Measuring the economic benefits of a national planetary protection policy to regulate future private space activities between Earth and Mars: Results of a contingent valuation survey in Greece

The emergence of private space actors may soon enable the growth of the novel market segments of space research and exploration, space resources utilization, and human access to space. The interdisciplinary field of Planetary Protection has to keep up with these advances. Planetary Protection is defined as a set of guidelines that aim to prevent the forward contamination of celestial bodies with biological material from Earth and the backward contamination of the terrestrial biosphere with extraterrestrial biological material. As space entrepreneurs acquire and develop the resources and competencies for commercial access to space, significant questions are expected to be raised in the future with respect to potential forward and backward contamination issues, particularly with respect to activities between Earth and Mars. Although such private activities do not seem to pose a serious Planetary Protection threat at the moment, certain preparatory steps need to be taken in order to prudently inform the relevant policy-making procedures. This work describes the application of the Contingent Valuation Method, a useful tool of the environmental economics discipline, with the aim of demonstrating a novel approach to estimate the economic valuation of the external benefits of preventing forward and backward contamination between Earth and Mars. Particularly, via a survey specifically developed for this purpose, a set of questions are used to elicit the perceived economic value that respondents place on the prevention of forward and backward contamination; the survey is administered to a national probability sample in Greece, and the generated data is processed through statistical analysis. The Contingent Valuation Method is a popular and well-established stated preference valuation technique; these techniques are often the more suitable choice for ex-ante valuations of future changes, and are currently the only known approach to capture all the aspects of the economic value of non-market goods. Through an initial proof-of-concept in Greece, the goal of this work is to provide useful insights on the expected external benefits of a national Planetary Protection policy to regulate future private space activities between Earth and Mars, and to encourage a larger-scale application of this tool in other countries around the world.     

基于水下机器人的海产品智能检测与自主抓取系统

针对水下机器人实现自主抓取过程中缺乏引导系统的问题,提出了一种依托水下机器人的海产品智能检测与自主抓取系统,用来解决水下目标的智能检测问题,并引导水下机器人进行海产品的自主抓取。将卷积神经网络检测算法应用到水下场景,利用水下图像数据集训练特定的网络模型DSOD检测海产品。建立短基线定位系统定位水下作业的机器人。通过分析相机成像坐标系与定位系统坐标系之间的关系,提出了一种计算海产品实际位置的坐标转换方法,计算海产品的实际位置。设计了一种基于反馈机制的多信号分析方法,引导机器人在水下移动并抓捕海产品。为了验证所提系统的有效性,搭建了一款水下抓捕机器人,并成功将所提算法应用到机器人,在真实海洋环境中进行海产品的自主抓取实验。      

Methods and measurements to assess physical and geochemical conditions at the surface of Europa

An international effort dedicated to the science exploration of Jupiter system planned by ESA and NASA in the beginning of the next decade includes in-depth science investigation of Europa. In parallel to EJSM (Europa-Jupiter System Mission) Russia plans a Laplace-Europa Lander mission, which will include another orbiter and the surface element: Europa Lander. In-situ methods on the lander provide the only direct way to assess environmental conditions, and to perform the search for signatures of life. A critical advantage of such in situ analysis is the possibility to enhance concentration and detection limits and to provide ground truth for orbital measurements. The science mission of the lander is biological, geophysical, chemical, and environmental characterizations of the Europa surface. This review is dedicated to methods and strategies of geophysical and environmental measurements to be performed at the surface of Europa, and their significance for the biological assessment, basing on the concept of a relatively large softly landed module, allowing to probe a shallow subsurface. Many of the discussed methods were presented on the workshop “Europa Lander: Science Goals and Experiments” held in Moscow in February 2009. Methods and instruments are grouped into geophysical package, means of access to the subsurface, methods of chemical and structural characterization, and methods to assess physical conditions on the surface.     

A combined modeling and experimental approach for achieving a simplified closed ecosystem.

