Space Life Science of China

In the past two years, China's space life science has made great progress. Space biomedical and life science programs have carried out ground-based research for the first batch of projects, and are preparing to carry out space-based experiments along with the construction of China's space station. And space life science payload of the space station completed the development of positive samples. Thus, with the development of lunar exploration and Mars exploration projects, astrobiology research has also made a lot of basic achievements. On the basis of summarizing the development of space life science in China, this paper mainly introduces the important progress of payload technology and life science research.      

Space Weather Outreach: An informal education perspective

Informal science education institutions, such as science centers, play an important role in science education. They serve millions of people, including students and teachers. Within the last decade, many have tried to improve the public’s understanding of science and scientific research through informal education projects. The recent success of several space weather-related missions and research programs and the launch of the International Heliophysical Year (IHY) research and education programs make this an ideal time to inform the public about the importance and relevance of space weather to our understanding of heliophysical science. Communication efforts associated with space weather both benefit and are compromised by analogies to terrestrial weather. This paper summarizes the benefits and challenges of the terrestrial weather analogy using two exhibit evaluation studies. The paper also describes three components of the Space Science Institute’s Space Weather Outreach Program – Space Weather Center Website, Educator Workshops, and Small Exhibits – and how they can help to achieve the education goals of IHY.     

Progress of Space Medicine Research in China

With the approaching of the Chinese Space Station (CSS) era, the focus of space medicine applications and related research has shifted to addressing the astronauts' health support in long-duration spaceflights, including nutrition, countermeasure against the physiological effects of weightlessness, medical monitoring and support, psychology status, etc., and accordingly the human experiments to simulate long-duration weightlessness have been carried out. Increasingly, basic research has been put forward in the key areas, such as space bone loss, cardiovascular dysfunction and the molecular mechanisms underlying radiobiological effects. Moreover, specific novel research fields, such as hypometabolism technology, were explored. The research projects in the field of space medicine experiment, as an important aspect of the Chinese Space Station's application, have been officially approved and launched.      

Educational projects in Space Life Sciences in Canada.

As part of its mandate the Space Life Sciences Program within the Canadian Space Agency has worked to increase interest in space and develop young scientists. Projects have been undertaken at the public school and high school level, with classroom resource material and science contests; at the university level with summer training programs, and at the post-graduate level with opportunities to complete research projects in a microgravity environment.     

Space Materials Science in China: II. Ground-based Researches and Academic Activities

Activities of space materials science research in China have been continuously supported by two main national programs. One is the China Space Station (CSS) program since 1992, and the other is the Strategic Priority Program (SPP) on Space Science since 2011. In CSS plan in 2019, eleven space materials science experimental projects were officially approved for execution during the construction of the space station. In the SPP Phase II launched in 2018, seven pre-research projects are deployed as the first batch in 2018, and one concept study project in 2019. These pre-research projects will be cultivated as candidates for future selection as space experiment projects on the recovery of scientific experimental satellites in the future. A new apparatus of electrostatic levitation system for ground-based research of space materials science and rapid solidification research has been developed under the support of the National Natural Science Foundation of China. In order to promote domestic academic activities and to enhance the advancement of space materials science in China, the Space Materials Science and Technology Division belong to the Chinese Materials Research Society was established in 2019. We also organized scientists to write five review papers on space materials science as a special topic published in the journal Scientia Sinica to provide valuable scientific and technical references for Chinese researchers.      

The Space Sciences and Application Projects in Space Laboratory

Space sciences and application projects arranged in Tiangong-2 space laboratory and Tianzhou-1 cargo ship have been described in detail, covering research areas of the fundamental physics, space astronomy, microgravity fluid physics and materials science, space life science, and earth science. These experiments and researches will hopefully produce great scientific results and social benefits in several fields, including:universe evolution, quantum communication, material development, global climate change and earth environment, etc.      

