Survival of dormant organisms after long-term exposure to the space environment

The RF SRC—Institute of Biomedical Problems, Russian Academy of Sciences, developed Biorisk hardware to study the effects of long-term exposure of dormant forms of various organisms to outer space and used it to complete a series of experiments on the Russian Module (RM) of the International Space Station (ISS).The experiments were performed using prokaryotes (Bacillus bacteria) and eukaryotes (Penicillium, Aspergillus, and Cladosporium fungi), as well as spores, dormant forms of higher plants, insects, lower crustaceans, and vertebrates. The biological samples were housed in two containers that were exposed to outer space for 13 or 18 months. The results of the 18-month experiment showed that, in spite of harsher temperature than in the first study, most specimens remained viable.These experiments provided evidence that not only bacterial and fungal spores but also dormant forms of organisms that reached higher levels of evolutionary development had the capability to survive a long-term exposure to outer space. This observation suggests that they can be transferred on outer walls of space platforms during interplanetary missions.     

一种新型球副机构的设计及分析

提出一种新型球副机构,即1S机构。该机构由两个转动副和一个等效转动副组成,其运动功能等效为球副。1S机构可通过其变种构型增强刚度和增大运动角度。同时,以1S机构为基础,可构建N-S复合球副机构;与其他运动副进行复合,如移动副、额外的转动副等,可构建X-S机构。在复合铰链中,所有的运动副:(a)均具备相对独立的运动,(b)运动轴线均相交于一点,(c)理论上可包含无数个球副。为验证1S机构的刚度和运动精度,文中建立了其刚度模型、运动学模型、考虑刚度影响的修正的运动学模型以及运动精度模型。通过数值案例分析及仿真验证,表明该球副机构具备足够的刚度和运动精度。新型球副机构的应用之一则是用于3-R(SRS)RP多环机构中的SRS复合铰链,该铰链是基于X-S机构设计且具备7个自由度的运动链,使多环机构可以实现其运动功能。     

火星车双向抽展式转移坡道展开原理及特性分析

我国首次火星探测任务将于2020年实施,一步实现"绕""着""巡"的目标。着陆器在火星表面软着陆后,火星车能否沿转移坡道安全转移至火星表面,关系着本次任务的成败。从火星车转移坡道功能要求出发,提出了一种双向抽展式转移坡道方案,解决了大展出比、驱动共用、可靠展开等关键问题,对其展开原理及力学特性进行分析,并开展了模拟火星重力环境的展开试验,为我国火星车转移坡道设计提供参考。     

Model-based spacecraft pose estimation and motion prediction using a photonic mixer device camera

Determination of relative distances and orientations, as well as motion identification is essential in rendezvous and docking and formation flying tasks. A 3D-image generated by a PMD (photonic mixer device) camera, which employs a phase shift measurement of emitted modulated light to derive distance and color information on each pixel, provides in this contribution the basis for near range motion detection and prediction. A novel algorithm based on rotation- and scale-invariant features commonly used for scan matching in high-resolution images is presented. The performance of the PMD camera and of the proposed data processing is characterized in scenarios, considering factors like relative velocities, rotation dynamics, illumination and optical properties of target surface materials, which are major effects for disturbances in this context.     

First stage identification of syntactic elements in an extra-terrestrial signal

By investigating the generic attributes of a representative set of terrestrial languages at varying levels of abstraction, it is our endeavour to try and isolate elements of the signal universe, which are computationally tractable for its detection and structural decipherment. Ultimately, our aim is to contribute in some way to the understanding of what ‘languageness’ actually is. This paper describes algorithms and software developed to characterise and detect generic intelligent language-like features in an input signal, using natural language learning techniques: looking for characteristic statistical “language-signatures” in test corpora. As a first step towards such species-independent language-detection, we present a suite of programs to analyse digital representations of a range of data, and use the results to extrapolate whether or not there are language-like structures which distinguish this data from other sources, such as music, images, and white noise.     

News from ESA

Portugal has become the European Space Agency's 15th Member State. The Agency and the European Commission have signed contracts for the Galileo Programme. The European Astronaut Centre gears up for a new era.     

