EDEN: a payload dedicated to neurovestibular research for Neurolab

The European Space Agency contributes to the Neurolab mission through the delivery of the ESA Developed Elements for Neurolab (EDEN). Those elements include one set supporting the Autonomic Nervous System experiment and one set supporting the Neurovestibular (so-called ATLAS) experiment. This second set is called the Visual and Vestibular Investigation System (VVIS). This paper describes the main characteristics of the VVIS and its various subsystems. The scientific objectives and operational constraints of the ATLAS experiment to be carried out with this equipment during Neurolab are presented to underline the correspondence between the VVIS design and the scientific requirements. Further scientific and technical perspectives for the VVIS, particularly within the scope of the International Space station, are also proposed.     

Psychophysiological reactivity under Mir-simulation and real micro-G

A complex psychophysiological test battery (ECG, blood pressure, SCL, finger temperature e.t.c.) was applied on two subjects in space. It could be shown that the subjects react under space conditions differently than on earth. The data received could be classified into four types of regulation. The subjects changed this type of regulation during the flight and returned to their former pattern after the flight.     

管内正激波/湍流边界层干扰的数值模拟

本文采用时均Ｎ－Ｓ方程和Ｂａｌｄｗｉｎ／Ｌｏｍａｘ代数湍流模型计算了典型拉伐尔喷管内正激波与湍流边界层干扰流场。计算与实验结果的比较表明，方法可准确地预测激波结构，激波与边界层干扰区流动特征，激波位置、激波前马赫数和壁面压力分布等。     

涡轮叶栅前缘上游端壁气膜冷却的流场实验研究

对前缘上游端壁有单排和双排孔冷却的大尺寸低速涡轮导向叶栅进行了气动测量、热示踪和端壁流场显示,在吹风比1～3范围获得了叶栅内的详细流场、冷气的空间分布和端壁上的流动图案。结合先前测得的没有冷却时的流场数据,这些结果表明端壁气膜冷却对叶栅流场结构有重大影响,吹风比是主宰射流与二次流间相互作用的主要因素,双排孔喷射使冷气比单排孔喷射更贴近端壁。低吹风比喷射冷气不能到达压力面并被二次流逐渐卷离端壁;中吹风比喷射有效的抑制了二次流的形成,并使端壁流线偏向于无粘流流线,冷气很均匀的覆盖在端壁上。      

Space-to-space Radio Interferometry System from Medium Earth Orbits

This paper presents a new concept to perform space-to-space Very Long Baseline Interferometry which enables the imaging of cosmic sources at high-resolution and high-sensitivity with small antennas. Several individual apertures are embarked on separate identical satellites staggered in height into Polar or Equatorial Circular Medium Earth Orbits (PECMEO orbits). These orbits are stable and allow GNSS-based on-the-fly centimeter-level relative positioning. Coherent operation is possible by exchanging local oscillator components and measured signals through Inter-Satellite Links (ISL). On-board cross correlation is performed at each satellite over a delay window compatible with the accuracy of the on-the-fly relative positioning and the result sent to the ground. Image reconstruction is completed on the ground thanks to sub-millimeter baseline retrieval from accurate GNSS orbits, ISL ranging and spacecraft attitude information. The application of this concept to image the Super Massive Black Hole Sgr A* is hinted.      

颗粒气体的类气液相变

颗粒体系是远离平衡态的复杂耗散体系,在外力驱动下,能表现出类似于固体、液体或气体的特性.在稀疏的颗粒气体中,由于耗散,体系中常常会形成颗粒在局部的凝聚.这种凝聚行为具有自发对称性破缺的特征,使得颗粒气体中自动形成高密度区域和低密度区域共存的非均匀状态,类似于气体中液滴的形成.本文利用零重力条件下的三维颗粒气体理论模型进行计算和分析,揭示了颗粒气体这一相变行为的不稳定性根源及类气液相变本质,给出了颗粒气体中这种相分离发生的临界条件,并通过分子动力学模拟进行检验,结果从定性上和定量上都能够很好地吻合,为进一步的空间实验提供了理论依据和相关实验参数.     

Microbial populations in Antarctic permafrost: biodiversity, state, age, and implication for astrobiology

Antarctic permafrost soils have not received as much geocryological and biological study as has been devoted to the ice sheet, though the permafrost is more stable and older and inhabited by more microbes. This makes these soils potentially more informative and a more significant microbial repository than ice sheets. Due to the stability of the subsurface physicochemical regime, Antarctic permafrost is not an extreme environment but a balanced natural one. Up to 10(4) viable cells/g, whose age presumably corresponds to the longevity of the permanently frozen state of the sediments, have been isolated from Antarctic permafrost. Along with the microbes, metabolic by-products are preserved. This presumed natural cryopreservation makes it possible to observe what may be the oldest microbial communities on Earth. Here, we describe the Antarctic permafrost habitat and biodiversity and provide a model for martian ecosystems.     

Hydrogeologic controls on episodic H2 release from precambrian fractured rocks--energy for deep subsurface life on earth and mars

Dissolved H(2) concentrations up to the mM range and H(2) levels up to 9-58% by volume in the free gas phase are reported for groundwaters at sites in the Precambrian shields of Canada and Finland. Along with previously reported dissolved H(2) concentrations up to 7.4 mM for groundwaters from the Witwatersrand Basin, South Africa, these findings indicate that deep Precambrian Shield fracture waters contain some of the highest levels of dissolved H(2) ever reported and represent a potentially important energy-rich environment for subsurface microbial life. The delta (2)H isotope signatures of H(2) gas from Canada, Finland, and South Africa are consistent with a range of H(2)-producing water-rock reactions, depending on the geologic setting, which include both serpentinization and radiolysis. In Canada and Finland, several of the sites are in Archean greenstone belts characterized by ultramafic rocks that have under-gone serpentinization and may be ancient analogues for serpentinite-hosted gases recently reported at the Lost City Hydrothermal Field and other hydrothermal seafloor deposits. The hydrogeologically isolated nature of these fracture-controlled groundwater systems provides a mechanism whereby the products of water-rock interaction accumulate over geologic timescales, which produces correlations between high H(2) levels, abiogenic hydrocarbon signatures, and the high salinities and highly altered delta (18)O and delta (2)H values of these groundwaters. A conceptual model is presented that demonstrates how periodic opening of fractures and resultant mixing control the distribution and supply of H(2) and support a microbial community of H(2)-utilizing sulfate reducers and methanogens.     

Modelling of Geomagnetic Storm Effects in the Ionosphere of East Asia

This paper presents simulated results of the ionospheric behavior during few geomagnetic storms,which were occurred in the different seasons. The numerical model for ionosphere-plasmasphere coupling was used to interpret the observed variation of ionosphere structure. Reasons why the positive storms are dominant in the winter whereas the negative ones are dominant in the summer season present the special interest for the mid-latitude ionosphere. A theoretical analysis of the processes controlling the ionospheric response to the geomagnetic storms has showed a good agreement between the simulated results and measurements, as well as the crucial role of the neutral composition variations to fit the calculated and the observed ionospheric parameters.