Advanced Pulsed Plasma Thrusters and Their Application as a Part of Small Spacecraft Propulsion Systems

The paper presents the research results of the effect of a capacitor energy storage device configuration on the specific characteristics of advanced modern propulsion systems based on the ablative pulsed plasma thrusters (APPT). These thrusters are designed to perform specific tasks within the small spacecrafts with the onboard power capacity up to 200 W.     

60 GHz FM-CWR Using NRD guide for distance estimation

An FM-CW radar front-end was fabricated in an integrated manner at 60 GHz by using the NRD guide. The main emphasis was placed on compactness in size and high-precise operation in performance. The fabricated radar consists of an FM Gunn oscillator, a balanced mixer, and a planar antenna fed by a leaky NRD guide with a mechanically beam-scanning performance. All circuit components and the antenna were contained in a compact housing of 170 x 140 mm in area and 25 mm in thickness, and thus, a thin type of millimeter-wave radar front-end was successfully developed. Moreover, an error of distance estimation was measured to be less than a distance of 0.7 m.     

Development and research program for a soil-based bioregenerative agriculture system to feed a four person crew at a Mars base.

For humans to survive during long-term missions on the Martian surface, bioregenerative life support systems including food production will decrease requirements for launch of Earth supplies, and increase mission safety. It is proposed that the development of "modular biospheres"--closed system units that can be air-locked together and which contain soil-based bioregenerative agriculture, horticulture, with a wetland wastewater treatment system is an approach for Mars habitation scenarios. Based on previous work done in long-term life support at Biosphere 2 and other closed ecological systems, this consortium proposes a research and development program called Mars On Earth(TM) which will simulate a life support system designed for a four person crew. The structure will consist of 6 x 110 square meter modular agricultural units designed to produce a nutritionally adequate diet for 4 people, recycling all air, water and waste, while utilizing a soil created by the organic enrichment and modification of Mars simulant soils. Further research needs are discussed, such as determining optimal light levels for growth of the necessary range of crops, energy trade-offs for agriculture (e.g. light intensity vs. required area), capabilities of Martian soils and their need for enrichment and elimination of oxides, strategies for use of human waste products, and maintaining atmospheric balance between people, plants and soils.     

The Solar Isotope Spectrometer for the Advanced Composition Explorer

The Solar Isotope Spectrometer (SIS), one of nine instruments on the Advanced Composition Explorer (ACE), is designed to provide high- resolution measurements of the isotopic composition of energetic nuclei from He to Zn (Z=2 to 30) over the energy range from ∼10 to ∼100 MeV nucl−1. During large solar events SIS will measure the isotopic abundances of solar energetic particles to determine directly the composition of the solar corona and to study particle acceleration processes. During solar quiet times SIS will measure the isotopes of low-energy cosmic rays from the Galaxy and isotopes of the anomalous cosmic-ray component, which originates in the nearby interstellar medium. SIS has two telescopes composed of silicon solid-state detectors that provide measurements of the nuclear charge, mass, and kinetic energy of incident nuclei. Within each telescope, particle trajectories are measured with a pair of two-dimensional silicon-strip detectors instrumented with custom, very large-scale integrated (VLSI) electronics to provide both position and energy-loss measurements. SIS was especially designed to achieve excellent mass resolution under the extreme, high flux conditions encountered in large solar particle events. It provides a geometry factor of ∼40 cm2 sr, significantly greater than earlier solar particle isotope spectrometers. A microprocessor controls the instrument operation, sorts events into prioritized buffers on the basis of their charge, range, angle of incidence, and quality of trajectory determination, and formats data for readout by the spacecraft. This paper describes the design and operation of SIS and the scientific objectives that the instrument will address. This revised version was published online in June 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

On the Measurements of D/H in QSO Absorption Systems Closing in on the primordial abundance of deuterium

We present our measurements of the deuterium to hydrogen ratio (D/H) in QSO absorption systems, which give D/H = 3.40 ± 0.25 × 10-5 based on analysis of four independent systems. We discuss the properties of two systems which provide the strongest constraints on D/H. We outline the systematic effects involved in measurements of D/H and introduce a sophisticated method of analysis which properly accounts for these effects.     

Geostationary tether satellite system and its application tocommunication systems

The geostationary tether satellite system expands the geostationary orbit resource from a one-dimensional arc into a two-dimensional disk. The tethered satellites, each several thousand kilometers apart and aligned along the local vertical, are stabilized at the altitude of the geosynchronous orbital speed. When this system is applied to communications systems, it is estimated that the number of satellites can be increased as much as thirteenfold and the communication capacity can be increased more than seventeenfold, compared with a conventional geostationary satellite orbit system     

The role of antiprotons in cosmic-ray physics

Though success eluded experimentalists from detecting cosmic-ray antiprotons over a long period of time, the study of cosmic-ray antiprotons has now become a fascinating field of research. In this review, we have attempted to elucidate the excitement in this area of research since the discovery of antiprotons in the laboratory. We have described the experiments carried out so far to measure the energy spectrum of antiprotons, from about 200 MeV to about 15 GeV, and summarised the results. The observed spectrum, with the limited data, appears to be very hard and is different from other components of cosmic radiation. Upper limits to the fraction of antiprotons in cosmic-rays have also been derived at higher energies, using the observed spectra of cosmic-ray primary and secondary particles at different depths in the atmosphere. We have described various physical processes by which antiprotons could be produced, such as high-energy interactions, neutron oscillations, evaporation of Mini Black Holes, decay of super symmetric particles, etc. The energy spectrum of antiprotons, which are produced through the above processes, undergoes modifications during propagation in the Galaxy. We have examined in detail the propagation models which have been employed to explain the observed data. It is shown that no single model could predict correctly the observed energy spectrum of antiprotons over the entire energy region. However, many models are able to explain the data at relativistic energies. It is difficult at this stage to make a choice among these models. The implications of these models for other components of cosmic-rays, such as positrons, deuterium, and He, have been discussed. We have examined the production of gamma rays in the Galaxy from sources, which produce the observed antiprotons through high-energy interactions. We have also briefly indicated the effect of possible re-acceleration during their confinement in the Galaxy. We finally emphasized the need for more detailed measurements of the spectral shape of cosmic-ray antiprotons to further refine speculations of their origin. Similarly, we have shown that detailed observation of the energy spectra of positrons, deuterium, and He at relativistic energies are crucial to test various propagation models.