Recent results of the joint ESA-DARA/IBMP experiments Biokosmos "Seeds"

Comparison of experimental data obtained from short (SDEF) and long duration exposure flights (LDEF) have recently led to results which will be significant for longer and/or repeated sojourn of man in space. Under orbital conditions biological stress and damage are induced in test subjects by cosmic radiation, especially the high energetic, densely ionizing component of heavy ions. Plant seeds were successful model systems for a biotest in studying the physiological damages and mutagenic effect caused by ionizing cosmic radiation in particular stem cells. Dosimetrically, the subdivision into charge- and Let-groups reveals the contribution of the intermediate group (LET = 350-1000 MeV/cm) due to the medium heavy ions (Z = 6-10). Their relative contribution increases with the lower inclination of the orbit of LDEF-1; on the other hand, the total fluence becomes higher with longer duration of the flight. The observed endpoints of the biological radiation damage hint at a correlation with particle dose rate rather than with the dose; additionally, data on shielding effects inside and outside the space craft and its exposure were gained from the different SDEF- and LDEF-missions.     

基于多波长激光吸收光谱技术的气体温度二维重建

激光吸收光谱技术在航空航天领域具有广泛的应用前景。文章利用多波长激光吸收光谱技术设计了气体温度二维重建系统,实现了燃烧场气体温度的二维重建,通过增加吸收谱线信息减少了投影个数。重建算法采用了遗传模拟退火结合序列二次规划(SQP)的混合算法,在实现全局寻优的同时提高了运算效率。建立了产物包含水的燃烧模型,利用8条水的近红外吸收谱线,对燃烧场温度进行了二维重建。通过在测量信息中添加不同比例的随机噪声,验证了算法的稳定性,并与双波长吸收法进行了对比。数值仿真实验结果表明,在低噪声环境下,两种方法的重建结果相当;但对于噪声较大的环境而言,多波长吸收法的重建效果更为稳定。     

中远红外高功率量子级联激光技术研究进展

量子级联激光器具有体积小,重量轻,波长可调谐,以及光源能够覆盖中远红外和太赫兹波段等特点,使其在痕量气体检测、定向红外对抗、自由空间光通讯以及红外成像和光谱等领域有着广泛的应用。自从1994年第一个量子级联激光器问世以来,大功率、高电光效率以及室温下连续工作的量子级联激光器一直是人们追求的目标。首先介绍了量子级联激光器的有源层设计、波导设计和器件散热设计方面的研究进展;其次重点讨论了4 μm~5 μm 中波红外和8 μm~12 μm长波红外高功率室温下连续量子级联激光器的发展和演变、以及大功率脉冲量子级联激光器研究情况;最后简要介绍了大功率量子级联激光器芯片的外延制备技术。     

Shock waves in water foams

Propagation of shock waves in tubes filled with water foams is studied using pressure gauges. Low amplitude shock waves consist of a precursor which propagates at a velocity slightly less than the acoustic velocity in the gas, and of a main compression wave which propagates slower than the precursor. Stronger shock waves have a single front. Maximum pressure rise in the incident and reflected shock waves cannot be calculated using one-dimensional conservation equations at the shock front. It is suggested that the flow of the liquid in foam cells has to be taken into account in order to predict the behavior of shock waves in foams. The nature of the gas which fills the cells is shown to have a strong effect on the quenching of blast waves in foams.     

Instability of entropy waves in cosmic plasma

A dispersion equation is derived for small disturbances of the magnetohydrodynamic type in optically transparent plasma with cosmic abundance of elements. The electron heat conductivity along the magnetic field and proton heat conductivity across the field are taken into account. It is shown that entropy waves increase exponentially in wide ranges of temperatures and densities of the cosmic plasma. Manifestations of instability of the entropy waves in the cosmic plasma are discussed.     

Recent developments in micrometeoroid simulation

In the first part the state of the art of the most advanced micrometeoroid simulation techniques is reviewed. Then a new accelerator is described, which was developed jointly by the Technische Universität München and the N.A.S.A. George C. Marshall Space Flight Center. Finally the use of this new technique is indicated for basic research in fields other than astronautics.     

Recent space developments in South Korea

Despite some setbacks – notably an indigenous launch failure – progress is being made in South Korea's space program and its public image has been boosted by the first flight of a Korean astronaut to the ISS. This report provides an update on recent and forthcoming space activities in the country and on its current cooperative arrangements.     

