A Franco–German view of Europe's ambition in space for the 21st century

Europe has at last started to integrate the assets of its broad set of actors into a comprehensive European Space Strategy. But will this first approach be ambitious enough to strengthen Europe as a global actor? In this contribution, the individuals responsible for strategy in the French and German space agencies seek an answer to this question. They do so by reviewing the historical background to European space efforts, and its role in shaping present-day activities; setting forth a vision of how Europe should proceed in space, and measuring current progress in drafting a European space strategy against this vision.     

The USSR's prudent space policy

Soviet space policy has long been viewed in the West as militaristic and aimed at achieving superiority, a situation which is abetted by the secrecy in which Soviet space activities are shrouded. This article argues, however, that Soviet space policy is essentially prudent and conservative, and based on exploiting existing technology to the maximum. Whilst it has provided the USSR with an impressive space potential, it does not mean that the USSR is ahead of the USA in space. Nevertheless, in the future the USSR is likely to undertake more international cooperation and offer commercial launch services.     

Asia in space: The awakening of China and Japan

The increasingly important role of China and Japan in international space activities can be seen as a threat to the two great space-exporting powers, the USA and Europe. China is already a competitor on the satellite launch market, and will soon be able to market satellites which are simpler and cheaper than those offered by Western industry. Japan is making steady progress towards autonomy in all fields of space technology. This article details the space experience of China and Japan. They are following different paths but both will have a strong presence in the cosmos by the year 2000.     

New method of enhancement using wavelet transforms applied to SODISM telescope

PICARD is a space-based observatory hosting the Solar Diameter Imager and Surface Mapper (SODISM) telescope, which has continuously observed the Sun from July 2010 and up to March 2014. In order to study the fine structure of the solar surface, it is helpful to apply techniques that enhance the images so as to improve the visibility of solar features such as sunspots or faculae. The objective of this work is to develop an innovative technique to enhance the quality of the SODISM images in the five wavelengths monitored by the telescope at 215.0?nm, 393.37?nm, 535.7?nm, 607.1?nm and 782.2?nm. An enhancement technique using interpolation of the high-frequency sub-bands obtained by Discrete Wavelet Transforms (DWT) and the input image is applied to the SODISM images. The input images are decomposed by the DWT as well as Stationary Wavelet Transform (SWT) into four separate sub-bands in horizontal and vertical directions namely, low-low (LL), low–high (LH), high-low (HL) and high–high (HH) frequencies. The DWT high frequency sub-bands are interpolated by a factor 2. The estimated high frequency sub-bands (edges) are enhanced by introducing an intermediate stage using a Stationary Wavelet Transform (SWT), and then all these sub-bands and input image are combined and interpolated with half of the interpolation factor α/2, used to interpolate the high-frequency sub-bands, in order to reach the required size for IDWT processing. Quantitative and visual results show the superiority of the proposed technique over a bicubic image resolution enhancement technique. In addition, filling factors for sunspots are calculated from SODISM images and results are presented in this work.     

A robotic telescope network for space debris identification and tracking

The two TAROT (Télescopes à Action Rapide pour les Objets Transitoires; Rapid Action Telescopes for Transient Objects) installations are fully robotic optical observatories with optimized observation scheduling, data processing and archiving. Zadko is a 1 m telescope in Western Australia. The fully robotisation of the Zadko telescope has just been completed; it is now included in the TAROT network. In this paper we provide an overview of this international network of robotic optical telescopes. We discuss the advantages of using the network to participate in a satellite and space debris tracking program. This network will access almost all geostationary belt objects, and provide the first real-time satellite positioning capability. The inclusion of the 1 m Zadko telescope into the network significantly extends the efficiency and sensitivity of the existing two telescope configuration.     

The Galactic Halo from Microlensing

The status of the microlensing search for galactic dark matter in the form of massive astronomical compact halo objects (machos) is reviewed. Unresolved issues are discussed, as well as possible ways to solve these.     

Public funding of space activities: a case of semantics and misdirection

The semantic ambiguity of the word ‘space’ causes problems for both the funding of space activities and the determining of space policies. The historical practice of lumping all space activities together, to be funded by a single budgetary line, is inappropriate to the range of such activities and for the economic and strategic interests at stake: it has direct consequences for the priorities governments want to make, and can pervert the directions industry is trying to go in. While continued government support for space is imperative, given the strategic, national-development nature of many of its applications, new ways must be found of allocating it a budget that take account of the diversity of the areas in which it plays a role.     

液体树脂灌注成型工艺中树脂流动前沿特性的估测和分析

 近年来树脂浸泡成型工艺(RIP)越来越多地应用到了航空复合材料制造业上。作为树脂浸泡成型工艺中一种新型的有着良好运用前景的液体树脂灌注 (LRI)成型工艺开始进入了人们的视野。为了增加对LRI工艺的认知和提高对其的监控能力,着重介绍如何在LRI工艺进程中监测树脂流体的流动前峰。树脂流体流动前峰的检测将依赖于一组放置在纤维层中的微型热电偶传感器来完成,通过与光纤传感器测量结果的比较,表明微型热电偶传感器可以利用测量纤维层中不同处的温度变化来监测树脂流体到达该处的时间。测量与分析结果大大提高了对LRI工艺中树脂流体在纤维层层面和沿纤维层厚度两个方向上流动特性的认识,并为将来的模拟计算和对此工艺的进一步研究奠定良好的基础。     

Internal reference frames for representation and storage of visual information: the role of gravity.

Experimental studies of visual mechanisms suggests that the CNS represents image information with respect to preferred horizontal and vertical axes, as shown by a phenomenon known as the "oblique effect". In the current study we used this effect to evaluate the influence of gravity on the representation and storage of visual orientation information. Subjects performed a psychophysical task in which a visually-presented stimulus line was aligned with the remembered orientation of a reference stimulus line presented moments before. The experiments were made on 5 cosmonauts during orbital space flight and additionally on 13 subjects in conditions of normal gravity with a tilting chair. Data were analyzed with respect to response variability and timing. On earth, these measurements for this task show a distinct preference for horizontally and vertically oriented stimuli when the body and gravitational axes were aligned. This preference was markedly decreased or disappeared when the body axis was tilted with respect to gravity; this effect was not connected with ocular counter-rolling nor could we find a preference of any other intermediate axis between the gravity and body aligned axes. On the other hand, the preference for vertical and horizontal axes was maintained for tests performed in microgravity over the course of a 6 month flight, starting from flight day 6. We concluded that subjects normally process visual orientation information in a multi-modal reference frame that combines both proprioceptive and gravitational cues when both are available, but that a proprioceptive reference frame is sufficient for this task in the absence of gravity after a short period of adaptation. Some of the results from this study have been previously published in a preliminary report. Grant numbers: 99-04-48450.