Production of oxidants by ion irradiation of water/carbon dioxide frozen mixtures

We present new experimental results on the formation of oxidants, such as hydrogen peroxide, ozone, and carbonic acid, under ion irradiation of icy mixtures of water/carbon dioxide at different ratios and temperatures (16 and 80 K). Pure water ice layers and mixtures with carbon dioxide were irradiated by 200 keV He+ ions. We found that the CO(2)/H(2)O ratio progressively decreased to a value of about 0.1, the H(2)O(2) production increased with increasing CO(2) abundance at both 16 and 80 K, and the CO and H(2)CO(3) production increased with increasing CO(2) abundance at 16 K. At 80 K, the synthesis of CO was less efficient because of the high volatility of the molecule that partially sublimed from the target. The production of carbonic acid was connected with the production of CO(3). O(3) was detected only after ion irradiation of CO(2)-rich mixtures. The experimental results are discussed with regard to the relevance they may have in the production of an energy source for a europan or a martian biosphere.     

Autonomic straightening of gravitropically curved cress roots in microgravity.

The typical response of plant organs to gravistimulation is differential growth that leads to organ bending. If the gravitropic stimulus is withdrawn, endogenous compensation of the graviresponse and subsequent straightening occur in some plants. For instance, autonomic straightening of Lepidium roots occurs when gravitropically-curved rootsare rotated on a clinostat (Stankovi et al., 1998a). To determine whether endogenous compensation of the graviresponse also occurs in space, microgravity-grown cress roots were laterally centrifuged in-flight and then returned to microgravity using Biorack hardware on a shuttle mission (STS-81). The cress roots were centrifuged at 4 different g-doses (0.1 x g and 1 x g for 15 or 75 min). All four treatments yielded varying degrees of root curvature. Upon removal from the centrifuge, roots in all four treatments underwent subsequent straightening in microgravity. This straightening resulted from a loss of gravitropic curvature in older regions of the root and the coordinated alignment of new growth. These results show that both microgravity and clinostat rotation on Earth are equivalent in stimulus withdrawal with respect to the induction of endogenous compensation of the curvature. Cress roots are the only plant organ shown to undergo compensation of the curvature in both microgravity and on a clinostat. The compensation of graviresponse in space rules out the hypothesis that the endogenous root straightening ("autotropism") represents a commitment to a pre-stimulus orientation with respect to gravity and instead suggests that there is a default tendency towards axiality following a withdrawal of a g-stimulus.     

A concept for NASA's Mars 2016 astrobiology field laboratory

The Mars Program Plan includes an integrated and coordinated set of future candidate missions and investigations that meet fundamental science objectives of NASA and the Mars Exploration Program (MEP). At the time this paper was written, these possible future missions are planned in a manner consistent with a projected budget profile for the Mars Program in the next decade (2007-2016). As with all future missions, the funding profile depends on a number of factors that include the exact cost of each mission as well as potential changes to the overall NASA budget. In the current version of the Mars Program Plan, the Astrobiology Field Laboratory (AFL) exists as a candidate project to determine whether there were (or are) habitable zones and life, and how the development of these zones may be related to the overall evolution of the planet. The AFL concept is a surface exploration mission equipped with a major in situ laboratory capable of making significant advancements toward the Mars Program's life-related scientific goals and the overarching Vision for Space Exploration. We have developed several concepts for the AFL that fit within known budget and engineering constraints projected for the 2016 and 2018 Mars mission launch opportunities. The AFL mission architecture proposed here assumes maximum heritage from the 2009 Mars Science Laboratory (MSL). Candidate payload elements for this concept were identified from a set of recommendations put forth by the Astrobiology Field Laboratory Science Steering Group (AFL SSG) in 2004, for the express purpose of identifying overall rover mass and power requirements for such a mission. The conceptual payload includes a Precision Sample Handling and Processing System that would replace and augment the functionality and capabilities provided by the Sample Acquisition Sample Processing and Handling system that is currently part of the 2009 MSL platform.     

