The Urey instrument: an advanced in situ organic and oxidant detector for Mars exploration

The Urey organic and oxidant detector consists of a suite of instruments designed to search for several classes of organic molecules in the martian regolith and ascertain whether these compounds were produced by biotic or abiotic processes using chirality measurements. These experiments will also determine the chemical stability of organic molecules within the host regolith based on the presence and chemical reactivity of surface and atmospheric oxidants. Urey has been selected for the Pasteur payload on the European Space Agency's (ESA's) upcoming 2013 ExoMars rover mission. The diverse and effective capabilities of Urey make it an integral part of the payload and will help to achieve a large portion of the mission's primary scientific objective: "to search for signs of past and present life on Mars." This instrument is named in honor of Harold Urey for his seminal contributions to the fields of cosmochemistry and the origin of life.     

DISTRIBUTED OPTIC－FIBER FORCE SENSOR BASED ON MODE COUPLING EFFECTS IN HIGH－BIREFRINGENT FIBER

ＤＩＳＴＲＩＢＵＴＥＤＯＰＴＩＣ－ＦＩＢＥＲＦＯＲＣＥＳＥＮＳＯＲＢＡＳＥＤＯＮＭＯＤＥＣＯＵＰＬＩＮＧＥＦＦＥＣＴＳＩＮＨＩＧＨ－ＢＩＲＥＦＲＩＮＧＥＮＴＦＩＢＥＲＬｕｏＦｅｉ（ＤｅｐａｒｔｍｅｎｔｏｆＴｅｓｔｓＭｅａｓｕｒｅｍｅｎｔｓＥｎｇｉｎｅ...     

QUAPASON^TM—一种新型低成本振动陀螺仪

最近，人们的兴趣集中在一种新型的陀螺仪技术上，这就是振动陀螺仪技术，这是由于它的一些内在优点：坚固，可靠和成本低。ＳＡＧＥＭ在分析了它包含的基本原理之后，申请了一项新型陀螺仪的专利称为ＱＵＡＰＳＯＮ＾ＴＭ。ＱＵＡＰＡＳＯＮ＾ＴＭ在价格，使用常规的开发和生产设备方面，无论在民用还是军用领域内都有着很好的性能。     

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.     

Understanding microbialite morphology using a comprehensive suite of three-dimensional analysis tools

Microbialites can have complex morphologies that preserve clues to ancient microbial ecology. However, extracting and interpreting these clues is challenging due to both the complexity of microbial structures and the difficulties of connecting morphology to microbial processes. Fenestrate microbialites from the 2521±3 Ma Gamohaan Formation, South Africa, have intricate structures composed of three distinct microbial structures: steeply dipping supports (surfaces defined by organic inclusions), more shallowly dipping supports with diffuse organic inclusions below them, and draping laminae. In polished slabs, shallowly dipping supports with diffuse organic inclusions show apparent dips from 27° to 60°, and supports without associated zones of diffuse inclusions dip 75° to 88°, which suggests a distinction between support types based on orientation. However, dips exposed in polished slabs are apparent dips, and three-dimensional analysis is required for analysis of true dips. Through the Keck Center for Active Visualization in Earth Sciences (KeckCAVES), we used locally developed software that controls a three-dimensional environment with head and hand tracking (an "immersive environment") to visualize and interpret virtual microbialite data sets. Immersive environments have not penetrated into standard scientific work processes ("workflows") due to their high costs, steep learning curves, and low productivity for users. By contrast, our suite of software tools allowed us to develop a personalized scientific workflow that provides a complete path from initial ideas to characterization of fenestrate microbialites' features. Results of three-dimensional analysis of fenestrate microbialites show that supports with inclusions dip 65° to 75°, whereas supports without inclusions dip 85° to 90°. These results demonstrate that all supports have very steep dips, and a 10° dip gap exists between supports with and without inclusions, which suggests they grew in fundamentally different ways. Results also emphasize how valuable three-dimensional analysis is when combined with a comprehensive workflow for understanding intricate structures such as fenestrate microbialites.     

The O/OREOS mission: first science data from the Space Environment Survivability of Living Organisms (SESLO) payload

We report the first telemetered spaceflight science results from the orbiting Space Environment Survivability of Living Organisms (SESLO) experiment, executed by one of the two 10?cm cube-format payloads aboard the 5.5?kg Organism/Organic Exposure to Orbital Stresses (O/OREOS) free-flying nanosatellite. The O/OREOS spacecraft was launched successfully to a 72° inclination, 650?km Earth orbit on 19 November 2010. This satellite provides access to the radiation environment of space in relatively weak regions of Earth's protective magnetosphere as it passes close to the north and south magnetic poles; the total dose rate is about 15 times that in the orbit of the International Space Station. The SESLO experiment measures the long-term survival, germination, and growth responses, including metabolic activity, of Bacillus subtilis spores exposed to the microgravity, ionizing radiation, and heavy-ion bombardment of its high-inclination orbit. Six microwells containing wild-type (168) and six more containing radiation-sensitive mutant (WN1087) strains of dried B. subtilis spores were rehydrated with nutrient medium after 14 days in space to allow the spores to germinate and grow. Similarly, the same distribution of organisms in a different set of microwells was rehydrated with nutrient medium after 97 days in space. The nutrient medium included the redox dye Alamar blue, which changes color in response to cellular metabolic activity. Three-color transmitted intensity measurements of all microwells were telemetered to Earth within days of each of the 48?h growth experiments. We report here on the evaluation and interpretation of these spaceflight data in comparison to delayed-synchronous laboratory ground control experiments.     

美伊战后回顾4——没有发生的担心：城镇地区作战

在这次由英美联军独自发起的“自由伊拉克”（Operation lraqi Freedom）作战中，城镇地区作战所占比重极大。就传统军事教范观点来看，城镇地区作战向来被视为一项吃力不讨好的繁重任务，因为即便是攻击方拥有绝对战略主动优势，只要守方能够稳住阵脚，利用城镇地区现成的家屋和建筑物善加战场经营，就有机会在攻击者受限于城镇地区地形无法展开和情报受限的情况下造成对手惨重伤亡。从二战时葬送整个德国第六军团的斯大林格勒到让俄罗斯装甲纵队灰头土脸的车臣首府格罗兹尼，血淋淋的教训都明确验证了城镇地区作战的困难。