Initial closed operation of the CELSS Test Facility Engineering Development Unit.

As part of the NASA Advanced Life Support Flight Program, a Controlled Ecological Life Support System (CELSS) Test Facility Engineering Development Unit has been constructed and is undergoing initial operational testing at NASA Ames Research Center. The Engineering Development Unit (EDU) is a tightly closed, stringently controlled, ground-based testbed which provides a broad range of environmental conditions under which a variety of CELSS higher plant crops can be grown. Although the EDU was developed primarily to provide near-term engineering data and a realistic determination of the subsystem and system requirements necessary for the fabrication of a comparable flight unit, the EDU has also provided a means to evaluate plant crop productivity and physiology under controlled conditions. This paper describes the initial closed operational testing of the EDU, with emphasis on the hardware performance capabilities. Measured performance data during a 28-day closed operation period are compared with the specified functional requirements, and an example of inferring crop growth parameters from the test data is presented. Plans for future science and technology testing are also discussed.     

A continual model of soil organic matter transformations for predicting soil forming dynamics inside higher plant CELSS

A continual model of humification and mineralization of soil organic matter (SOM) formed under the conditions of a Lunar base from biological waste materials is proposed. The model parameters corresponding to the conditions of several Earths climatic regions are estimated. The time necessary for the formation of organic matter in the soil based on regolith and higher plant residues has been evaluated. Soil formation under tropical conditions are shown to be the most appropriate for Lunar base CELSS due to high matter turnover rate, relatively short formation time, minimum deposited mass, and satisfactory predictability of expected soil parameters.     

Development of a ground-based space micro-algae photo-bioreactor

The purpose of the research is to develop a photo-bioreactor which may produce algae protein and oxygen for future astronauts in comparatively long-term exploration, and remove carbon dioxide in a controlled ecological life support system. Based on technical parameters and performance requirements, the project planning, design drafting, and manufacture were conducted. Finally, a demonstration test for producing algae was done. Its productivity for micro-algae and performance of the photo-bioreactor were evaluated. The facility has nine subsystems, including the reactor, the illuminating unit, the carbon dioxide (CO₂) production unit and oxygen (O₂) generation unit, etc. The demonstration results showed that the facility worked well, and the parameters, such as energy consumption, volume, and productivity for algae, met with the design requirement. The density of algae in the photo-bioreactor increased from 0.174 g (dry weight) L⁻¹ to 4.064 g (dry weight) L⁻¹ after 7 days growth. The principle of providing CO₂ in the photo-bioreactor for algae and removing O₂ from the culture medium was suitable for the demand of space conditions. The facility has reasonable technical indices, and smooth and dependable performances.     

Development of an improved ground-based prototype of space plant-growing facility

Based on a formerly developed ground-based prototype of space plant-growing facility, the development of its improved prototype has been finished, so as to make its operating principle better adapt to the space microgravity environment. According to the developing experience of its first generation prototype and detailed demonstration and design of technique plan, its blueprint design and machining of related components, whole facility installment, debugging and trial operations were all done gradually. Its growing chamber contains a volume of about 0.5 m³ and a growing area of approximate 0.5 m²; the atmospheric environmental parameters in the growing chamber and water content in the growing media were controlled totally and effectively; lighting source is a combination of both red and blue light emitting diodes (LED). The following demonstrating results showed that the entire system design of the prototype is reasonable and its operating principle can nearly meet the requirements of space microgravity environment. Therefore, our plant-growing technique in space was advanced further, which laid an important foundation for next development of the space plant-growing facility and plant-cultivating experimental research in space microgravity condition.     

Selection of candidate salad vegetables for controlled ecological life support system

Higher plants, as one of the essential biological components of CELSS, can supply food, oxygen and water for human crews during future long-duration space missions and Lunar/Mars habitats. In order to select suitable leaf vegetable varieties for our CELSS Experimental Facility (CEF), five varieties of lettuce (“Nenlvnaiyou”, “Dasusheng”, “Naichoutai”, “Dongfangkaixuan” and “Siji”), two of spinach (“Daye” and “Quanneng”), one of rape (“Jingyou No. 1”) and one of common sowthistle were grown and compared on the basis of edible biomass, and nutrient content. In addition, two series of experiments were conducted to study single leaf photosynthetic rates and transpiration rates at 30 days after planting, one which used various concentrations of CO₂ (500, 1000, 1500 and 2000 μmol mol⁻¹) and another which used various light intensities (100, 300, 500 and 700 μmol m⁻² s⁻¹). Results showed that lettuce cvs. “Nenlvnaiyou”, “Siji” and “Dasusheng” produced higher yields of edible biomass; common sowthisle would be a good source of β-carotene for the diet. Based on the collective findings, we selected three varieties of lettuce (“Nenlvnaiyou”, “Dasusheng” and “Siji”) and one of common sowthistle as the candidate crops for further research in our CEF. In addition, elevated CO₂ concentration increased the rates of photosynthesis and transpiration, and elevated light intensity increased the rate of photosynthesis for these varieties. These results can be useful for determining optimal conditions for controlling CO₂ and water fluxes between the crops and the overall CELSS.     

