Serpentinization and its implications for life on the early Earth and Mars

Ophiolites, sections of ocean crust tectonically displaced onto land, offer significant potential to support chemolithoautotrophic life through the provision of energy and reducing power during aqueous alteration of their highly reduced mineralogies. There is substantial chemical disequilibrium between the primary olivine and pyroxene mineralogy of these ophiolites and the fluids circulating through them. This disequilibrium represents a potential source of chemical energy that could sustain life. Moreover, E (h)-pH conditions resulting from rock- water interactions in ultrabasic rocks are conducive to important abiotic processes antecedent to the origin of life. Serpentinization--the reaction of olivine- and pyroxene-rich rocks with water--produces magnetite, hydroxide, and serpentine minerals, and liberates molecular hydrogen, a source of energy and electrons that can be readily utilized by a broad array of chemosynthetic organisms. These systems are viewed as important analogs for potential early ecosystems on both Earth and Mars, where highly reducing mineralogy was likely widespread in an undifferentiated crust. Secondary phases precipitated during serpentinization have the capability to preserve organic or mineral biosignatures. We describe the petrology and mineral chemistry of an ophiolite-hosted cold spring in northern California and propose criteria to aid in the identification of serpentinizing terranes on Mars that have the potential to harbor chemosynthetic life.     

Impact craters as biospheric microenvironments, Lawn Hill Structure, Northern Australia

Impact craters on Mars act as traps for eolian sediment and in the past may have provided suitable microenvironments that could have supported and preserved a stressed biosphere. If this is so, terrestrial impact structures such as the 18-km-diameter Lawn Hill Structure, in northern Australia, may prove useful as martian analogs. We sampled outcrop and drill core from the carbonate fill of the Lawn Hill Structure and recorded its gamma-log signature. Facies data along with whole rock geochemistry and stable isotope signatures show that the crater fill is an outlier of the Georgina Basin and was formed by impact at, or shortly before, approximately 509-506 million years ago. Subsequently, it was rapidly engulfed by the Middle Cambrian marine transgression, which filled it with shallow marine carbonates and evaporites. The crater formed a protected but restricted microenvironment in which sediments four times the thickness of the nearby basinal succession accumulated. Similar structures, common on the martian surface, may well have acted as biospheric refuges as the planet's water resources declined. Low-pH aqueous environments on Earth similar to those on Mars, while extreme, support diverse ecologies. The architecture of the eolian crater fill would have been defined by long-term ground water cycles resulting from intermittent precipitation in an extremely arid climate. Nutrient recycling, critical to a closed lacustrine sub-ice biosphere, could be provided by eolian transport onto the frozen water surface.     

The astrobiology primer: an outline of general knowledge--version 1, 2006

The Astrobiology Primer has been created as a reference tool for those who are interested in the interdisciplinary field of astrobiology. The field incorporates many diverse research endeavors, but it is our hope that this slim volume will present the reader with all he or she needs to know to become involved and to understand, at least at a fundamental level, the state of the art. Each section includes a brief overview of a topic and a short list of readable and important literature for those interested in deeper knowledge. Because of the great diversity of material, each section was written by a different author with a different expertise. Contributors, authors, and editors are listed at the beginning, along with a list of those chapters and sections for which they were responsible. We are deeply indebted to the NASA Astrobiology Institute (NAI), in particular to Estelle Dodson, David Morrison, Ed Goolish, Krisstina Wilmoth, and Rose Grymes for their continued enthusiasm and support. The Primer came about in large part because of NAI support for graduate student research, collaboration, and inclusion as well as direct funding. We have entitled the Primer version 1 in hope that it will be only the first in a series, whose future volumes will be produced every 3-5 years. This way we can insure that the Primer keeps up with the current state of research. We hope that it will be a great resource for anyone trying to stay abreast of an ever-changing field.     