月球车释放对着陆器稳定性的影响

因基于摇臂式月球车释放机构在月球车释放时对着陆器的倾翻力矩较大,易使着陆器倾翻而导致整个探测任务失败,所以对月球车着陆释放时着陆器稳定性的研究尤为重要.将着陆器腿不等量压缩、月面坡度、低重力环境、释放加速度等因素进行参数化处理;应用D-H坐标法得到基于各参量的支撑多边形坐标以及着陆器和月球车的位姿方程,进而建立了月球车...     

Changes of human serum proteome profile during 7-day “dry” immersion

The aim of this study was to characterize changes of serum proteome profile during 7-day “dry” immersion (DI). The experiment with DI consisted of three series: control group without countermeasures (10 men), with using mechanical stimulation (6 men) and low-frequency myostimulation (5 men) as preventive means. Serum samples were fractionated using ClinProt robot (Bruker Daltonics) on magnetic beads (weak cation exchange magnetic beads—MB WCX) prior to mass-spectral profiling. It was obtained 170 peaks after fractionation of serum samples in each group. On 7th immersion day peak areas of fibrinopeptide A (m/z=1206; 1464), angiotensin II (m/z=1051), high molecular mass kininogen fragment (m/z=2133 Da) and C3-fragment of the complement system (m/z=1350 Da) were significantly decreased comparing with pre-experimental values of all experimental series. Peak areas of apolipoprotein C III (m/z=9419) and C4a fragment of the complement system (m/z=3206 Da) were increased. On 7th day of the recovery peak areas of all changed peaks were not close to pre-experimental values. This fact provided evidence of incomplete recovery of an organism after DI. The depth of the alterations had considerable individual variability. Thereby the detected changes of serum proteome profile in the experiment. They indicated a reorganization of the hormonal, immune systems and lipid metabolism. The use of myostimulation and mechanical stimulation as countermeasures partly compensated adverse effects of 7-day dry immersion on the parameters of coagulation system (fibrinopeptide A) and lipid metabolism (apolipoprotein CIII).     

Dextre: Improving maintenance operations on the International Space Station

The Special Purpose Dexterous Manipulator (SPDM), known as “Dextre”, is currently slated to launch in February 2008 for deployment on the International Space Station (ISS) as the final component of Canada's Mobile Servicing System (MSS). Dextre's primary role on the Space Station is to perform repair and replacement (R&R) maintenance tasks on robotically compatible hardware such as Orbital Replaceable Units (ORUs), thereby eventually easing the burden on the ISS crew.This burden on the on-orbit crew translates practically into crew time being a limited resource on the ISS, and as such, finding ways to assist the crew in performing their tasks or offloading the crew completely when appropriate is a bonus to the ISS program. This is already accomplished very effectively by commanding as many non-critical robotics tasks as possible, such as powering up and free-space maneuvering of the Space Station Remote Manipulator System (SSRMS), known as “Canadarm2”, from the Ground.Thus, beyond its primary role, and based on an increasing clarity regarding the challenges of external maintenance on the ISS, Dextre is being considered for use in a number of ways with the objective of improving ISS operations while reducing and optimizing the use of crew time through the use of ground control for various tasks, pre-positioning hardware, acting as a temporary storage platform to break an Extra Vehicular Activity (EVA) day into manageable timelines, and extending the physical reach and range of the Canadarm2.This paper discusses the planned activities and operations for Dextre an rationale for how these will help optimize the use of crew resources on the ISS.     

悬吊式微低重力环境模拟技术研究现状与展望

宇航空间中的微低重力环境使得所处其中的航天器和宇航员表现出与在地面重力环境下不同的受力状态和动态性能,因此需要在地面对这种微低重力环境进行模拟。综述了目前常用的几种微低重力模拟方法,其中悬吊法因为模拟时间长、模拟范围大、不引入附加惯量的优势被广泛采用。从微低重力模拟原理角度对现有的悬吊式微低重力模拟系统研究成果进行了分类和国内外研究现状的综述。根据微低重力模拟的需求归纳了悬吊式微低重力模拟系统的2条设计准则和3个关键技术,详细综述了这3个关键技术的研究现状。探讨了未来悬吊式微低重力模拟系统设计方面和3个关键技术方面的发展趋势。