民用直升机MRO市场减速慢行

在金融危机发生之前,航空战略咨询公司曾预计2009年国际直升机MRO市场的增长速度是3%,达到56亿美元.但考虑到目前的经济状况,2009年民用直升机的MRO市场会比2008年减少5%～10%.这主要是因为直升机的使用率在下降,以及金融危机爆发之前高企的油价所致.(本文所指的民用直升机还包括经过特殊改装后的军用和准军用直升机,但不包括武装直升机.)     

A review of observed variability in the dayside ionosphere of Mars

Recent measurements by Mars Global Surveyor and Mars Express have greatly increased the number of observations of the martian dayside ionosphere available for study. Together with earlier measurements from the Viking era, these datasets have been used to investigate variations in well-known properties of the martian dayside ionosphere and to discover new ionospheric features. The dayside ionosphere includes the main peak, called the M2 layer, and a lower layer, called the M1 layer. In the topside, above the M2 layer, electron densities exponentially decrease with increasing altitude.     

SIGMA: Projet d'Observatoire spatial a haute resolution angulaire pour les sources de rayons gamma

(SIGMA: Project of a high resolution space observatory for gamma rays sources)—The SIGMA space observatory is designed to obtain images of the sky in the hard X-ray/low energy gamma-ray domain (30–2000 keV range), with an angular accuracy of a few are min, within a field of ～7° × 7°, and a sensitivity for point sources down to a level of a few 10^?6 photons cm^?2s^?1keV^?1 (exposure 24 hr). The instrument is designed using the principle of the coded aperture mask telescope with a position sensitive detector derived from the Anger gamma-camera which is used in nuclear medicine. The pseudo-images of the sky are accumulated on board and transmitted to the ground stations for decoding processing. The gross weight of the instrument is 750 kg and its overall dimensions are 3 m long and 1.2 m in diameter.     

Advanced materials for space applications

Since NASA was created in 1958, over 6400 patents have been issued to the agency—nearly one in a thousand of all patents ever issued in the United States. A large number of these inventions have focused on new materials that have made space travel and exploration of the moon, Mars, and the outer planets possible. In the last few years, the materials developed by NASA Langley Research Center embody breakthroughs in performance and properties that will enable great achievements in space. The examples discussed below offer significant advantages for use in small satellites, i.e., those with payloads under a metric ton. These include patented products such as LaRC SI, LaRC RP 46, LaRC RP 50, PETI-5, TEEK, PETI-330, LaRC CP, TOR-LM and LaRC LCR (patent pending). These and other new advances in nanotechnology engineering, self-assembling nanostructures and multifunctional aerospace materials are presented and discussed below, and applications with significant technological and commercial advantages are proposed.     

A Comparison of Second, Third, and Fourth Order Phase-Locked Loops

This paper presents data describing various performance characteristics of phase-locked loops, which were obtained for the purpose of determining an optimum selection of system order in view of typical operating conditions. With the functions optimized with respect to particular performance characteristics, calculations of the integrated square error and peak error with polynomial inputs are presented in terms of the noise bandwidth; and the generalized error coefficients are also provided in terms of the bandwidth with consideration for the use of both perfect and imperfect integrators. With specific input functions as provided by signals transmitted from earth satellites, an improved performance is demonstrated with the use of the higher order loops, and experimental results verify the calculations and also demonstrate the feasibility of the fourth order loop design.     

Refraction Error in Measurement of Angle of Arrival with the Radio Interferometer

The ``extra-path' error in the measurement of angle of arrival with the radio interferometer is analyzed as a function of target coordinates and baseline B for an exponential atmosphere. By treating the error rather than the measurement and by formulating the error in terms of well-known radar refraction parameters, the necessity for numerical integrations characteristic of earlier approaches is avoided. The table of computed errors shows that angle of arrival can be measured to an accuracy of 0.01 mrad for B?500 meters.     

