EVA 2000: a European/Russian space suit concept

For the European manned space activities an EVA space suit system was being developed in the frame of the Hermes Space Vehicle Programme of the European Space Agency (ESA). The space suit was to serve the needs for all relevant extravehicular activities for the Hermes Columbus operations planned to begin in 2004. For the present Russian manned space programme the relevant EVAs are performed by the Orlan-DMA semi-rigid space suit. The origin of its development reaches back to the 1970s and has since been adapted to cover the needs for extravehicular activities on Salyut and MIR until today. The latest modification of the space suit, which guaranteed its completely self-contained operation, was made in 1988. However, Russian specialists considered it necessary to start developing an EVA space suit of a new generation, which would have improved performance and would cover the needs by the turn of the century and into the beginning of the next century. Potentially these two suit developments could have a lot in common based on similarities in present concepts. As future manned space activities become more and more an international effort, a safe and reliable interoperability of the different space suit systems is required. Based on the results of the Munich Minister Conference in 1991, the European Space Agency and the Russian Space Agency agreed to initiate a requirements analysis and conceptual design study to determine the feasibility of a joint space suit development, EVA 2000. The design philosophy for the EVA 2000 study was oriented on a space suit system design of: space suit commonality and interoperability; increased crew productivity and safety; increase in useful life and reduced maintainability; reduced development and production cost. The EVA 2000 feasibility study was performed in 1992, and with the positive conclusions for EVA 2000, this approach became the new joint European Russian EVA Suit 2000 Development Programme. This paper gives an overview of the results of the feasibility study and presents the joint requirements and the proposed design concept of a jointly developed European Russian space suit.     

Effect of geomagnetic field disturbances on the adaptive stress reaction of cosmonauts

Investigations of the effect of geomagnetic activity factors on the cardiac rhythm regulation and arterial pressure of cosmonauts during the expeditions onboard the Soyuz spacecraft, and the MIR and ISS orbital space stations was carried out for various durations of flight in weightlessness and, under control. Groups of cosmonauts were inspected under flight conditions outside the geomagnetic disturbances and in ground preflight conditions, during disturbances without them. The presence of specific effect of geomagnetic disturbances on the system of vegetative regulation of blood circulation of cosmonauts during the flight was demonstrated for the first time. The response of cosmonauts’ cardiac rhythm on the magnetic storm is definitely revealed; however, it depends on the initial functional background and, in particular, on the state of mechanisms of vegetative regulation (the duration of flight and adaptation to it).     

Problems of control of a re-entry vehicle with a moderate lift-to-drag ratio during its entry into the atmosphere

We consider the problems of control of the angular and trajectory motion of the Kliper re-entry vehicle. This spacecraft with a moderate hypersonic lift-to-drag ratio is designed according to the load-carrying frame scheme. Gas-dynamic engines, a split balancing flap, and an air brake are used as mounting devices of control.     

The use of in-flight foot pressure as a countermeasure to neuromuscular degradation

The purpose of this study was to determine whether applying foot pressure to unrestrained subjects during space flight could enhance the neuromuscular activation associated with rapid arm movements. Four men performed unilateral arm raises while wearing--or not wearing--specially designed boots during a 81- or 115-day space flight. Arm acceleration and surface EMG were obtained from selected lower limb and trunk muscles. Pearson r coefficients were used to evaluate similarity in phasic patterns between the two in-flight conditions. In-flight data also were magnitude normalized to the mean voltage value of the muscle activation waveforms obtained during the no-foot-pressure condition to facilitate comparison of activation amplitude between the two in-flight conditions. Foot pressure enhanced neuromuscular activation and somewhat modified the phasic features of the neuromuscular activation during the arm raises.     

Changes of properties of the materials of spacecraft solar arrays under the action of atomic oxygen

A procedure is developed for physical and chemical modeling and investigation of the weight, geometrical, and thermo-optical characteristics of polymer paneling materials of solar arrays and of the electric power of solar cells under the prolonged action of supersonic fluxes of atomic oxygen in orbit. The behavior of changes in the material characteristics as a function of the integral fluence of atomic oxygen is found. It is established that the electric power of solar cells is virtually invariable within the errors of measurements under irradiation by atomic oxygen flux with a fluence of no higher than 5 · 10²¹ cm^?2.     

