Space station — the new frontier

The exciting challenge of building a permanent space station has been taken up by the USA, and participation in its development has been offered to the USA's allies. European countries are faced with the dilemma of whether to cooperate or to try to develop an autonomous approach. This article discusses the opportunities for Europe in participating closely in the US project — particularly in providing pressurized modules based on the Columbus programme — and argues that it is an opportunity not to be missed.     

Characterization of Bacilli isolated from the confined environments of the Antarctic Concordia station and the International Space Station

Bacillus and related genera comprise opportunist and pathogen species that can threaten the health of a crew in confined stations required for long-term missions. In this study, 43 Bacilli from confined environments, that is, the Antarctic Concordia station and the International Space Station, were characterized in terms of virulence and plasmid exchange potentials. No specific virulence feature, such as the production of toxins or unusual antibiotic resistance, was detected. Most of the strains exhibited small or large plasmids, or both, some of which were related to the replicons of the Bacillus anthracis pXO1 and pXO2 virulence elements. One conjugative element, the capacity to mobilize and retromobilize small plasmids, was detected in a Bacillus cereus sensu lato isolate. Six out of 25 tested strains acquired foreign DNA by conjugation. Extremophilic bacteria were identified and exhibited the ability to grow at high pH and salt concentrations or at low temperatures. Finally, the clonal dispersion of an opportunist isolate was demonstrated in the Concordia station. Taken together, these results suggest that the virulence potential of the Bacillus isolates in confined environments tends to be low but genetic transfers could contribute to its capacity to spread.     

Optimizing electrostatic radiation shielding for manned space vehicles

The shield has three concentric grids having a net charge of zero. The voltage across the outer pair is chosen to repel electrons; and that across the inner pair is chosen to repel nucleons. The negative grid is coated to absorb ultraviolet light to prevent photoemission, and secondary emission is minimized by a grid/thin foil combination. Voltage is maximized and mass minimized by setting the ratio of the negative to the inner positive electrode radii to ≥ 2. The outer grid pair forms a space truss with rigid geodesic grid, from which catenary tensile members are suspended. For docking there is passage directly through the sparse gridwork of larger structures, or through a charge shifting vestibule on smaller. While efficiency increases indefinitely with size, favorable sizes for given voltages are indicated. Large modular habitats and small powered transport vehicles are protected with efficiencies several orders of magnitude over mass shielding against charged particle cosmic radiation.     

Dose estimates in a lunar shelter with regolith shielding

Beyond the Earth's atmosphere, galactic cosmic radiation (GCR) and solar energetic particles (SEPs) are a significant hazard to both manned and robotic missions. For long human missions on the lunar surface (months to a year) a radiation shelter is needed for dose mitigation and emergency protection in case of solar events. This paper investigates the interaction of source protons of solar events like those of February 1956 that emitted many fewer particles with energies up to 1000 MeV and of the October 1989 event of lower protons energy but higher fluence, with the lunar regolith and aluminum shielding of a lunar shelter. The shelter is 5 m in diameter and has a footprint of 5×8 m and a 10 cm thick aluminum support structure, however, actual thickness could be much smaller (～1–2 cm) depending on the weight of the regolith shielding piled on top. The regolith is shown to be slightly more effective than aluminum. Thus, the current results are still applicable for a thinner aluminum structure and increased equivalent (or same mass) thickness of the regolith. The shielding thicknesses to reduce the dose solely due to solar protons in the lunar shelter below those recommended by NASA to astronauts for 30 day-operation in space (250 mSv) and for radiation workers (50 mSv) are determined and compared. The relative attenuation of incident solar protons with regolith shielding and the dose estimates inside the shelter are calculated for center seeking, planar, and isotropic incidence of the source protons. With the center seeking incidence, the dose estimates are the highest, followed by those with isotropic incidence, and the lowest are those with the planar incidence.     

美国航天基金会发布《2009年航天报告》

美国航天基金会是一家非营利性组织,成立于1983年,主要研究航天发展态势、市场状况等。其研究数据比较客观,具有一定的参考价值。 该基金会于2009年4月发布的《2009年航天报告》由航天经济、航天产品与服务、基础设施、影响与劳动力以及展望五部分组成,记录了2008年各国政府、公司和创业者们所取得的历史性成就及其继续利用和探测太空的大胆计划,并对未来进行了展望。     

即将建成的“宇宙城堡”——国际空间站

经过十多年的建造,世界上投入资金最大、参与国家最多、建造周期最长、技术水平最高、应用范围最广的国际空间站于2011年2月基本建成。它包含13个增压舱,其中8个是用于科学实验和航天员居住,1个为空间站提供初始推进、姿控、通信和储存,4个用于对接。另外,还装有7段桁架结构、4对巨型太阳能电池阵、1个移动服务系统、舱外仪器设     

