Life sciences

Space life sciences research activities are reviewed for 2003. Many life sciences experiments were lost with the tragic loss of STS-107. Life sciences experiments continue to fly as small payloads to the International Space Station (ISS) via the Russian Progress vehicle. Health-related studies continue with the Martian Radiation Environment Experiment (MARIE) aboard the Odyssey spacecraft, collecting data on the radiation environment in Mars orbit. NASA Ames increased nanotechnology research in all areas, including fundamental biology, bioastronautics, life support systems, and homeland security. Plant research efforts continued at NASA Kennedy, testing candidate crops for ISS. Research included plant growth studies at different light intensities, varying carbon dioxide concentrations, and different growth media. Education and outreach efforts included development of a NASA/USDA program called Space Agriculture in the Classroom. Canada sponsored a project called Tomatosphere, with classrooms across North America exposing seeds to simulated Mars environment for growth studies. NASA's Office of Biological and Physical Research released an updated strategic research plan.     

Engineering test beds on the International Space Station

The International Space Station is a unique multi-faceted orbiting laboratory supporting research, development, test and evaluation of new innovative space and Earth-based applications. While NASA sponsored investigations on the ISS are focused largely on enabling future long duration human space exploration missions, Congress designated the US portion of the space station as a National Laboratory making its facilities available to other Federal agencies and private entities for non-exploration related ventures. RDT&E activities on the ISS encompass a number of technical areas including environmental control and life support, communications, materials science, guidance, navigation and control, propulsion, electrical power, and thermal control systems.     

Space: where are we headed?

In a new column, the author reviews NASA space activities since the beginning of 2003 and looks at plans for the future. Topics include the Space Shuttle Columbia, what's in store for the International Space Station (ISS), the development of an orbital space plane, orbiter safety upgrades, and the future of space exploration and research beyond the ISS. He presents arguments for sending astronauts to asteroids, the Moon, and Mars.     

Conversations with Rep. Ken Calvert. Interview by Frank Sietzen Jr

Rep. Calvert, chair of the House aeronautics and space subcommittee of the Science Committee, answers questions related to priorities for space in the current congressional session: the Vision for Space Exploration, development of the Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV) and other heavy-lift launch vehicles, entrepreneurial alliances in the space transportation industry, the U.S. aerospace industry, space tourism, entrepreneurs and NASA, U.S. aeronautics research, a service mission to the Hubble Space Telescope, and priority military space programs.     

Steering the station back on course

Rising costs of the International Space Station prompted NASA to convene a panel of experts to assess the quality of ISS cost estimates and review program assumptions and requirements. The panel concluded that NASA was unable to accurately predict ISS costs or to support requests for increased funding for the ISS through 2006 and should maintain a U.S. core complete program with three-person crews with 6-month stays on the ISS. International response to the panel report was negative with space agencies from Japan, Russia, Canada, and Europe taking issue with the expected impact on ISS construction and use.     

James Webb Space Telescope: Project Overview

The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) project at the NASA, Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) is responsible for the development, launch, flight, and science operations for the telescope. The project is in phase B with its launch scheduled for no earlier than June 2013. The project is a partnership among NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA), and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA). The JWST mission team is fully in place, including major ESA and CSA subcontractors. This provides an overview of the planned JWST science, current architecture focusing on the instrumentation, and mission status, including technology developments, and risks.     

Intersatellite communications optoelectronics research at theGoddard Space Flight Center

A review is presented of current optoelectronics research and development at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center for high-power, high-bandwidth laser transmitters; high-bandwidth, high-sensitivity optical receivers; pointing, acquisition, and tracking components; and experimental and theoretical system modeling at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. Program hardware and space flight opportunities are presented     

我国空间站工程量化风险评价工作探讨

为适应我国载人航天任务的新特点,有效支持空间站量化风险评价工作,调研了美国国家航空航天局（NASA）载人登月、国际空间站、航天飞机等载人航天项目的概率风险评价（PRA）工作,对比分析了PRA方法在不同载人航天项目中的应用效果。在此基础上,针对我国空间站工程的特点,初步提出了基于PRA的空间站工程量化风险评价方案与工作思路,对该方法在我国空间站实施所存在的问题进行了分析,并在方法规范、数据收集等方面提出了工作建议,为我国空间站量化风险评估工作提供技术支持。     

