Influence of the 2:1 resonance in the orbits of GPS satellites

Due to the characteristics of their orbits the GPS satellites are submitted to the following main perturbations: terrestrial gravitational field, luni-solar gravitational attraction and solar radiation pressure (including the effects of the Earth's shadow). An additional perturbation arises due to the 2:1 commensurability of the orbital period of the satellite with the period of the Earth's rotation. An analytical theory is briefly presented to solve the equations of motion including the previously mentioned effects. The analytical solution, based on the Lie-Hori method, is compared with a numerical integration of the equations.     

Differential GPS/inertial navigation approach/landing flight testresults

In November 1990, a differential GPS/inertial flight test was conducted to acquire a system performance database and demonstrate automatic landing using an integrated differential GPS/INS with barometric and radar altimeters. Flight test results obtained from postflight data analysis are presented. These results include characteristics of DGPS/inertial error, using a laser tracker as a reference. In addition, data are provided on the magnitude of the differential correlations and vertical channel performance with and without radar altimeter augmentation. Flight test results show one sigma DGPS/inertial horizontal errors of 9 ft and one sigma DGPS inertial vertical errors of 15 ft. Without selective availability effects, the differential corrections are less than 10 ft and are dominated by receiver unique errors over the time period of an approach. Therefore, the one sigma performance of the autonomous GPS (8-ft horizontal and 20-ft vertical) is very similar to the DGPS/inertial performance. Postprocessed results also demonstrate significant improvements in vertical channel performance when GPS/inertial is aided with radar altimeter along with a low-resolution terrain map     

Gravity effects on connective tissue biosynthesis by cultured mesenchymal cells.

Quantitative and qualitative aspects of collagen synthesis under microgravity, normal gravity and hypergravity conditions were investigated during the spacelab D-2 mission by incubating human fibroblast cultures with [3H]-proline for 0, 4, 7, 10 and 20 hours. Quantitative analysis revealed an increase of collagen synthesis under microgravity conditions, being 40% higher than 1g controls. Hypergravity samples at 1.44g, 6.6g and 10g showed a decrease in collagen synthesis with increasing g, being down to about 15% at 10g. The relative proportion of collagen from total protein synthesized, the secretion of collagen by the cells, proline hydroxylation of individual collagen alpha-chains and the relative proportions of collagens I, III and V synthesized were not affected at any of the applied conditions.     

Neutron yields from interactions of GCR-like beams in stopping targets.

In order to accurately determine the radiation risk to astronauts from GCR, the nature of the secondary radiation field created by the fragmentation of GCR in shielding and tissue must be understood. Due to the their high penetrabilities, neutrons are an important component of the secondary radiation field, especially for astronauts protected by thick shielding on lunar or Martian bases. Neutron yields from 435A MeV and 272A MeV Nb stopping in Nb and Al targets are presented, along with some preliminary analysis of neutron yields from 155A MeV C stopping in Al. Energy spectra and angular distributions are shown for neutron energies above 20 MeV. The data provides some information about the dependence of the neutron yield on projectile energy and target mass. Comparisons of the data with BUU calculations are also shown.     

Giotto/Cometary dust interaction event near the comet Halley ionopause

Plasma and magnetic field disturbances accompanying dust particle impacts are explained by means of creation of a secondary cloud around the spacecraft. Cold cometary ions impinging upon the cloud are scattered by atoms of the cloud. This scattering changes initial angular distribution of cometary ions. Magnetic field perturbation is created by the friction between the electron component of the cometary plasma flow and the cloud.     

DNA damage and repair in oncogenic transformation by heavy ion radiation.