In CELSS both biological and physico-chemical processes have to be used to support the main needs of the crews and to minimize the re-supply of food and air from Earth. The basic idea is to create a complete food chain (an artificial ecosystem), beginning from the crew, with its wastes, and returning to the crew to supply it with food and air. Two main other steps of this food chain are a waste treatment process and a biomass production including higher plants. We set up the connection of these key modules, which we called ECLAS (Ecosysteme Clos Artificiel Simplifie). A growth chamber containing higher plants is connected to a continuous supercritical water oxidation reactor, that converts the harvested biomass into carbon dioxide and enables the photosynthesis of the canopy. To achieve a stable coupling through optimized regulations between the modules, we programmed a modular numerical simulation of the system, in order to assess the involved fluxes and to constrain the last degrees of freedom of the experimental system already built. Simulation results and the first experimental results are here compared.     

基于贝叶斯网络的航空灾害成因机理探析

为了预防和矫正航空事故诱发因素的萌生与发展,改善民航安全管理的科学性和可靠性,进一步降低事故率,减少航空灾害造成的损失.针对航空灾害的形成特点,探讨致灾因素的相互作用是成因机理分析的关键.基于贝叶斯网络模型,综合运用诊断推理和支持推理形式,分析致灾因素的因果关系,揭示了人、机、环境与管理因素相互作用的内在规律.通过高斯贝叶斯网络在典型案例致灾成因机理分析中的应用,挖掘隐含的内部因素对系统的影响程度,发现了隐含因素从不确定性状态向确定性状态的演变过程,以及表层因素与隐含因素的关系.     

半球谐振子疲劳寿命分析与仿真

半球谐振子的寿命和损伤是直接影响高精度半球谐振陀螺使用时长和安全性的重要因素。目前国内加工的半球谐振子所用的熔融石英玻璃材料主要依靠进口,采用传统的疲劳寿命实验确定方法成本过于昂贵,因此需要利用疲劳分析软件对半球谐振子的疲劳寿命进行分析。文章通过半球谐振陀螺应力分析,采用ANSYS软件对熔融石英半球谐振子进行应力分析仿真,确定因残余应力所引起的疲劳危险部位,并在疲劳部位进行裂纹扩展分析,得到 、 和 型应力强度因子,以使在半球谐振子结构设计和使用过程中对易疲劳的部位进行有效监控和预防。     

基于STM32的直流电机调速新方法

为满足不同的需求,经常使用PWM波调整直流电机的转速。但在实际应用中,即使是一个固定的PWM值,直流电机的转速也未必恒定。为了解决这个问题,通常用PID算法控制电机的转速,使其达到一个稳定值。但PID算法比较复杂,要进行建模、参数整定等。提出一种简单、可行的方法,在很短的定时时间内,测试电机的转速,将其与设定转速值进行比较,得到误差。根据误差值的正负,调整PWM波中的正脉宽的宽度,以达到对电机转速的快速、实时调整。经过实测：采用STM32微处理器,能够快速调整电机转速,并使其很快达到一个稳定值。     

Coronal mass ejection detection using wavelets,curvelets and ridgelets: Applications for space weather monitoring

Coronal mass ejections (CMEs) are large-scale eruptions of plasma and magnetic field that can produce adverse space weather at Earth and other locations in the Heliosphere. Due to the intrinsic multiscale nature of features in coronagraph images, wavelet and multiscale image processing techniques are well suited to enhancing the visibility of CMEs and suppressing noise. However, wavelets are better suited to identifying point-like features, such as noise or background stars, than to enhancing the visibility of the curved form of a typical CME front. Higher order multiscale techniques, such as ridgelets and curvelets, were therefore explored to characterise the morphology (width, curvature) and kinematics (position, velocity, acceleration) of CMEs. Curvelets in particular were found to be well suited to characterising CME properties in a self-consistent manner. Curvelets are thus likely to be of benefit to autonomous monitoring of CME properties for space weather applications.     

Current and future activities in education and public outreach at the Observatoire de Haute Provence

The Haute Provence Observatory has for primary mission the operation of telescopes, up to two meters in diameter, for the astrophysics community, and the measurements of various upper atmosphere parameters for the geophysics community. An education and outreach program has been developed with several reached: from school pupils to post-doctorate students, teachers, and the general public. In the recent years we put emphasis on the formation of teachers and on the renewal of the general public visit. Given the wide range of education and outreach activities we cover, we had to develop a relation network with individuals, amateurs, teachers and institutions, amplifying our efforts. For the future, we will try to make an optimal use of the resources available in the St Michel l’Observatoire area, taking steps to reach an agreement with the neighbouring “Centre d’Astronomie”, a structure devoted to education and public outreach belonging to the local authorities.     

