Setting a standard: the limulus amebocyte lysate assay and the assessment of microbial contamination on spacecraft surfaces

Historically, colony-forming units as determined by plate cultures have been the standard unit for microbiological analysis of environmental samples, medical diagnostics, and products for human use. However, the time and materials required make plate cultures expensive and potentially hazardous in the closed environments of future NASA missions aboard the International Space Station and missions to other Solar System targets. The Limulus Amebocyte Lysate (LAL) assay is an established method for ensuring the sterility and cleanliness of samples in the meat-packing and pharmaceutical industries. Each of these industries has verified numerical requirements for the correct interpretation of results from this assay. The LAL assay is a rapid, point-of-use, verified assay that has already been approved by NASA Planetary Protection as an alternate, molecular method for the examination of outbound spacecraft. We hypothesize that standards for molecular techniques, similar to those used by the pharmaceutical and meat-packing industries, need to be set by space agencies to ensure accurate data interpretation and subsequent decision making. In support of this idea, we present research that has been conducted to relate the LAL assay to plate cultures, and we recommend values obtained from these investigations that could assist in interpretation and analysis of data obtained from the LAL assay.     

Detecting tree-like multicellular life on extrasolar planets

Over the next two decades, NASA and ESA are planning a series of space-based observatories to find Earth-like planets and determine whether life exists on these planets. Previous studies have assessed the likelihood of detecting life through signs of biogenic gases in the atmosphere or a red edge. Biogenic gases and the red edge could be signs of either single-celled or multicellular life. In this study, we propose a technique with which to determine whether tree-like multicellular life exists on extrasolar planets. For multicellular photosynthetic organisms on Earth, competition for light and the need to transport water and nutrients has led to a tree-like body plan characterized by hierarchical branching networks. This design results in a distinct bidirectional reflectance distribution function (BRDF) that causes differing reflectance at different sun/view geometries. BRDF arises from the changing visibility of the shadows cast by objects, and the presence of tree-like structures is clearly distinguishable from flat ground with the same reflectance spectrum. We examined whether the BRDF could detect the existence of tree-like structures on an extrasolar planet by using changes in planetary albedo as a planet orbits its star. We used a semi-empirical BRDF model to simulate vegetation reflectance at different planetary phase angles and both simulated and real cloud cover to calculate disk and rotation-averaged planetary albedo for a vegetated and non-vegetated planet with abundant liquid water. We found that even if the entire planetary albedo were rendered to a single pixel, the rate of increase of albedo as a planet approaches full illumination would be comparatively greater on a vegetated planet than on a non-vegetated planet. Depending on how accurately planetary cloud cover can be resolved and the capabilities of the coronagraph to resolve exoplanets, this technique could theoretically detect tree-like multicellular life on exoplanets in 50 stellar systems.     

减少鸟撞——新型雷达网使空域更安全

引言在美国航空公司l549航班坠机后,即使普通大众都明白鸟撞的危险。对于哈德逊奇迹,如果没有机组人员的职业操守和救助者的支持,结果或许就不是创造了奇迹而是酿成了悲剧。不幸的是其他的鸟撞损失就不     

Computational aerodynamic analysis on perimeter reinforced （PR）-compliant wing

Abstract Implementing the morphing technique on a micro air vehicle （MAV） wing is a very chal- lenging task, due to the MAWs wing size limitation and the complex morphing mechanism. As a result, understanding aerodynamic characteristics and flow configurations, subject to wing structure deformation of a morphing wing MAV has remained obstructed. Thus, this paper presents the investigation of structural deformation, aerodynamics performance and flow formation on a pro- posed twist morphing MAV wing design named perimeter reinforced （PR）-compliant wing. The numerical simulation of two-way fluid structure interaction （FSI） investigation consist of a quasi- static aeroelastic structural analysis coupled with 3D incompressible Reynolds-averaged Navier- Stokes and shear-stress-transport （RANS-SST） solver utilized throughout this study. Verification of numerical method on a rigid rectangular wing achieves a good correlation with available exper- imental results. A comparative aeroelastic study between PR-compliant to PR and rigid wing per- formance is organized to elucidate the morphing wing performances. Structural deformation results show that PR-compliant wing is able to alter the wing＇s geometric twist characteristic, which has directly influenced both the overall aerodynamic performance and flow structure behavior. Despite the superior lift performance result, PR-compliant wing also suffers from massive drag penalty, which has consequently affected the wing efficiency in general. Based on vortices investigation, the results reveal the connection between these aerodynamic performances with vortices formation on PR-comoliant wing.     

