An anti-image interference quadrature IF architecture for satellite receivers

Since Global Navigation Satellite System（GNSS） signals span a wide range of frequency, wireless signals coming from other communication systems may be aliased and appear as image interference. In quadrature intermediate frequency（IF） receivers, image aliasing due to in-phase and quadrature（I/Q） channel mismatches is always a big problem. I/Q mismatches occur because of gain and phase imbalances between quadrature mixers and capacitor mismatches in analog-to-digital converters（ADC）. As a result, the dynamic range and performance of a receiver are severely degraded. In this paper, several popular receiver architectures are summarized and the image aliasing problem is investigated in detail. Based on this analysis, a low-IF architecture is proposed for a single-chip solution and a novel and feasible anti-image algorithm is investigated. With this anti-image digital processing, the image reject ratio（IRR） can reach approximately above50 dB, which relaxes image rejection specific in front-end circuit designs and allows cheap and highly flexible analog front-end solutions. Simulation and experimental data show that the antiimage algorithm can work effectively, robustly, and steadily.     

Assessing the robustness of the emergence of intelligence: testing the selfish biocosm hypothesis (#IAA-00-IAA.9.2.06)

The Selfish Biocosm hypothesis asserts that the anthropic qualities which our universe exhibits can be explained as incidental consequences of a cosmological replication cycle in which a cosmologically extended biosphere supplies two of the essential elements of self-replication identified by von Neumann.Further, the hypothesis asserts that the emergence of life and intelligence are key epigenetic thresholds in the cosmological replication cycle, strongly favored by the physical laws and constants of inanimate nature. A falsifiable implication of the hypothesis is that the emergence of increasingly intelligent life is a robust phenomenon, stongly favored by the natural processes of biological evolution     

Balloon film strain measurement

In order to understand the state of stress in scientific balloons, a need exists for the measurement of film deformation in flight. The results of a flight test program are reported where material strain was measured for the first time during the inflation, launch, ascent and float of a typical natural shape, zero pressure scientific balloon.     

Results of studies on advanced winged space transportation systems

This paper reviews advanced space transportation studies that have been conducted at the NASA Langley Research Center over the past several years and presents the impact of technology on vehicle size and weight. The focus of this work has been on systems that could become operational in the late 1990s and beyond with the primary emphasis on winged vehicles, both single-stage-to-orbit and two-stage concepts.     

The biological terraforming of Mars: planetary ecosynthesis as ecological succession on a global scale

Mars is bitterly cold and dry, but robotic spacecraft have returned abundant data that indicate Mars once had a much warmer and wetter climate in the past. These data, the basis of the search for past or present life on Mars, suggest the possibility of returning Mars to its previous climate by global engineering techniques. Greenhouse gases, such as perfluorocarbons, appear to be the best method for warming Mars and increasing its atmospheric density so that liquid water becomes stable. The process of making Mars habitable for terrestrial organisms is called terraforming or planetary ecosynthesis. The process of introducing terrestrial ecosystems to Mars can be compared with a descent down a high mountain. Each drop in elevation results in a warmer, wetter climate and more diverse biological community. Beginning with a polar desert, the sequence of ecosystems passes through tundra, boreal forest, and temperate ecosystems where moisture determines the presence of desert, grassland, or forest. This model suggests a sequence for the introduction of ecosystems to Mars and the communities to search for potential colonizing species for Mars.     

Dynamics of space welding impact and corresponding safety welding study

This study was undertaken in order to be sure that no hazard would exist from impingement of hot molten metal particle detachments upon an astronauts space suit during any future electron beam welding exercises or experiments. The conditions under which molten metal detachments might occur in a space welding environment were analyzed. The safety issue is important during welding with regards to potential molten metal detachments from the weld pool and cold filler wire during electron beam welding in space. Theoretical models were developed to predict the possibility and size of the molten metal detachment hazards during the electron beam welding exercises at low earth orbit. Some possible ways of obtaining molten metal drop detachments would include an impulse force, or bump, to the weld sample, cut surface, or filler wire. Theoretical models were determined for these detachment concerns from principles of impact and kinetic energies, surface tension, drop geometry, surface energies, and particle dynamics. A weld pool detachment parameter for specifying the conditions for metal weld pool detachment by impact was derived and correlated to the experimental results. The experimental results were for the most part consistent with the theoretical analysis and predictions.     

Social support and depressed mood in isolated and confined environments

The influence of isolation and confinement on social support and depressed mood was examined in a study of 235 men and women who spent a year at McMurdo Station in Antarctica, and a study of 77 men and women who spent a year at the Amundson-Scott South Pole Station. Although availability of support remained unchanged, there was a significant decrease in reported satisfaction with support obtained, as well as a significant increase in depressed mood. Satisfaction with support was inversely associated with depressed mood at the beginning and end of isolation and confinement. At the end of winter, this association varied by source of support. High levels of tension-anxiety, depression and anger preceded an increase in advice seeking, but high levels of advice seeking also preceded an increase in tension-anxiety and depression. Results suggest a significant erosion of social support under conditions of prolonged isolation and confinement, leading to an increase in depressed mood.     

Venus, Mars, and the ices on Mercury and the moon: astrobiological implications and proposed mission designs

Venus and Mars likely had liquid water bodies on their surface early in the Solar System history. The surfaces of Venus and Mars are presently not a suitable habitat for life, but reservoirs of liquid water remain in the atmosphere of Venus and the subsurface of Mars, and with it also the possibility of microbial life. Microbial organisms may have adapted to live in these ecological niches by the evolutionary force of directional selection. Missions to our neighboring planets should therefore be planned to explore these potentially life-containing refuges and return samples for analysis. Sample return missions should also include ice samples from Mercury and the Moon, which may contain information about the biogenic material that catalyzed the early evolution of life on Earth (or elsewhere). To obtain such information, science-driven exploration is necessary through varying degrees of mission operation autonomy. A hierarchical mission design is envisioned that includes spaceborne (orbital), atmosphere (airborne), surface (mobile such as rover and stationary such as lander or sensor), and subsurface (e.g., ground-penetrating radar, drilling, etc.) agents working in concert to allow for sufficient mission safety and redundancy, to perform extensive and challenging reconnaissance, and to lead to a thorough search for evidence of life and habitability.     

MESSENGER Mission Design and Navigation

Nearly three decades after the Mariner 10 spacecraft’s third and final targeted Mercury flyby, the 3 August 2004 launch of the MESSENGER (MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging) spacecraft began a new phase of exploration of the closest planet to our Sun. In order to ensure that the spacecraft had sufficient time for pre-launch testing, the NASA Discovery Program mission to orbit Mercury experienced launch delays that required utilization of the most complex of three possible mission profiles in 2004. During the 7.6-year mission, the spacecraft’s trajectory will include six planetary flybys (including three of Mercury between January 2008 and September 2009), dozens of trajectory-correction maneuvers (TCMs), and a year in orbit around Mercury. Members of the mission design and navigation teams optimize the spacecraft’s trajectory, specify TCM requirements, and predict and reconstruct the spacecraft’s orbit. These primary mission design and navigation responsibilities are closely coordinated with spacecraft design limitations, operational constraints, availability of ground-based tracking stations, and science objectives. A few days after the spacecraft enters Mercury orbit in mid-March 2011, the orbit will have an 80° inclination relative to Mercury’s equator, a 200-km minimum altitude over 60°N latitude, and a 12-hour period. In order to accommodate science goals that require long durations during Mercury orbit without trajectory adjustments, pairs of orbit-correction maneuvers are scheduled every 88 days (once per Mercury year).