Kites are Fun-Composing Technical Material Using New Methods

"I can't get that stupid kite in the air! I can't! I can't!" "Oh, come on now, Charlie Brown ... that's no way to talk. The whole trouble with you is that you don't believe in yourself! You don't believe in your own abilities. You've got to say to yourself, 'I believe that I can fly this kite.' Now, go ahead, say to yourself, ' I believe that I can fly this kite.'" "I believe that I can fly this kite." "All right, now say it out loud. Say it over and over." "I believe that I can fly this kite! I believe that I can fly this kite! I actually believe I can fly this kite!" "You do? I'll bet you ten-to-one you're wrong!"     

LIFE: Life Investigation For Enceladus A Sample Return Mission Concept in Search for Evidence of Life

Abstract Life Investigation For Enceladus (LIFE) presents a low-cost sample return mission to Enceladus, a body with high astrobiological potential. There is ample evidence that liquid water exists under ice coverage in the form of active geysers in the "tiger stripes" area of the southern Enceladus hemisphere. This active plume consists of gas and ice particles and enables the sampling of fresh materials from the interior that may originate from a liquid water source. The particles consist mostly of water ice and are 1-10?μ in diameter. The plume composition shows H(2)O, CO(2), CH(4), NH(3), Ar, and evidence that more complex organic species might be present. Since life on Earth exists whenever liquid water, organics, and energy coexist, understanding the chemical components of the emanating ice particles could indicate whether life is potentially present on Enceladus. The icy worlds of the outer planets are testing grounds for some of the theories for the origin of life on Earth. The LIFE mission concept is envisioned in two parts: first, to orbit Saturn (in order to achieve lower sampling speeds, approaching 2 km/s, and thus enable a softer sample collection impact than Stardust, and to make possible multiple flybys of Enceladus); second, to sample Enceladus' plume, the E ring of Saturn, and the Titan upper atmosphere. With new findings from these samples, NASA could provide detailed chemical and isotopic and, potentially, biological compositional context of the plume. Since the duration of the Enceladus plume is unpredictable, it is imperative that these samples are captured at the earliest flight opportunity. If LIFE is launched before 2019, it could take advantage of a Jupiter gravity assist, which would thus reduce mission lifetimes and launch vehicle costs. The LIFE concept offers science returns comparable to those of a Flagship mission but at the measurably lower sample return costs of a Discovery-class mission. Key Words: Astrobiology-Habitability-Enceladus-Biosignatures. Astrobiology 12, 730-742.     

导航星库制定方法研究

文章首先总结了现有的导航星库制定方法,分析它们的优劣;然后提出了一种新的导 航星库制定方法。该方法在确保导航星库的充分性的同时,力争能做到制定的导航星库是最 小的,导航星库中的每一颗星体是必不可少的。最后指出了下一步待研究的问题。
     

STARDUST: finessing expensive cometary sample returns

The STARDUST Discovery mission will collect samples of cometary coma and interstellar dust and return them to Earth. Five years after launch in February 1999, coma dust in the 1- to 100-micrometers size range will be captured by impact into ultra-low-density silica aerogel during a 6 kms-1 flyby of Comet Wild 2. The returned samples will be investigated at laboratories where the most critical information on these primitive materials is retained. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory will provide project management with Lockheed Martin Astronauts as the spacecraft industrial partner. STARDUST management will aggressively and innovatively achieve cost control through the use of Total Quality Management principles, the chief of which will be organization in a Project Engineering and Integration Team that "flattens" the traditional hierarchical structure by including all project elements from the beginning, in a concurrent engineering framework focusing on evolving Integrated Mission Capability.     

ON THE CONTROL OF A NOVEL MANIPULATOR WITH SLEWING AND DEPLOYABLE LINKS

Control of an elastic space platform-based flexible manipulator with four links, two free to slew while the other two permitted to deploy, is studied using two procedures: (i) nonlinear Feedback Linearization Technique (FLT) applied to rigid degrees of freedom with flexible generalized coordinates passively regulated through coupling; (ii) rigid as well as flexible degrees of freedom controlled through FLT and Linear Quadratic Regulator (LQR), respectively. Results suggest the FLT control to be quite effective even for flexible degrees of freedom. The combination of FLT and LQR further improves the controller's performance.     

An Event Horizon Imager (EHI) Mission Concept Utilizing Medium Earth Orbit Sub-mm Interferometry

Submillimeter interferometry has the potential to image supermassive black holes on event horizon scales, providing tests of the theory of general relativity and increasing our understanding of black hole accretion processes. The Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) performs these observations from the ground, and its main imaging targets are Sagittarius A* in the Galactic Center and the black hole at the center of the M87 galaxy. However, the EHT is fundamentally limited in its performance by atmospheric effects and sparse terrestrial (u,v)-coverage (Fourier sampling of the image). The scientific interest in quantitative studies of the horizon size and shape of these black holes has motivated studies into using space interferometry which is free of these limitations. Angular resolution considerations and interstellar scattering effects push the desired observing frequency to bands above 500 GHz.
This paper presents the requirements for meeting these science goals, describes the concept of interferometry from Polar or Equatorial Medium Earth Orbits (PECMEO) which we dub the Event Horizon Imager (EHI), and utilizes suitable space technology heritage. In this concept, two or three satellites orbit at slightly different orbital radii, resulting in a dense and uniform spiral-shaped (u,v)-coverage over time. The local oscillator signals are shared via an inter-satellite link, and the data streams are correlated on-board before final processing on the ground. Inter-satellite metrology and satellite positioning are extensively employed to facilitate the knowledge of the instrument position vector, and its time derivative. The European space heritage usable for both the front ends and the antenna technology of such an instrument is investigated. Current and future sensors for the required inter-satellite metrology are listed. Intended performance estimates and simulation results are given.      

提高CuCr触头材料性能的方法

总结了国内外对CuCr触头材料性能改善的发展状况。本文主要从工艺性能、截流水平、开断性能和耐压性能以及抗熔焊性等方面叙述了添加新组元的作用；最后对CuCr触头材料的主要制备工艺作了简单介绍。     

基于光纤复合测量技术的涡轮叶片气膜孔检测

为了解决航空发动机涡轮叶片气膜孔几何特征参数有效检测手段缺乏、测量结果一致性差的问题,设计并搭建了基于 光纤复合测量技术的涡轮叶片气膜孔检测系统,提出了利用该系统对涡轮叶片气膜孔进行测量的方法,通过试验进行了方法验 证。搭建的系统为多传感器测量系统,具备叶片接触与非接触测量、空间姿态定位及3D投影能力,实现了涡轮叶片全范围气模孔 的测量。在试验中,选取高压涡轮叶片作为被测物体,应用该测量系统对叶片上的气膜孔进行了测量,计算得到了气膜孔直径、轴 线角度及位置度的准确信息。结果表明：通过测量不确定度的分析评定可知,该系统对气膜孔直径、位置度的测量不确定度均小 于0.01 mm,完全满足设计公差对测量仪器的精度要求,可以用于涡轮叶片气膜孔工程化测量。