泡沫铜/低熔点合金复合相变材料凝固放热分析

为研究泡沫铜/低熔点合金(LMPA)复合相变材料在间歇放热工作环境下恢复至初始状态的能力及不同孔隙率泡沫铜的添加对其凝固放热过程的影响，通过数值模拟对比分析了47合金、正二十三烷与泡沫铜复合前后的凝固放热过程，并调节泡沫铜/47合金复合材料孔隙率计算模拟芯片温度在凝固放热过程中温度随时间变化曲线。结果表明:泡沫铜的添加对2类材料凝固过程均有促进作用，模拟芯片恢复至目标温度所需时间分别被缩短6.6%和47.7%。因体积潜热值的差距，泡沫铜/47合金凝固时需放出更多热量，恢复至目标温度的时间较长，是正二十三烷复合相变材料的1.52倍。随着孔隙率的增大，复合相变材料恢复至室温状态所用时长变化不大，考虑到孔隙率对相变热控过程中的影响，实际使用时应综合考虑。      

Differentiation of cartilaginous anlagen in entire embryonic mouse limbs cultured in a rotating bioreactor.

Mechanisms involved in development of the embryonic limb have remained the same throughout eons of genetic and environmental evolution under Earth gravity (1 g). During the spaceflight era it has been of interest to explore the ancient theory that form of the skeleton develops in response to gravity, and that changes in gravitational forces can change the developmental pattern of the limb. This has been shown in vivo and in vitro, allowing the hypergravity of centrifugation and microgravity of space to be used as tools to increase our knowledge of limb development. In recapitulations of spaceflight experiments, premetatarsals were cultured in suspension in a bioreactor, and found to be shorter and less differentiated than those cultured in standard culture dishes. This study only measured length of the metatarsals, and did not account for possible changes due to the skeletal elements having a more in vivo 3D shape while in suspension vs. flattened tissues compressed by their own weight. A culture system with an outcome closer to in vivo and that supports growth of younger limb buds than traditional systems will allow studies of early Hox gene expression, and contribute to the understanding of very early stages of development. The purpose of the current experiment was to determine if entire limb buds could be cultured in the bioreactor, and to compare the growth and differentiation with that of culturing in a culture dish system. Fore and hind limbs from E11-E13 ICR mouse embryos were cultured for six days, either in the bioreactor or in center-well organ culture dishes, fixed, and embedded for histology. E13 specimens grown in culture dishes were flat, while bioreactor culture specimens had a more in vivo-like 3D limb shape. Sections showed excellent cartilage differentiation in both culture systems, with more cell maturation, and hypertrophy in the specimens cultured in the bioreactor. Younger limb buds fused together during culture, so an additional set of E11.5 limb buds was cultured with and without encapsulation in alginate prior to culturing in the bioreactor. Encapsulated limbs grown in the bioreactor did not fuse together, but developed only the more proximal elements while limbs grown in culture dishes formed proximal and distal elements. Alginate encapsulation may have reduced oxygenation to the progress zone of the developing limb bud resulting in lack of development of the more distal elements. These results show that the bioreactor supports growth and differentiation of skeletal elements in entire E13 limb buds, and that a method to culture younger limb buds without fusing together needs to be developed if any morphometric analysis is to be performed.     

Effects of microgravity on bone and calcium homeostasis.

Mechanical function is known to be of crucial importance for the maintenance of bone tissue. Gravity on one hand and muscular effort on the other hand are required for normal skeletal structure. It has been shown by numerous experimental studies that loss of total-body calcium, and marked skeletal changes occur in people who have flown in space. However, most of the pertinent investigations have been conducted on animal models, including rats and non-human primates, and a reasonably clear picture of bone response to spaceflight has emerged during the past few years. Osteopenia induced by microgravity was found to be associated with reduction in both cortical and trabecular bone formation, alteration in mineralization patterns and disorganization of collagen, and non-collagenous protein metabolism. Recently, cell-culture techniques have offered a direct approach of altered gravity effects at the osteoblastic-cell level. But the fundamental mechanisms by which bone and calcium are lost during spaceflight are not yet fully known. Infrequency and high financial cost of flights have created the necessity to develop on-Earth models designed to mimic weightlessness effects. Antiorthostatic suspension devices are now commonly used to obtain hindlimb unloading in rats, with skeletal effects similar to those observed after spaceflight. Therefore, actual and "simulated" spaceflights, with investigations conducted at whole body and cellular levels, are needed to elucidate pathogeny of bone loss in space, to develop effective countermeasures, and to study recovery processes of bone changes after return to Earth.     

