边界层吸气对压气机叶栅角区分离损失的控制

压气机角区的大范围回流通常会引起叶片通道中的三维阻塞现象,并伴随有强烈的掺混流动损失。采用德国航空航天中心(DLR)开发的TRACE程序,在其推进技术研究所的高速压气机叶栅试验台(包含5个NACA65K48直叶片)上,研究了位于端壁上的边界层吸气措施——叶片弦中近尾缘吸气槽(MTE)对该直压气机叶栅通道的角区分离进行控制,减小二次流动损失,进而削弱其对总损失的影响。通过基于定常雷诺平均Navier-Stokes(RANS)方法的数值模拟研究与相应的试验研究对比,端壁边界层吸气能够较好地重新组织角区气流流动,减弱附着于叶片吸力面尾缘的集中脱落涡,使得角区分离涡强度显著降低,由此引起的二次流损失也明显降低,与无吸气状态相比最大降幅可达81.2%;在设计状态下采用吸气流量率为1%的MTE,总压损失有很大程度的降低:在数值计算中,降幅为15.2%;试验测量中为9.7%。     

The search for extraterrestrial artifacts (SETA)

The rationale for the use of interstellar artifacts by intelligent life in the universe is described. The advantages of using interstellar probes as a means of exploration and communication are presented and shown to be significant enough to counter the time, energy, and technology arguments generally raised against contact via extraterrestrial artifacts. Four classes of artifacts are defined: Those seeking contact, those seeking to avoid contact, those intended to provide a passive technological threshold for detection, and those for which detection is irrelevant. The Search for Extraterrestrial Artifacts (SETA) is based on the latter two classes. Under the assumption that an extraterrestrial probe will be interested in life in our solar system, a near-Earth search space is defined. This search space is accessible to us now with ground and satellite observing facilities. The current observational status of SETA is reviewed and contrasted with the achievable detection limits for the different parts of the search space.     

Possible effects of organelle charge and density on cell metabolism

To respond to gravity a biological system must: First, perceive the stimulus; and, second transduce the stimulus into an appropriate response. This laboratory has studied a system of perception and transduction involving the gravity-induced asymmetric distribution of a plant growth hormone. From these studies we have developed a working theory which states as its postulates that: a) The perception of the gravitational stimulus involved a perturbation of the plant's bio-electric field; and b) that the transduction of the stimulus involved voltage-gating of hormone movement from the plant's vascular tissue into the hormone responsive growing tissue. These studies may provide the simplest system for studing the mechanism whereby the gravity signal is translated into a biological response.     

Fullerenes and interplanetary dust at the Permian-Triassic boundary

We recently presented new evidence that an impact occurred approximately 250 million years ago at the Permian-Triassic boundary (PTB), triggering the most severe mass extinction in the history of life on Earth. We used a new extraterrestrial tracer, fullerene, a third carbon carrier of noble gases besides diamond and graphite. By exploiting the unique properties of this molecule to trap noble gases inside of its caged structure (helium, neon, argon), the origin of the fullerenes can be determined. Here, we present new evidence for fullerenes with extraterrestrial noble gases in the PTB at Graphite Peak, Antarctica, similar to PTB fullerenes from Meishan, China and Sasayama, Japan. In addition, we isolated a (3)He-rich magnetic carrier phase in three fractions from the Graphite Peak section. The noble gases in this magnetic fraction were similar to zero-age deep-sea interplanetary dust particles (IDPs) and some magnetic grains isolated from the Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary. The helium and neon isotopic compositions for both the bulk Graphite Peak sediments and an isolated magnetic fraction from the bulk material are consistent with solar-type gases measured in zero-age deep-sea sediments and point to a common source, namely, the flux of IDPs to the Earth's surface. In this instance, the IDP noble gas signature for the bulk sediment can be uniquely decoupled from fullerene, demonstrating that two separate tracers are present (direct flux of IDPs for (3)He vs. giant impact for fullerene).     

Decisions, endings, and new beginnings

The Washington Watch column examines NASA shuttle developments, airline pilot age issues, development of a personnel recovery vehicle, and includes an obituary for retired Air Force General Bernard Schriever, remembered as an air and space pioneer. The discussion of NASA shuttle developments reports on the space shuttle flight schedule and NASA's ability to deliver hardware to the International Space Station, funding levels and equipment development schedules related to President Bush's mandate to visit Mars, a report on the space program by the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and top-level management changes at NASA. The discussion of airline pilot age issues examines efforts to change mandatory retirement requirements. The discussion of personnel recovery vehicles reports on development of an aircraft designed to rescue survivors during combat search and rescue missions.     

Spectroscopic observation of Mars

Visible and near-infrared reflectance spectroscopy has proven a powerful tool for exploring the geology of Mars. Most of this data has been obtained from Earth, but the technique is ideally suited to orbital application, as proposed for the U.S. Mars Geoscience/Climatology Orbiter mission. Spectral reflectance in the near-UV and visible is highly diagnostic of ferric-iron mineralogy, and has shown that Fe³⁺ in the ubiquitous bright dust and soil is amorphous or poorly-crystalline. Other iron-oxide minerals, indicative of other modes or episodes of crustal alteration, may be found in spatially localized deposits. Clay minerals (hydroxylated silicates) have diagnostic vibrational absorptions throughout the near-infrared. While some form of bound water and/or OH has been known on Mars for many years, a new result presented here is the identification of structural OH in a dilute or poorly crystalline magnesian clay. Salts such as carbonates, sulfates, and nitrates have not yet been detected in martian soils but have diagnostic spectral features in the 3- to 4-μm region, best suited to Mars-orbital observation. Analysis of reflectance spectra of low-albedo regions is a primary source of evidence for a basaltic or ultramafic crust, with identification of abundant clinopyroxene and possible detection of other mafic minerals. The distinctive near-infrared spectral shape of dark regions indicates that the dark materials commonly consist of relatively unaltered rocks or rock fragments very thinly coated by (or mixed with) bright oxidized material similar to the global dust. Visible and near-infrared reflectance spectroscopy is also a sensitive technique for detecting and analyzing water ice, as has been demonstrated on Mars by observations of the north polar cap.