Detectability of planetary characteristics in disk-averaged spectra II: synthetic spectra and light-curves of earth

Spatially and spectrally resolved models were used to explore the observational sensitivity to changes in atmospheric and surface properties and the detectability of surface biosignatures in the globally averaged spectra and light-curves of the Earth. Compared with previous efforts to characterize the Earth using disk-averaged models, a more comprehensive and realistic treatment of the surface and atmosphere was taken into account here. Our results are presented as a function of viewing geometry and phases at both visible/near-infrared (0.5-1.7 microm) and mid-infrared (5-25 microm) wavelength ranges, applicable to the proposed NASA-Terrestrial Planet Finder visible coronagraph and mid-infrared interferometer and to the ESADarwin mission architectures. Clouds can change the thermal emission by as much as 50% compared with the cloud-free case and increase the visible albedo by up to 500% for completely overcast cases at the dichotomy phase. Depending on the observed phase and their distribution and type, clouds can also significantly alter the spectral shape. Moreover, clouds impact the detectability of surface biosignatures in the visible wavelength range. Modeling the disk-averaged sensitivity to the "red-edge," a distinctive spectral signature of vegetation, showed that Earth's land vegetation could be seen in disk-averaged spectra, even with cloud cover, when the signal was averaged over the daily time scale. We found that vegetation is more readily discriminated from clouds at dichotomy (50% illumination) rather than at full phase. The detectability of phytoplankton was also explored, but was found to be more difficult to detect in the disk-average than land vegetation.     

具有最低旁瓣电平和使用粒子群优化算法控制零陷的线性阵几何综合

描述了具有最低旁瓣电平和使用粒子群优化算法（PSO）控制零陷的线性阵几何综合方法。PSO是一种最新开发的高性能优化算法，它能解决一般的N维线性和非线性优化问题。与遗传算法和模拟退火等其他进化算法相比，PSO算法更易于理解和实现，并且要求最少的数学预处理。针对以旁瓣抑制（SLL）和／或在特定方向放置零陷为目标的优化问题，首先提出了阵列几何综合的公式，然后运用PSO算法来解决单元的位置优化问题。最后给出了3个PSO算法应用的设计实例，且每个实例中的优化目标都易于实现。通过与使用二次规划方法（QPM）获得的结果相比较，验证了PSO算法结果的有效性。     

宇宙大爆炸之前……

布莱恩·克雷格说，在他还是一个小男孩的时候，在电视中看到人类第一次登陆月球，当时就禁不住心生好奇：“这一切部是如何开始的？”在他的著作《宇宙大爆炸之前》中，这位英国科普作家探讨了物理学家和哲学家提出的各种旨在解释“我们是如何走到今天这一步的？”     

ARTEMIS计划——欧空局的试用数据中继卫星

“高级中继和技术卫星”(ARTEMIS)是欧洲空间局数据中继和技术卫星(DRTM)计划的一部分,该计划由两个独立部分组成:ARTEMIS和数据中继卫星(DRS)。Artemis工程的主承包商是意大利的ALENIA SPAZIO(ALS),它领导了一个由若干欧洲和加拿大的大型公司组成的工业财团。ALS目前正在制造这颗卫星,预计1998年中作好发射准备(发射时间已推至2000年—译注)。 本文第一部分介绍Artemis卫星的性能和关键特性。Artemis是一颗地球同步卫星,用于数据中继(光、S/K波段载荷)关键技术的开发,还包括高级通信业务(用于移动通信的L波段载荷)的开发。 此外,Artemis还将试验一些能改进欧洲卫星平台的实用化技术(离子推进器,镍—氢电池和精密太阳传感器)。 为承载上述要求很荷刻的载荷,ALS开发了一种卫星平台,能承载600kg以上载荷,提供ZkW的功率。研制过程中特别强调开发一种可重复用于未来航天计划(例如数据中继卫星计划)的平台。卫星设计中密切注意了与多种运载火箭的兼容性,以适应绝大多数发射市场的运载火箭。 第三节介绍该星的开发方法。为使准备制造的各种研制模型最佳化,确保系统成功验证,制造了一系列子设备/装配系统的模型,并经过专门的质量检验测试,包括绝大多数环境试验,旨在降低未来卫星的成本。本文最后一节介绍该计划     

