Gravitational maneuvers as a way to direct small asteroids to trajectory of a rendezvous with dangerous near-Earth objects

A possibility to prevent collisions with the Earth of dangerous celestial bodies by directing at them small asteroids is considered. It is proposed to solve this problem using a gravitational maneuver near the Earth.     

Sulfur “concrete” for lunar applications – Sublimation concerns

Melting sulfur and mixing it with an aggregate to form “concrete” is commercially well established and constitutes a material that is particularly well-suited for use in corrosive environments. Discovery of the mineral troilite (FeS) on the moon poses the question of extracting the sulfur for use as a lunar construction material. This would be an attractive alternative to conventional concrete as it does not require water. However, the viability of sulfur concrete in a lunar environment, which is characterized by lack of an atmosphere and extreme temperatures, is not well understood. Here it is assumed that the lunar ore can be mined, refined, and the raw sulfur melded with appropriate lunar regolith to form, for example, bricks. This study evaluates pure sulfur and two sets of small sulfur concrete samples that have been prepared using JSC-1 lunar stimulant and SiO₂ powder as aggregate additions. Each set was subjected to extended periods in a vacuum environment to evaluate sublimation issues. Results from these experiments are presented and discussed within the context of the lunar environment.     

Some features of solar cosmic ray penetration into the Earth’s magnetosphere

We compared fluxes of the 1–100 MeV solar energetic particles (SEP) measured in the interplanetary medium (ACE) and in the magnetosphere (Universitetsky-Tatiana, POES—in polar caps, and GOES-11—at geosynchronous orbit) during several SEP events of 2005–2006. Peak intensities of the SEP fluxes inside and outside the magnetosphere were compared for each event. It is shown that observed inside-outside difference depends mainly on direction of interplanetary magnetic field (IMF), on degree of the SEP anisotropy (pitch-angle distribution) in IMF, and on distance of the dayside magnetopause from the Earth.     

Thermodynamic cycles for spacecraft power plants

A problem of applying closed multiloop thermodynamic cycles with mixing of dissimilar working gases in spacecraft power plants has been considered. The advantage of these cycles that is due to reduction of a heat quantity being rejected into space has been shown for ecologically clean generation of electric energy in prolonged space flights.     

A two-phase mixture drift flow in the vertical cylindrical channel

The mathematical models of the solid-liquid flow regimes in the vertical cylindrical channel are described. A two-speed flow based on the solid-liquid phase interaction is considered. The problem was numerically solved and the calculation results were compared with experimental data.     

A boundary value problem of aerohydrodynamics in designing an axisymmetric body with jet blowout

A numerical and analytical method for constructing a shape of the axisymmetric body streamlined with jet blowout by the specified velocity distribution along its meridian section is proposed. The foundation of the method is the iteration process based on the solutions of an inverse problem in the plane case and a primal problem for the axisymmetric body. A program realizing the iteration process is set up and examples of numerical calculations are given.     

Calculation of decoupling zeroes in the multiconnected dynamic system

A recursive method for calculating decoupling zeroes in the linear multiconnected dynamic system based on the application of matrix canonization techniques is proposed. Its essence is that the problem dimension is successively decreased and reduced to finding eigenvalues of some matrix. The results obtained can be used to check controllability and observability as well as to calculate uncontrollable and unobservable modes of the dynamic system.     

Comets and Chemical Composition

It is commonly believed that comets are made of primordial material. As a consequence, they can reveal more information about the origin of our solar system. To interpret the coma composition measurements of comet Churyumov–Gerasimenko that will be collected by the Rosetta mission, models of the coma chemistry have to be constructed. However, programming the chemistry of a cometary coma is extremely complex due to the large number of species and reactions involved. Moreover, such a program needs to be very flexible as one may want to extend, change, or update the set of species, reactions, and reaction rates. Therefore, we developed software to manage a database of species and reactions and to generate code automatically to compute source/loss balances. This database includes the data from the UMIST database and the ion–molecule reactions collected by V.G. Anicich. To use all these databases together, a lot of practical problems need to be solved, but the result is an enormous source of information about chemical reactions that can be used in chemical models, not only for comets but also for other applications.     

Destructive Testing Uses VXI Fiber Optics for Data Acquisition

VXIbus is an ideal standard for instrumentation associated with developmental test systems used by industrial applications due to its adaptability, accuracy, and responsiveness. This application note is one such example of a VXI solution for a worldwide leader in commercial property and risk management that operates a destructive test facility to analyze the results of disasters predominantly caused by fire. The company implemented a re-configurable 2,400 channel test system based on Kinetic Systems' VXI modules that used a fiber optic ring to synchronize multiple chassis and multiple channels. Technical details of the VXI implementation and results will be discussed     

Viability of barley seeds after long-term exposure to outer side of international space station

Barley seeds were exposed to outer space for 13 months in a vented metal container without a climate control system to assess the risk of physiological and genetic mutation during long-term storage in space. The space-stored seeds (S0 generation), with an 82% germination rate in 50 seeds, lost about 20% of their weight after the exposure. The germinated seeds showed normal growth, heading, and ripening. The harvested seeds (S1 generation) also germinated and reproduced (S2 generation) as did the ground-stored seeds. The culm length, ear length, number of seed, grain weight, and fertility of the plants from the space-stored seeds were not significantly different from those of the ground-stored seeds in each of the S0 and S1 generation. Furthermore, the S1 and S2 space-stored seeds respectively showed similar β-glucan content to those of the ground-stored seeds. Amplified fragment length polymorphism analysis with 16 primer combinations showed no specific fragment that appears or disappears significantly in the DNA isolated from the barley grown from the space-stored seeds. Though these data are derived from nine S0 space-stored seeds in a single exposure experiment, the results demonstrate the preservation of barley seeds in outer space for 13 months without phenotypic or genotypic changes and with healthy and vigorous growth in space.