边界层对可调节进气道性能的影响

给出了马赫数2-6、单位雷诺数（0．8-6．0）×10^7／m时下吹式风洞中可调节三维进气道的试验研究结果。研究了前缘前掠和后掠方案以及进气道人口前边界层的影响。测量了内流道内的压力分布、质量流量和总压恢复系数;确定了进气道启动与马赫数和流动工况的关系。研究结果表明：边界层对流场结构和模型进气道的性能有着决定性影响,相对简单的进气道调节方案可以增大其稳定运行范围。     

Comparative survival analysis of Deinococcus radiodurans and the haloarchaea Natrialba magadii and Haloferax volcanii exposed to vacuum ultraviolet irradiation

The haloarchaea Natrialba magadii and Haloferax volcanii, as well as the radiation-resistant bacterium Deinococcus radiodurans, were exposed to vacuum UV (VUV) radiation at the Brazilian Synchrotron Light Laboratory. Cell monolayers (containing 10(5) to 10(6) cells per sample) were prepared over polycarbonate filters and irradiated under high vacuum (10(-5) Pa) with polychromatic synchrotron radiation. N. magadii was remarkably resistant to high vacuum with a survival fraction of (3.77±0.76)×10(-2), which was larger than that of D. radiodurans (1.13±0.23)×10(-2). The survival fraction of the haloarchaea H. volcanii, of (3.60±1.80)×10(-4), was much smaller. Radiation resistance profiles were similar between the haloarchaea and D. radiodurans for fluences up to 150?J m(-2). For fluences larger than 150?J m(-2), there was a significant decrease in the survival of haloarchaea, and in particular H. volcanii did not survive. Survival for D. radiodurans was 1% after exposure to the higher VUV fluence (1350?J m(-2)), while N. magadii had a survival lower than 0.1%. Such survival fractions are discussed regarding the possibility of interplanetary transfer of viable microorganisms and the possible existence of microbial life in extraterrestrial salty environments such as the planet Mars and Jupiter's moon Europa. This is the first work to report survival of haloarchaea under simulated interplanetary conditions.     

Is the presence of oxygen on an exoplanet a reliable biosignature?

We revisit the validity of the presence of O(2) or O(3) in the atmosphere of a rocky planet as being a biosignature. Up to now, the false positive that has been identified applies to a planet during a hot greenhouse runaway, which is restricted to planets outside the habitable zone (HZ) of the star that are closer to the star. In this paper, we explore a new possibility based on abiotic photogeneration of O(2) at the surface of a planet that could occur inside the HZ. The search for such a process is an active field of laboratory investigation that has resulted from an ongoing interest in finding efficient systems with the capacity to harvest solar energy on Earth. Although such a process is energetically viable, we find it to be a very unlikely explanation for the observation of O(2) or O(3) in the atmosphere of a telluric exoplanet in the HZ. It requires an efficient photocatalyst to be present and abundant under natural planetary conditions, which appears unlikely according to our discussion of known mineral photochemical processes. In contrast, a biological system that synthesizes its constituents from abundant raw materials and energy has the inherent adaptation advantage to become widespread and dominant (Darwinist argument). Thus, O(2) appears to continue to be a good biosignature.     

傅里叶变换法用于脉冲多普勒雷达检测加速运动目标的研究

傅里叶变换法通常用于脉冲多普勒雷达检测加速运动目标，尽管该方法的性能会受多普勒拖尾现象限制。机动飞机和导弹属于加速运动目标。本文作者量化了多普勒拖尾的影响。在运用脉冲多普勒雷达检测附加白高斯噪声的非加速目标并估算该目标的径向速度试验中，傅里叶变换法能够使输出信噪比(SNR)随脉冲数线性增加。当目标加速时，只要加速度足够小，那么傅里叶方法仍可以检测目标并估算其平均速度。针对某一给定的加速度，当脉冲数增加时，傅里叶变换法得到的输出信噪比(SNR)随脉冲数的增加成凹函数变化，即输出SNR先增加到最大值然后开始下降，直到该方法不适用为止。因此脉冲数和加速度必须匹配才能获得最佳性能。文中给出了最佳SNR、最佳脉冲数与加速度关系的经验公式。这些结果被证明与采用栅格搜寻的广义似然比检测器设计是相符的。     

DIRECT NUMERICAL SIMULATIONS OF MULTIPHASE FLOWS

INTRODUCTIONMultiphase and multifluid flows are commonin many natural and technologically importantprocesses. Rain,spray combustion,spray paint-ing,and boiling heat transfer are just a few ex-amples.While it is the overall,integral charac-teristics of such flows that are of most interest,the global behavior is determined to a large de-gree by the evolution of the smallestscales in theflow.The combustion of sprays,for example,depends on the size and the number density ofthe drops.Generally…     

第三章 带有动力传动装置的行星式液压振动器

行星式液压振动器与惯性振动器有关,在这种振动器内部被作成实心、空心或在液压缸的端头带凸肩的工作元件(转子)多半沿壳体内的圆形轨道滚动。这种振动器的扰动力直接在接触点由转子传给壳体。这使得人们有可能在合理地选择材料和正确计算的情况下,制造出扰动力很大、非常坚固耐用和其它类型振动器无法达到的振动器。内装式结构方案有很高的可靠性和很长的工作寿命,因其内部不存在机械传动装置。