Optical search for gamma-ray bursts

The preliminary results from optical search for light pulses associated with gamma ray bursts by means of the Czechoslovak Fireball Network plate collection at the Ondřejov observatory are given. Optical monitoring represents more than 7700 hours, but no real optical counterpart was found. Problems associated with the optical search for gamma ray bursts are discussed.     

Microwave imaging observation of an electron stream in a solar flare

We report a Nobeyama Radioheliograph (NoRH) microwave observation of a propagating feature of non thermal emission in a solar flare. The flare had a very extended source well resolved by NoRH. In the rising phase of the microwave burst, a non-thermal gyrosynchrotron source was observed by the high-rate (10 images per second) observations to propagate from one end of the loop to the other with a speed of 9 × 10⁴ km s⁻¹. We interpret this non-thermal propagating source is emitted from streaming electrons.     

High-velocity impact experiments needed to improve our understanding of the asteroids

The lifetime of almost all the asteroids against catastrophic impact events is less than the age of the solar system, implying that the asteroids can be considered as outcomes of catastrophic collisions. Therefore to understand their physical properties (structure, shape, rotation, regolith development) and their family memberships (since families are generated by the escape of breakup fragments), a systematic knowledge of the outcomes of catastrophic impacts under a variety of conditions seems needed. In particular, interesting fields to be explored by laboratory experiments are: the dependence of the critical energy densities associated with various degrees of fragmentation on the target's size and composition; the velocity distribution of the fragments and the inelasticity of the process in different cases; the shape of the fragments and its possible correlation with other quantities; the way a dust- or regolith-covered target affects the collisional outcomes; the angular momentum partitioning and the rotation of the fragments. On this latter problem very few experimental results are presently available; on the other hand, the rotation of small asteroids presents several intriguing “anomalies”.

A significant progress of our understanding of asteroid collisional evolution and related phenomena can be provided by new laboratory experiments of collisional breakup. The targets should have spherical and/or irregular shape (up to axial ratios of the order of 2), and should be made of (possibly different) geological materials. The interesting projectile velocities are of the order of the relative velocities commonly found among asteroids, i.e., in the range 1 to 10 Kms⁻¹. In order to get catastrophic collisions, the ratio of the projectile kinetic energy to the target mass (≡E/M) has to be chosen within a “critical” range (for basalt targets, from 10⁶ to 10⁸ erg/g). In some particular cases, this kind of experiments has been already performed in past (Gault and Wedekind [10]; Fujiwara et al. [7]; Fujiwara and Tsukamoto [9]); however the generalization of the results to a wide range of experimental conditions is lacking, and many problems of outstanding importance to model asteroid evolution are still completely open.     

On the Accuracy of the Conjugation of High-Orbit Satellites with Small-Scale Regions in the Ionosphere

The degree of uncertainty that arises when mapping high-orbit satellites of the Cluster type into the ionosphere using three geomagnetic field models (T89, T98, and T01) has been estimated. Studies have shown that uncertainty is minimal in situations when a satellite in the daytime is above the equatorial plane of the magnetosphere at the distance of no more than 5 R_E from the Earth’s surface and is projected into the ionosphere of the northern hemisphere. In this case, the dimensions of the uncertainty region are about 50 km, and the arbitrariness of the choice of the model for projecting does not play a decisive role in organizing satellite support based on optical observations when studying such large-scale phenomena as, e.g., WTS, as well as heating experiments at the EISCAT heating facility for the artificial modification of the ionosphere and the generation of artificial fluctuations in the VLF band. In all other cases, the uncertainty in determining the position of the base of the field line on which the satellite is located is large, and additional information is required to correctly compare the satellite with the object in the ionosphere.     

Using the Subsurface Soil Sounding Radar for Investigating the Structure and Total Electron Content of the Martian Ionosphere

The possibilities of using the Martian soil subsurface sounding radar for investigating the structure of the plasma shell surrounding the planet have been considered. Based on the numerical modeling results and actual soil sounding data, it has been shown that the soil sounding mode of the radio-locating MARSIS radar can be used to assess the structure of the Martian ionosphere. As the emitted signals pass to the planet’s surface, it is possible to use the reflected signals to estimate the total electron content of the Martian ionosphere along the flight track of the spacecraft.     