Development of a CELSS bioreactor: oxygen transfer and micromixing in parabolic flight.

The gas exchange portion of a phase-separated loop bioreactor was tested with respect to oxygen mass transfer and micromixing in accelerations of 0.01g, 1g, and 2g. A plot of the overall mass transfer coefficient versus gravity indicates the rate of oxygen transfer does not change as a function of acceleration. Also, it was determined that the micromixing did not exhibit significant changes in the various gravitational fields. These observations indicate the loop bioreactor should function independent of acceleration.     

Silkworms culture as a source of protein for humans in space

This paper focuses on the problem about a configuration with complete nutrition for humans in a Controlled Ecological Life Support System (CELSS) applied in the spacebases. The possibility of feeding silkworms to provide edible animal protein with high quality for taikonauts during long-term spaceflights and lunar-based missions was investigated from several aspects, including the nutrition structure of silkworms, feeding method, processing methods, feeding equipment, growing conditions and the influences on the space environmental condition changes caused by the silkworms. The originally inedible silk is also regarded as a protein source. A possible process of edible silk protein was brought forward in this paper. After being processed, the silk can be converted to edible protein for humans. The conclusion provides a promising approach to solving the protein supply problem for the taikonauts living in space during an extended exploration period.     

卫星通信用低噪声放大器的研制

本文介绍C波段卫星通信用低噪声放大器主要技术指标、工作原理、设计计算公式、CAD程序说明及流程图、设计算结果、实测结果及其误差分析。     

智能比相仪的研制

简要介绍了新型智能比相仪的性能指标、组成特点等一些内容,对智能比相仪的硬件设计思路、软件技术特点进行了重点研究,并对智能比相仪的电路及工作原理进行了叙述和详细的分析。     

Experimental investigation of transient thermal behavior of an airship under different solar radiation and airflow conditions

Knowledge of the thermal behavior of airships is crucial to the development of airship technology. An experiment apparatus is constructed to investigate the thermal response characteristics of airships, and the transient temperature distributions of both hull and inner gas are obtained under the irradiation of a solar simulator and various airflow conditions. In the course of the research, the transient temperature change of the experimental airship is measured for four airflow speeds of 0 m/s (natural convection), 3.26 m/s, 5.5 m/s and 7.0 m/s, and two incident solar radiation values of 842.4 W/m² and 972.0 W/m². The results show that solar irradiation has significant influence on the airship hull and inner gas temperatures even if the airship stays in a ground airflow environment where the heat transfer is dominated by radiation and convection. The airflow around the airship is conducive to reduce the hull temperature and temperature nonuniformity. Transient thermal response of airships rapidly varies with time under solar radiation conditions and the hull temperature remains approximately constant in ∼5–10 min. Finally, a transient thermal model of airship is developed and the model is validated through comparison with the experimental data.     

二厘米小功率标准的研制

本文介绍用微量热计技术建立二厘米小功率标准的设计原理、结构特点、校准方法和误差分析及估算值。该标准采用了自动反馈和辅助加热器技术,大大缩短了测量时间,提高了校准速度。同时,全部校准过程都由IBM-PC机控制和数据处理并打印出测量结果。该功率标准在12.4～18.0GH_2范围内测量有效效率的总不确定度为±0.4％。     

卫星无线电测控的特点,变化及发展趋势

从卫星无线电测控发展进程可知,由于早期卫星是在各国火箭技术的基础上发展起来的,因此早期卫星的测控带有火箭测控的烙印。美国由于电子技术先进,较早发展了适合于卫星特点的测控;前苏联则由于技术和体制机制的原因持较长时间受火箭控的影响;中国实际上亦为如此。该文阐明了卫星测控的特点变化及发展趋势。认为测控系统在射频及视频的综合性是技术发展必然也是由卫星本身的特点所决定。研制部门的体制和业务项目的分工应适应的     

光频测量的发展

光频标在准确度上比目前最高准确度的微波量子频标将高几个数量级 ,作为时频基准是很理想的 ,它的建立对我国乃至世界的科技发展有着重要的作用。光频测量是近几年国际科技领域的热点 ,实现对光频的测量对光频标的建立有着重要的意义 ,而测量方法是实现对光频测量的关键。综述光频的测量方法 ,主要介绍传统的测量方法和目前国际上采用的飞秒脉冲激光梳技术以及光频测量最新的发展动态     

