Using the PROGRESS transport spacecraft in structure of the International Space Station for realization of scientific experiments under microgravity conditions

The problem is considered of using the PROGRESS transport spacecraft, which will deliver the payload on the ISS, as a free flying platform for realization of space experiments. For maintenance of the ISS 5-6 PROGRESS flights per year are planned. Usually after delivery of the payload the PROGRESS undocks from the ISS and burns down in the Earth atmosphere. However, the operating conditions of its onboard systems allow to prolong operation and to make free flight near to the station and repeatedly to be docked to it. It is offered to use this possibility for performing experiments on Material Science.     

Bubble detector characterization for space radiation

In light of the importance of the neutron contribution to the dose equivalent received by space workers in the near-Earth radiation environment, there is an increasing need for a personal dosimeter that is passive in nature and able to respond to this neutron field in real time. Recent Canadian technology has led to the development of a bubble detector, which is sensitive to neutrons, but insensitive to low linear energy transfer (LET) radiation. By changing the composition of the bubble detector fluid (or “superheat”), the detectors can be fabricated to respond to different types of radiation. This paper describes a preliminary ground-based research effort to better characterize the bubble detectors of different compositions at various charged-particle accelerator facilities, which are capable of simulating the space radiation field.     

Surreal estate: addressing the issue of ‘Immovable Property Rights on the Moon’

At a time when scientific and commercial interest in the Moon is being reinvigorated it is becoming fashionable for ordinary individuals to ‘buy’ plots on the lunar surface, with the ‘vendors’ arguing that an absence of specific prohibition of individual private activity in space makes such action legal. It is therefore time for the legal community to address this situation by investigating just how legal such activity is—and bringing their findings to the attention of governments. This can be done through an examination of the relationship between national law and international space law, of the provisions of international space law—especially Article 2 of the Outer Space Treaty—and by answering any claims to private ownership of immovable property. Aside from the fact that individuals appear to be being duped, the pursuit of property claims on the Moon could impede future activities aimed at benefiting society.     

Individual differences in susceptibility to motion sickness among six Skylab astronauts

One of the Skylab experiments dealt with motion sickness, comparing susceptibility in the workshop aloft with susceptibility preflight and postflight. Tests were conducted on and after mission-day 8 (MD 8) by which time the astronauts were adapted to working conditions. Stressful accelerations were generated by requiring the astronauts, with eyes covered, to execute standardized head movements (front, back, left, and right) while in a chair that could be rotated at angular velocities up to 30 rpm. The selected endpoint was either 150 discrete head movements or a very mild level of motion sickness. In all rotation experiments aloft, the five astronauts tested (astronaut 1 did not participate) were virtually symptom free, thus demonstrating lower susceptibility aloft than in preflight and postflight tests on the ground when symptoms were always elicited. Inasmuch as the eyes were covered and the canalicular stimuli were the same aloft as on the ground, it would appear that lifting the stimulus to the otolith organs due to gravity was an important factor in reducing susceptibility to motion sickness even though the transient stimuli generated under the test conditions were substantial and abnormal in pattern. Some of the astronauts experienced motion sickness under operational conditions aloft or after splashdown, but attention is centered chiefly on symptoms manifested in zero gravity. None of the Skylab-II crew (astronauts 1 to 3) was motion sick aloft. Astronaut 6 of the Skylab-III crew (astronauts 4 to 6) experienced motion sickness within an hour after transition into orbit; this constitutes the earliest such diagnosis on record under orbital flight conditions. The eliciting stimuli were associated with head and body movements, and astronaut 6 obtained relief by avoiding such movements and by one dose of the drug combination 1-scopolamine 0.35 mg + d-amphetamine 5.0 mg. All three astronauts of Skylab-III experienced motion sickness in the workshop where astronaut 6 was most susceptible and astronaut 4, least susceptible. The higher susceptibility of SL-III crewmen in the workshop, as compared with SL-II crewmen, may be attributable to the fact that they were based in the command module less than one-third as long as SL-II crewmen. The unnatural movements, often resembling acrobatics, permitted in the open spaces of the workshop revealed the great potentialities in weightlessness for generating complex interactions of abnormal or unusual vestibular and visual stimuli. Symptoms were controlled by body restraint and by drugs, but high susceptibility to motion sickness persisted for 3 days and probably much longer; restoration was complete on MD 7. From the foregoing statements it is clear that on and after MD 8 the susceptibility of SL-II and SL-III crewmen to motion sickness under experimental conditions was indistinguishable. The role played by the acquisition of adaptation effects prior to MD 8 is less clear and is a subject to be discussed.     

Subatmospheric decompression: neurological and behavioural studies

Several studies in animals over the past decade have shown that prolonged exposures to pressures within the range 226 mm Hg to 160 mm Hg (30,000 to 37,500 ft) are likely to lead to brain damage. This often results in neurological and behavioural disturbance, which may be subtle and reversible or gross and ultimately fatal. The appearance of these impairments is often delayed until several hours or even days after exposure. Immediate survival does not necessarily ensure recovery. In contrast, decompression to pressures below 160 mm Hg or above 226 mm Hg are unlikely to have adverse effects if the exposure is survived. The most probable outcomes of such decompressions are death or uneventful recovery.     