具有气体动力和物理化学非均匀性的超声速物体绕流(英文)

本文研究的问题是超声速气流流过物体时产生的气体动力和物理化学非均匀性及其对物体空气动力特性的影响。就有关流动非均匀性对温度剖面和密度的效应作了详细探讨,还仔细描述了激波与热层相互干扰时以及在激光辐射脉冲的作用下先行激波生成的情况。值得指出的是超声速气流中加入激光辐射能可能改变流动结构,在局部能量释放区域后面呈现的较高和较低压力,有助于控制飞行中物体的运动。可采取某些措施以改进飞行品质。     

利用喷气装置卸载航天器积累角动量的最小工质损耗控制

讨论利用喷气装置卸载航天器积累的外扰角动量过程中 ,实现最小工质损耗的问题。提出了在航天器绕自己质心转动的过程中实现对这一角动量进行卸载的新思路。文中采用极大值原理求得了最优工质损耗并举出了实例     

A Method of Measuring Hydrogen Isotopes in Surface Layers of Planetary Soils by Spectroscopy of Recoil Protons in Alpha Particle Elastic Scattering

A theoretical and experimental feasibility study of possible determination of the hydrogen and deuterium concentrations in the surface layers of planetary bodies is presented. The method under study is the recoil proton and deuteron spectrometry of forward scattering in the course of elastic interaction of alpha particles with the nuclei of hydrogen isotopes. The spectra of recoil protons and deuterons were recorded using a prototype model of a hydrogen spectrometer, and these spectra were used to determine the hydrogen concentrations in the samples of different compositions.     

Six-month space greenhouse experiments--a step to creation of future biological life support systems

SVET Space Greenhouse (SG)--the first automated facility for growing of higher plants in microgravity was designed in the eighty years to be used for the future BLSS. The first successful experiment with vegetables was carried out in 1990 on the MIR Space Station (SS). The experiments in SVET SG were resumed in 1995, when an American Gas Exchange Measurement System (GEMS) was added. A three-month wheat experiment was carried out as part of MIR-SHUTTLE'95 program. SVET-2 SG Bulgarian equipment of a new generation with optimised characteristics was developed (financed by NASA). The new SVET-GEMS equipment was launched on board the MIR SS and a successful six-month experiments for growing up of two crops of wheat were conducted in 1996 - 97 as part of MIR-NASA-3 program. The first of these "Greenhouse" experiments (123 days) with the goal to grow wheat through a complete life cycle is described. Nearly 300 heads developed but no seeds were produced. A second crop of wheat was planted and after 42 days the plants were frozen for biochemical investigations. The main environmental parameters during the six-month experiments in SVET (substrate moisture and lighting period) are given. The results and the contribution to BLSS are discussed.     

Window-Based and Rate-Based Transmission Control Mechanisms over Space-Internet Links

Space communications urgently need an effective transmission control mechanism. This paper presents an experimental, comparative analysis of window-based transmission control, rate-based transmission control, and a hybrid of the two over error-prone, congestion-free, high-latency, point-to-point space communication links simulated using the space-to-ground link simulation (SGLS) test-bed. The results revealed that the traffic shaping mechanism of rate-based transmission protocol is more effective than the bursting flow of window-based protocol over simulated space communication links with a high error rate and a long link delay. The window-based transmission mechanisms show performance degradation due to traffic bursts and frequent packet retransmissions caused by their acknowledgment (ACK)-clocked transmission control algorithms. Pure rate-control is always preferable to other mechanisms in the simulated congestion-free, error-prone, point-to-point, geostationary-Earth orbit (GEO)-space communication channels, and its advantages become more pronounced when the channel rates are asymmetric. The performance differences come from their different behavior in controlling data transmission.