创新引领航空航天业未来

多年来,航空航天业一直是技术创新最为活跃的行业之一,在各平台和子系统的开发中取得了大量的科研成果。客观地说,航空航天业不仅是现代社会最具影响力的创新之源,而且是将这些科技成果转化为巿场竞争力的典范。在这些丰硕的创新成果中,以GPS、涡轮发动机、电传飞控和无人飞行器等为代表的技术创新,在推动工程技术进步,提高社会生产力的同时,也为企业创造了大量财富。在尚未完全走出经济危机的今天,重拾"创新"话题,对航空航天业的下一步发展将十分必要。据此,美国《航空周刊与空间技术》杂志的一些资深编辑与美国一家称为CRA的全球性咨询机构组成了一个团队,围绕这个话题进行了为期4个月的采访和调查,其对象既包括像雷神公司、波音公司、EADS这样的行业巨头,也有以技术创新先锋著称的洛克希德·马丁公司的"臭鼬"工作队和波音公司的"鬼怪"工作队,还有美国空军和一些富于创新精神的大学实验室等。我们相信,梳理并归纳他们的言论与思想,对正在努力跻身于世界航空之林的中国航空业会有所启迪。     

推进技术

回顾了50年来液体火箭发动机技术的发展历程,展望了21世纪液体火箭发动机技术的发展,即充分利用和改进现有火箭发动机,降低成本,提高可靠性,提高性能和适应性;研制和发展新型可重复使用的先进的火箭发动机,同时加强基础理论研究和关键技术的预研,以适应人类开发空间资源的需要。     

指控中心STS轨道器各系统飞行监视操作自动化

约翰逊航天中心任务操作部(MOD)的主要任务是为空间运输(STS)系统提供地面保障和训练宇航员。随着轨道器飞行频度增加,而且航天计划日益成为国家的科技实用资源,用现有方法和设施提供高质量的保障、产品以及宇航员训练面临着极其严峻的挑战。为此正在进行几项工作,通过应用自动化技术(特别是在遥测监视和分析领域)减轻目前压在训练有素的操作人员肩上的重担。利用由操作人员设计和开发的软件,分阶段引进多任务分布式工作站的工程也在顺利进行。确立了一种用户开发样机的新概念,样机与现有集中式监视系统同时工作,相互参照评价,然后分阶段投入实用。从概念提出到样机移交,用户和开发者的广泛参与可确保评价、改进,以及最重要的——验收高度成功。     

随机逼近的稳健估计

大家知道,参数的稳健估计可以通过递推的Robbins-Monro型随机逼近(SA)算法而获得。对于简单的位置估计问题,为了适当地选择算法的非线性变换和增益常数,导出了一个关于对称分布族(?)(y_p,p)的渐近极小-极大估计。该分布族在区间[-y_p,y_p]以外有相同的分布p,0相似文献   

射电干涉测量的动基应用

本文研究了与移动接收机有关的射电干涉测量误差源。结合已发表的数据,经独立研究给出了接收机噪声、时钟抖动、定时漂移、多路径误差、电离层和对流层折射效应引起的各种误差的均方根值。动基射电干涉测量系统仿真中,加进了有显著影响的统计误差模型,以评价接收机运动状态的测量精度。假设这个系统由两台配有原子钟的双频接收机组成。在记录的GPS信号相位的事后处理中,应用多普勒频移检测技术和互相关算法来确定基线距离和飞行器的运动参数。初步分析结果表明:动基射电干涉测量将提供与目前惯导技术同等的导航精度,甚至更高。     

~(201)Hg~+离子贮存式频率标准

本文讨论利用在潘宁离子收集器中贮存~201Hg~+离子实现微波频率(和时间)标准以及光频标性能的潜力与存在的问题。有许多讨论一般都适用于离子贮存式频标。激光致冷、光抽运、以及微波或光时钟跃迁的光检测,可利用在194.2nm6P~2P_(1/2)←6~2S_(1/2)跃迁的窄带幅射,而有选择地将基态超精细能级与适当的微波幅射加以混频来完成。特别适用于采用潘宁(冷阴极)离子收集器的一阶独立场微波时钟跃迁是在1.534T 磁场的25.9GHz(F,M_F)=(2,1)←→(1,1)超精细跃迁。在563nm(毫微米)的双量子无多普勒5d~96S~(22)D_(5/2)←→5d~(10)6S~2S_(1/2)迁可能是光频标所要选用的。两种频标的绝对准确度具有达到好于1×10~(-15)而频率稳定度低于10~(-16)的潜力。     

Robust monomer-distribution biosignatures in evolving digital biota

Because organisms synthesize component molecules at rates that reflect those molecules' adaptive utility, we expect a population of biota to leave a distinctive chemical signature on its environment that is anomalous given the local (abiotic) chemistry. We observe the same effect in the distribution of computer instructions used by an evolving population of digital organisms, and we characterize the robustness of the evolved signature with respect to a number of different changes in the system's physics. The observed instruction abundance anomaly has features that are consistent over a large number of evolutionary trials and alterations in system parameters, which makes it a candidate for a non-Earth-centric life diagnostic.     

