国际空间站“很国际”

国际空间站是国际合作的结晶,包括美国航宇局、俄罗斯联邦航天局、加拿大航天局、日本宇宙探索局和欧空局的11个成员国:比利时,丹麦,法国,德国,意大利,荷兰,挪威,西班牙,瑞典,瑞士和英国。     

Remote sensing from the International Space Station

The time has come to give serious thought to the use of the International Space Station (ISS) as a space platform to advance remote sensing research in several scientific disciplines. The European scientific community has been developing instrumentation for deployment on the ISS for some time now. Recently, NASA opened competitions for scientific programs to be supported as “Missions of Opportunity” to utilize the “EXPRESS Pallet” facility on the ISS. A single EXPRESS Pallet has the capability of carrying a collection of instruments similar to the payload of a conventional satellite. A major difference between ISS and satellite programs is that the research funding will be expended on scientific instrumentation and analysis and not on a spacecraft, launch vehicle, and flight operations. As the ISS becomes fully operational, EXPRESS Pallets could be deployed in short periods of time compared to preparing a satellite program. The ability to retrieve, improve, and re-fly an instrument is important to a progressive research program. This allows the experiment to be responsive to data analysis in a timely manner and also keep pace with developing technology.     

Seed-to-seed growth of Arabidopsis thaliana on the International Space Station.

The assembly of the International Space Station (ISS) as a permanent experimental outpost has provided the opportunity for quality plant research in space. To take advantage of this orbital laboratory, engineers and scientists at the Wisconsin Center for Space Automation and Robotics (WCSAR), University of Wisconsin-Madison, developed a plant growth facility capable of supporting plant growth in the microgravity environment. Utilizing this Advanced Astroculture (ADVASC) plant growth facility, an experiment was conducted with the objective to grow Arabidopsis thaliana plants from seed-to-seed on the ISS. Dry Arabidopsis seeds were anchored in the root tray of the ADVASC growth chamber. These seeds were successfully germinated from May 10 until the end of June 2001. Arabidopsis plants grew and completed a full life cycle in microgravity. This experiment demonstrated that ADVASC is capable of providing environment conditions suitable for plant growth and development in microgravity. The normal progression through the life cycle, as well as the postflight morphometric analyses, demonstrate that Arabidopsis thaliana does not require the presence of gravity for growth and development.     

空间站机械臂研究

空间极端环境下, 大多数舱外活动必须借助于机械臂. 机械臂是国际空间站的主要组成部分, 其对空间站的在轨组装、外部维修以及运行起着至关重要的作用, 同时机械臂可以减少航天员在舱外的工作时间和频率. 通过对国际空间站成员国关于机械臂研究概况的介绍, 包括航天飞机机械臂、空间站机械臂、欧洲机械臂、日本实验舱机械臂以及德国机械臂, 为中国空间机械臂的设计提供参考.     

给国际空间站算笔帐

美国航宇局估计,自1994年以来,国际空间站已花费了美国纳税人500亿美元,如果考虑到所有成员国的支出,国际空间站的总价至少得打上1000亿美元的价签。数目太大了,我们就容易失去对数目的直观感觉。为了对这个在太空中飞     

中国小朋友收到“天外来信”

"亲爱的黄幸安,在我看来,你的问题最有意思……"3月3日下午,这封发自国际空间站第27宇航组的"天外来信",由俄罗斯联邦航天局驻华首席代表罗金博士送到了嘉兴阳光小学五年级     

“国际空间”站美国国家实验室的项目管理实践

正国际空间站(ISS)运营期,如何有效地利用其实验载荷,最大化地发挥其效用并回馈社会,同时减少对国家财政资助的依赖,是一个重要的管理课题。空间科学促进中心(CASIS)作为美国航天局授权管理国际空间站美国国家实验室的非盈利性组织,自2011年运营以来,在国际空间站实验项目的管理方面取得了明显成效。     

The SOS-LUX-LAC-FLUORO-Toxicity-test on the International Space Station (ISS).

