The PROCESS experiment: an astrochemistry laboratory for solid and gaseous organic samples in low-earth orbit

The PROCESS (PRebiotic Organic ChEmistry on the Space Station) experiment was part of the EXPOSE-E payload outside the European Columbus module of the International Space Station from February 2008 to August 2009. During this interval, organic samples were exposed to space conditions to simulate their evolution in various astrophysical environments. The samples used represent organic species related to the evolution of organic matter on the small bodies of the Solar System (carbonaceous asteroids and comets), the photolysis of methane in the atmosphere of Titan, and the search for organic matter at the surface of Mars. This paper describes the hardware developed for this experiment as well as the results for the glycine solid-phase samples and the gas-phase samples that were used with regard to the atmosphere of Titan. Lessons learned from this experiment are also presented for future low-Earth orbit astrochemistry investigations.     

Survival of Bacillus pumilus spores for a prolonged period of time in real space conditions

To prevent forward contamination and maintain the scientific integrity of future life-detection missions, it is important to characterize and attempt to eliminate terrestrial microorganisms associated with exploratory spacecraft and landing vehicles. Among the organisms isolated from spacecraft-associated surfaces, spores of Bacillus pumilus SAFR-032 exhibited unusually high resistance to decontamination techniques such as UV radiation and peroxide treatment. Subsequently, B. pumilus SAFR-032 was flown to the International Space Station (ISS) and exposed to a variety of space conditions via the European Technology Exposure Facility (EuTEF). After 18 months of exposure in the EXPOSE facility of the European Space Agency (ESA) on EuTEF under dark space conditions, SAFR-032 spores showed 10-40% survivability, whereas a survival rate of 85-100% was observed when these spores were kept aboard the ISS under dark simulated martian atmospheric conditions. In contrast, when UV (>110?nm) was applied on SAFR-032 spores for the same time period and under the same conditions used in EXPOSE, a ～7-log reduction in viability was observed. A parallel experiment was conducted on Earth with identical samples under simulated space conditions. Spores exposed to ground simulations showed less of a reduction in viability when compared with the "real space" exposed spores (～3-log reduction in viability for "UV-Mars," and ～4-log reduction in viability for "UV-Space"). A comparative proteomics analysis indicated that proteins conferring resistant traits (superoxide dismutase) were present in higher concentration in space-exposed spores when compared to controls. Also, the first-generation cells and spores derived from space-exposed samples exhibited elevated UVC resistance when compared with their ground control counterparts. The data generated are important for calculating the probability and mechanisms of microbial survival in space conditions and assessing microbial contaminants as risks for forward contamination and in situ life detection.     

Long-term variations of fluxes of solar protons and helium isotopes

The fluxes of hydrogen and helium isotopes in the solar wind are reconstructed over a long time scale since the present time up to 600 million years back. Abundances of helium isotopes, obtained in the helium isotopic analysis made for 8 lunar soil samples, were used as initial data in the reconstruction procedure. Samples were taken off from various levels of the 1.6-m core of lunar soil delivered by the automatic Luna-24 station in 1976. The data on modern hydrogen and helium fluxes were used as well. The developed reconstruction procedure allowed one to select various solar wind components in a ??gross?? composition. Proton flux variations over the interval of 600 million years do not exceed a value of 40 %. Helium flux variations reach a value of 1.5?C2 relative to the average value. Most likely, this circumstance is caused by considerable variations of a number of coronal mass ejections (CME) enriched by helium. The arguments in favor of solar activity polycyclicity on a long time scale are discussed.     

喷管扩散段型面对固体发动机性能的影响

通过计算喷管二维两相流和边界层比冲损失,研究了喷管扩散段型面对其性能的影响。研究结果表明：在喷管扩散段长度一定的情况下,膨胀比有一最佳值,超过该值,喷管性能反而下降;在膨胀比一定的情况下,在一定长度范围内喷管越长,其性能越高。从而得出,为使综合性能达到最佳,在一定膨胀比下喷管扩散段长度应取喷管出口直径的1～1．25倍。该结论可供设计人员参考。     

固体发动机喷管延伸锥展开前级间分离的热环境分析

通过FLUENT流场计算软件,采用RNGK k-ε湍流模型,针对带有延伸喷管的多级固体发动机级间热分离的热环境进行了数值分析。研究表明,延伸喷管尾流受到连接筒、前封头、延伸段的阻碍后,其流动特征变化显著,尤其在一级前封头的影响下形成回流,并在喷管内形成激波。计算得到的热环境参数,对发动机的热防护设计具有一定的参考价值。     

H2O2-PE固液火箭发动机低频不稳定燃烧研究

介绍了85％H2O2-PE固液火箭发动机的低频不稳定燃烧特征;应用发动机质量守恒方程对发动机低频耦合振荡燃烧现象进行了一维模拟,分析了氧化剂喷射压降对低频不稳定燃烧的影响。利用扰动分析确立了固液火箭发动机的稳定工作限。提出了抑制低频耦合振荡燃烧的方法。     

石墨渗铜喉衬的烧蚀特性

介绍了石墨渗铜材料作为固体火箭发动机(SRM)喉衬与．长尾管衬套的烧蚀特性和机理。液态铜在高温高压燃气的作用下仍滞留在石墨基材内，起到抑制烧蚀的效果，改善了KS-8高强石墨的耐烧蚀性能。     

"爱国者PAC-3"型导弹主发动机装药药型反设计

对“爱国者PAC-3”型低空拦截导弹主发动机的装药药型进行了反设计,分析计算了开槽管形装药药型的优点。比较3种典型的开槽管形药型的压强-时间曲线,发现采用5槽大槽深非通透药型具有较好的综合性能,证明了“爱国者PAC-3”主发动机采用这一药型的原因所在。     

含纳米金属粉的推进剂点火实验及燃烧性能研究

利用CO2激光点火系统对含有纳米铝粉和纳米镍粉的AP／HTPB推进剂进行激光点火实验,测量了推进剂在不同激光功率和压强下的点火延迟时间,对推进剂的燃速、常压点火温度和爆热也进行了测量。同时,利用氧化还原滴定法测定燃烧残渣中活性铝含量。结果表明,纳米铝粉(n—Al)的点火阀值比普通铝粉(g-A1)的点火阀值小几个数量级,加入纳米铝粉可有效地缩短推进剂点火延迟时间。而在纳米镍粉为催化剂的协同作用下,推进剂燃速明显提高,点火延迟时间也大大减少,Al在推进剂燃烧过程中的燃烧效率得以提高,同时燃烧残渣中活性铝含量也明显降低。     

推进剂功能组分作用研究(Ⅳ)--工艺/力学性能

在丁羟/铝粉/高氯酸铵组成的三组元推进剂体系中,通过药浆流变性测试、动态力学分析（DMA）、单向拉伸性能、凝胶分数和相对交联密度的测定,研究了一些功能组分如氮丙啶类化合物MAPO、醇胺络合物TEA·BF3、胺类化合物H对推进剂工艺性能和力学性能的影响.结果表明,MAPO可以降低药浆屈服值和表观粘度,改善工艺性能,显著增加最大抗拉强度,但对最大伸长率无影响;TEA·BF3大幅度增加药浆屈服值,使工艺性能变差,一定程度上提高最大抗拉强度和发挥熵弹性而增加最大伸长率,H可以显著改善推进剂工艺性能和增加最大伸长率.文中还对功能组分在推进剂中的作用机理进行了分析探讨.