Might astronauts one day be treated like return samples?

The next time humans set foot on the Moon or another planet, will we treat the crew like we would a sample return mission when they come back to Earth? This may seem a surprising or even provocative question, but it is one we need to address. The hurdles and hazards of sending humans to Mars – for example, the technology constraints and physiological and psychological challenges – are many; but let us not forget the need to protect populations and environments from the risk of contamination [United Nations, treaty on principles governing the activities of states in the exploration and use of outer space, including the Moon and other celestial bodies (the “Outer Space Treaty”) referenced 610 UNTS 205 - resolution 2222(XXI) of December 1966].     

Planetary protection policy overview and application to future missions.

The 1967 treaty on the peaceful uses of outer space reflected both concerns associated with the unknown nature of the space environment and the desire of the world scientific community to preserve the pristine nature of celestial objects until such times as they could be studied in an effective manner. Since 1967, NASA has issued policy directives that have adopted the guidelines of COSPAR for protecting the planets from contamination by Earth organisms and for protecting the Earth from the unknown. This paper presents the current status of planetary protection (quarantine) policy within NASA, and a prospectus on how planetary protection and back contamination issues might be addressed in relation to future missions envisioned for development by NASA either independently, or in cooperation with the space agencies of other nations.     

一种基于天体观测的月球车位置姿态确定方法

针对月球车提出了一种基于天文观测的自主位置姿态确定方法.建立了利用天体敏感器测量得到的天体高度和方位作为观测信息的量测方程,并利用月球车运动的三阶常加速(CA,Constant Aceeleration)模型和姿态的欧拉角运动模型作为系统方程,给出了基于Unscented卡尔曼滤波获得月球车实时位置、速度和姿态信息的导航方法.计算机仿真表明该方法可达到较高的位置姿态确定精度.      

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.     

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.     

深空探测器自主控制技术综述

深空探测是人类考察、勘探和定居地球外其它天体的第1步,而深空探测器的自主控制技术则是确保深空探测任务成功完成的重要关键技术之一。从"自主导航、自主制导与控制、自主任务规划、自主故障诊断与重构"4个方面对深空探测器自主控制技术的研究现状进行综述,分析了已有的深空探测器自主控制技术存在的问题,并根据深空探测技术发展和任务实施的需求,提出了深空探测器自主控制技术未来研究的发展趋势。     

Planetary protection issues related to human missions to Mars

In accordance with the United Nations Outer Space Treaties [United Nations, Agreement Governing the Activities of States on the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies, UN doc A/RES/34/68, resolution 38/68 of December 1979], currently maintained and promulgated by the Committee on Space Research [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], missions exploring the Solar system must meet planetary protection requirements. Planetary protection aims to protect celestial bodies from terrestrial contamination and to protect the Earth environment from potential biological contamination carried by returned samples or space systems that have been in contact with an extraterrestrial environment. From an exobiology perspective, Mars is one of the major targets, and several missions are currently in operation, in transit, or scheduled for its exploration. Some of them include payloads dedicated to the detection of life or traces of life. The next step, over the coming years, will be to return samples from Mars to Earth, with a view to increasing our knowledge in preparation for the first manned mission that is likely to take place within the next few decades. Robotic missions to Mars shall meet planetary protection specifications, currently well documented, and planetary protection programs are implemented in a very reliable manner given that experience in the field spans some 40 years. With regards to sample return missions, a set of stringent requirements has been approved by COSPAR [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], and technical challenges must now be overcome in order to preserve the Earth’s biosphere from any eventual contamination risk. In addition to the human dimension of the mission, sending astronauts to Mars will entail meeting all these constraints. Astronauts present huge sources of contamination for Mars and are also potential carriers of biohazardous material on their return to Earth. If they were to have the misfortune of being contaminated, they themselves would become a biohazard, and, as a consequence, in addition to the technical constraints, human and ethical considerations must also be taken into account.     

