Towards a One Percent Measurement of Frame Dragging by Spin with Satellite Laser Ranging to LAGEOS, LAGEOS 2 and LARES and GRACE Gravity Models

During the past century Einstein’s theory of General Relativity gave rise to an experimental triumph; however, there are still aspects of this theory to be measured or more accurately tested. Today one of the main challenges in experimental gravitation, together with the direct detection of gravitational waves, is the accurate measurement of the gravitomagnetic field generated by the angular momentum of a body. Here, after a brief introduction on frame-dragging, gravitomagnetism and Lunar Laser Ranging tests, we describe the past measurements of frame-dragging by the Earth spin using the satellites LAGEOS, LAGEOS 2 and the Earth’s gravity models obtained by the GRACE project. We demonstrate that these measurements have an accuracy of approximately 10%. We then describe the LARES experiment to be launched in 2010 by the Italian Space Agency for a measurement of frame-dragging with an accuracy of a few percent. We finally demonstrate that a number of claims by a single individual, that the error budget of the frame-dragging measurements with LAGEOS-LAGEOS 2 and LARES has been underestimated, are indeed ill-founded.     

Microbiological characterization of a regenerative life support system.

A Variable Pressure Plant Growth Chamber (VPGC), at the Johnson Space Center's (JSC) ground-based Regenerative Life Support Systems (RLSS) test bed, was used to produce crops of soil-grown lettuce. The crops and chamber were analyzed for microbiological diversity during lettuce growth and after harvest. Bacterial counts for the rhizosphere, spent nutrient medium, heat exchanger condensate, and atmosphere were approximately 10(11) Colony Forming Units (CFU) g-1 10(5) CFU ml-1, 10(5) CFU ml-1, and 600 CFU m-3, respectively. Pseudomonas was the predominant bacterial genus. Numbers of fungi were about 10(5) CFU g-1 in the rhizosphere, 4-200 CFU ml-1 in the spent nutrient medium, 110 CFU ml-1 in the heat exchanger condensate, and 3 CFU m-3 in the atmosphere. Fusarium and Trichoderma were the predominant fungal genera.     

Comparison of cloud top heights measured by airborne Lidar and TIROS-N image data

The determination of the cloud top height by means of satelliteborne IR-radiometers requires the conversion of the measured radiance to an equivalent blackbody temperature and the assignment of this temperature to a geometrical height. The latter is associated with errors which add up easily to several kilometers. DFVLR did a case study to compare satellite derived cloud top heights with those from airborne Lidar measurements. The difference of the radiosonde temperature from the standard temperature profile results in a 1.8 km difference in cloud top height. The achievable accuracy using actual radiosonde temperatures is ± 0.4 km for optical thick clouds and much less for optical thin clouds.     

Open systems avionics network to replace MIL-STD-1553

This paper is a proposal for a future method of avionics data communication. The need for this proposal results from the shortcomings in the current avionics architecture, video distribution network, and in the MIL-STD-1553 data communication system. The separately wired video and data communication systems can be combined to save weight, which is especially critical for rotorcraft. Aircraft, once fielded, have limited capacity for modification and improvement due to fixed computer throughput and processing performance, network bandwidth, and space available in the avionics equipment bays. The changes proposed by this paper are to be made in conjunction with the replacement of the redundant computer boxes with open system avionics functions on industry standard circuit cards. This open architecture approach was developed over the last ten years and is now being implemented in many aircraft applications including the F-22 and the RAH-66 programs. The V-22 rotorcraft, which although just entering production, is being modified for joint service customers where modern computer performance and expanded data network bandwidth is needed. The changes of this proposal will fill this need, reduce the weight of upcoming production models, and provide growth or spare capability so that additional video and data components can be added with minimal effect on existing components. This paper examines the current V-22 avionics video and data communication hardware and wiring and propose a new implementation of open system architecture standards with integrated digital video and data communication based on ANSI standard copper fibre channel     

Effects of 12 days exposure to simulated microgravity on central circulatory hemodynamics in the rhesus monkey

Central circulatory hemodynamic responses were measured before and during the initial 9 days of a 12-day 10 degrees head-down tilt (HDT) in 4 flight-sized juvenile rhesus monkeys who were surgically instrumented with a variety of intrathoracic catheters and blood flow sensors to assess the effects of simulated microgravity on central circulatory hemodynamics. Each subject underwent measurements of aortic and left ventricular pressures, and aortic flow before and during HDT as well as during a passive head-up postural test before and after HDT. Heart rate, stroke volume, cardiac output, and left ventricular end-diastolic pressure were measured, and dP/dt and left ventricular elastance was calculated from hemodynamic measurements. The postural test consisted of 5 min of supine baseline control followed by 5 minutes of 90 degrees upright tilt (HUT). Heart rate, stroke volume, cardiac output, and left ventricular end-diastolic pressure showed no consistent alterations during HDT. Left ventricular elastance was reduced in all animals throughout HDT, indicating that cardiac compliance was increased. HDT did not consistently alter left ventricular +dP/dt, indicating no change in cardiac contractility. Heart rate during the post-HDT HUT postural test was elevated compared to pre-HDT while post-HDT cardiac output was decreased by 52% as a result of a 54% reduction in stroke volume throughout HUT. Results from this study using an instrumented rhesus monkey suggest that exposure to microgravity may increase ventricular compliance without alternating cardiac contractility. Our project supported the notion that an invasively-instrumented animal model should be viable for use in spaceflight cardiovascular experiments to assess potential changes in myocardial function and cardiac compliance.