many scientific and engineering societies to develop STEM outreach programs aimed at students, parents, teachers and schools (grades K-12).     

Fostering research aptitude among high school students through space weather competition

Cultivating research culture at an early stage is important for capacity building in a community. The high school level is the appropriate stage for research to be introduced because of students’ competitive nature. Participation in the space weather competition is one of the ways in which research aptitude can be fostered in high school students in Malaysia. Accordingly, this paper presents how research elements were introduced to the students at the high school level through their participation in the space weather competition. The competition required the students to build a system to detect the presence of solar flares by utilizing VLF signals reflected from the ionosphere. The space weather competition started off with proposal writing for the space weather related project where the students were required to execute extensive literature review on the given topic. Additionally, the students were also required to conduct the experiments and analyse the data. Results obtained from data analysis were then validated by the students through various other observations that they had to carry out. At the end of the competition, students were expected to write a comprehensive technical report. Through this competition, the students learnt how to conduct research in accordance to the guidelines provided through the step by step approach exposed to them. Ultimately, this project revealed that the students were able to conduct research on their own with minimal guidance and that participation in the competition not only generated enjoyment in learning but also their interest in science and research.     

Current and future activities in education and public outreach at the Observatoire de Haute Provence

The Haute Provence Observatory has for primary mission the operation of telescopes, up to two meters in diameter, for the astrophysics community, and the measurements of various upper atmosphere parameters for the geophysics community. An education and outreach program has been developed with several reached: from school pupils to post-doctorate students, teachers, and the general public. In the recent years we put emphasis on the formation of teachers and on the renewal of the general public visit. Given the wide range of education and outreach activities we cover, we had to develop a relation network with individuals, amateurs, teachers and institutions, amplifying our efforts. For the future, we will try to make an optimal use of the resources available in the St Michel l’Observatoire area, taking steps to reach an agreement with the neighbouring “Centre d’Astronomie”, a structure devoted to education and public outreach belonging to the local authorities.     

旅客机／涡扇发动机设计参数一体化选择研究

依据旅客机的典型飞行剖面、适航性以及国际民航组织的规范，建立了旅客机／涡轮风扇发动机设计参数一体化选择的计算方法和程序，此方法按照旅客机的商载、航程等营运需求，以满足飞行任务条件下经济性最好为目标，优选飞机的起飞推重比、翼载以及发动机循环参数等，对选出的旅客机／发动机机方案，可对其航线飞行性能进行模拟，计算轮档燃油、轮挡时间以及一发失效的升限。本方法和程序可用于民用涡轮风扇发动机的方案设计和性能分     

Using sunshine for elementary space science education: A model for IHY scientist–teacher partnerships

An elementary science education professional development partnership between Culver City Unified School District teachers and UCLA has been formed. The project was designed to assist teachers to comfortably present introductory space science concepts, to support them in their efforts, and to aid them in encouraging their students to develop inquiry skills related to space sciences. The project encourages teacher use of observational science techniques in their classrooms, the use of NASA solar mission images and enhanced use of astronomical observation to facilitate discovery learning. The integrated approach of the project has fostered collegial learning activities among the participating teachers and offered them opportunities for continued renewal and professional development of teacher competencies in astronomy and space science. The activities used in the classroom were developed by others, classroom tested, and specifically address National Science Education and California Science Content Standards. These activities have been sustained through on-going collaboration between the scientist and the teachers, a summer Research Experience for Teachers program, and on-going, grade-specific, district-sponsored workshops. Assessment of the value of the program is done by the school district and is used to continuously improve each workshop and program component. Culver City (California) Unified School District is a small urban school district located on the Westside of Los Angeles. This paper describes the program and the plans for incorporating IHY-themed science into the classroom.     

中国空间探测领域40年发展

中国空间科学学会成立的40年，是中国空间探测逐渐走进世界舞台的40年，空间探测极大推动了空间科学和相邻学科的发展，也影响到经济、军事和日常生活诸多方面.本文简要回顾了从空间探测专业委员会成立的1980年至今，中国空间探测领域的主要发展历程，包括探空火箭、高空气球、科学卫星、月球与行星探测、载人航天空间探测、遥感卫星地面站等主要项目、进展和所取得的成果，对未来若干年空间探测的发展进行了展望.      

Synoptic studies of the middle atmosphere using balloons

During the Middle Atmosphere Program, 1982–1985, balloons will play a central role in gathering stratospheric, chemical, and dynamical data. This paper discusses some of the unique aspects of balloons as tools for probing the middle atmosphere, and suggests some directions for future projects and enhanced capabilities that would improve their utility in future investigations.     

Regional Centres for Space Science and Technology Education and ICG Information Centres affiliated to the United Nations

Based on resolutions of the United Nations General Assembly, Regional Centres for Space Science and Technology Education were established in India, Morocco, Nigeria, Brazil and Mexico. Simultaneously, education curricula were developed for the core disciplines of remote sensing, satellite communications, satellite meteorology, and space and atmospheric science. This paper provides a brief summary on the status of the operation of the regional centres with a view to use them as information centres of the International Committee on Global Navigation Satellite Systems (ICG), and draws attention to their educational activities.     