STEREO Space Weather and the Space Weather Beacon

The Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory (STEREO) is primarily a solar and interplanetary research mission, with one of the natural applications being in the area of space weather. The obvious potential for space weather applications is so great that NOAA has worked to incorporate the real-time data into their forecast center as much as possible. A subset of the STEREO data will be continuously downlinked in a real-time broadcast mode, called the Space Weather Beacon. Within the research community there has been considerable interest in conducting space weather related research with STEREO. Some of this research is geared towards making an immediate impact while other work is still very much in the research domain. There are many areas where STEREO might contribute and we cannot predict where all the successes will come. Here we discuss how STEREO will contribute to space weather and many of the specific research projects proposed to address STEREO space weather issues. The data which will be telemetered down in the Space Weather Beacon is also summarized here. Some of the lessons learned from integrating other NASA missions into the forecast center are presented. We also discuss some specific uses of the STEREO data in the NOAA Space Environment Center.     

Psychological health maintenance on Space Station Freedom

The scheduling of crew rotations for up to 180 days on Space Station Freedom presents a special challenge for behavioral scientists who are tasked with providing psychological support for the crews, their families, and mission flight controllers. Preflight psychological support planning may minimize the negative impact of psychological and social issues on mission success, as well as assist NASA management in making real-time mission planning decisions in the event of a significant social event (for example, the death of a family member). During flight, the combined psychological, emotional, and social stressors on the astronauts must be monitored, along with other aspects of their health. The Health Maintenance Facility (HMF) will have the capability of providing preventive, diagnostic, and therapeutic assistance for significant psychiatric and interpersonal problems which may develop. Psychological support will not end with the termination of the mission. Mental health professionals must be part of the team of medical personnel whose job will be to facilitate the transition--physical and mental--from the space environment back to planet Earth. This paper reviews each phase of mission planning for Space Station Freedom and specifies those factors that may be critical for psychological health maintenance on extended-duration space missions.     

The LISA Pathfinder Mission

LISA Pathfinder, formerly known as SMART-2, is the second of the European Space Agency’s Small Missions for Advance Research and Technology, and is designed to pave the way for the joint ESA/NASA Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) mission, by testing the core assumption of gravitational wave detection and general relativity: that free particles follow geodesics. The new technologies to be demonstrated in a space environment include: inertial sensors, high precision laser interferometry to free floating mirrors, and micro-Newton proportional thrusters. LISA Pathfinder will be launched on a dedicated launch vehicle in late 2011 into a low Earth orbit. By a transfer trajectory, the sciencecraft will enter its final orbit around the first Sun-Earth Lagrange point. First science results are expected approximately 3 months thereafter. Here, we give an overview of the mission including the technologies being demonstrated.     

Decisions, endings, and new beginnings

The Washington Watch column examines NASA shuttle developments, airline pilot age issues, development of a personnel recovery vehicle, and includes an obituary for retired Air Force General Bernard Schriever, remembered as an air and space pioneer. The discussion of NASA shuttle developments reports on the space shuttle flight schedule and NASA's ability to deliver hardware to the International Space Station, funding levels and equipment development schedules related to President Bush's mandate to visit Mars, a report on the space program by the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and top-level management changes at NASA. The discussion of airline pilot age issues examines efforts to change mandatory retirement requirements. The discussion of personnel recovery vehicles reports on development of an aircraft designed to rescue survivors during combat search and rescue missions.     

SIRTF — The moderate mission

The Space Infrared Telescope Facility (SIRTF) has been planned by NASA and the US scientific and aerospace communities as a cryogenically-cooled observatory for infrared astronomy from space. Within the past few years, severe pressures on NASA's budget have led to the cancellation of many programs and to dramatic rescoping of others; SIRTF is in the latter category. This paper describes the resulting redefinition of SIRTF and the technical innovations which have made it possible to package SIRTF's key scientific capabilities into the envelope of a moderate-class mission.     

SOHO operations and ground system

SOHO is a joint ESA/NASA mission to study the sun from its interior to, and including, the solar wind in interplanetary space. It is currently scheduled for launch in 1995. After launch SOHO with be operated from the Experiment Operations Facility (EOF) at Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC). The EOF will consist of facilities for instrument commanding, data reception, data reduction and data analysis. In this paper the operations concepts including instrument ground commanding from the EOF and communications capabilities between the EOF and ground observatories and the public networks in general will be described.     