Applied superconductivity and superfluidity for the exploration of the Moon and Mars.

We discuss how superconductivity and superfluidity can be applied to solve the challenges in the exploration of the Moon and Mars. High sensitivity instruments using phenomena of superconductivity and superfluidity can potentially make significant contributions to the fields of navigation, automation, habitation, and resource location. Using the quantum nature of superconductivity, lightweight and very sensitive diagnostic tools can be made to monitor the health of astronauts. Moreover, the Moon and Mars offer a unique environment for scientific exploration. We also discuss how powerful superconducting instruments may enable scientists to seek answers to several profound questions about nature. These answers will not only deepen our appreciation of the universe, they may also open the door to paradigm-shifting technologies.     

一种保留几何及属性边界的网格简化方法

在实际应用领域,三维模型除包含由三角形网格构成的几何、拓扑信息外,还包含颜色、纹理、法矢量等属性信息,因此数据量较大,且不可避免地存在边界和孔洞.基于三角形折叠的方法,对误差矩阵的计算和误差控制方法进行了改进,并提出了几何及属性边界三角形的概念,给出了一种保留原始模型边界及属性信息的简化算法.该算法针对不同的边界情况将原始三角形网格划分为边界三角形、角点三角形、内部三角形及特征三角形,并采取相应的约束策略,在减小模型数据量的同时,较好地保留了边界和属性信息,并且生成递进网格文件,为包含属性的非封闭网格模型提供了连续多分辨率的模型重现.实验结果证明该方法快速有效,已成功应用于基于Web的三维递进传输和发布.      

Biological assessment of Ariane 5 fairing

United Nations Space Treaties [10 and 11] require the preservation of planets and of Earth from contamination. All nations part to these Treaties shall take measures to prevent forward and backward contamination during missions exploring our solar system. As observer for the United Nations Committee on Peaceful Uses of Outer Space, the COSPAR (Committee of Space Research) defines and handles the applicable policy and proposes recommendations to Space Agencies [COSPAR Planetary Protection Panel, Planetary Protection Policy accepted by the COSPAR Council and Bureau, 20 October 2002, amended 24 March 2005. http://www.cosparhq.org/scistr/PPPolicy.htm.]. The goal is to protect celestial bodies from terrestrial biological contamination as well as to protect the Earth environment from an eventual biohazard which may be carried by extraterrestrial samples or by space systems returning to Earth. According to the applicable specifications, including in our case the French requirements [CNES, System Safety. Planetary Protection Requirements. Normative referential CNES RNC-CNES-R-14, CNES Toulouse, ed. 4, 04 October 2002.], the prevention of forward contamination is accomplished by reducing the bioburden on space hardware to acceptable, prescribed levels, including in some instances system sterilization, assembling and integrating the appropriate spacecraft systems in cleanrooms of appropriate biological cleanliness, avoiding or controlling any recontamination risk, and limiting the probability impact of space systems. In order to prepare for future exploration missions [Debus, A., Planetary protection: organization requirements and needs for future planetary exploration missions, ESA conference publication SP-543, pp 103–114, 2003.], and in particular for missions to Mars requiring to control the spacecraft bioburden, a test program has been developed to evaluate the biological contamination under the fairing of the Ariane 5 launcher.     

Genetic risks associated with radiation exposures during space flight.

The genetic risks associated with manned space flight are judged to be of little significance to the general population. The risks may be significant to the irradiated individual, particularly if one focuses attention on the incidence of dominant and chromosomal mutations that are expressed in the first generation offspring. Even so, the risk is not increased to a great extent by the low linear energy transfer (LET) component of the space radiations. It is the presumed high LET component, neutrons especially, that would make the major contribution to the risk, because the relative biological effectiveness (RBE) values for this component, relative to low dose-rate photon irradiation, are between 10 and 40, depending upon the particular genetic effect and dose-rate comparison. The appropriate RBE value would probably be 20 or greater, so that even small neutron doses become magnified in their contribution. Under the assumed condition of protracted exposure to 8 rads of low LET radiation and 2 rads of high LET radiation, or from 48 to 88 rem, the individual's risk of transmitting a new dominant mutation that will be expressed in his immediate offspring is estimated to increase by at least 4% and as much as about 40%. The HZE-particle component is not expected to make a significant contribution to the total risk.     