Modeling satellite battery aging for an operational satellite simulator

During the satellite’s operations, simulation tools perform an important role in ensuring the space mission success. In this sense, the models implemented in the context of an operational satellite simulator that enables analysis of health status and maintenance during operations shall reflect the current satellite behavior with high fidelity. Moreover, it is complicated to obtain all analytical models of a satellite’s disciplines, considering its aging. This paper proposes an Artificial Neural Network (ANN) to reproduce the battery voltage behavior of a large sun-synchronous remote sensing satellite, the CBERS-4, currently in operation. Using the genetic algorithm to find the best network architecture of ANN, the neural model for this application presented an error of less than 1%, demonstrating its feasibility to obtain a high fidelity model for an operational simulator enabling extend analyses. The paper addresses advanced techniques aligned with the space industry’s future, increasing the ability to analyze a large amount of data and improve the space system’s operation.     

Survey-only optical strategies for cataloguing space debris objects in the future European space surveillance system

In the framework of a potential European Space Situational Awareness System (ESSAS), we propose some optical strategies such that try to minimize the requirement of tracking measurements for the orbit determination computation when the catalogue is under construction. We will analyse them in terms of coverage, timeliness and orbit determination accuracy by means of the AS4 simulator (developed by Deimos Space S.L.U.). Moreover, observation campaigns have been performed from La Sagra Observatory in order to check the applicability of those strategies. These strategies are used for defining different choices for the future European Optical Space Surveillance System in the framework of the ESA contract no. 22738/09/D/HK.     

空间物理学科发展战略研究

空间物理学是人类进入空间时代后迅速发展起来的一门新兴的多学科交叉的前沿基础学科。其将太阳和太阳风控制的日球层空间作为一个系统，研究太阳/太阳风与行星/彗星的上层大气、电离层、磁层乃至星际介质之间的相互作用。空间物理学从本质上讲是一门实验科学，空间物理探测是空间物理学发展的基础。进入新世纪，随着空间基础设施和人类高技术活动的日益频繁，空间物理学进入新的发展阶段，强调科学与应用的密切结合。近年来，空间物理学取得了一系列重要进展。本文对接国家自然科学基金委地球科学部“宜居地球-地球系统科学”的顶层战略设计，梳理总结近年来空间物理各学科发展动态和趋势，凝练中国空间物理学未来发展的重点领域，优化学科布局，推进空间物理各学科的高质量发展。     

Review on latest progress on supergiant fast X-ray transients and future direction

In the recent years, the discovery of a new class of Galactic transients with fast and bright flaring X-ray activity, the supergiant fast X-ray transients, has completely changed our view and comprehension of massive X-ray binaries. These objects display X-ray outbursts which are difficult to be explained in the framework of standard theories for the accretion of matter onto compact objects, and could represent a dominant population of X-ray binaries. I will review their main observational properties (neutron star magnetic field, orbital and spin period, long term behavior, duty cycle, quiescence and outburst emission), which pose serious problems to the main mechanisms recently proposed to explain their X-ray behavior. I will discuss both present results and future perspectives with the next generation of X-ray telescopes.     

Development of educational CD-ROMs in astronomy: Information on a collaborative project

The observatory of Paris and the institute of teacher training (IUFM) in Toulouse have collaborated to develop multimedia support for astronomy lessons. The goal of this project is to provide additional didactical material such as CD-ROMs to elementary and high school teachers which will be used by children in the classroom. In this paper, we present the aims of the project and describe briefly the contents that have been developed so far.     

Gender diversity in geo-spatial technology and applications disciplines uptake in developing Asian countries – A survey-based competency analysis

Geo-Spatial Technology and Applications (GSTA) contributes significantly to the implementation of the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, which seeks to ‘leave no one behind’. This study attempts to assess the gender diversity in enrolment in GSTA programmes in developing countries in Asia using data available with the UN-affiliated Regional Centre in India. A survey was also conducted to gauge trainees’ comfort in a complex multi-cultural, multi-linguistic classroom environment. The analysis shows that female participation in short-term courses has been increasing rather steeply over the years (1995–2019). The enrolment has reached 30% in recent years. It is also observed that the female participants have preferred (about 10%) to enrol in physical Science and Technology (ST) -oriented courses such as Remote Sensing and GIS, Satellite Meteorology and Climate Change, and Space and Atmospheric Sciences when compared to electrical Engineering and Technology-oriented Satellite Communications and Global Navigation Satellite Systems courses that would require a strong knowledge of digital signals and systems theory.The survey study with a participation of 150 trainees from 17 countries shows that women trainees have a slight edge by 9% over the male counterparts in learning ST elements of the courses. At sub-regional levels, it is observed that participants from Indian sub-continent countries (ISC) are better by 15% than participants from South-east Asian Countries (SAC) and Central Asian Countries (CAC). As far as the course structure perspective is concerned, there has been a significant difference with 70% of the ISC trainees have found the courses as well-balanced covering equally both technology and applications, while only 36% and 56% of the trainees from SAC and CAC, respectively, have found the course as balanced. Importantly, the survey has revealed that the participants from SAC and CAC have a big challenge in apprehending lectures in English, as reflected by their top scores at 18% and 17%, respectively, compared with the corresponding value of the ISC trainees being 72%. Recommendations are suggested to sustain the female enrolment in long-term GSTA training programmes. Strategies that create family-friendly learning conditions, including joint education programmes involving lead institutions of the participants’ countries, are proposed to facilitate higher female participation. Furthermore, measures such as standardisation of curricula regionally at undergraduate levels and having periodic meetings of trainers are recommended in order to minimise the trainees’ core competency gaps in GSTA disciplines at the regional level.     

