Earth benefits from space life sciences

Contributions of space exploration which are widely recognized are those dealing with the impact of space technology on public health and medical services in both urban and remote rural areas. Telecommunications, image enhancement, 3-dimensional image reconstructions, miniaturization, automation, and data analysis, have transformed the delivery of medical care and have brought about a new impetus to the field of biomedicine. Many areas of medical care and biological research have been affected. These include technological breakthroughs in such areas as: (1) diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of cardiovascular diseases, (2) new approaches to the understanding of osteoporosis, (3) early detection of genetic birth defects, (4) emergency medical care, and (5) treatment of chronic metabolic disorders. These are but a few examples where technology originally developed to support space medicine or space research has been applied to solving medical and health care delivery problems on Earth.     

战术导弹强度与环境技术交流会在柳州召开

由航天工业部科学技术委员会委托航天工业部第三研究院第三设计部主持召开的战术导弹强度与环境技术交流会于1982年10月30日至11月3日在广西柳州举行。来自各有关设计、制造、试验、研究与教学各方面近30个单位的90余位代表参加了会议,他们向会议提出了近80篇技术报告。会间,哈尔滨工业大学副校长黄文虎教授作了题为“结构动力学发展中的几个问题”的报告,王锋教授作了题为“断裂力学在飞航式导弹上的应用”的报告,中国科学院力学研究     

Neutral buoyancy and sleep-deprived serum factors alter expression of cytokines regulating osteogenesis

We examined expression of genes associated with cytokine production, and genes implicated in regulating bone metabolism, in bone stromal and osteoblast cells incubated under standard ground conditions and under conditions of neutral buoyancy, and in the presence/absence of serum from normal or sleep-deprived mice. We observed a clear interaction between these two conditions (exposure to neutral buoyancy and serum stimulation) in promoting enhanced osteoclastogenesis. Both conditions independently altered expression of a number of cytokines implicated in the regulation of bone metabolism. However, using stromal cells from IL-1 and TNFx cytokine(r) KO mice, we concluded that the increased bone loss under microgravity conditions was not primarily cytokine mediated.     

Vanguard--a European robotic astrobiology-focussed Mars sub-surface mission proposal

We present a new European Mars mission proposal to build on the UK-led Beagle2 Mars mission and continue its astrobiology-focussed investigation of Mars. The small surface element to be delivered to the Martian surface--Vanguard--is designed to be carried by a Mars Express-type spacecraft bus to Mars and adopts a similar entry, descent and landing system as Beagle2. The surface element comprises a triad of robotic devices--a lander, a micro-rover of the Sojourner class for surface mobility, and three ground-penetrating moles mounted onto the rover for sub-surface penetration to 5 m depth. The major onboard instruments on the rover include a Raman spectrometer/imager, a laser plasma spectrometer, an infrared spectrometer--these laser instruments provide the basis for in situ "remote" sensing of the sub-surface Martian environment within a powerful scientific package. The moles carry the instruments' sensor head array to the sub-surface. The moles are thus required to undergo a one-way trip down the boreholes without the need for recovery of moles or samples, eliminating much of the robotic complexity invoked by such operations.     

Social desirability bias in personality testing: implications for astronaut selection

The assessment of personality is recognized by space agencies as an approach to identify candidates likely to perform optimally during spaceflights. In the use of personality scales for selection, the impact of social desirability (SD) has been cited as a concern. Study 1 addressed the impact of SD on responses to the Personality Characteristic Inventory(PCI) and NEO-FFI. This was achieved by contrasting scores from active astronauts (N=65) with scores of successful astronaut applicants (N=63), and between pilots applicants (N=1271) and pilot research subjects (N=120). Secondly, personality scores were correlated with scores on the Marlow Crown Social Desirability Scale among applicants to managerial positions (N=120). The results indicated that SD inflated scores on PCI scales assessing negative interpersonal characteristics, and impacted on four of five scales in NEO-FFI. Still, the effect sizes were small or moderate. Study 2 addressed performance implications of SD during an assessment of males applying to work as rescue personnel operations in the North Sea (N=22). The results showed that SD correlated negatively with cognitive test performance, and positively with discrepancy in performance ratings between self and two observers. In conclusion, caution is needed in interpreting personality scores in applicant populations. SD maybe a negative predictor for performance under stress.     

螺旋桨气动参数与飞机综合设计技术

螺旋桨推进具备较高的推进效率和广泛的通用性。由于桨盘面积大、滑流范围广,螺旋桨与载机间的空气动力耦合关系更加紧密,需要将螺旋桨与飞机进行综合设计,迭代获取优化设计方案,从而最大化保证飞机的高性能和经济性。本文首先介绍了飞机总体设计对螺旋桨气动设计参数的影响,以及螺旋桨多目标优化综合设计的手段;然后,简述了螺旋桨布局选型对飞机总体设计的影响,介绍了共轴对转螺旋桨设计和分布式推进螺旋桨设计两种新形态的螺旋桨设计构型;最后,讨论了螺旋桨设计手段的发展,以及CFD方法在螺旋桨-飞机综合设计中的应用。本文可为螺旋桨飞机的相关总体设计和气动优化提供参考。     