The European Astronaut Centre prepares for International Space Station operations

The European Space Agency (ESA) contribution to the International Space Station (ISS) goes much beyond the delivery of hardware like the Columbus Laboratory, its payloads and the Automated Transfer Vehicles. ESA Astronauts will be members of the ISS crew. ESA, according to its commitments as ISS international partner, will be responsible to provide training on its elements and payloads to all ISS crewmembers and medical support for ESA astronauts. The European Astronaut Centre (EAC) in Cologne has developed over more than a decade into the centre of expertise for manned space activities within ESA by contributing to a number of important co-operative spaceflight missions. This role will be significantly extended for ISS manned operations. Apart from its support to ESA astronauts and their onboard operations, EAC will have a key role in training all ISS astronauts on ESA elements and payloads. The medical support of ISS crew, in particular of ESA astronauts has already started. This paper provides an overview on status and further plans in building up this homebase function for ESA astronauts and on the preparation towards Training Readiness for ISS crew training at EAC, Cologne. Copyright 2001 by the European Space Agency. Published by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Inc., with permission. Released to IAF/IAA/AIAA to publish in all forms.     

A sulfur-based survival strategy for putative phototrophic life in the venusian atmosphere

Several observations indicate that the cloud deck of the venusian atmosphere may provide a plausible refuge for microbial life. Having originated in a hot proto-ocean or been brought in by meteorites from Earth (or Mars), early life on Venus could have adapted to a dry, acidic atmospheric niche as the warming planet lost its oceans. The greatest obstacle for the survival of any organism in this niche may be high doses of ultraviolet (UV) radiation. Here we make the argument that such an organism may utilize sulfur allotropes present in the venusian atmosphere, particularly S(8), as a UV sunscreen, as an energy-converting pigment, or as a means for converting UV light to lower frequencies that can be used for photosynthesis. Thus, life could exist today in the clouds of Venus.     

Gravitational Interaction of Celestial Bodies and neutron flux bursts from Their Surfaces

The gravitational interaction between the Sun and the planetary solar system gives rise to the well-known tidal waves at the planets. The tidal wave originating in the Earth's crust perpetually transforms the microstructure of the Earth's crust leading to a variation of the concentration of natural radioactive gases in the terrestrial air and to changed conditions of their leakage to the Earth's atmosphere. These variations give rise to bursts of thermal and slow neutrons in the vicinity of the Earth's crust, because the radioactive gases are sources of energetic alpha particles that induce neutron production upon the interaction with the nuclei of elements of the Earth's crust and atmosphere. In this work, the idea of neutron production in the ground coat is extended to the other celestial bodies interacting with one another.     

Single-Axis Solar Orientation of a Satellite of the Earth

The possibility of using the mode of single-axis solar orientation is considered for a satellite placed into a nearly circular orbit with an altitude of 900 km and bearing a solar sail. The satellite (together with the sail) has an axisymmetric structure, its symmetry axis being the principal central axis of the maximum moment of inertia. The center of the sail pressure lies on this axis and is displaced with respect to the satellite's center of mass. The symmetry axis of the satellite is set to the Sun so that its center of mass would be located between the Sun and the pressure center and would rotate around this axis with an angular velocity of a few degrees per second. The satellite's axis of symmetry makes a slow precession under the action of the gravitational moment and the moment of light pressure forces. Though the maximum magnitudes of these moments are comparable, the moment of the light pressure forces dominates and controls the precession in such a way that the symmetry axis orientation to the Sun remains unchanged.     

An Analysis of the Low-Frequency Component in Measurements of Angular Velocity and Microacceleration onboard the Foton-12 Satellite

We compare the results of two methods used to determine the angular velocity of the Foton-12 satellite and the low-frequency component of microaccelerations onboard it. The first method is based on reconstruction of the satellite's rotational motion using the data of onboard measurements of the strength of the Earth's magnetic field. The motion (time dependence of the orientation parameters and angular velocity) was found from the condition of best approximation of the measurement data by the functions calculated along the solutions to equations of attitude motion of the satellite. The solutions found were used to calculate the quasistatic component of microaccelerations at certain points of the satellite, in particular, at the point of location of an accelerometer of the QSAM system. Filtration of the low-frequency component of the angular velocity and microacceleration from the data of measurements by a sensor of angular velocity and by the accelerometer of this system served as a second method. The filtration was made using the discrete Fourier series. A spectral analysis of the functions representing the results of determining the angular velocity and microacceleration by both methods is performed. Comparing the frequencies and amplitudes of the harmonic component of these functions allowed us to estimate the accuracy of measurements made by the QSAM system in the low-frequency range.