Atomic clocks for astrophysical measurements

Recently developed atomic hydrogen masers have achieved stability well into the 10^?16 domain for averaging time intervals beyond 1000 sec and future devices promise further improvements. These devices are very adaptable for space use in very high precision measurements of angle through Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) and range and range-rate through Doppler techniques. Proposed space missions using these clocks will be discussed for the measurement of the sun's gravity field distribution and tests of gravitation and relativity including a search for pulsed low frequency (～0.001 Hz) gravitational waves, and orbiting VLBI stations. Estimates of system performance capability will be discussed and the accuracy capability of relativistic measurements evaluated in terms of results from the 1976 NASA/SAO spaceborne clock test of the Einstein Equivalence Principle.     

Removing orbital debris with lasers

Orbital debris in low Earth orbit (LEO) are now sufficiently dense that the use of LEO space is threatened by runaway collision cascading. A problem predicted more than thirty years ago, the threat from debris larger than about 1 cm demands serious attention. A promising proposed solution uses a high power pulsed laser system on the Earth to make plasma jets on the objects, slowing them slightly, and causing them to re-enter and burn up in the atmosphere. In this paper, we reassess this approach in light of recent advances in low-cost, light-weight modular design for large mirrors, calculations of laser-induced orbit changes and in design of repetitive, multi-kilojoules lasers, that build on inertial fusion research. These advances now suggest that laser orbital debris removal (LODR) is the most cost-effective way to mitigate the debris problem. No other solutions have been proposed that address the whole problem of large and small debris. A LODR system will have multiple uses beyond debris removal. International cooperation will be essential for building and operating such a system.     

Advances of Microgravity Sciences

Advances of microgravity sciences in China are introduced. The research works include ground-based study and space experiments. In the recent years, the main means still are theoretical analysis, numerical simulation, ground-based experiment, and short-time microgravity experiments of drop tower. Besides, many space experiment projects are arranged. SJ-10 recoverable satellite will carry out 19 scientific experiment projects. Nine of them are for microgravity Sciences. The other ways for space microgravity experiment are with the help of Chinese Shenzhou spacecraft, Chinese Tiangong space laboratory, and Chinese space station in the near future. The Chinese space station will become main platform of Chinese microgravity sciences experiment in space.      

Coronal spectroscopy: Probing sources of slow solar wind in active regions,and the early phases of solar flares

Coronal spectroscopy has pushed forward the understanding of physical processes in all phenomena on the Sun. In this review we concentrate specifically on plasma parameters measured in sources of the slow solar wind in active regions and the early phases of solar flares. These topics are a key part of the science goals of the Solar Orbiter mission (Müller et al., 2020) which has been designed to probe what drives the solar wind and solar transients that fill the heliosphere.Active regions, outside of flaring, have general characteristics that include closed loops showing red-shifted (down-flowing plasma), and the edges of the active regions showing blue-shifted (upflowing plasma). Constraining and understanding the evolution, behaviour and cause of the flows has been developed in the past years and are summarised. Of particular importance is the upflowing plasma which, in some cases, can contribute to the slow solar wind, and this review concentrates on recent results on this topic.The early phases of solar flares and their energy sources are not yet fully understood. For decades, there has been a huge interest in pin-pointing the trigger of a solar flare. Coronal spectroscopy has revealed small-scale dynamics that occurs tens of minutes before the flare begins. The understanding of the trigger is key to improving flare predictions in the future, as well as understanding the physical processes.Finally we look to the future of coronal spectroscopy, with new instruments and methodologies being developed that build on the current knowledge, and will improve significantly our physical understanding of processes at all scales on the Sun.     

Material recycling in a regenerative life support system for space use: its issues and waste processing.

First, sources of wastes produced in future human activities in space will be discussed. The quantity and quality of each source will be evaluated. Secondly, water quality requirements for human safety will be shown. Then, techniques to be used for processing and/or recycling the wastes to attain the requirements will be listed. Specific characteristics and limitations of each will be explained. Last, examples of system configurations of the techniques will be shown. The material balances will also be calculated. The issues to be solved will be made clear.