Risks of particle hits during space walks in low Earth orbit

The construction of the International Space Station (ISS) may involve several thousand hours of space walks or “extravehicular activities” (EVAs). Among the many risks involved in EVAs, we focus here on potential failures of the external maneuvering unit (EMU) caused by impacts of space particles (micro-meteoroids and orbital debris). We present a probabilistic risk analysis (PRA) model based on available data for the particle flux in low Earth orbit as well as test data obtained at Johnson Space Center about the capacity of the current EMU to absorb these loads. We computed the risk for a peak year of EVA activity, assumed by NASA to consist of 624 hours of EVA exposure. For that time period, we found that, the probability of a fatality is about 1.4*10^-3 without shielding and 1.1*10^-3 per 624 hours of EVA with shielding, This model can be used as support for a number of decisions regarding space suit design, astronaut shielding options, and overall number of EVA hours for space station construction and operation     

The Huygens Probe System Design

Space Science Reviews - The Huygens Probe is the ESA-provided element of the joint NASA/ESA Cassini/Huygens mission to Saturn and its largest moon Titan. Huygens is an entry probe designed to enter...     

Conversations with John H. Glenn Jr. Interview by Frank Sietzen Jr

Senator Glenn is interviewed about his experiences on Friendship 7 and the Shuttle Discovery, expectations of early astronauts, lunar missions, the International Space Station, international dimensions of space activities, public confidence in NASA, attracting young people to the aerospace industry, highlights of his career, and the future of flight.     

太空环境下电子束原位制造技术

美国国家航空航天局（NASA）载人探索计划的提出给载人登月和载人火星等带来了机会和风险,NASA的工程师和科学家正在开展在月球或火星表面利用当地提炼的材料进行原位制造工艺技术的研究。首先,介绍了太空原位制造和修复（ISFR）技术的概念和特点,结合该技术的发展背景,介绍了电子束原位制造技术的概念、特点以及在太空环境下应用的优势和潜力。然后,根据所用原材料和成形工艺原理的不同,电子束原位制造技术又分为电子束熔融（EBM）和电子束自由成形制造（EBF³）技术两个分支,分别介绍了这两个分支技术的概念、原理、特点以及采用该技术研制出的零件的性能,结合硬件设备的情况介绍了在太空环境下应用的适用性,同时也详细介绍了NASA利用兰利研究中心的C-9抛物线飞行试验系统进行电子束原位制造微重力试验的研究成果、试验数据和未来的发展趋势。最后,结合中国未来空间事业发展的需要,提出了关于发展太空环境下电子束原位制造技术的设想与建议。     

The STEREO Observatory

The Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory (STEREO) is the third mission in NASA’s Solar Terrestrial Probes program. The mission is managed by the Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) and implemented by The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (JHU/APL). This two-year mission provides a unique and revolutionary view of the Sun–Earth system. Consisting of two nearly identical observatories, one ahead of Earth in its orbit around the Sun and the other trailing behind the Earth, the spacecraft trace the flow of energy and matter from the Sun to Earth and reveal the three-dimensional structure of coronal mass ejections (CMEs) to help explain their genesis and propagation. From its unique side-viewing vantage point, STEREO also provides alerts for Earth-directed solar ejections. These alerts are broadcast at all times and received either by NASA’s Deep Space Network (DSN) or by various space-weather partners.     

Management of Electronic Systems in Space Vehicles

The following is a condensation of a panel discussion which took place at the 1966 Aerospace Systems Conference, Thursday, July 14, 1966, in Seattle, Wash. The panel moderator was Frank Gardiner, at present the Manager of Space Programs at RCA, serving as a representative of the electronics industry in the discussion. Panelists were George H. Stoner, Vice President and General Manager of the space division of Boeing, serving as representative of prime contractors and vehicle integrators; Col. Marion B. Gibson, the Director of the Defense Communication Satellite System Program at the Space Systems Command of the U.S. Air Force in Los Angeles, representing the point of view of the government in the discussion. The overall objective of the panel discussion was to provide some indications or suggestions as to how all levels of organization should operate in order to provide the best electronic products for space vehicles at the least possible expense. As the discussion was held in open sesstion, with questions received from the audience, any mention of classified information was avoided. The discussion was divided into five phases, roughly corresponding to the stages in the life of an electronic system. These phases were 1) the phase in which research of an applied nature, though not as yet directed toward a specific mission, is being done on specific electronic products; 2) the phase in which there is a specific mission in mind.