美国高轨天基态势感知技术发展与启示

太空是国家新边疆，太空活动是国家意志和战略意图的重要体现，是国家利益拓展的重要保障，太空安全已成为国家安全的重要组成部分.经略太空感知先行，空间态势感知是指获取和认知空间态势信息，包括空间目标监视和空间环境监测，是进一步开展空间操控和空间对抗的基础.本文首先梳理了美国空间态势感知领域相关条令的发展历程，介绍了美国高轨领域几个典型态势感知项目的实施情况，总结了其中4项关键技术，包括进入空间、自主运行、交会对接导航与控制和多角度立体成像技术.最后，本文从太空态势感知体系建立、天基自主感知系统、发展空间攻防对抗能力几个方面给出了发展建议.     

Achieving and documenting closure in plant growth facilities.

As NASA proceeds with its effort to develop a Controlled Ecological Life Support System (CELSS) that will provide life support to crews during long duration space missions, it must address the question of facility and system closure. Here we discuss the concept of closure as it pertains to CELSS and describe engineering specifications, construction problems and monitoring procedures used in the development and operation of a closed plant growth facility for the CELSS program. A plant growth facility is one of several modules required for a CELSS. A prototype of this module at Kennedy Space Center is the large (7m tall x 3.5m diameter) Biomass Production Chamber (BPC), the central facility of the CELSS Breadboard Project. The BPC is atmospherically sealed to a leak rate of approximately 5% of its total volume per 24 hours. This paper will discuss the requirements for atmospheric closure in this facility, present CO2 and trace gas data from initial tests of the BPC with and without plants, and describe how the chamber was sealed atmospherically. Implications that research conducted in this type of facility will have for the CELSS program are discussed.     

Vision and Voyages for Deep Space Exploration

More than 50 years of space exploration has not only satisfied human curiosity and built up international cooperation, but also improved life on Earth. Space exploration is an open-ended process which started 50 years ago. It enables access to unknown terrains with robots and humans, thereby opening new frontiers. Progress of goal deep space exploration was reviewed. China's current deep space missions are also briefly introduced. Focused on the vision and voyages for China's deep space exploration in 5 or 10 years. Like the Chinese Lunar Exploration Program (CLEP), we embark on a journey to Mars. We will spend few decades on Mars with the robotic explorers. Unlike CLEP, scientists proposed to build Moon research station by 2030.      

Radiation environments and absorbed dose estimations on manned space missions.

In order to make an assessment of radiation risk during manned missions in space, it is necessary first to have as accurate an estimation as possible of the radiation environment within the spacecraft to which the astronauts will be exposed. Then, with this knowledge and the inclusion of body self-shielding, estimations can be made of absorbed doses for various body organs (skin, eye, blood-forming organs, etc.). A review is presented of our present knowledge of the radiation environments and absorbed doses expected for several space mission scenarios selected for our development of the new radiation protection guidelines. The scenarios selected are a 90-day mission at an altitude (450 km) and orbital inclinations (28.5 degrees, 57 degrees and 90 degrees) appropriate for NASA's Space Station, a 15-day sortie to geosynchronous orbit and a 90-day lunar mission. All scenarios chosen yielded dose equivalents between five and ten rem to the blood forming organs if no large solar particle event were encountered. Such particle events could add considerable exposure particularly to the skin and eye for all scenarios except the one at 28.5 degrees orbital inclination.     

Progress of Strategic Priority Program on Space Scienceormalsize

The most important all-round progress in China's Space Science in recent years is the official go-ahead of Strategic Priority Program (SPP) on Space Science in 2011, which marks China's space science has entered a new stage. SPP on Space Science includes 4 satellites (DAMPE, SJ-10, QUESS and HXMT), the Intensive Study of Future Space Science Missions, and the Advanced Research of Space Science Missions and Payloads. It is expected that the innovative breakthroughs will be achieved, and the great leaps of related high-technology will be driven through both independent space science missions and international cooperation. The implementation of the SPP on Space Science will enable the rapid development of China's space science endeavor, and contribute to the progress of human civilization.      

