First measurements of cosmic-ray nuclei at high energy with CREAM

The balloon-borne cosmic-ray experiment CREAM-I (Cosmic-Ray Energetics And Mass) recently completed a successful 42-day flight during the 2004–2005 NASA/NSF/NSBF Antarctic expedition. CREAM-I combines an imaging calorimeter with charge detectors and a precision transition radiation detector (TRD). The TRD component of CREAM-I is targeted at measuring the energy of cosmic-ray particles with charges greater than Z ∼ 3. A central science goal of this effort is the determination of the ratio of secondary to primary nuclei at high energy. This measurement is crucial for the reconstruction of the propagation history of cosmic rays, and consequently for the determination of their source spectra. First scientific results from this instrument are presented.     

Investigation of the steam-cooled blade in a steam turbine cascade

With the increasing demand for electricity,an efficiency improvement and thereby reduced CO2 emissions of the coal-fired plants are expected in order to reach the goals set in the Kyoto protocol.It can be achieved by a rise of the process parameters.Currently,live steam pressures and temperatures up to 300 bars and 923 K are planned as the next step.Closed circuit steam cooling of blades and vanes in modern steam turbines is a promising technology in order to establish elevated live steam temperatures in future steam turbine cycles.In this paper,a steam-cooled test vane in a cascade with external hot steam flow is analyzed numerically with the in-house code CHTflow.A parametric analysis aiming to improve the cooling effectiveness is carried out by varying the cooling mass flow ratio.The results from two investigated cases show that the steam cooling technique has a good application potential in the steam turbine.The internal part of the vane is cooled homogeneously in both cases.With the increased cooling mass flow rate,there is a significant improvement of cooling efficiency at the leading edge.The results show that the increased cooling mass flow ratio can enhance the cooling effectiveness at the leading edge.With respect to trailing edge,there is no observable improvement of cooling effectiveness with the increased cooling mass flow.This implies that due to the limited dimension at the trailing edge,the thermal stress cannot be decreased by increasing the cooling mass flow rate.Therefore,impingement-cooling configuration at the trailing edge might be a solution to overcome the critical thermal stress there.It is also observed that the performance of the cooling effective differs on pressure side and suction side.It implicates that the equilibrium of the cooling effectiveness on two sides are influenced by a coupled relationship between cooling mass flow ratio and hole geometry.In future work,optimizing the hole geometry and cooling steam supply conditions might be the solutions for an equivalent cooling effectiveness along whole profile.      

未来机载雷达中具有高精度测距能力的新HPRF模式

已研究了一种新的雷达模式，它可以不模糊地估算目标速度并能通过IPRF模式中的脉冲时间延迟估算距离。要实现这点，距离门宽度要减至近乎机载目标（比如战斗机）的距离向长度。与普通HPRF模式不同的是，在不模糊距离中要有多个可辨别的距离门。距离模糊的分辨则由脉冲串至脉冲串间的脉冲重复频率变化来进行。模糊分辨的算法要考虑到这样一个事实，即在PRF变化期间，目标能移至下一个距离门或跨过一个或更多的相邻距离门。此外，可以在算法中采用不模糊速度测量来补偿目标距离徙动以减少虚警率。     

The putative mechanical strength of comet surface material applied to landing on a comet

The comet lander PHILAE (part of the ESA mission ROSETTA) is going to touch down on comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko in 2014. Landing dynamics depend on the mechanical strength of the surface material: in an extremely soft material, the lander (100 kg, 1 m/s touch-down velocity) may sink in too deep for successful operation while on a very hard surface the probability for bouncing and overturning increases. It is shown that direct knowledge on the strength of cometary surface material is very limited. In our view, even the Deep Impact experiment could not provide a reliable value of the mechanical strength of comet Tempel 1. We discuss the definition of “strength” and revise the ideas on cometary surface strength and theories that describe the low-velocity (≈1 m/s) impact of blunt bodies into dust-rich, fluffy cometary materials. Available direct and indirect measurements and data are critically reviewed. Lessons learnt from laboratory measurements to verify our equations of motion are presented as well. Conclusions for Philae are drawn: most likely, the soft landing will lead to a typical penetration of the lander's feet of up to 20 cm.     

Microbial rock inhabitants survive hypervelocity impacts on Mars-like host planets: first phase of lithopanspermia experimentally tested

The scenario of lithopanspermia describes the viable transport of microorganisms via meteorites. To test the first step of lithopanspermia, i.e., the impact ejection from a planet, systematic shock recovery experiments within a pressure range observed in martian meteorites (5-50 GPa) were performed with dry layers of microorganisms (spores of Bacillus subtilis, cells of the endolithic cyanobacterium Chroococcidiopsis, and thalli and ascocarps of the lichen Xanthoria elegans) sandwiched between gabbro discs (martian analogue rock). Actual shock pressures were determined by refractive index measurements and Raman spectroscopy, and shock temperature profiles were calculated. Pressure-effect curves were constructed for survival of B. subtilis spores and Chroococcidiopsis cells from the number of colony-forming units, and for vitality of the photobiont and mycobiont of Xanthoria elegans from confocal laser scanning microscopy after live/dead staining (FUN-I). A vital launch window for the transport of rock-colonizing microorganisms from a Mars-like planet was inferred, which encompasses shock pressures in the range of 5 to about 40 GPa for the bacterial endospores and the lichens, and a more limited shock pressure range for the cyanobacterium (from 5-10 GPa). The results support concepts of viable impact ejections from Mars-like planets and the possibility of reseeding early Earth after asteroid cataclysms.     

Physical parameters affecting living cells in space

The question is posed: Why does a living cell react to the absence of gravity? What sensors may it have? Does it note pressure, sedimentation, convection, or other parameters?

If somewhere in a liquid volume sodium ions are replaced by potassium ions, the density of the liquid changes locally: the heavier regions sink, the lighter regions rise. This may contribute to species transport, to the metabolism. Under microgravity this mechanism is strongly reduced. On the other hand, other reasons for convection like thermal and solutal interface convection are left. Do they affect species transport?

Another important effect of gravity is the hydrostatic pressure. On the macroscopic side, the pressure between our head and feet changes by 0.35 atmospheres. On the microscopic level the hydrostatic pressure on the upper half of a cell membrane is lower than on the lower half. This, by affecting the ion transport through the membrane, may change the surrounding electric potential. It has been suggested to be one of the reasons for graviperception.

Following the discussion of these and other effects possibly important in life sciences in space, an order of magnitude analysis of the residual accelerations tolerable during experiments in materials sciences is outlined. In the field of life sciences only rough estimates are available at present.