Finger heat flux/temperature as an indicator of thermal imbalance with application for extravehicular activity

The designation of a simple, non-invasive, and highly precise method to monitor the thermal status of astronauts is important to enhance safety during extravehicular activities (EVA) and onboard emergencies. Finger temperature (Tfing), finger heat flux, and indices of core temperature (Tc) [rectal (Tre), ear canal (Tec)] were assessed in 3 studies involving different patterns of heat removal/insertion from/to the body by a multi-compartment liquid cooling/warming garment (LCWG). Under both uniform and nonuniform temperature conditions on the body surface, Tfing and finger heat flux were highly correlated with garment heat flux, and also highly correlated with each other. Tc responses did not adequately reflect changes in thermal balance during the ongoing process of heat insertion/removal from the body. Overall, Tfing/finger heat flux adequately reflected the initial destabilization of thermal balance, and therefore appears to have significant potential as a useful index for monitoring and maintaining thermal balance and comfort in extreme conditions in space as well as on Earth.     

Discrimination of aqueous and aeolian paleoenvironments by atomic force microscopy-- a database for the characterization of martian sediments

In the search for aqueous habitats on Mars direct proof of (ancient) flowing water is still lacking, although remote sensing has provided indications of young fluvial systems. To demonstrate that such proof can be given, we examined surface marks on recent terrestrial sand grains by atomic force microscopy (AFM) and applied a quantitative three-dimensional analysis that can numerically distinguish between aeolian and aquatic transport mechanisms in sedimentary deposits on Earth. The surfaces of natural quartz grains as well as olivine, feldspar pyroxene, and monazite sands of known origin were imaged, each image yielding a three-dimensional map of the mineral surface. A fully automated analysis of distribution patterns of the structural elements that constitute the grain surfaces shows that wind-transported quartz grains have short linear elements irregularly distributed on the surface. Linear elements on water-transported grains, however, are longer with orientations that reflect the mineral symmetry. Because the surface patterns found on aqueous grains are due to preferential etching, they can be used as diagnostic fingerprints for the existence of past or present aqueous transport systems. We used a cluster analysis of the cross-correlation distance of distribution patterns in the structures of aeolian and aquatic sand grains to build a phenogram that provides a map for the relationship of the various sediments found on earth. The analysis shows that the method is highly significant and that water and wind transport can clearly be differentiated. In particular, feldspar and olivine sands contributed even more to the discrimination than quartz grains, which indicated that the method is promising for its application on future missions to Mars. Assuming that martian aqueous sand grains exhibit similar erosional patterns to mineral grains on Earth, simple AFM experiments on a Mars lander would be capable of proving the activity of flowing water in modern runoff systems and of analyzing the paleoenvironments of Mars.     

OPTIMAL CONTROL OF REDUNDANT ROBOTS WITH LOCAL DEGREES OF FREEDOM

SupportedbytheNationalNaturalScienceFoundationofChinaRedundantrobotsprovideflexibilityinavarietyoftasks.Methedsusedtodevelopthere-dundancycontrolarewellknown[1~4J-Inthesemethods,kinematicflexibilityisensuredwhiledynamicperformanceisbeingimproved.Itisverydifficult,however,toimplementoptimalredundancycontrolthatsimultaneouslyincludesbothkinematicsanddynamics(dual-optimiza-tion)forrobotmechanismsthathavebeenpreviouslydeveloped.Inthefollowingsections,aredundantrobotmechanismhavinglocaldegreesof…     

美国陆军着眼于研制小型巡航导弹

美国陆军正在试验一种可从轻型车辆或直升机发射的多用途的巡航导弹,以便使地面部队具有在敌方前线后方达596千米处进行精确攻击和空中侦察的能力。陆军对这种被称为“雪貂”(Ferret)的巡航导弹感兴趣,意味着其作战准则发生了变化。陆军的传统作战准则是把空中纵深攻击和远程侦察留给空军和海军战术航空部队和价格为50万～150万美元的巡航导弹来干。诺斯罗普·格鲁门公司研制的这种正在由陆军进行鉴定的长1.8米、翼     

陀螺仪可靠性预计模型

位置陀螺和速率陀螺是控制系统中使用的两种主要惯性仪表.对每一种具体应用,要根据对陀螺仪的特定可靠性和技术要求,对陀螺仪进行专门的设计.业已发现,陀螺仪的运行特性同其性能和可靠性有直接关系.根据详细的故障模型分析,举出这两种陀螺仪的可靠性预计分析实例.讨论性能可靠性和工艺可靠性,使用不同的模型来确定各自的整个仪表的可靠性.采用米勒定理以及简化能量和统计安全因数法.可靠性论证采用了贝叶斯方法.     

日军的神风特攻队

1944年底,当太平洋战争的后期,日海军栗田中将,率领了一支当时堪称世上威力无比的强大舰队,从新加坡出发,拟前去击灭在菲律宾中部,雷伊泰湾登陆的美军麦帅所部。因沿途未得到空中的支援。由中国海起驶经菲岛的西布雅海,在尚未驶出圣波那丁海峡之前,就连番遭致美潜艇与美     

利用TDRSS星上导航系统为地球观测卫星精密导航

地球观测系统卫星EOS—AM1的基本导航系统是TDRSS星上导航系统(TONS),为成象仪器标校和例行操作提供精密位置和速度信息。本文给出实时导航性能评价结果,看一下基于TONS的轨道和频率测定精度能否满足这一要求。给出了利用陆地—4卫星实际数据对EOS—AM1导航精度进行协方差分析和仿真研究的结果。研究了利用单向前向链路业务的局部(半圈)和全球(多圈)跟踪情况。还研究了利用比GEM—T3更精确重力模型提高导航精度的问题。本项研究的主要目的是评价额定性能、潜在敏感性并设法改进算法,例如TDRS星历加偏,电离层模型和重力过程噪声模型,这些都是已经准备采取的措施。结果表明TONS可以做得满足已明确的仪器导航精度要求—20m(3σ)。     

高加速度,高性能固态加速度计的研制

本文介绍了由美陆军导弹司令部主管的，用在先进功能导弹（ＡｄＫＥＭ）开发项目上的高性能，高ｇ值的战术加速度计的研制进展情况，加速度计的设计目标就是在整个２０ｇ的软发射阶段、１２００ｇ的助推阶段及低ｇ值的巡航阶段提供捷联战术导航级的加速度信息。加速度计所提供的加速度测量精度必须满足５００ｍ距离内导航精度为０．５ｍ（ＣＥＰ），即加速度计具有以１ｍｉｌｌｉ－ｇ分辨率测量１２００ｇ加速度的能力。先进功能导弹