Reduced-rank STAP performance analysis

The space-time radar problem is well suited to the application of techniques that take advantage of the low-rank property of the space-time covariance matrix. It is shown that reduced-rank (RR) methods outperform full-rank space-time adaptive processing (STAP) when the space-time covariance matrix is estimated from a data set with limited support. The utility of RR methods is demonstrated by theoretical analysis, simulations and analysis of real data. It is shown that RR processing has two opposite effects on the performance: increased statistical stability which tends to improve performance, and introduction of a bias which lowers the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). A method for evaluating the theoretical conditioned SNR for fixed RR transforms is also presented. It Is shown that while best performance is obtained using data-dependent transforms, the loss incurred by the application of fixed transforms (such as the discrete cosine transform) may be relatively small. The main advantage of fixed transforms is the availability of efficient computational procedures for their implementation. These findings suggest that RR methods could facilitate the development of practical, real-time STAP technology     

Coupled CFD/CSD simulation of the helicopter main rotor in high-speed forward flight

The helicopter main rotor in forward flight is considered in this paper. The results for rigid blades and elastic blades are compared by the method of coupled simulation. The influence of the structural damping coefficient on the blade in-flight deformation is also considered.     

Influence of exhaust gas recirculation on technical,economic, and environmental performance of high-uprated diesel aircraft engine

This paper considers the problem of reducing the nitrogen oxide emissions in exhaust gases (EG) of the diesel aircraft engine by exhaust gas recirculation (EGR). The main directions in improving a working process of diesel engines with EGR system were formulated.     

The Diverse Planetary Ingassing/Outgassing Paths Produced over Billions of Years of Magmatic Activity

Space Science Reviews - Accretion onto black holes is an efficient mechanism in converting the gas mass-energy into energetic outputs as radiation, wind and jet. Tidal disruption events, in which...     

Analysis of the orbit lifetime of CubeSats in low Earth orbits including periodic variation in drag due to attitude motion

It is estimated that more than 22,300 human-made objects are in orbit around the Earth, with a total mass above 8,400,000 kg. Around 89% of these objects are non-operational and without control, which makes them to be considered orbital debris. These numbers consider only objects with dimensions larger than 10 cm. Besides those numbers, there are also about 2000 operational satellites in orbit nowadays. The space debris represents a hazard to operational satellites and to the space operations. A major concern is that this number is growing, due to new launches and particles generated by collisions. Another important point is that the development of CubeSats has increased exponentially in the last years, increasing the number of objects in space, mainly in the Low Earth Orbits (LEO). Due to the short operational time, CubeSats boost the debris population. One of the requirements for space debris mitigation in LEO is the limitation of the orbital lifetime of the satellites, which needs to be lower than 25 years. However, there are space debris with longer estimated decay time. In LEÓs, the influence of the atmospheric drag is the main orbital perturbation, and is used in maneuvers to increment the losses in the satellite orbital energy, to locate satellites in constellations and to accelerate the decay.The goal of the present research is to study the influence of aerodynamic rotational maneuver in the CubeSat?s orbital lifetime. The rotational axis is orthogonal to the orbital plane of the CubeSat, which generates variations in the ballistic coefficient along the trajectory. The maneuver is proposed to accelerate the decay and to mitigate orbital debris generated by non-operational CubeSats. The panel method is selected to determine the drag coefficient as a function of the flow incident angle and the spinning rate. The pressure distribution is integrated from the satellite faces at hypersonic rarefied flow to calculate the drag coefficient. The mathematical model considers the gravitational potential of the Earth and the deceleration due to drag. To analyze the effects of the rotation during the decay, multiple trajectories were propagated, comparing the results obtained assuming a constant drag coefficient with trajectories where the drag coefficient changes periodically. The initial perigees selected were lower than 400 km of altitude with eccentricities ranging from 0.00 to 0.02. Six values for the angular velocity were applied in the maneuver. The technique of rotating the spacecraft is an interesting solution to increase the orbit decay of a CubeSat without implementing additional de-orbit devices. Significant changes in the decay time are presented due to the increase of the mean drag coefficient calculated by the panel method, when the maneuver is applied, reducing the orbital lifetime, however the results are independent of the angular velocity of the satellite.