空间科学实验柜被动式减振系统研究

载人航天二期我国将发展短期有人照料的空间实验室,将开展一系列空间科学实验.国际空间站和我国神舟飞船实际微重力水平测量结果表明,需采取必要的减振措施才能满足特殊科学实验要求,鉴于此对空间科学实验柜被动式减振系统进行了研究和设计.根据空间科学实验柜在载人航天器内的实际安放状态,对其进行了减振布局.将实验柜本身作为刚体,建立6自由度的减振系统动力学模型,然后在ADAMS中建立了空间科学实验柜及减振系统三维实体模型,对减振系统进行仿真,得出系统时域、频域及随机输入下的响应特性.对减振系统参数进行优化,提高了系统的减振效果.      

Farming in space: environmental and biophysical concerns.

The colonization of space will depend on our ability to routinely provide for the metabolic needs (oxygen, water, and food) of a crew with minimal re-supply from Earth. On Earth, these functions are facilitated by the cultivation of plant crops, thus it is important to develop plant-based food production systems to sustain the presence of mankind in space. Farming practices on earth have evolved for thousands of years to meet both the demands of an ever-increasing population and the availability of scarce resources, and now these practices must adapt to accommodate the effects of global warming. Similar challenges are expected when earth-based agricultural practices are adapted for space-based agriculture. A key variable in space is gravity; planets (e.g. Mars, 1/3 g) and moons (e.g. Earth's moon, 1/6 g) differ from spacecraft orbiting the Earth (e.g. Space stations) or orbital transfer vehicles that are subject to microgravity. The movement of heat, water vapor, CO2 and O2 between plant surfaces and their environment is also affected by gravity. In microgravity, these processes may also be affected by reduced mass transport and thicker boundary layers around plant organs caused by the absence of buoyancy dependent convective transport. Future space farmers will have to adapt their practices to accommodate microgravity, high and low extremes in ambient temperatures, reduced atmospheric pressures, atmospheres containing high volatile organic carbon contents, and elevated to super-elevated CO2 concentrations. Farming in space must also be carried out within power-, volume-, and mass-limited life support systems and must share resources with manned crews. Improved lighting and sensor technologies will have to be developed and tested for use in space. These developments should also help make crop production in terrestrial controlled environments (plant growth chambers and greenhouses) more efficient and, therefore, make these alternative agricultural systems more economically feasible food production systems.     

Progress of Strategic Priority Program on Space Science

The most important all-round progress in China's Space Science in recent years is the official go-ahead of Strategic Priority Program(SPP) on Space Science in 2011,which marks China's space science has entered a new stage.SPP on Space Science includes 4 satellites(DAMPE,SJ-10,QUESS and HXMT),the Intensive Study of Future Space Science Missions,and the Advanced Research of Space Science Missions and Payloads.It is expected that the innovative breakthroughs will be achieved,and the great leaps of related high-technology will be driven through both independent space science missions and international cooperation.The implementation of the SPP on Space Science will enable the rapid development of China's space science endeavor,and contribute to the progress of human civilization.     

An overview of Japanese CELSS research activities.

Many research activities regarding Controlled Ecological Life Support System (CELSS) have been conducted and continued all over the world since the 1960's and the concept of CELSS is now changing from Science Fiction to Scientific Reality. Development of CELSS technology is inevitable for future long duration stays of human beings in space, for lunar base construction and for manned mars flight programs. CELSS functions can be divided into two categories, Environment Control and Material Recycling. Temperature, humidity, total atmospheric pressure and partial pressure of oxygen and carbon dioxide, necessary for all living things, are to be controlled by the environment control function. This function can be performed by technologies already developed and used as the Environment Control Life Support System (ECLSS) of Space Shuttle and Space Station. As for material recycling, matured technologies have not yet been established for fully satisfying the specific metabolic requirements of each living thing including human beings. Therefore, research activities for establishing CELSS technology should be focused on material recycling technologies using biological systems such as plants and animals and physico-chemical systems, for example, a gas recycling system, a water purifying and recycling system and a waste management system. Based on these considerations, Japanese research activities have been conducted and will be continued under the tentative guideline of CELSS research activities as shown in documents /1/, /2/. The status of the over all activities are discussed in this paper.     

NASA's Space Life Sciences Training Program.