月球车地球敏感器图像地心位置提取算法

地球是月球上可视半径最大的天体,且在天球上运动范围较小,不存在升降现象.当月球车在月球对地面区域活动时,利用地球敏感器对地球成像可实现月球车长期自主天文导航.地球图像地心位置提取是利用地球敏感器进行天文导航的关键技术之一,直接决定了地球敏感器的观测精度.本文通过研究地球敏感器镜头投影模型分析地球成像规律,提出一种不受地相变化约束的地球敏感器图像地心位置提取算法,采用取半搜索法和循环搜索法两步实现地球真实边缘线的充分筛选,并基于此拟合地心位置.半物理仿真实验校验结果表明,本算法能针对不同地相图像有效提取地球中心,外符合平均精度约为9.78"~16.68",在实验条件随机改变的情况下,地心位置外符合精度标准差互差最大不超过0.98".      

Implementing planetary protection requirements for sample return missions.

NASA is committed to exploring space while avoiding the biological contamination of other solar system bodies and protecting the Earth against potential harm from materials returned from space. NASA's planetary protection program evaluates missions (with external advice from the US National Research Council and others) and imposes particular constraints on individual missions to achieve these objectives. In 1997 the National Research Council's Space Studies Board published the report, Mars Sample Return: Issues and Recommendations, which reported advice to NASA on Mars sample return missions, complementing their 1992 report, The Biological Contamination of Mars Issues and Recommendations. Meanwhile, NASA has requested a new Space Studies Board study to address sample returns from bodies other than Mars. This study recognizes the variety of worlds that have been opened up to NASA and its partners by small, relatively inexpensive, missions of the Discovery class, as well as the reshaping of our ideas about life in the solar system that have been occasioned by the Galileo spacecraft's discovery that an ocean under the ice on Jupiter's moon Europa might, indeed, exist. This paper will report on NASA's planned implementation of planetary protection provisions based on these recent National Research Council recommendations, and will suggest measures for incorporation in the planetary protection policy of COSPAR.     

Multiobjective genetic optimization of Earth–Moon trajectories in the restricted four-body problem

In this paper, optimal trajectories of a spacecraft traveling from Earth to Moon using impulsive maneuvers (ΔV maneuvers) are investigated. The total flight time and the summation of impulsive maneuvers ΔV are the objective functions to be minimized. The main celestial bodies influencing the motion of the spacecraft in this journey are Sun, Earth and Moon. Therefore, a three-dimensional restricted four-body problem (R4BP) model is utilized to represent the motion of the spacecraft in the gravitational field of these celestial bodies. The total ΔV of the maneuvers is minimized by eliminating the ΔV required for capturing the spacecraft by Moon. In this regard, only a mid-course impulsive maneuver is utilized for Moon ballistic capture. To achieve such trajectories, the optimization problem is parameterized with respect to the orbital elements of the ballistic capture orbits around Moon, the arrival date and a mid-course maneuver time. The equations of motion are solved backward in time with three impulsive maneuvers up to a specified low Earth parking orbit. The results show high potential and capability of this type of parameterization in finding several Pareto-optimal trajectories. Using the non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm with crowding distance sorting (NSGA-II) for the resulting multiobjective optimization problem, several trajectories are discovered. The resulting trajectories of the presented scheme permit alternative trade-off studies by designers incorporating higher level information and mission priorities.     

Planetary protection issues of private endeavours in research,exploration, and human access to space: An environmental economics approach to forward contamination

In light of the rapidly growing New Space Economy, the landscape of space exploration and development activities will certainly become much more complicated year by year. Relevant commercial space actors have already emerged, pushing the boundaries of entrepreneurial space ventures beyond the Earth-oriented upstream and downstream market segments and opening up the path towards the novel segments of space exploration, space resources utilization, and space research. Planetary protection is usually defined as a set of guidelines concerning the avoidance of bidirectional biological material exchange between the Earth and other celestial bodies. Recent success stories of established and new-entrant NewSpace actors, although posing no realistic planetary protection threat at present, clearly indicate that serious work needs to be done in order for the relevant guidelines to keep up with the rapid advances of the technology development cycles that occur within NewSpace companies. This need may become even more urgent, as space entrepreneurs acquire and develop the resources and competencies to target the currently underserved market segments of space research, exploration, and utilization. As of now, these capabilities were maintained solely by public space agencies; thus, all planetary protection priorities, strategies, and responsibilities were discussed, agreed-upon, and delegated for implementation among national and international working groups of public stakeholders. Although top-down regulations can be effective in controlling the quality and conformity of the deliverables of private subcontractors to public contractors, international planetary protection frameworks might need to evolve even beyond such unmet public-private interaction and partnership models. For this reason, this study did not focus on the legal and political issues of mandating NewSpace actors to adhere to planetary protection guidelines; rather, drawing from the field of sustainable development on Earth, an environmental economics approach was followed, with the goal of viewing the relationship between planetary protection and private space exploration and development as another “tragedy of the commons” problem that must be settled accordingly. After the problem’s framing, i.e. the conceptual presentation and synthesis of four extraterrestrial non-excludable goods, the initial approach of their total economic value, and the negative externalities of their exploitation, a discussion of the forward contamination mitigation costs was conducted. Drawing from the literature and using examples from both the terrestrial and aerospace sectors, a pre-emptive move was suggested: the establishment of a global industry consortium for the pre-competitive collaboration in forward contamination mitigation technologies, centered on an international planetary protection analogue program and its respective testbed facility.     

