Toward optimizing lighting as a countermeasure to sleep and circadian disruption in space flight

Light is being used as a pre-launch countermeasure to circadian and sleep disruption in astronauts. The effect of light on the circadian system is readily monitored by measurement of plasma melatonin. Our group has established an action spectrum for human melatonin regulation and determined the region of 446-477 nm to be the most potent for suppressing plasma melatonin. The aim of this study was to compare the efficacy of 460 and 555 nm for suppressing melatonin using a within-subjects design. Subjects (N=12) were exposed to equal photon densities (7.18 x 10(12) photons/cm2/s) at 460 and 555 nm. Melatonin suppression was significantly stronger at 460 nm (p<0.02). An extension to the action spectrum showed that 420 nm light at 16 and 32 microW/cm2 significantly suppressed melatonin (p<0.04 and p<0.002). These studies will help optimize lighting countermeasures to circadian and sleep disruption during spaceflight.     

Ground observations of kinetic Alfvén waves

Ground observations of locally confined, very intense, drifting current systems by the EISCAT magnetometer cross in correlation with GEOS 2 measurements will be explained in terms of kinetic Alfvén waves. In the ground based magnetograms the events are characterized by strong pulsations with amplitudes in the horizontal component up to 1000 nT and periods of about 300s and longer. They occur in the evening hours adjacent to the poleward side of the Harang discontinuity with the onset of a substorm. At the same time the inner edge of the plasma sheet passes the GEOS 2 position, magnetically conjugate to ground stations. The common features of four events during Nov and Dec 1982 will be discussed.     

Space, security in the forefront

The Washington Watch column reports on President Bush's recently announced human space flight program, which includes new policies for returning the shuttle to flight, finishing the International Space Station by 2010, and developing a new space vehicle to return to the Moon; challenges in the airline industry; and selection of a helicopter for use by the President.     

Failure Prediction in Electronic Systems

If impending failures in aerospace systems can be predicted deterministically during a test or checkout period, action can be taken to replace or repair the defective parts and a mission failure averted. This has the effect of increasing the mission reliability of the system. There are several methods of predicting specific failures especially adapted to electronic systems, but also applicable to electromechanical and fluid systems and components. These are classified and discussed in detail, with examples. References are cited for additional detail. By way of background, deterministic failure prediction is contrasted with statistical failure prediction. The nature and definition of failure and related concepts are also discussed, together with the physical principles upon which the several failure prediction methods are based. Used selectively and collectively, these failure prediction methods can form an optimal failure prevention strategy for use in a system test or checkout program.     

Limitations of Series-Fed Arrays in Broadband Communications

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the signal distortion which results when long, series-fed arrays are used for communication. It is shown that under certain conditions the antenna array can be considered a linear filter, the response of which is a function of frequency as well as spatial coordinates. The distortion accompanying the transmission as measured by the least mean-square difference between the transmitted and the received signals is derived. This expression is evaluated for the case of a uniformly excited array and a rectangular band-pass signal spectrum. In the absence of noise the transmitted signal can be completely recovered in the receiver by employing the proper linear filter. In the presence of noise the signal cannot, of course, be completely recovered. However, a technique for minimizing the distortion, in this case using a pre-filter and a post-filter, is investigated.     

未来自适应X波段敏感蒙皮阵列天线的7.9-9．7GHz单片雷达接收机前端

本文介绍一种供数字波束形成X波段敏感蒙皮相控阵天线用的7．9～9．7GHz单片雷达接收机前端。这种敏捷单片接收机前端能够使自适应跳频雷达系统微波接收机模块的体积和成本显著减小。测量结果表明基本满足性能要求。     

低压低功率SiGe BiCMOS X波段低噪声放大器与IEEE 802．11a LNA的设计比较研究

介绍了一种采用0．25um SiGe BiCMOS工艺集成的低压低功率X波段低噪声放大器（LNA），比较了此种放大器与IEEE 802．11a LNA的设计。X波段LNA和IEEE 802．11a LNA的工作频率分别为10GHz和5．8GHz。所设计的LNA都采用了相同的结构和电压，并耗费同量的电流。两种LNA都只需要1．5V的电压，消耗1．5mW的直流功率。两种电路的差异是它们有不同的输入与输出匹配和负载。本文介绍的LNA在10GHz时的电压增益为11．49dB，噪声系数（NF）为3．84dB，输入反射损失为-15.37dB，输出反射损失为-17dB，P1dB为-3．75dBm。在5．8GHz时的电压增益为16．07dB，噪声系数为3．07dB，输入反射损失为-18．1dB，输出反射损失为-15．23dB，P1dB为-6．54dBm。两电路的关键特征是：低压、低功率和良好的噪声匹配。频率为IOGHz和5．8GHz时，噪声系数与最小噪声系数之差分别只有0．03dB和0．05dB。验证了一种高频（X波段）低成本设计，与其他技术（如GaAs、SiBJT、JFET、PHMET和MESFET等）相比，它是在SiGe BiCMOS中设计的。     

They came in peace for all mankind: popular culture as a reflection of public attitudes to space

It has always been clear that one of the main driving forces behind the space race was Cold War propaganda. But just what impact did it have on ‘the minds of men everywhere’? This paper presents a survey of the impact of space exploration on popular culture in Britain in the 1950s and 1960s, concentrating chiefly on the cinema. Before the launch of Sputnik in 1957, although space was present in popular culture, it was generally aimed at a specialised audience. In the 1960s, interest in space became widespread and reached unexpected corners of popular culture such as pop music. This popular success had dangerous consequences, however: when public interest waned in the early 1970s, the immense cost of the Moon landings could no longer be justified on propaganda grounds and the project was massively reduced.     

Non-cultural methods of human microflora evaluation for the benefit of crew medical control in confined habitat

Current control of human microflora is a great problem not only for the space medicine but also for practical health care. Due to many reasons its realization by classical bacteriological method is difficult in practical application or cannot be done.To evaluate non-cultural methods of microbial control of crews in a confined habitat we evaluated two different methods.The first method is based on digital treatment of microbial visual images, appearing after gram staining of microbial material from natural sample. This way the rate between gram-positive and gram-negative microbe could be gained as well as differentiation of rods and cocci could be attained, which is necessary for primary evaluation of human microbial cenosis in remote confined habitats.The other non-culture method of human microflora evaluation is gas chromatomass spectrometry (gcms) analysis of swabs gathered from different body sites. Gc-ms testing of swabs allows one to validate quantitative and special microflora based on specific lipid markers analysis.