空间技术实验与空间技术发展

空间技术实验是空间技术发展的需要,是空间技术发展的先驱和阶梯。本文以美国、苏联、印度、巴西为例说明空间技术实验在过去和未来对空间技术发展的必要性和迫切性。文中研究了90年代世界空间技术实验的发展趋势和具体项目,探讨了我国空间技术实验的现状。     

空间站空间因特网与空间通信链路设计

为改善在空间站长期值守的航天员的业务生活,提出建立空间站网吧,为航天员提供因特网服务的构想。为此分析研究空间站空间因特网服务系统及其关键技术,提出空间站空间因特网服务系统构建方案。结合这一系统构建方案,一是研究解决了支持复杂异构网络运行的空间因特网网络协议设计技术,空间站空间因特网直接采用TCP/IP协议,并通过系统设计,较好地克服了TCP/IP协议不能适应空间通信链路的难题,支持采用基于TCP/IP协议的商用货架(COTS)软、硬件产品,可明显降低空间站空间因特网服务系统建设与维护成本;二是研究解决了涉及空间站测控通信网运行安全和空间信息安全的空间通信链路设计技术,空间站在同一条空间通信链路同时传输空间因特网数据和空间站测控通信数据,空间通信链路采用CCSDS的AOS协议,并通过建立虚拟的物理信道,解决了空间因特网数据和空间站测控通信数据的安全隔离问题,能满足空间站测控通信网运行安全和空间信息安全的要求。     

英国将成立航天局

<正>英国政府3月23日宣布将组建英国航天局,以一个统一的航天政策指挥机构来取代现有的英国国家航天中心(BNSC)体制,领导全国的民用航天投资。一份政府政策文件称,英国航天局"将拥有协调航天政策和提升国际地     

航天推进新技术开拓太空探索新时代

6月22日凌晨,世界上第一个采用光压推进的“宇宙”1航天器发射升空。虽然这次发射由于种种原因未取得成功,但它向人们展示了新型推进技术的光明前景。无独有偶。5月24日,美国航宇局宣布,1977年发射的旅行者1号携带着录有55种语言和90分钟音乐集锦的磁碟及刻着各种几何图案的“地球名片”,已飞出了太阳系的激波边界,成为第一个进入太阳系外空间的人造航天器。在这次具有历史意义的航行中,旅行者1号在近28年内飞距太阳140亿公里,采用新型推进技术进行多次轨道机动和姿态保持是保证整个飞行任务的关键。     

Canada's role on space station

The paper addresses the evolution of the Canadian Space Station Program between 1981 and 2003. Discussions with potential international partners, aimed at jointly developing the current International Space Station program, were initiated by NASA in 1982. Canada chose, through the further development of the technologies of Canadarm on the space shuttle, to provide and operate an advanced and comprehensive external robotics system for space station, and to use the space station for scientific and commercial purposes. The program was to become a corner-stone of the new Canadian Space Agency. The development phase of the Canadian Space Station Program has been completed and two of the three major elements are currently operational in space.     

航天邮票大展览

1948年,世界第一枚航天邮票诞生——为纪念布利斯堡建立100周年,美国于1948年11月5日发行了"布利斯堡火箭发射基地"邮票。邮票图为美国得克萨斯州布利斯堡火箭发射基地和著名的V-2运载火箭发射场景,是世界范围内首次披露航天内容的邮票。此后,随着人类航天事业的不断进步与飞速发展,为纪念人类航天足     

最美的导航台

薛家岛也称“凤凰岛”,是一个风景秀丽的地方。当地有个传说：是风凰的翅膀化做了薛家岛。的确,从地形上看,它东西长南北窄,颇似凤凰展翅。而薛家岛导航台便坐落在凤凰岛的中心位置。     

Space Law Center of China National Space Administration Established

<正>On December 23,2017,the Space Law Center of the China National Space Administration(hereafter SLC)was established in Beijing Institute of Technology during the 2017Space Law Seminar.Over 100 leaders and experts from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs,Chinese Academy of Sciences,State Meteorological Administration,State Oceanic Administration,     

国外与空间碎片有关的国际空间法热点问题研究述评

与空间碎片有关的国际空间法研究主要包括对空间碎片的定义、空间环境保护制度、空间物体的登记制度及空间损害赔偿责任制度等问题的研究。联合国和平利用外层空间委员会法律小组经过多年的研究和讨论,对于“空间物体”与“空间碎片”的定义及其关系问题的研究基本上获得了国际社会的普遍认可,