In the 21st century, an increasing number of astronauts will visit the International Space Station (ISS) for prolonged times. Therefore it is of utmost importance to provide necessary basic knowledge concerning risks to their health and their ability to work on the station and during extravehicular activities (EVA) in free space. It is the aim of one experiment of the German project TRIPLE-LUX (to be flown on the ISS) to provide an estimation of health risk resulting from exposure of the astronauts to the radiation in space inside the station as well as during extravehicular activities on one hand, and of exposure of astronauts to unavoidable or as yet unknown ISS-environmental genotoxic substances on the other. The project will (i) provide increased knowledge of the biological action of space radiation and enzymatic repair of DNA damage, (ii) uncover cellular mechanisms of synergistic interaction of microgravity and space radiation and (iii) examine the space craft milieu with highly specific biosensors. For these investigations, the bacterial biosensor SOS-LUX-LAC-FLUORO-Toxicity-test will be used, combining the SOS-LUX-Test invented at DLR Germany (Patent) with the commercially available LAC-FLUORO-Test. The SOS-LUX-Test comprises genetically modified bacteria transformed with the pBR322-derived plasmid pPLS-1. This plasmid carries the promoterless lux operon of Photobacterium leiognathi as a reporter element under control of the DNA-damage dependent SOS promoter of ColD as sensor element. This system reacts to radiation and other agents that induce DNA damages with a dose dependent measurable emission of bioluminescence of the transformed bacteria. The analogous LAC-FLUORO-Test has been developed for the detection of cellular responses to cytotoxins. It is based on the constitutive expression of green fluorescent protein (GFP) mediated by the bacterial protein expression vector pGFPuv (Clontech, Palo Alto, USA). In response to cytotoxic agents, this system reacts with a dose-dependent reduction of GFP-fluorescence. Currently, a fully automated miniaturized hardware system for the bacterial set up, which includes measurements of luminescence and fluorescence or absorption and the image analysis based evaluation is under development. During the first mission of the SOS-LUX-LAC-FLUORO-Toxicity-Test on the ISS, a standardized, DNA-damaging radiation source still to be determined will be used as a genotoxic inducer. A panel of recombinant Salmonella typhimurium strains carrying either the SOS-LUX plasmid or the fluorescence-mediating lac-GFPuv plasmid will be used to determine in parallel on one microplate the genotoxic and the cytotoxic action of the applied radiation in combination with microgravity. Either in addition to or in place of the fluorometric measurements of the cytotoxic agents, photometric measurements will simultaneously monitor cell growth, giving additional data on survival of the cells. The obtained data will be available on line during the TRIPLE-LUX mission time. Though it is the main goal during the TRIPLE-LUX mission to measure the radiation effect in microgravity, the SOS-LUX-LAC-FLUORO-Toxicity-test in principle is also applicable as a biomonitor for the detection and measurement of genotoxic substances in air or in the (recycled) water system on the ISS or on earth in general.     

Cosmic Ray Energetics And Mass for the International Space Station (ISS-CREAM)

The Cosmic Ray Energetics And Mass (CREAM) instrument is configured with a suite of particle detectors to measure TeV cosmic-ray elemental spectra from protons to iron nuclei over a wide energy range. The goal is to extend direct measurements of cosmic-ray composition to the highest energies practical, and thereby have enough overlap with ground based indirect measurements to answer questions on cosmic-ray origin, acceleration and propagation. The balloon-borne CREAM was flown successfully for about 161 days in six flights over Antarctica to measure elemental spectra of Z = 1–26 nuclei over the energy range 10¹⁰ to >10¹⁴ eV. Transforming the balloon instrument into ISS-CREAM involves identification and replacement of components that would be at risk in the International Space Station (ISS) environment, in addition to assessing safety and mission assurance concerns. The transformation process includes rigorous testing of components to reduce risks and increase survivability on the launch vehicle and operations on the ISS without negatively impacting the heritage of the successful CREAM design. The project status, including results from the ongoing analysis of existing data and, particularly, plans to increase the exposure factor by another order of magnitude utilizing the International Space Station are presented.     

Experiments with small animals in BIOLAB and EMCS on the International Space Station.

Two ESA facilities will be available for animal research and other biological experiments on the International Space Station: the European Modular Cultivation System (EMCS) in the US Lab "Destiny" and BIOLAB in the European "Columbus" Laboratory. Both facilities use standard Experiment Containers, mounted on two centrifuge rotors allowing either research in microgravity or acceleration studies with variable g-levels from 0.001 to 2.0 x g. Standard interface plates provide each container with power and data lines, gas supply (controlled CO2, O2 concentration and relative humidity), and--for EMCS only--connectors to fresh and waste water reservoirs. The experiment hardware inside the containers will be developed by the user, but ESA conducted a feasibility study for several kinds of Experiment Support Equipment with potential use for research on small animals: design concepts for experiments with insects, with aquatic organisms like rotifers and nematodes, and with small aquatic animals (sea urchin larvae, tadpoles, fish youngsters) are described in detail in this presentation. Also ESA's initial steps to support experiments with rodents on the Space Station are presented.     