A microbial oasis in the hypersaline Atacama subsurface discovered by a life detector chip: implications for the search for life on Mars

The Atacama Desert has long been considered a good Mars analogue for testing instrumentation for planetary exploration, but very few data (if any) have been reported about the geomicrobiology of its salt-rich subsurface. We performed a Mars analogue drilling campaign next to the Salar Grande (Atacama, Chile) in July 2009, and several cores and powder samples from up to 5?m deep were analyzed in situ with LDChip300 (a Life Detector Chip containing 300 antibodies). Here, we show the discovery of a hypersaline subsurface microbial habitat associated with halite-, nitrate-, and perchlorate-containing salts at 2?m deep. LDChip300 detected bacteria, archaea, and other biological material (DNA, exopolysaccharides, some peptides) from the analysis of less than 0.5?g of ground core sample. The results were supported by oligonucleotide microarray hybridization in the field and finally confirmed by molecular phylogenetic analysis and direct visualization of microbial cells bound to halite crystals in the laboratory. Geochemical analyses revealed a habitat with abundant hygroscopic salts like halite (up to 260?g kg(-1)) and perchlorate (41.13?μg g(-1) maximum), which allow deliquescence events at low relative humidity. Thin liquid water films would permit microbes to proliferate by using detected organic acids like acetate (19.14?μg g(-1)) or formate (76.06?μg g(-1)) as electron donors, and sulfate (15875?μg g(-1)), nitrate (13490?μg g(-1)), or perchlorate as acceptors. Our results correlate with the discovery of similar hygroscopic salts and possible deliquescence processes on Mars, and open new search strategies for subsurface martian biota. The performance demonstrated by our LDChip300 validates this technology for planetary exploration, particularly for the search for life on Mars.     

Putative fossilized fungi from the lithified volcaniclastic apron of Gran Canaria, Spain

We report the discovery of fossilized filamentous structures in samples of the lithified, volcaniclastic apron of Gran Canaria, which were obtained during Leg 157 of the Ocean Drilling Program (ODP). These filamentous structures are 2-15 μm in diameter and several hundred micrometers in length and are composed of Si, Al, Fe, Ca, Mg, Na, Ti, and C. Chitin was detected in the filamentous structures by staining with wheat germ agglutinin dye conjugated with fluorescein isothiocyanate (WGA-FITC), which suggests that they are fossilized fungal hyphae. The further elucidation of typical filamentous fungal morphological features, such as septa, hyphal bridges, and anastomosis and their respective sizes, support this interpretation. Characteristic structures that we interpreted as fossilized spores were also observed in association with the putative hyphae. The fungal hyphae were found in pyroxene phenocrysts and in siderite pseudomorphs of a basalt breccia. The fungal colonization of the basalt clasts occurred after the brecciation but prior to the final emplacement and lithification of the sediment at ～16-14 Ma. The siderite appears to have been partially dissolved by the presence of fungal hyphae, and the fungi preferentially colonized Fe-rich carbonates over Fe-poor carbonates (aragonite). Our findings indicate that fungi may be an important geobiological agent in subseafloor environments and an important component of the deep subseafloor biosphere, and that hydrothermal environments associated with volcanism can support a diverse ecosystem, including eukaryotes.     

Survival of Deinococcus radiodurans against laboratory-simulated solar wind charged particles

In this experimental study, cells of the radiation-resistant bacterium Deinococcus radiodurans were exposed to several different sources of radiation chosen to replicate the charged particles found in the solar wind. Naked cells or cells mixed with dust grains (basalt or sandstone) differing in elemental composition were exposed to electrons, protons, and ions to determine the probability of cell survival after irradiation. Doses necessary to reduce the viability of cell population to 10% (LD(10)) were determined under different experimental conditions. The results of this study indicate that low-energy particle radiation (2-4?keV), typically present in the slow component of the solar wind, had no effect on dehydrated cells, even if exposed at fluences only reached in more than 1000 years at Sun-Earth distance (1 AU). Higher-energy ions (200?keV) found in solar flares would inactivate 90% of exposed cells after several events in less than 1 year at 1 AU. When mixed with dust grains, LD(10) increases about 10-fold. These results show that, compared to the highly deleterious effects of UV radiation, solar wind charged particles are relatively benign, and organisms protected under grains from UV radiation would also be protected from the charged particles considered in this study.