Energetic heavy ions are present in galactic cosmic rays and solar particle events. One of the most important late effects in risk assessment is carcinogenesis. We have studied the carcinogenic effects of heavy ions at the cellular and molecular levels and have obtained quantitative data on dose-response curves and on the repair of oncogenic lesions for heavy particles with various charges and energies. Studies with repair inhibitors and restriction endonucleases indicated that for oncogenic transformation DNA is the primary target. Results from heavy ion experiments showed that the cross section increased with LET and reached a maximum value of about 0.02 micrometer2 at about 500 keV/micrometer. This limited size of cross section suggests that only a fraction of cellular genomic DNA is important in radiogenic transformation. Free radical scavengers, such as DMSO, do not give any effect on induction of oncogenic transformation by 600 MeV/u iron particles, suggesting most oncogenic damage induced by high-LET heavy ions is through direct action. Repair studies with stationary phase cells showed that the amount of reparable oncogenic lesions decreased with an increase of LET and that heavy ions with LET greater than 200 keV/micrometer produced only irreparable oncogenic damage. An enhancement effect for oncogenic transformation was observed in cells irradiated by low-dose-rate argon ions (400 MeV/u; 120 keV/micrometer). Chromosomal aberrations, such as translocation and deletion, but not sister chromatid exchange, are essential for heavy-ion-induced oncogenic transformation. The basic mechanism(s) of misrepair of DNA damage, which form oncogenic lesions, is unknown.     

The role of DNA repair on cell killing by charged particles.

It can be noted that it is not simple double strand breaks (dsb) but the non-reparable breaks that are associated with high biological effectiveness in the cell killing effect for high LET radiation. Here, we have examined the effectiveness of fast neutrons and low (initial energy = 12 MeV/u) or high (135 MeV/u) energy charged particles on cell death in 19 mammalian cell lines including radiosensitive mutants. Some of the radiosensitive lines were deficient in DNA dsb repair such as LX830, M10, V3, and L5178Y-S cells and showed lower values of relative biological effectiveness (RBE) for fast neutrons if compared with their parent cell lines. The other lines of human ataxia-telangiectasia fibroblasts, irs 1, irs 2, irs 3 and irs1SF cells, which were also radiosensitive but known as proficient in dsb repair, showed moderated RBEs. Dsb repair deficient mutants showed low RBE values for heavy ions. These experimental findings suggest that the DNA repair system does not play a major role against the attack of high linear energy transfer (LET) radiations. Therefore, we hypothesize that a main cause of cell death induced by high LET radiations is due to non-reparable dsb, which are produced at a higher rate compared to low LET radiations.     

Austrian dose measurements onboard space station MIR and the International Space Station--overview and comparison.

The Atominstitute of the Austrian Universities has conducted various space research missions in the last 12 years in cooperation with the Institute for Biomedical Problems in Moscow. They dealt with the exact determination of the radiation hazards for cosmonauts and the development of precise measurement devices. Special emphasis will be laid on the last experiment on space station MIR the goal of which was the determination of the depth distribution of absorbed dose and dose equivalent in a water filled Phantom. The first results from dose measurements onboard the International Space Station (ISS) will also be discussed. The spherical Phantom with a diameter of 35 cm was developed at the Institute for Biomedical Problems and had 4 channels where dosimeters can be exposed in different depths. The exposure period covered the timeframe from May 1997 to February 1999. Thermoluminescent dosimeters (TLDs) were exposed inside the Phantom, either parallel or perpendicular to the hull of the spacecraft. For the evaluation of the linear energy transfer (LET), the high temperature ratio (HTR) method was applied. Based on this method a mean quality factor and, subsequently, the dose equivalent is calculated according to the Q(LET infinity) relationship proposed in ICRP 26. An increased contribution of neutrons could be detected inside the Phantom. However the total dose equivalent did not increase over the depth of the Phantom. As the first Austrian measurements on the ISS dosimeter packages were exposed for 248 days, starting in February 2001 at six different locations onboard the ISS. The Austrian dosimeter sets for this first exposure on the ISS contained five different kinds of passive thermoluminescent dosimeters. First results showed a position dependent absorbed dose rate at the ISS.     

Simulation experiments of the effect of space environment on bacteriophage and DNA thin films.

The main goal of PUR experiment (phage and uracil response) is to examine and quantify the effect of specific space conditions on nucleic acid models. To achieve this an improved method was elaborated for the preparation of DNA and bacteriophage thin films. The homogeneity of the films was controlled by UV spectroscopy and microscopy. To provide experimental evidence for the hypothesis that interplanetary transfer of the genetic material is possible, phage T7 and isolated T7 DNA thin films have been exposed to selected space conditions: intense UVC radiation (lambda=254 nm) and high vacuum (10(-4) Pa). The effects of DNA hydration, conformation and packing on UV radiation damage were examined. Characteristic changes in the absorption spectrum, in the electrophoretic pattern of DNA and the decrease of the amount of PCR products have been detected indicating the photodamage of isolated and intraphage DNA.