Life in the solar system.

Life, defined as a chemical system capable of transferring its molecular information via self-replication and also capable of evolving, must develop within a liquid to take advantage of the diffusion of complex molecules. On Earth, life probably originated from the evolution of reduced organic molecules in liquid water. Organic matter might have been formed in the primitive Earth's atmosphere or near hydrothermal vents. A large fraction of prebiotic organic molecules might have been brought by extraterrestrial-meteoritic and cometary dust grains decelerated by the atmosphere. Any celestial body harboring permanent liquid water may therefore accumulate the ingredients that generated life on the primitive Earth. The possibility that life might have evolved on early Mars when water existed on the surface marks it as a prime candidate in a search for bacterial life beyond the Earth. Europa has an icy carapace. However, cryovolcanic flows at the surface point to a possible water subsurface region which might harbor a basic life form. The atmosphere and surface components of Titan are also of interest to exobiology for insight into a hydrocarbon-rich chemically evolving world. One-handed complex molecules and preferential isotopic fractionation of carbon, common to all terrestrial life forms, can be used as basic indicators when searching for life beyond the Earth.     

U.S. planetary protection program: Implementation highlights

The implementation of planetary protection in the United States space program has reflected the trend in policy from an absolute to a probabilistic prohibition of the contamination of the celestial bodies of the solar system. The early emphasis on spacecraft sterilization (e.g. Ranger) was replaced by the imposition of contamination control procedures on later missions such as Pioneer, Viking, and Voyager. Similarly, analytical and laboratory techniques were developed to demonstrate compliance with probabilistic requirements. Microbial burden reduction methods that are not hazardous for spacecraft reliability supplanted the abstract concept of sterilization. The United States implementation of planetary protection has been completely successful. In an exploration program that has included Mercury, Venus, Mars, the Jovian system, and the Saturnian system, there have been no accidental impacts or detection of false positives (terrestrial microbes). Further, the contamination control and microbial burden procedures have proved beneficial to spacecraft systems and on-board science instruments. We review in this paper the implementation of planetary protection procedures by the Pioneer (10 and 11), Viking and Voyager projects.     

基于Lyapunov函数的小天体软着陆障碍规避控制方法

针对姿轨耦合型探测器控制方法存在工程实现难、计算效率低的问题,提出一种基于Lyapunov函数的小天体自主软着陆障碍规避控制方法。首先,建立了小天体着陆过程姿态和轨道的动力学模型;其次,考虑探测器当前的势能与障碍地形对探测器的威胁选取Lyapunov函数,并根据Lyapunov稳定性原理推导了推力器的开关控制逻辑,能够实现到达目标着陆点的同时进行障碍规避,且该过程不需事先设计参考模型。同时,该控制逻辑具有解析形式,能够实现实时障碍规避。仿真结果表明,该方法能够有效实现规避障碍且满足姿态稳定的要求。     

小天体表面采样技术综述

小天体是人类了解太阳系起源演变的重要载体,承载着丰富的科学信息。同时小天体含有丰富的贵金属及稀有元素,具有巨大的利用价值,对小天体进行采样探测具有重要的科学与工程意义。通过调研小天体表面特性以及国外小天体采样技术研究现状与成果,总结了小天体环境对采样探测的特殊要求,归纳了小天体表面采样探测具有低反作用力、轻量化、小型化、低能耗化,需适应附着与接触探测模式等特点,提出了对小天体采样探测的技术需求,为小天体采样探测技术深入研究提供支撑。     