NASA将在国际空间站为模拟卫星填注燃料

<正>很多人也许并不知道,目前国际先进技术已经实现了在轨维修卫星,而且还将实现为在轨卫星填注燃料。最好的例子就是美国的哈勃空间望远镜,经过维修,"哈勃"的寿命延长了5年。而这一切要归功于航天飞机。目前,美国航宇局戈达德空间中心的工程师们正在开发一种在轨试验台,利用从哈勃空间望远镜维修任务获得的经验,来验证卫星燃料补给的技术。     

国际空间站载人航天十周年

夜空中除了月球之外,最明亮的物体是什么?太阳?这不是脑筋急转弯!金星?这个答案已经OUT了!2009年3月,在增添了新的一组太阳能电池板后,国际空间站超越金星,成为夜空中第二明亮的物体,仅屈居月球之后。假如今天地球上的文明突然毁灭,文明的进程重新来过,新文明的"古代"天文学家一定会对夜空中那个每92分钟就绕地球一圈、亮度超过金、木、水、火、土五颗星的"星体"充满了敬畏之心。在新创造的神话中,这颗"星体"所代表的神灵一定地位显赫。这样一想,国际空间站还真是人间奇迹,足以代表我们这个文明的最高成就。它的确很高,在地表之上360千米的太空中,而且从2000年11月2日第一批航天员踏入空间站,开始长期驻扎算起,国际空间站连续载人飞行已经过了10年。对于国际空间站来说,十周年已经算人到中年,该是对它的表现做一次中期总结的时候了。     

Developing a vitamin greenhouse for the life support system of the International Space Station and for future interplanetary missions.

In order to evaluate the effects of gravity on growing plants, we conducted ground based long-term experiments with dwarf wheat, cultivar Apogee and Chinese cabbage, cultivar Khibinskaya. The test crops had been grown in overhead position with HPS lamp below root module so gravity and light intensity gradients had been in opposite direction. Plants of the control crop grew in normal position under the same lamp. Both crops were grown on porous metallic membranes with stable -1 kPa matric potential on their surface. Results from these and other studies allowed us to examine the differences in growth and development of the plants as well as the root systems in relation to the value of the gravity force influence. Dry weight of the roots from test group was decreased in 2.5 times for wheat and in 6 times - at the Chinese cabbage, but shoot dry biomass was practically same for both test and control versions. A harvest index of the test plants increased substantially. The data shows, that development of the plants was essentially changed in microgravity. The experiments in the space greenhouse Svet aboard the Mir space station proved that it is possible to compensate the effects of weightlessness on higher plants by manipulating gradients of environmental parameters (i.e. photon flux, matric potential in the root zone, etc.). However, the average productivity of Svet concerning salad crops even in ground studies did not provide more than 14 g fresh biomass per day. This does not provide a sufficient level of supplemental nutrients to the crew of the ISS. A cylindrical design of a space plant growth chamber (SPGC) allows for maximal productivity in presence of very tight energy and volume limitations onboard the ISS and provides a number of operational advantages. Productivity from this type of SPGF with a 0.5 kW energy utilization when salad growing would provide approximately 100 g of edible biomass per day, which would almost satisfy requirements for a crew of two in vitamin C and carotene and partly vitamin B group as well as rough fiber.     

Modeling of the radiation exposure during the flight of the second Bulgarian cosmonaut on board the Mir Space Station.

An experiment involving active detection of space radiation was carried out in the Space Research Institute (SRI) of Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, in preparation of the flight of the second Bulgarian cosmonaut. The radiations that would be encountered on the flight were modelled including solar and galactic cosmic rays and the particle radiation in the Earth's radiation belts. The dose rate was calculated for these different radiations behind the shielding of the space station. The variations in dose rates over the period of the flight were calculated and compared with measurements made during the orbit of the Mir Space Station. The calculated and measured dose rates agreed within 15-35%.     

Absorbed dose of secondary neutrons from galactic cosmic rays inside the International Space Station.

In this paper, we present the results of Monte-Carlo simulations of the flux and energy spectra of neutrons generated as a result of galactic cosmic ray proton interactions with the material of International Space Station (ISS) inside Zvezda Service Module, the Airlock between Russian and USA segments and one of Russian Research Modules for a full configuration of ISS. Calculations were made for ISS orbit for the energy ranges <10 and >10 MeV for both maximum and minimum of solar activity. To test the accuracy of the calculations the same simulations were made for MIR orbital station and for CORONAS-I satellite and compared with the results of measurements. Calculated and measured fluxes are in reasonable agreement.