Survival rates of some terrestrial microorganisms under simulated space conditions.

In connection with planetary quarantine, we have been studying the survival rates of nine species of terrestrial microorganisms (viruses, bacteria, yeasts, fungi, etc.) under simulated interstellar conditions. If common terrestrial microorganisms cannot survive in space even for short periods, we can greatly reduce expenditure for sterilizing space probes. The interstellar environment in the solar system has been simulated by low temperature, high vacuum (77 k, 4 x 10(-6) torr), and protons irradiation from a Van de Graaff generator. After exposure to a barrage of protons corresponding to about 250 years of irradiation in solar space, Tobacco mosaic virus, Bacillus subtilis spores, Aspergillus niger spores and Clostridiun mangenoti spores showed survival rates of 82%, 45%, 28%, and 25%, respectively. Furthermore. pathogenic Candida albicans showed 7% survival after irradiation corresponding to about 60 years in space.     

Development of a super-pressure balloon with a diamond-shaped net

The essential reason of the lobed-pumpkin shaped super-pressure balloon to withstand against the high pressure is that the local curvature of the balloon film is kept small. Recently, it has been found that the small local curvature can also be obtained if the balloon is covered by a diamond-shaped net with a vertically elongated shape. The development of the super-pressure balloon using this method was started from a 3-m balloon with a polyethylene film covered by a net using Kevlar ropes. The ground inflation test showed the expected high burst pressure. Then, a 6-m and a 12-m balloon using a polyethylene film and a net using the Vectran were developed and stable deployment was checked through the ground inflation tests. The flight test of a 3000 m³ balloon was performed in 2013 and shown to resist a pressure of at least 400 Pa. In the future, after testing a new design to relax a possible stress concentration around the polar area, test flights of scaled balloons will be performed gradually enlarging their size. The goal is to launch a 300,000 m³ super-pressure balloon.     

A balloon-borne very long baseline interferometry experiment in the stratosphere: Systems design and developments

The balloon-borne very long baseline interferometry (VLBI) experiment is a technical feasibility study for performing radio interferometry in the stratosphere. The flight model has been developed. A balloon-borne VLBI station will be launched to establish interferometric fringes with ground-based VLBI stations distributed over the Japanese islands at an observing frequency of approximately 20?GHz as the first step. This paper describes the system design and development of a series of observing instruments and bus systems. In addition to the advantages of avoiding the atmospheric effects of absorption and fluctuation in high frequency radio observation, the mobility of a station can improve the sampling coverage (“uv-coverage”) by increasing the number of baselines by the number of ground-based counterparts for each observation day. This benefit cannot be obtained with conventional arrays that solely comprise ground-based stations. The balloon-borne VLBI can contribute to a future progress of research fields such as black holes by direct imaging.     

Some useful coordinate systems to discuss the apogee motor firing optimization

This paper introduces five useful coordinate systems to optimize the apogee motor firing of a geostationary satellite. This optimization minimizes the propellant consumption for station acquisition manoeuvres. The coordinate systems used for this purpose must depict the optimization parameters together with the propellant consumption. In order to get the propellant consumption, some relations between parameters are derived and the equipropellant lines (planes) are drawn in the coordinate systems. These coordinate systems are used not only for the optimization of the apogee motor firing but also for the optimization of the station acquisition strategy, the transfer orbit setting and the apogee motor sizing.     

High-temperature phenomena in flares

High temperature phenomena occurring in solar flares are reviewed based on hard X-ray images and spectral analyses of highly ionized iron lines observed aboard the Hinotori spacecraft.Five basic flare components are proposed, i.e., impulsive (I), gradual hard (GH), thermal (T), quasi thermal (QT) and hot thermal (HT) components. A flare shows some combination of the five components. Energy release and transport for each component would give a lot of variety to the hard X-ray image, spectrum and time history of X-rays.     

The HESP/R satellite project

The aim of the HESP/R (High Energy Solar Physics/Radiation) satellite project is to obtain data of γ-ray, hard X-ray soft X-ray, EUV, and visible radiation of solar flares at the next solar maximum in order to study physics of flares. The HESP/R will be a spinning satellite of 4–5 rotations per min., and the spin axis is off-set by a small angle (0.5°–1.0°) from the Sun. Total weight will be 400 kg and launched in 1991 with M-3S-II rocket by ISAS.     

Japanese moon lander SELENE-2—Present status in 2009

JAXA is planning exploration missions to the moon, following upon the Kaguya (SELENE) mission., These missions aim to demonstrate some new technologies, observe the moon scientifically, investigate technical, social and political feasibility of utilizing the moon. For the first step of the missions, the phase A study of SELENE-2 has started from the summer of 2007. This mission will demonstrate the effectiveness of several technologies including precision landing, hazard avoidance, surface mobility, and night survival technologies. In situ geological and geophysical observations will be conducted to improve our knowledge on the origin and the evolution of the moon. Investigating the lunar surface conditions and its potential for in situ resource utilization will provide key information for future human exploration missions. This paper presents the current status of the SELENE-2 mission, its objectives, its design, and other important aspects of its development such as international cooperation.     

Digital beam forming (DBF) antenna system for mobile communications

We demonstrate the feasibility of a digital beam forming (DBF) and beam space CMA (Constant Modulus Algorithm) adaptive array antenna by implementing a digital signal processor (DSP) in ASICs using field programmable gate arrays (FPGA), this DBF can synthesize 16 multi-beams and eliminate interference signals by CMA adaptive processing. The whole function was implemented in 10 DSPs about 127,000 equivalent gates. Simple experimental results have confirmed the basic function of the DBF and BSCMA adaptive array antenna     

Use of sunlight for plant lighting in a bioregenerative life support system – Equivalent system mass calculations

Plant lighting is a critical issue for cost effectiveness of bioregenerative systems. A plant lighting system using sunlight has been investigated and compared to systems using electrical lighting. Co-generation of electricity and use of in situ resource utilization (ISRU) were also considered. The fixed part of equivalent system mass was found to be reduced by factors of from 3.1 to 3.9, according to the mission assumptions. The time-dependent part of equivalent system mass was reduced by a smaller value, of about 1.05. Cost effectiveness of bioregeneration has been compared to the cost of shipping food. Break-even times for different Lunar and Mars missions were generally in the order of 2–10 years, and were quite sensitive to the assumptions. There is significant scope for future refinement of these values, and work is ongoing.