Maglev systems development status

The current status and future potential of Maglev systems is reviewed. Modes of noncontact suspension and propulsion are described, and prototype systems and design concepts are indicated. A number of existing systems are described in more detail     

The Phoenix signal detection system

The Phoenix system is based on that developed for the Targeted Search element of the former NASA High Resolution Microwave Survey (HRMS). The Phoenix system was used at the Parkes 64 m and Mopra 22 m antennas of the Australian Telescope National Facility in the first part of 1995. The system consists of: (1) an RF/IF subsystem providing 1–3 GHz coverage; (2) a search subsystem with a 20 MHz, dual-polarization search bandwidth; (3) a two-site, pseudo-interferometric follow-up subsystem that reobserves interesting signals found by the search subsystem; and (4) a control subsystem capable of automatic searching.     

Infrared detection,review of existing and future devices

I present the current status of arrays of detectors operating in the 1–200 micron range, restricted to mature devices, and two recent concepts of infrared detection which could lead to future developments.     

Crop yield and light/energy efficiency in a closed ecological system: Laboratory Biosphere experiments with wheat and sweet potato.

Two crop growth experiments in the soil-based closed ecological facility, Laboratory Biosphere, were conducted from 2003 to 2004 with candidate space life support crops. Apogee wheat (Utah State University variety) was grown, planted at two densities, 400 and 800 seeds m-2. The lighting regime for the wheat crop was 16 h of light-8 h dark at a total light intensity of around 840 micromoles m-2 s-1 and 48.4 mol m-2 d-1 over 84 days. Average biomass was 1395 g m-2, 16.0 g m-2 d-1 and average seed production was 689 g m-2 and 7.9 g m-2 d-1. The less densely planted side was more productive than the denser planting, with 1634 g m-2 and 18.8 g m-2 d-1 of biomass vs. 1156 g m-2 and 13.3 g m-2 d-1; and a seed harvest of 812.3 g m-2 and 9.3 g m-2 d-1 vs. 566.5 g m-2 and 6.5 g m-2 d-1. Harvest index was 0.49 for the wheat crop. The experiment with sweet potato used TU-82-155 a compact variety developed at Tuskegee University. Light during the sweet potato experiment, on a 18 h on/6 h dark cycle, totaled 5568 total moles of light per square meter in 126 days for the sweet potatoes, or an average of 44.2 mol m-2 d-1. Temperature regime was 28 +/- 3 degrees C day/22 +/- 4 degrees C night. Sweet potato tuber yield was 39.7 kg wet weight, or an average of 7.4 kg m-2, and 7.7 kg dry weight of tubers since dry weight was about 18.6% wet weight. Average per day production was 58.7 g m-2 d-1 wet weight and 11.3 g m-2 d-1. For the wheat, average light efficiency was 0.34 g biomass per mole, and 0.17 g seed per mole. The best area of wheat had an efficiency of light utilization of 0.51 g biomass per mole and 0.22 g seed per mole. For the sweet potato crop, light efficiency per tuber wet weight was 1.33 g mol-1 and 0.34 g dry weight of tuber per mole of light. The best area of tuber production had 1.77 g mol-1 wet weight and 0.34 g mol-1 of light dry weight. The Laboratory Biosphere experiment's light efficiency was somewhat higher than the USU field results but somewhat below greenhouse trials at comparable light levels, and the best portion of the crop at 0.22 g mol-1 was in-between those values. Sweet potato production was overall close to 50% higher than trials using hydroponic methods with TU-82-155 at NASA JSC. Compared to projected yields for the Mars on Earth life support system, these wheat yields were about 15% higher, and the sweet potato yields averaged over 80% higher.     

DNA DSB induced by iron ions in human fibroblasts: LET dependence and shielding efficiency.

This paper reports on DNA DSB induction in human fibroblasts by iron ions of different energies, namely 5, 1 GeV/u, 414 and 115 MeV/u, in absence or presence of different shields (PMMA, Al and Pb). Measure of DNA DSB was performed by calibrated Pulsed Field Gel Electrophoresis using the fragment counting method. The RBE-LET relationships for unshielded and shielded beams were obtained both in terms of dose average LET and of track average LET. Weak dependence on these parameters was observed for DSB induction. The shielding efficiency, evaluated by the ratio between the cross sections for unshielded and shielded beams, depends not only on the shield type and thickness, but also on the beam energy. Protection is only observed at high iron ions energy, especially at 5 GeV/u, where PMMA shield gives higher protection compared to Al or Pb shields of the same thickness expressed in g/cm2.     

Laminar dust flames in a reduced-gravity environment

The propagation of laminar dust flames in suspensions of iron in gaseous oxidizers was studied in a low-gravity environment onboard a parabolic flight aircraft. The reduction of buoyancy-induced convective flows and particle settling permitted the measurement of fundamental combustion parameters, such as the burning velocity and the flame quenching distance over a wide range of particle sizes and in different gaseous mixtures. Experimentally measured flame speeds and quenching distances were found in good agreement with theoretical predictions of a simplified analytical model that assumes particles burning in a diffusive mode. However, the comparison of flame speeds in oxygen–argon and oxygen–helium iron suspensions indicates the possibility that fine micron-sized particles burn in the kinetic mode. Furthermore, when the particle spacing is large compared to the scale of the reaction zone, a theoretical analysis suggests the existence of a new so-called discrete flame propagation regime. Discrete flames are strongly dependent on particle density fluctuations and demonstrate directed percolation behavior near flame propagation limits. The experimental observation of discrete flames in particle suspensions will require low levels of gravity over extended periods available only on orbital platforms.     

Estimates of HZE particle contributions to SPE radiation exposures on interplanetary missions.

Estimates of radiation doses resulting from possible HZE (high energy heavy ion) components of solar particle events (SPEs) are presented for crews of manned interplanetary missions. The calculations assume a model spectrum obtained by folding measured solar flare HZE particle abundances with the measured energy spectra of SPE alpha particles. These hypothetical spectra are then transported through aluminum spacecraft shielding. The results, presented as estimates of absorbed dose and dose equivalent, indicate that HZE components by themselves are not a major concern for crew protection but should be included in any overall risk assessment. The predictions are found to be sensitive to the assumed spectral hardness parameters.     

A review of the hot-wire technique in 2-D compressible flows

In this paper the use of hot-wire anemometers for obtaining turbulence data in two-dimensional compressible flows has been reviewed. Based on the existing experimental results, the methods of extracting different turbulent quantities from the output signal of the hot-wire anemometer in a given flow environment have been described and evaluated. Comparison between the results obtained with the laser Doppler velocimeter (LDV) and the hot-wire anemometer clearly shows that the latter should still be considered as one of the main tools for turbulence research in compressible non-separated turbulent flows not only for its comparable accuracy but also for its much lower cost and ease of operation as compared with the optical methods.