一类反馈型非线性系统的跟踪控制

为了完成对一类反馈型非线性系统的控制,研究了该类非线性系统。首先,根据LaSalle不变性原理论证了一类自治系统收敛的引理。然后,引入误差函数,通过误差函数的Lyapunov函数寻找使得误差函数渐近稳定的控制器,再根据引理得出系统状态所跟踪的轨迹全部收敛,从而使得系统状态均有界,系统的输出趋于输入;论述了控制器使系统状态稳定的条件,给出了闭环系统稳定性的证明。最后,给出了一个固定翼飞机纵向运动飞行控制系统的算例,并且按照所提的方法设计了控制器,在MATLAB的Simulink模块下进行了仿真验证。结果表明,对于阶跃信号和正弦信号,所提出的控制方法能够使得飞机俯仰角快速收敛跟踪指令。      

使用贝叶斯网评估基础软件平台的互操作性

互操作性是当前软件最重要的特性之一.通过分析问题域,结合贝叶斯网的特征域,提出使用贝叶斯网来解决基础软件平台的互操作性评估问题.首先根据问题域选取贝叶斯算法,并收集实际数据以引入与问题相关的领域知识.根据所选取的算法构造互操作性的贝叶斯网结构,并且进一步学习此结构的参数.在此过程中,对选取的K2算法进行改进.然后,利用贝叶斯推理来根据互操作性的结构和参数得出评估对象的互操作性等级.最后,一个实例讲述了方法具体的应用过程.实验结果证明了方法的合理性.     

Graviresponses of osteocytes under altered gravity

Single cell was capable of sensing and responding to alterations of gravity. Osteocytes, as the most abundant cells of the bone tissue playing an important role in the bone mechanotransduction, are very sensitive to mechanical stimuli. However, the effect of altered gravity on osteocytes so far is less known according to the public papers. Further study on this issue will help to verify and develop the theory of how cells perceive and respond to gravity. It also brings new ideas to the study of space bone loss. In our study, Osteocyte-like MLO-Y4 cells were exposed to 30 parabolic flights three times on ZERO-G airbus A300 to investigate the comprehensive effect on osteocytes stimulated by hyper- and hypo-gravity forces. It showed that the cell morphology, as well as cell area and height, was not changed significantly by hyper-gravity and hypo-gravity. However, the cytoskeleton was reorganized. In flight cells, F-actin polymerization was enhanced at the cell periphery and microtubule organizing center disappeared, but no apoptotic feathers were detected. The results of western blot showed that connexin 43 (Cx43) expression was down-regulated, indicating an decrease of gap-junction. In conclusion, hyper- and hypo-gravity stimulation altered the cytoskeleton architecture and suppressed gap-junction of osteocyte-like MLO-Y4 cells.     

Selection and biomedical training of cosmonauts.

The first cosmonauts were selected from the flying personnel. These individuals enjoying good health were more familiar with the conditions and effects of the factors similar to those which are to be found in space missions. In future, because of the complication of tasks to be solved in space missions, an inflight utilization and testing of sophisticated space technology, and conducting a broad spectrum of scientific studies, a demand arose for including cosmonaut-researchers--highly qualified representatives of various scientific specialities--in a flight crew. In this connection, a necessity was created for changing some evaluation criteria to assess the health status of the chosen candidates considering their age and physical fitness. In specific cases, during the selection process some health-improving measures related to professional significance of the candidates for a position of cosmonaut-researcher was carried out. The prime goal of cosmonauts selection is to predict their good tolerance for a particular space mission while maintaining health and adequate performance throughout the flight, completing the flight tasks and assuring successful return to the Earth. Inclusion of cosmonaut-researchers in space crews requires study of an effect of spaceflight factors on reactions of female subjects in simulated ground-based investigations. At present, the preparation of cosmonauts, can be defined as a continuous purposeful process of training, forming and maintaining operational skills, bringing up the crewmembers to acquire professionally significant psychological and physical features essential for effective work to be done in space mission. The preparation of cosmonauts consists mainly of technical, aviation and space, medical-biological and scientific trainings.