Navigation of a space bunch under conditions of its rotary motion

The properties of a tethered space system (bunch) in the mode of rotational motion are used in determination of the parameters of the location and orientation of the end vehicles of the bunch by the method with the simplest possible instrumental implementation.     

Statistical investigation of heliospheric conditions resulting in magnetic storms

Time behavior of the solar wind and interplanetary magnetic field parameters is investigated for 623 magnetic storms of the OMNI database for the period 1976–2000. The analysis is carried out by the superposed epoch technique (the magnetic storm onset time is taken to be the beginning of an epoch) for five various categories of storms induced by various types of solar wind: CIR (121 storms), Sheath (22 storms), MC (113 storms), and “uncertain type” (367 storms). In total, the analysis conducted for “all storms” included 623 storms. The obtained data, on one hand, confirm the results obtained earlier without selecting the intervals according to the solar wind types, and, on the other hand, they indicate the existence of distinctions in the time variation of parameters for various types of solar wind. Though the lowest values of the B _z-component of IMF are observed in the MC, the lowest values of the D _st-index are achieved in the Sheath. Thus, the strongest magnetic storms are induced, on average, during the Sheath rather than during the MC body passage, probably owing to higher pressure in the Sheath. Higher values of nkT, T/T _exp, and β parameters are observed in the CIR and Sheath and lower ones in the MC, which corresponds to the physical essence of these solar wind types.     

Mineralization of wastes of human vital activity and plants to be used in a Life Support System

Available methods for mineralizing wastes of human activity and inedible biomass of plants used in this country and abroad are divided into two types: dry mineralization at high temperatures up to 1270 K with subsequent partial dissolution of the ash and the other--wet oxidation by acids. In this case mineralization is performed at a temperature of 470-460 K and a pressure of 220-270 atmospheres in pure oxygen with the output of mineral solution and dissoluble sediments in the form of scale. The drawback of the first method is the formation of dioxins, CO, SO2, NO2 and other toxic compounds. The latter method is too sophisticated and is presently confined to bench testing. The here proposed method to mineralize the wastes is in mid-position between the thermal and physical chemical methods. At a temperature of 80-90 degrees C the mixture was exposed to a controlled electromagnetic field at normal atmospheric pressure. The method merits simplicity, reliability, produces no dissoluble sediment or emissions noxious for human and plants. The basic difference from the above said methods is to employ as an oxidizer atomic oxygen, its active forms including OH-radicals with hydrogen peroxide as the source. Hydrogen peroxide can be produced with electric power from water inside the Life Support System (LSS).     

Immune organs and haemopoietic system under modelling of the mission factors

Literary and experimental data on the character of changes in immune organs and lymphoid tissue of respiratory system and digestive system in laboratory animals during the mission factors model area given. Inhibition of reproductive function in bone marrow, thymus and spleen under irradiation of gamma-rays and accelerated carbon ions, tensity of immune response in the lymphoid structures of larynx, trachea and bronchi under the influence of acetaldehyde vapors and decrease of lymphoid tissue square on histological series in spleen and small intestine with an increase of concentration of microbial bodies in the drinking water were estimated.     

A solution of UAV localization problem using an interacting multiple nonlinear fuzzy adaptive H_∞ models filter algorithm

The purpose of this research is to improve the robustness of the autonomous system in order to improve the position and velocity estimation of an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle(UAV).Therefore, new integrated SINS/GPS navigation scheme based on Interacting Multiple Nonlinear Fuzzy Adaptive H_∞ Models(IMM-NFAH_∞) filtering technique for UAV is presented. The proposed IMM-NFAH_∞ strategy switches between two different Nonlinear Fuzzy Adaptive H_∞(NFAH_∞) filters and each NFAH_∞ filter is based on different fuzzy logic inference systems. The newly proposed technique takes into consideration the high order Taylor series terms and adapts the nonlinear H_∞ filter based on different fuzzy inference systems via adaptive filter bounds(di),along with disturbance attenuation parameter c. Simulation analysis validates the performance of the proposed algorithm, and the comparison with nonlinear H_∞(NH_∞) filter and that with different NFAH_∞ filters demonstrate the effectiveness of UAV localization utilizing IMM-NFAH_∞ filter.