Instrument Boom Mechanisms on the THEMIS Satellites; Magnetometer, Radial Wire, and Axial Booms

The five “Time History of Events and Macroscale Interactions during Substorms” (THEMIS) micro-satellites launched on a common carrier by a Delta II, 7925 heavy, on February 17, 2007. This is the fifth launch in the NASA MeDIum class EXplorer (MIDEX) program. In the mission proposal the decision was made to have the University of California Berkeley Space Sciences Laboratory (UCB-SSL) mechanical engineering staff provide all of the spacecraft appendages, in order to meet the short development schedule, and to insure compatibility. This paper describes the systems engineering, design, development, testing, and on-orbit deployment of these boom systems that include: the 1 and 2 meter carbon fiber composite magnetometer booms, the 40 and 50 m tip to tip orthogonal spin-plane wire boom pairs, and the 6.3 m dipole stiff axial booms.     

Benefits from incorporation of combined cycle propulsion

The X-33 program was initiated to develop a testbed for integrated RLV technologies that pave the way for a full scale development of a launch vehicle (Venture Star). Within the Nasa Future X Trailblazer program there is an Upgrade X-33 that focuses on materials and upgrades. The authors propose that the most significant gains can be realized by changing the propulsion cycle, not materials. The cycles examined are rocket cycles, with the combustion in the rocket motor. Specifically, these rocket cycles are: turbopump, topping, expander, air augmented, air augmented ram, LACE and deeply cooled. The vehicle size, volume, structural weight remain constant. The system and propellant tank weights vary with the propulsion system cycle. A reduction in dry weight, made possible by a reduced propellant tank volume, was converted into payload weight provided sufficient volume was made available by the propellant reduction. This analysis was extended to Venture Star for selected engine cycles. The results show that the X-33 test bed could carry a significant payload to LEO (10,000 Ib) and be a valuable test bed in developing a frequent flight to LEO capability. From X-33 published information the maximum speed is about 15,000 ft/sec. With a LACE rocket propulsion system Venture Star vehicle could be sized to a smaller vehicle with greater payload than the Venture Star baseline. Vehicle layout and characteristics were obtained from: http:// www.venturestar.com.     

Exposure of Arabidopsis thaliana to hypobaric environments: implications for low-pressure bioregenerative life support systems for human exploration missions and terraforming on Mars

Understanding how hypobaria can affect net photosynthetic (P (net)) and net evapotranspiration rates of plants is important for the Mars Exploration Program because low-pressured environments may be used to reduce the equivalent system mass of near-term plant biology experiments on landers or future bioregenerative advanced life support systems. Furthermore, introductions of plants to the surface of a partially terraformed Mars will be constrained by the limits of sustainable growth and reproduction of plants to hypobaric conditions. To explore the effects of hypobaria on plant physiology, a low-pressure growth chamber (LPGC) was constructed that maintained hypobaric environments capable of supporting short-term plant physiological studies. Experiments were conducted on Arabidopsis thaliana maintained in the LPGC with total atmospheric pressures set at 101 (Earth sea-level control), 75, 50, 25 or 10 kPa. Plants were grown in a separate incubator at 101 kPa for 6 weeks, transferred to the LPGC, and acclimated to low-pressure atmospheres for either 1 or 16 h. After 1 or 16 h of acclimation, CO(2) levels were allowed to drawdown from 0.1 kPa to CO(2) compensation points to assess P (net) rates under different hypobaric conditions. Results showed that P (net) increased as the pressures decreased from 101 to 10 kPa when CO(2) partial pressure (pp) values were below 0.04 kPa (i.e., when ppCO2 was considered limiting). In contrast, when ppCO(2) was in the nonlimiting range from 0.10 to 0.07 kPa, the P (net) rates were insensitive to decreasing pressures. Thus, if CO(2 )concentrations can be kept elevated in hypobaric plant growth modules or on the surface of a partially terraformed Mars, P (net) rates may be relatively unaffected by hypobaria. Results support the conclusions that (i) hypobaric plant growth modules might be operated around 10 kPa without undue inhibition of photosynthesis and (ii) terraforming efforts on Mars might require a surface pressure of at least 10 kPa (100 mb) for normal growth of deployed plant species.