On the possibility of Earth-type habitable planets in the 55 Cancri system

We discuss the possibility of Earth-type planets in the planetary system of 55 Cancri, a nearby G8 V star, which is host to two, possibly three, giant planets. We argue that Earth-type planets around 55 Cancri are in principle possible. Several conditions are necessary. First, Earth-type planets must have formed despite the existence of the close-in giant planet(s). In addition, they must be orbitally stable in the region of habitability considering that the stellar habitable zone is relatively close to the star compared to the Sun because of 55 Cancri's low luminosity and may therefore be affected by the close-in giant planet(s). We estimate the likelihood of Earth-type planets around 55 Cancri based on the integrated system approach previously considered, which provides a way of assessing the long-term possibility of photosynthetic biomass production under geodynamic conditions.     

Research priorities and plans for the International Space Station-results of the 'REMAP' Task Force

Recent events in the International Space Station (ISS) Program have resulted in the necessity to re-examine the research priorities and research plans for future years. Due to both technical and fiscal resource constraints expected on the International Space Station, it is imperative that research priorities be carefully reviewed and clearly articulated. In consultation with OSTP and the Office of Management and budget (OMB), NASA's Office of Biological and Physical Research (OBPR) assembled an ad-hoc external advisory committee, the Biological and Physical Research Maximization and Prioritization (REMAP) Task Force. This paper describes the outcome of the Task Force and how it is being used to define a roadmap for near and long-term Biological and Physical Research objectives that supports NASA's Vision and Mission. Additionally, the paper discusses further prioritizations that were necessitated by budget and ISS resource constraints in order to maximize utilization of the International Space Station. Finally, a process has been developed to integrate the requirements for this prioritized research with other agency requirements to develop an integrated ISS assembly and utilization plan that maximizes scientific output.     

INTESPACE试验中心为阿里安娜-V型火箭而进行的改造

文章介绍了法国宇航环境工程试验中心(INTESPACE)为满足阿里安娜-V的需要所准备进行的一系列改造.这些工作主要有:增建一个适合大型容器用的空气锁,保持厅内连续的10万级洁净度,建立一个紧凑试验区域,建造一面强效吸波墙,扩展振动设备能力以及改造原热真空设备.这些工作计划于2001年初全部完成.改造工作的完成将保证INTESPACE在独立的欧洲试验中心中继续处于领先地位.     

Changes in organ perfusion and weight ratios in post-simulated microgravity recovery

Head-down tilt models have been used as ground-based simulations of microgravity. Our previous animal research has demonstrated that there are significant changes in fluid distribution within 2 h after placement in a 45 degrees head-down tilt (45HDT) position and these changes in fluid distribution were still present after 14 days of 45HDT. Consequently, we investigated changes in fluid distribution during recovery from 16 days of 45HDT. Changes in radioactive tracer distribution and organ/body weight ratio were examined in rats randomly assigned to a 45HDT or prone control group. The 45HDT rats were suspended for 16 days and then allowed to recover at the prone position 0, 77, 101, or 125 h post-suspension. Animals were injected with technetium-labeled diethylenetriamine pentaacetate (99mTcDTPA, MW=492 amu, physical half-life of 6.02 h) and then killed 30 min post-injection. Lungs, heart, liver, spleen, kidneys, and brain were harvested, weighed, and measured for radioactive counts. Statistical analyses included two-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) that compared 45HDT versus controls at the four experimental time points. The organ weight divided by the body weight ratio for the brain, heart, kidneys and liver in the 45HDT rats was significantly different than the control rats, regardless of time (treatment). There was no difference between the different time points (time). The average 99mTcDTPA count divided by the organ weight ratio values for the heart, liver, and spleen were significantly higher in the 45HDT group than the control group. The average counts for the heart and spleen were significantly higher at 77, 101, and 125 h than at time zero. We conclude that the major organs have different recovery patterns after 45HDT for 16 days in the rat.     

通过聚集探测SAR图像中的动目标

本文介绍的是一种在合成孔径雷达（SAR）图像中探测动目标的方法。这种方法是将SAR复图像分成若干分区，分别对各个分区进行聚焦，然后测量聚焦区域中锐度的增长情况，这种方法能敏锐地检测到目标的方位速度，对目标径向加速度的检测尤为敏锐，还能对任意方向的运动进行检测，对于只能检测快速运动目标径向速度的传统多普勒传感动目标指示器而言，这种方法是一种有效的补充。     

用雷达图像作非协同式空中目标识别：识别率作为信号带宽函数

尽管非协同式目标识别与高可靠敌我识别极其相关，但一直是一个有等解决的问题，过去提出并研究了许多方法，如：利用目标的红外、声学、光学或雷达特征等，其中一些方法是无源法，其优点是不会对被观测目标发出报警，不足之处是观测距离有限，边缘分辨率低，本文介绍的方法是在利用飞机雷达图像的基础上提出的，所研究的是一维雷达图像（通常所说的高距离分辨率剖面图）和二维逆合成孔径雷达（ISAR）图像。     

空时自适应处理技术中的某些先进概念

多维有色噪声匹配滤波技术广泛用于目标检测。在机载雷达应用中，这种滤波技术当初只是用于描述地杂波的减少，现在通常称其为空时自适应处理(STAF)。本文研究了与多雄空间和噪声场估计中信号表示法有关的问题。探讨了新近提出的一些概念并讨论了在STAF中出现的研究领域。     

使用信息矩阵滤波的跟踪融合的性能评估

在多传感器环境下，每个传感器探测多个目标，接着产生相应的跟踪。这些跟踪可能互不相同，经过融合后，传感器生成有关目标的更精确的运动信息和属性信息。目前已有两种方法可以达到上述目的，一种是测量值融合法，一种是状态矢量融合法。众所周知，测量值融合计算法通常最优，但计算费时，而状态矢量融合算法计算省力却是次优。之所以如此，是因为从两个传感器中获得的待融合状态级估值，由于通常存在被跟踪目标的过程噪声，通常并非条件独立。值得注意的是，状态矢量融合已有三种计算法：加权协方差法、信息矩阵法和伪测量法。本文仅限于讨论状态矢量融合中信息矩阵形式的性能评估。利用信息矩阵计算法已经推导出稳态融合协方差的闭式分析解并作为一种性能的度量方法。注意，推导出的结果基于两个传感器同步工作且没有误关联的假设，或是在研究时考虑了融合测量值。并且我们将推导出的结果用蒙特卡罗仿真进行了比较，过去曾有许多作者利用蒙特卡罗仿真来预测融合系统的性能。这些结果有助于更加深入地了解跟踪融合的作用原理，并大大简化了对融合性能的评估。此外，有了这样的解，简化了对各种不同工作条件下设计融合系统的折衷研究。     

The Interplanetary Internet: a communications infrastructure for Mars exploration

A strategy is being developed whereby the current set of internationally standardized space data communications protocols can be incrementally evolved so that a first version of an operational "Interplanetary Internet" is feasible by the end of the decade. This paper describes its architectural concepts, discusses the current set of standard space data communications capabilities that exist to support Mars exploration and reviews proposed new developments. We also speculate that these current capabilities can grow to support future scenarios where human intelligence is widely distributed across the Solar System and day-to-day communications dialog between planets is routine.