可替代机械陀螺的光纤速率陀螺

光纤陀螺在两个方面正在取代机械陀螺：一是新设计的应用，二是已有的应用陀螺场合。光学陀螺所具有的高可靠性、对重力g的不敏感性和对振动、冲击的容限，使其特别适合于车辆、军事上的应用。基于Sagnac干涉效应，如环形激光陀螺、光纤陀螺的概论已有十十年之久了。它有闭环和开环两种结构，但由于闭环结构成本较高，目前只利用开环光纤陀螺取代机械速率陀螺。我们开发了一系列低成本光纤陀螺，它们基于全光结构，采用椭芯的保偏光纤、方向耦合器和偏振器。开环光纤陀螺是以最小结构的形式构成的。激光光束在光纤敏感相向传输，它们是完全互逆的。早期的形式采用方向耦合器隔离激光光源和光探测器，一个偏振器用来确保一个模式分布，而第二个耦合器作为与光纤环的接入口，在光纤环的一端加上一个压电陶瓷相位调制器以进行调制，以便同步检测干涉仪的输出。光源探测器处的耦合器不属于最小结构中的一部分，它可以通过用光源的反向的探测器取消。目前许多激光光源被用于这样一个探测光输出的探测器，由于陀螺转动信号是调制信号，很容易与恒定的激光输出信号分开。我们这种结构的FOG为简化最小结构（RMC），比较两种开环结构可以看出：两者之间没有明显的区别，但从性质上分，在RMC结构中，激光器工作在接近阈值的点，因而在光谱上比较窄。在光陀螺中希望有一个宽带的光谱，可以避免由于绕环导致的偏振起伏，从而引起偏置的不稳定性。这也就限定了RMC结构在一些高精度的陀螺应用。光纤陀的特性可以通过选择光纤的长度、环的直径和激光功率在一个比较大的范围内调整，以适应不同的应用要求，而不需要改变其结构。光纤陀螺从本性上为宽带的，其输出谱特性可以由简单的模拟滤波器、扩展伺服回路的动态特性加以控制。与简单的机械陀螺相比，这一宽带特性可以扩展为非常低的频率，从而改善定位精度。我们已生产了1000多套这两种结构的光纤陀，本文将提供Allan变化，随温度变化的偏置、刻度因数的线性数据，典型的特性参数如下：也许光纤陀螺应用最大的限制为刻度系数，因为Sagnac干涉仪的灵敏度领先光纤长度乘以直径，并且几何尺寸和在敏感轴垂直平面上投影使光纤陀螺改型应用的困难得以克服。在带宽限制范围内，光纤陀螺可以在众多的系统中应用。     

聚酯砼做桥面板覆面层

由于公路桥面板的长期使用，受到不程度的损坏，更由于不断地使用除冰盐消除冬季的水和雪，氧气、氯化物和水渗入桥面板中造成钢筋的锈蚀，使得损坏更为严重。为了保护桥面板，经研究使用酯－苯乙烯聚合物砼做覆面层，能起到保护桥面板的作用，文章着重介绍了材料的性能和使用。     

Investigation of low-energy proton effects on aptamer performance for astrobiological applications

Biochips are promising instruments for the search for organic molecules in planetary environments. Nucleic acid aptamers are powerful affinity receptors known for their high affinity and specificity, and therefore are of great interest for space biochip development. A wide variety of aptamers have already been selected toward targets of astrobiological interest (from amino acids to microorganisms). We present a first study to test the resistance of these receptors to the constraints of the space environment. The emphasis is on the effect of cosmic rays on the molecular recognition properties of DNA aptamers. Experiments on beam-line facilities have been conducted with 2 MeV protons and fluences much higher than expected for a typical mission to Mars. Our results show that this irradiation process did not affect the performances of DNA aptamers as molecular recognition tools.