Recent advances in lunar base simulation

This article reports about the results of the latest computer runs of a lunar base simulation model. The lunar base consists of 20 facilities for lunar mining, processing and fabrication. The infrastructure includes solar and nuclear power plants, a central workshop, habitat and farm. Lunar products can be used for construction of solar power systems (SPS) or other spacecraft at several space locations. The simulation model evaluates the mass, energy and manpower flows between the elements of the system as well as system cost and cost of products on an annual basis for a given operational period. The 1983 standard model run over a fifty-years life cycle (beginning about the year 2000) was accomplished for a mean annual production volume of 78 180 Mg of hardware products for export resulting in average specific manufacturing cost of 8.4 $/kg and total annual cost of 1.25 billion dollars during the life cycle. The reference space transportation system uses LOX/LH₂ propulsion for which at the average 210 500 Mg LOX per year is produced on the moon. The sensitivity analysis indicates the importance of bootstrapping as well as the influence of market size, space transportation cost and specific resources demand on the mean lunar manufacturing cost. The option using lunar resources turns out to be quite attractive from the economical viewpoint. Systems analysis by this lunar base model and further trade-offs will be a useful tool to confirm this.     

Compact high-voltage accelerators of charged particles in space experiments

Some general problems of design and application of compact devices for the generation of pulse electric fields at a megavolt range in space experiments are discussed. The prospect of various applications of powerful electron beams for active diagnostics of upper layers of atmosphere, radiation belts and the earth's magnetic field is also reviewed. The proposed development of powerful impulsive devices is dictated by limitations of energy resources in spacecraft together with a need to get a good signal-to-noise ratio for reliable data recording. Compact devices which directly transform electric energy of a low-voltage source (solar batteries, chemical elements, nuclear reactor, etc.), into the energy of a megavolt charge particle beam of high impulsive power appear as reliable means for satisfying these requirements. In this paper, the basic practical schemes of energy transformation procedures are considered and the optimal operation parameters of high-voltage storage and transformer systems are discussed. Proper application of combined high-voltage insulation techniques result in the development of experimental models of heavy-current electron beam accelerators capable of generating beams of 300–500 kV, 3–5 kA, with a pulse duration of 15 × 10⁻⁹ sec at a frequency of 10 Hz. Typical applications of electron beam accelerators including the generator of electron-beam-controlled discharge laser beams are also described.     

Floating zone experiments with germanium crystals in sounding rockets

A floating zone experiment with a coated surface was performed in a sounding rocket. Analysis of the segregation showed that elimination of free surfaces decreased the convection in the liquid zone. Analysis of radial segregation during floating zone crystal growth under different experimental conditions demonstrated high sensitivity to interface shape and to convection. Under conditions of very weak convection, microgravity and coated surfaces, dopant concentration fields giving severe radial segregation were built up.     

U.S. biological experiments in space.

Past U.S. space biological experiments in space, using non-human specimens, are discussed and evaluated. Current plans for future experimentation in this field are also given.     

Suborbital and low-thermospheric experiments using sounding rockets in Taiwan

The suborbital flight is a kind of flight, which reaches the space and then comes back to ground without completing one orbital revolution. The atmospheric thermosphere extends from 85 km to 600 km in altitude. Therefore, the suborbital and low-thermospheric experiments to be performed at altitude below 300 km can be combined using the sounding rocket. These experiments include rocket staging, fairing separation, ultrasonic flight, reentry, aerobrake and recovery test, ultraviolet and ionization observations, ozone measurement, etc. The advent of Taiwan's sub-orbital and thermospheric experiments project can be traced back to 1997. This is the year Taiwan's National Space Organization (NSPO) was assigned to be responsible for procuring the sounding rocket for applications in science experiments and space technology research effort. From 1997 to 2010, 8 launches have been completed including one experimental hybrid rocket. All onboard instruments and sensors for sub-orbital and low-thermospheric experiments are developed and integrated by the domestic universities. More launches have been planned in the future. Opportunities for international cooperation in developing new instruments and payloads for future experiments will be possible.     

The loss of stability in ground based experiments in liquid bridges

In this study our primary goal is to investigate the loss of stability of the steady convection in deformable liquid bridges. Definitely, the deformation plays an important role in the transition process from the steady axi-symmetric 2-D basic state to the 3-D periodical one. As it was shown experimentally by many researchers, the critical Marangoni number is very sensitive to the volume of liquid.

It seems to be proved^1–4, that the critical wave number for high Prandtl fluids (for example, silicone oil of different viscosities. Pr > 50) is m = 1 for aspect ratios Γ = height/radius ≥ 1.0 regardless of the free surface shape. But the data from our last experiments show, that by changing surrounding conditions around the liquid bridge we can change the critical wave number. Particularly, by placing the liquid bridge of diameter 2r = 6mm into another cylindrical volume of the diameter 2R = 12mm kept at constant temperature, the critical mode is switched from m = 1 to m = 2.     

