Decadal variability of tropical Pacific temperature in relation to solar cycles

We use the 8-year long satellite temperature data (2002–2010) from Atmospheric InfraRed Sounder (AIRS) and Atmospheric Microwave Sounding Unit (AMSU) on the Aqua satellite to identify temperature trends in the troposphere and low stratosphere over the Niño 3.4 region of the Tropical Pacific Ocean in the most recent 11-year solar cycle. Employing more extended sea surface temperature (SST) data for five solar cycles (1950–2009) in this region we show that the satellite trends reflect a typical decrease of the sea surface temperature (SST) in the Niño 3.4 region in the declining phase of the solar cycle. The magnitude of the SST decrease depends on the solar cycle and ranges between 0.07 K/yr and 0.27 K/yr for the last five solar cycles.     

Technology assessment in space activities: status and outlook

Space technology is not only a matter for engineers. In various ways, political authorities and other sections of society are interested in space activities. An of space activities provides a scientific basis on which to tender guidance and advice to decision makers. The authors discuss the growing use of technology assessment in the space field with particular reference to German activities and analyse why it will become more important in the future.     

Seeking justifications for human spaceflight

Traditionally cited benefits such as scientific and economic progress or political advantages have been widely recognized as insufficient to justify ongoing and future human spaceflight programmes in today's prevailing geopolitical and socioeconomic environment. A rationale for human spaceflight evoking visions such as exploitation of extraterrestrial resources and human exploration of space has to cope with an unavoidable dilemma: attractive as they may appear, those projects are fraught with many grave uncertainties and risks. The paper attempts to answer the question of which significance (if any) such visionary projects may assume in justifying the continuation of human spaceflight activities. We argue that, despite as yet unanswerable technological and economic questions and despite the extremely long time-frames involved, it seems reasonable and, hence, justified to keep the option alive to be able to solve — by means of humans in space — one of humankind's probable major problems in the coming century: the impending energy crisis.     

Instrument study of the Lunar Dust eXplorer (LDX) for a lunar lander mission

One of the highest-priority issues for a future human or robotic lunar exploration is the lunar dust. This problem should be studied in depth in order to develop an environment model for a future lunar exploration. A future ESA lunar lander mission requires the measurement of dust transport phenomena above the lunar surface. Here, we describe an instrument design concept to measure slow and fast moving charged lunar dust which is based on the principle of charge induction. LDX has a low mass and measures the speed and trajectory of individual dust particles with sizes below one micrometer. Furthermore, LDX has an impact ionization target to monitor the interplanetary dust background. The sensor consists of three planes of segmented grid electrodes and each electrode is connected to an individual charge sensitive amplifier. Numerical signals were computed using the Coulomb software package. The LDX sensitive area is approximately 400 cm². Our simulations reveal trajectory uncertainties of better than 2° with an absolute position accuracy of better than 2 mm.     

基于在线识别与全维状态观测技术的埋入压电片复合梁的振动主动控制研究

 介绍利用埋入复合材料梁的压电传感器和驱动器对其振动进行主动控制的实验研究及其结果。利用埋入的压电传感器和驱动器对其进行模型识别而得出结构的动力学模型, 再将该模型用于控制器的设计,其优点是当结构本身或者约束、环境等发生变化后, 可对结构的模型重新进行在线识别, 及时更新控制参数,避免控制失效, 而且不需要事先知道结构的其他属性。应用最优控制理论的全维状态观测器技术, 结合所选取的压电传感器和作动器识别的结构动力学模型, 可以设计出其最优控制器。实验表明, 传感器信号的频谱峰值最大可以被有效地降低20dB 左右。     

一种计算转子不平衡响应的新方法

建立了以状态方程和转移矩阵为基础的分析方法，以分析复杂转子的不平衡响应。在不必事先确定转子系统固有振型及自振频率的情况下，利用此方法可直接求得转子振动响应的精确解。该方法与传递矩阵法相结合，可容易地求解复杂转子系统的不平衡响应问题。算例分析表明，该方法简捷有效