智能量仪的发展动向和对策

文章分析了国内外量仪发展的趋势,指出创新量仪传感器和提高测量系统智能化是智能量仪发展的两个动向,提出发展PCI、SCI、ASIC和RFM做为振兴我国智能量仪的对策。     

Operations of a spaceflight experiment to investigate plant tropisms

Plants will be an important component in bioregenerative systems for long-term missions to the Moon and Mars. Since gravity is reduced both on the Moon and Mars, studies that identify the basic mechanisms of plant growth and development in altered gravity are required to ensure successful plant production on these space colonization missions. To address these issues, we have developed a project on the International Space Station (ISS) to study the interaction between gravitropism and phototropism in Arabidopsis thaliana. These experiments were termed TROPI (for tropisms) and were performed on the European Modular Cultivation System (EMCS) in 2006. In this paper, we provide an operational summary of TROPI and preliminary results on studies of tropistic curvature of seedlings grown in space. Seed germination in TROPI was lower compared to previous space experiments, and this was likely due to extended storage in hardware for up to 8 months. Video downlinks provided an important quality check on the automated experimental time line that also was monitored with telemetry. Good quality images of seedlings were obtained, but the use of analog video tapes resulted in delays in image processing and analysis procedures. Seedlings that germinated exhibited robust phototropic curvature. Frozen plant samples were returned on three space shuttle missions, and improvements in cold stowage and handing procedures in the second and third missions resulted in quality RNA extracted from the seedlings that was used in subsequent microarray analyses. While the TROPI experiment had technical and logistical difficulties, most of the procedures worked well due to refinement during the project.     

Changes in plant medium composition after a spaceflight experiment: Potassium levels are of special interest

We present results on the analysis of 100 mL medium samples extracted from sterilized foam (Smithers-Oasis, Kent OH) used to support the growth of a representative dicotyledon (Haplopappus gracilis) and a representative monocotyledon (Hemerocallis cv Autumn Blaze) in NASA’s Plant Growth Unit (PGU) during a 5-day Space Shuttle flight and ground experiments. At recovery, the media remaining within replicate (n = 5) foam blocks (for both the spaceflight and ground experiments) were extracted under vacuum, filtered and subjected to elemental analyses. A unique aspect of this experiment was that all plants were either aseptically-generated tissue culture propagated plantlets or aseptic seedling clones. The design of the PGU facilitated the maintenance of asepsis throughout the mission (confirmed by post-flight microbial sampling) and thus any possible impact of microorganisms on medium composition was eliminated. Concentration levels of some elements remained the same, while some decreased and others increased. There was a significant two-fold difference between the final concentrations of potassium when the Earth-based and microgravity experiments were contrasted.     

Development of a super-pressure balloon with a diamond-shaped net

The essential reason of the lobed-pumpkin shaped super-pressure balloon to withstand against the high pressure is that the local curvature of the balloon film is kept small. Recently, it has been found that the small local curvature can also be obtained if the balloon is covered by a diamond-shaped net with a vertically elongated shape. The development of the super-pressure balloon using this method was started from a 3-m balloon with a polyethylene film covered by a net using Kevlar ropes. The ground inflation test showed the expected high burst pressure. Then, a 6-m and a 12-m balloon using a polyethylene film and a net using the Vectran were developed and stable deployment was checked through the ground inflation tests. The flight test of a 3000 m³ balloon was performed in 2013 and shown to resist a pressure of at least 400 Pa. In the future, after testing a new design to relax a possible stress concentration around the polar area, test flights of scaled balloons will be performed gradually enlarging their size. The goal is to launch a 300,000 m³ super-pressure balloon.     

8mm小功率标准装置的研制

介绍8mm小功率标准装置的工作原理,结构特点和误差分析及其计算值。该标准装置能在26.5～40GHz频率范围内准确、方便地测量热敏电阻座的有效效率η,其测量不确定度为0.4％。     

新型固态电压标准的研制

介绍了低成本、高稳定的固态电压标准器的研制 ,该标准器可取代 0 .0 0 0 5级以下的标准电池 ,具有较高的应用和推广价值。     

200Nms单框架控制力矩陀螺研制

介绍天宫一号目标飞行器采用的单框架控制力矩陀螺的总体结构、技术指标和验证试验.该单框架控制力矩陀螺的角动量为200Nms,最大可输出力矩为20Nm,响应带宽为2Hz,其中2个控制力矩陀螺高速转子已经进行了25000h的寿命试验.天宫一号目标飞行器姿态控制系统共采用了6个单框架控制力矩陀螺来输出姿态控制力矩,当1个或2个控制力矩陀螺失效时姿态控制系统仍能正常工作.