The Space Life Sciences Training Program (SLSTP) is an intensive, six-week training program held every summer since 1985 at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC). A major goal of the SLSTP is to develop a cadre of qualified scientists and engineers to support future space life sciences and engineering challenges. Hand-picked, undergraduate college students participate in lectures, laboratory sessions, facility tours, and special projects: including work on actual Space Shuttle flight experiments and baseline data collection. At NASA Headquarters (HQ), the SLSTP is jointly sponsored by the Life Sciences Division and the Office of Equal Opportunity Programs: it has been very successful in attracting minority students and women to the fields of space science and engineering. In honor of the International Space Year (ISY), 17 international students participated in this summer's program. An SLSTP Symposium was held in Washington D.C., just prior to the World Space Congress. The Symposium attracted over 150 SLSTP graduates for a day of scientific discussions and briefings concerning educational and employment opportunities within NASA and the aerospace community. Future plans for the SLSTP include expansion to the Johnson Space Center in 1995.     

Radiation risk and human space exploration.

Radiation protection is essential to enable humans to live and work safely in space. Predictions about the nature and magnitude of the risks posed by space radiation are subject to very large uncertainties. Prudent use of worst-case scenarios may impose unacceptable constraints on shielding mass for spacecraft or habitats, tours of duty of crews on Space Station, and on the radius and duration of sorties on planetary surfaces. The NASA Space Radiation Health Program has been devised to develop the knowledge required to accurately predict and to efficiently manage radiation risk. The knowledge will be acquired by means of a peer-reviewed, largely ground-based and investigator-initiated, basic science research program. The NASA Strategic Plan to accomplish these objectives in a manner consistent with the high priority assigned to the protection and health maintenance of crews will be presented.     

Strategic Priority Program on Space Science

In 1957, the launch of the first artificial satellite ushered in a new era for modern space science.The past 50 years' developments in China's space science have witnessed many major missions, and substantial progress has been achieved in space science study, exploration technology as well as experiment technology. Strategic Priority Program on Space Science was officially started in 2011. Through both self-developed space science missions and those with international cooperation,it is expected that the innovative breakthroughs will be realized, leapfrog development of related high-tech will be achieved to establish the important strategic status of space science in national development. To sum up, the implementation of the Strategic Priority Program on Space Science will definitely promote the rapid development of China's space science endeavor, making contributions to China's development and the progress of human civilization.      

Capacity building in regional space cooperation: Asia-pacific space cooperation organization

The increasing gap in the space capabilities of different countries has led to the need for capacity building in modern times. Space capacity building of countries without or with limited space capacity via international cooperation with advanced spacefaring nations is a good practice towards intragenerational equity among all spacefaring countries, and between spacefaring and non-spacefaring countries at the same period of time. A case study is used here to show the current situation of the Asia-Pacific Space Cooperation Organization (APSCO) and its member states that are associated with their space capacity building. The study finds that neither the satellite technology development model developed by Wood and Weigel (2011) nor the model developed by Ercan and Kale (2017) is a good fit for the development of space capability in all of the developing countries. Therefore, using the APSCO member states as a case study may offer guidelines towards the space capacity building of other developing countries. Moreover, an in-depth analysis of the merits and flaws of APSCO’s capacity building programs through comparing them with similar projects carried out by the European Space Agency (ESA), the Asia-Pacific Regional Space Agency Forum (APRSAF) and some other countries is conducive to providing some references for regional cooperation in the field of space capacity building. While international space law and the APSCO Convention can provide the general principles for capacity building activities under the framework of APSCO, they are only relevant to the development of scientific and technological capacities for space and human resources rather than organizational development and legal frameworks. Some international soft laws can likewise provide guidance for the capacity building activities of APSCO and its member states in the areas of international direct television broadcasting, remote sensing and cooperative way. To enhance its and its member states’ space capabilities, APSCO, in the context of space commercialization and maintaining the long-term sustainability of outer space activities (LTSOSA), should establish a comprehensive internal regime that addresses scientific and technological capacity building for space, human resources, organizational development and legal frameworks, a flexible regime for international cooperation with other developed spacefaring nations and international organizations with relevant technical capabilities and an internal research center for space law, and actively expand its membership by embracing other economically or technologically developed spacefaring nations in the Asia-Pacific region.