过氧化氢单组元推力室最新发展

近来有一种趋势,即重新评估那些有利于环境保护和便于使用维护的推进剂,过氧化氢就是其中之一。它的一些独有的特点使之具有很多用途.它有良好的储存性能,高的密度比冲,作为单组元推进剂,其分解产物为过热水蒸汽和氧气.过氧化氢作为单组元推进剂在五六十年代广泛用于反作用控制系统和驱动涡轮的气体发生器系统.虽然大部分生产设施在七十年代末、八十年代初被闲置,但到目前为止,仍有一些过氧化氢装置在被生产和使用.本文着重描述了以过氧化氢为推进剂的一些装置和其应用范围,提供了相关的试验数据.所用的过氧化氢推进剂是由几个大的推进剂生产厂商提供的.General Kinetics 公司还完成了确定过氧化氢装置寿命标准的试验,并给出了九种不同装置的性能数据.这些装置从推力仅13N 的推力室,直至用于4.45kN 双组元发动机上的气体发生器装置.试验表明,单个装置的寿命超过了6000s。     

国外电推进技术的新进展

简要介绍了美国、欧洲、俄罗斯、日本在电推进领域的最新工作进展,其研究的重点与需突破的关键技术,最后对电推进系统做了简要评价,以期对我国在该领域的研究工作有所参考。     

Cell-to-cell interactions in changed gravity: ground-based and flight experiments

Cell-to-cell interactions play an important role in all physiological processes and are mediated by humoral and mechanical factors. Mechanosensitive cells (e.g., osteocytes, chondrocytes, and fibroblasts) can be studied ex vivo to understand the effects of an altered gravity environment. In particular, cultured endothelial cells (EC) are very sensitive to a broad spectrum of mechanical and biochemical stimuli. Earlier, we demonstrated that clinorotation leads to cytoskeletal remodeling in cultured ECs. Long-term gravity vector changes also modulate the expression of surface adhesion molecules (ICAM-1, E-selectin, VCAM-1) on cultured ECs. To study the interactions of geterological cells, we cocultured endothelial monolayers and human lymphocytes, immune cells and myeloleucemic (K-560) cells. It was found that, although clinorotation did not alter the basal adhesion level of non-activated immune cells on endothelial monolayers, the adhesion of PMA-activated lymphocytes was increased. During flight experiments onboard the Russian segment of the International Space Station, we measured the cytotoxic activity of natural killer (NK) cells incubated with labeled target cells. It was found that immune cells in microgravity retained their ability to contact, recognize, and destroy oncogenic cells in vitro. Together, our data concerning the effects of simulated and real microgravity suggest that, despite changes in the cytoskeleton, cell motility, and expression of adhesion molecules, cell-cell interactions are not compromised, thus preserving the critical physiological functions of immune and endothelial cells.     

功能梯度压电材料层状结构中的SH波

基于线性压电弹性理论,利用传递矩阵法,分析了功能梯度压电材料层状结构中的SH波传播特性,研究了压电梯度覆盖层中初始应力对SH波传播的影响。压电覆盖层的材料性能如弹性、压电、介电系数和密度沿厚度方向呈梯度变化。数值分析结果表明,适当的材料梯度分布,可使SH波倾向于沿覆盖层表面传播,由此能够获得更好的机电耦合性能;同时,初始应力使得波传播的相速度减小,但增大了机电耦合系数。文中的分析方法和结论,对固体火箭发动机超声探伤及其压电类传感器的研制和选择有一定的参考意义。     

Q/V频段电磁波在等离子体鞘套下的传输特性

高超声速飞行器再入地面时,由于飞行器表面等离子体电子密度分布不均匀,因此从背风面向天基中继卫星传输,可避开迎风面的高电子密度,并以Q/V频段为测控频段,经中继卫星转发至地面测控站。本文以波阻抗方法为基础,分析了Q/V频段在不同等离子体参数下的传输特性,并仿真了等离子体对Q/V频段天线波束指向的影响。结果表明：Q/V频段在等离子体中穿透性更好,可在更高的等离子体电子密度和碰撞频率下保持较低的衰减值。但Q/V频段下的天线波束指向偏差较大,随着频段的提高和入射角度的减小,偏差值逐渐减小。因此,应用Q/V频段,通过中继卫星转发实现实时通信,有利于缓解再入飞行器“黑障”现象。     

快速发展的现代海军导弹

当代海战主要集中在沿海地区,水面战舰和潜艇一般在靠近海滨的受限水域作战。近年来的几次海战(如阿拉伯海域和波斯湾的“持久自由”行动和地中海的“积极奋进”行动)主要是为了对付国际恐怖主义。进入21世纪后,现代海军面临的威胁发生了变化,主要是叛乱分子或恐怖分子采取的对     

我国空间环境试验的现状与发展建议

文章简要回顾了我国空间环境试验的发展历史与现状,并根据我国空间技术发展的需求,从大型复杂航天器环境试验、长寿命航天器环境适应性评估验证与防护、空间环境及其效应在轨飞行实验、月球与深空环境模拟与试验等方面对我国空间环境试验技术发展提出了一些建议。