“新视野号”探测冥王星及柯伊伯带综述

迄今为止飞得最快的航天器、人类发射的第一个冥王星探测器——"新视野号",经过约9年的行星际旅行,于2015年1月15日抵达距地球约47亿千米的冥王星附近,开始探测冥王星、冥卫、以及它们所处的柯伊柏带其他天体。柯伊柏带是1992年才发现的太阳系新大陆,虽然冥王星已被重新定义为矮行星,却从一颗颇具争议的行星成为数千颗冰冻小天体的"领头羊"。本文介绍了"新视野号"的科学目标和有效载荷,分析了"新视野号"采用的探测器长期休眠、木星借力、太空核能等关键技术,探讨了冥王星和柯伊柏带探测的意义。作为太阳系的冷库,柯伊伯带天体保留着太阳系形成时的原始状态,对它的探测,有助于揭示太阳系行星形成时的关键环节。"新视野号"也可能发现新的太阳系行星,其成果将有助于我们更深入地认识太阳系。     

Synergistic approach of asteroid exploitation and planetary protection

The asteroid and cometary impact hazard has long been recognised as an important issue requiring risk assessment and contingency planning. At the same time asteroids have also been acknowledged as possible sources of raw materials for future large-scale space engineering ventures. This paper explores possible synergies between these two apparently opposed views; planetary protection and space resource exploitation. In particular, the paper assumes a 5 tonne low-thrust spacecraft as a baseline for asteroid deflection and capture (or resource transport) missions. The system is assumed to land on the asteroid and provide a continuous thrust able to modify the orbit of the asteroid according to the mission objective. The paper analyses the capability of such a near-term system to provide both planetary protection and asteroid resources to Earth. Results show that a 5 tonne spacecraft could provide a high level of protection for modest impact hazards: airburst and local damage events (caused by 15–170 m diameter objects). At the same time, the same spacecraft could also be used to transport to bound Earth orbits significant quantities of material through judicious use of orbital dynamics and passively safe aero-capture manoeuvres or low energy ballistic capture. As will be shown, a 5 tonne low-thrust spacecraft could potentially transport between 12 and 350 times its own mass of asteroid resources by means of ballistic capture or aero-capture trajectories that pose very low dynamical pressures on the object.     

火星无人探测与行星保护

行星保护是每一个开展深空探测的国家都要面对的问题,火星是太阳系里最可能存在地外生命的星球之一,也是行星保护的重点关注对象,在我国火星探测即将正式启动之际,对标国际上行星保护的政策、标准、技术和管理措施,对我国未来在火星探测中满足国际上行星保护的要求至关重要。主要回顾了行星保护的历史,国外在火星探测历史上行星保护正向防护所采取的措施,以及现代科学技术发展对行星保护正向防护相关技术的影响,并对我国未来火星及深空探测活动中应该采取的行星保护正向污染防护技术提出了建议。     

北斗卫星导航系统X射线脉冲星可见性分析

X射线脉冲星可以为深空乃至近地航天器提供全源、自主、高精度的导航服务.对近地航天器而言,由于中心天体的遮挡,脉冲星信号并非全程可见,所以X射线脉冲星的可见性成为近地导航应用中挑选脉冲星的关键因素,也是脉冲星导航的首要工作.本文对挑选出的30颗X射线脉冲星在北斗系统7个轨道面上的可见性进行了仿真分析,得出了一天内可见脉冲星数量的变化情况以及一年内太阳、地球和月球遮挡的仿真结果,总结了影响脉冲星可见性的天体的遮挡规律,为利用脉冲星对北斗卫星进行自主定轨和守时提供了数据支持.     

天文导航在航天工程应用中的若干问题及进展

导航作为航天器核心技术之一,是确保航天任务成败的关键。天文导航以其连续性好、自主性强、实时性优、导航精度高等优点,逐渐成为航天器导航的有效手段。基于国内外天文导航理论及应用的现状,结合近地卫星、深空探测任务特点,探讨了天文导航在航天工程应用中的理论问题与技术问题,如导航目标源观测量精确建模问题、高精度感知与检测问题等,并对新型天文导航技术进行了展望,指出了未来天文导航理论与技术的发展方向,为解决航天工程中的连续自主、实时高精度导航问题提供了有效途径,为学术与工程界进一步深入开展航天器天文导航理论与技术研究提供参考。