一种新型多普勒噪声抑制技术对BepiColombo任务无线电科学实验的性能提升

在欧洲空间局和日本宇宙开发机构联合开展的BepiColombo水星任务中,将开展水星轨道器无线电科学实验,包括估计水星的引力场及其旋转状态,并对广义相对论进行验证。目前地面系统和星上设备的主流配置可以在无线电科学实验中建立X/X、X/Ka和Ka/Ka多个频段的链路,测速精度可达3 um/s（1 000 s积分）,测距精度为20 cm。提出了基于时延机械噪声对消技术提高无线电科学实验性能的方案。时延机械噪声对消技术需要处理在两个测站不同时刻的测量数据,一个测站实施双向多普勒测距,对另一个单收测站的要求较为严格,该测站需要具有较好的对流层条件。这种方法能够显著降低Ka频段双向链路的主要测量噪声,包括由对流层和天线机械系统震动引起的噪声。我们给出了端到端的仿真性能,并估计了在使用时延机械噪声对消技术前提下的水星引力场和旋转状态。考虑使用NASA位于美国本土戈尔德斯敦的DSS-25天线或欧空局位于阿根廷马拉圭的DSA-3天线作为双程测量站,并考虑使用位于智力的APEX天文观测天线作为单收站。分析结果表明在最好的噪声条件下,使用DSA-3天线作为双程测量站时,时延机械噪声对消技术可将待估计的全局和局部参数的估计精度提升一倍。对于无线电科学实验的目标,这一可能的性能提升对行星地质物理学很有意义,它将有益于研究水星内部的结构。     

高空低气压下电晕放电电磁脉冲辐射特性模拟实验

为研究高空低气压下飞行器表面电晕放电电磁脉冲辐射特性,以尖端导体电晕放电为研究对象,进行了低气压下电晕放电电磁脉冲辐射特性模拟实验,给出了辐射电场幅值与气压的关系表达式,并基于气体放电和电磁场理论总结了电晕放电电磁脉冲辐射特性随电压极性、气压以及测试距离的变化规律。结果表明:电晕放电电磁脉冲辐射电场时域波形呈衰减振荡形式,持续时间约为600 ns,首脉冲方向随电压极性的不同而不同,且辐射电场分量主要集中在与放电针相同的极化方向;辐射电场频谱主要分布在500 MHz以内,在35 MHz和170 MHz处出现稳定的波峰;在气压为4~30 kPa范围内,随着气压的降低,放电电磁脉冲辐射电场增强;随着测试距离的增加,电晕放电电磁脉冲辐射电场逐渐衰减。该研究结论可为低气压下飞行器电晕放电电磁脉冲辐射特性研究提供有益参考。     

Microbially induced iron precipitation associated with a neutrophilic spring at Borra Caves, Vishakhapatnam, India

The present investigation uncovers various pieces of evidence for the possible biologically induced mineralization in iron mats associated with a pH-neutral spring in the Borra caves, Vishakhapatnam, India. Electron microscopy [scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM)] demonstrated large numbers of (i) hollow tubes (diameter ～1?μm) resembling sheaths of the iron-oxidizing bacteria Leptothrix, (ii) thin (diameter <1?μm) solid fibers of uncertain origin, (iii) nanoscale subspherical to irregularly shaped particles encrusting tubes and fibers, and (iv) aggregates of broken and partially disintegrated sheaths, fibers, and particles embedded in extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) occasionally including microbial cells. X-ray microanalyses by energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) revealed that the mat accumulated largely Fe but also smaller amounts of Si and traces of P and Ca. Particles rich in Si and Al (possibly kaolinite) and Ca (carbonate) were also observed. High-resolution TEM/EDS of unstained ultrathin sections suggests that microbial sheaths were highly mineralized by amorphous to cryptocrystalline Fe-rich phases and less frequently by other fine-grained and fibrous authigenic claylike minerals. Total number of microorganisms in the iron mats was 5.8×10(5) cells, g sed(-1) (wet weight). Analysis of the 16S rRNA gene diversity revealed microorganisms assigned to eight different phyla [Proteobacteria (62%), Chloroflexi (8%), Bacteroidetes (7%), Planctomycetes (1%), Actinobacteria (5%), Acidobacteria (6%), Nitrospira (1%), Firmicutes (5%)]. Within the Proteobacteria, Betaproteobacteria was the predominant class, which accounted for 28% of the sequences. Within this class some obvious similarities between the obtained sequences and sequences from other cave systems could be seen, especially sequences affiliated with Leptothrix, Siderooxidans, Crenothrix, Comamonadaceae, Dechloromonas, and many uncultured Betaproteobacteria. Four (4%) of the sequences could not be assigned to phylum level but were affiliating with the candidate division TM7 (2%), candidate division OP11 (1%), and candidate division WWE3 (1%). The results allow us to infer a possible relationship of microbial sheaths, EPS, and the iron precipitates to microbial community diversity in the Borra cave springs. Understanding biogenic iron oxides in caves has important astrobiological applications as it provides a potential tool for the detection of extraterrestrial life.