Biomedical program of the ALTAIR french russian flight onboard the MIR station

One year after the achievemant of the 2 weeks ANTARES french-russian mission in the MIR station in July 1992, a 22 days ALTAÏR mission with a french cosmonaut has been performed in July 1993, making use of the scientific payload remaining on board. Taking benefit of the analysis of the previous mission, the experimental protocols were adapted to refine scientific objectives and gave to the scientists the opportunity to enhance quantitatively and qualitatively their results. The french biomedical program, conducted in close scientific cooperation with IMBP and associated laboratories, was composed of 8 experiments out of which 2 were new with regards to the ANTARES program. In the field of cardio-vascular physiology and fluid regulation, the experiments: ORTHOSTATISME, DIURESE have been renewed and complemented by the TISSU experiment (proposed by a german scientist) and a real-time tele-assistance program using US echography technic and ground support from the french CADMOS support control center located in Toulouse. With respect to neurosciences objectives, to the experiments VIMINAL (cognitive processes) and ILLUSIONS (study of proprioceptives cues), was added the SYNERGIES experiment to analyse the postural adjustements during movement. The IMMUNOLOGIE experiment carried on and the radiobiological experiment BIODOSE ended.

Adding the results of the 2 missions ANTARES and ALTAÏR, and the data obtained in between onboard with russian cosmonauts, the scientists have received a wealth of physiological data and gained reproducibility and confidence in their results.     

Natural killer cells after ALTAIR mission

Reduced in vitro NK cytotoxic activity have routinely been observed after both prolonged and short-term space flights. This study investigated the effects of space flight on NK cell functions, NK cell counts and the production of IL-2 and TNF by lymphocytes of French-Russian crew members. In the French cosmonaut, after 21 days space flight, the cytotoxic activity of NK cells, the capacity the NK cells to bind and lyse the individual target cells and the percentage of NK cells were decreased. In this cosmonaut a twofold reduction TNF production in cultures of lymphocytes stimulated with PMA and with the mixture of PHA and PMA was observed on the first day after landing. However, the activity of the production of TNF in 48-hour PHA-cultures of lymphocytes was unchanged and the biological activity of IL-2 was not reduced. The immunological examination did not detecte any substantial deviations from the norm in both russian cosmonauts after 197 days space flight. Various explanations for decreased cytotoxicity in cosmonauts after space flight can be proposed, and these include the defective function of NK cells and reduced numbers of circulating effector cells.     

Analysis of the pre-flight and post-flight calibration procedures performed on the Liulin space radiation dosimeter

Liulin, a dosimetry-radiometry system, was developed to satisfy the requirements for active flux and dose rate measurements for the flight of the second Bulgarian cosmonaut in 1988. The system consists of a compact battery-operated silicon solid state detector unit and a read/write microcomputer and telemetry unit. We describe the pre-flight calibrations with charged particles, using radioactive sources and accelerated 170 MeV/nucleon proton and alpha particles at the Dubna, Russia cyclotron. We discuss comparisons with data obtained on Mir with the French-built tissue equivalent LET spectrometer NAUSICAA. Lastly, we describe post-flight calibrations performed with 1 GeV/nucleon 56Fe ions at the Brookhaven National Laboratory AGS accelerator, where the instrument was mounted in tandem with several thin position-sensitive silicon detectors behind a stopping target. The silicon detectors provided an energy spectrum for the surviving charged nuclear fragments for which the flux and absorbed dose were recorded by Liulin.     

Origin of informational polymers and the search for non-terran life: protection of the polymeric state of DNA by phosphate minerals

An in-depth analysis of the effects exerted on the DNA backbone by 25 crystal phosphate minerals is reported. Degradation of DNA oligomers was performed with two different reactions: Hydrolysis following Nucleophilic Degradation (HND), initiated by the nucleophilic addition of formamide on both purine and pyrimidine nucleobases, and Hydrolysis following Nucleophilic Substitution (HNS) carried on by water and starting with the removal of a nondegraded base. A complete panel of effects on the phosphoester bonds, from protection to enhanced instability to absence of interference, is described. These effects differ in the different degradation pathways and in different physical-chemical conditions. The relationship between the hardness of the mineral and its protective ability is discussed. In addition to its interest per se, this study was prompted by the observed catalytic abilities of soluble and mineral phosphates (Saladino et al., 2006c) on the synthetic reactions by formamide. The relevance of these observations in the search for nonterran life is discussed.     

Testing the H2O2-H2O hypothesis for life on Mars with the TEGA instrument on the Phoenix lander

In the time since the Viking life-detection experiments were conducted on Mars, many missions have enhanced our knowledge about the environmental conditions on the Red Planet. However, the martian surface chemistry and the Viking lander results remain puzzling. Nonbiological explanations that favor a strong inorganic oxidant are currently favored (e.g., Mancinelli, 1989; Plumb et al., 1989; Quinn and Zent, 1999; Klein, 1999; Yen et al., 2000), but problems remain regarding the lifetime, source, and abundance of that oxidant to account for the Viking observations (Zent and McKay, 1994). Alternatively, a hypothesis that favors the biological origin of a strong oxidizer has recently been advanced (Houtkooper and Schulze-Makuch, 2007). Here, we report on laboratory experiments that simulate the experiments to be conducted by the Thermal and Evolved Gas Analyzer (TEGA) instrument of the Phoenix lander, which is to descend on Mars in May 2008. Our experiments provide a baseline for an unbiased test for chemical versus biological responses, which can be applied at the time the Phoenix lander transmits its first results from the martian surface.     

利用GPS射频多普勒确定低轨地球卫星的轨道

本文研究了使用这样一种GPS测量值——双差分GPS射频多普勒确定低轨地球卫星的轨道。该测量值很容易获得,而且不受时钟误差的影响,还可对用户卫星连续定轨。分析表明:使用18颗GPS卫星的星座和13个地面站,在两小时跟踪后,可使1300km高度用户星(TOPEX)的定轨精度达5cm。考察了使用少于13个地面站的影响,不同求解方法的影响以及引入虚假推力参数以减小重力模型误差(主要误差源之一)的影响。     

采用二极管检波器的双六端口网络分析仪

介绍了一种采用二极管检波器的双六端口网络分析仪的性能,这种网络分析仪在2—18GHz频带内采用商品低势垒肖特基二极管。本文描述了校准偏离平方律特性的二极管的方法。给出的测量结果,揭示了六端口网络分析仪测量单端口和二端口器件的准确度和精密度。     

传递对准的设计与评价

本文提出了一种用于先进动能导弹（ａｄｖａｎｃｅｄ ｋｉｎｅｔｉｃｓ ｅｎｅｒｇｙ ｍｉｓｓｉｌｅｓ－ＡＤ－ＫＥＭＳ）的快速稳健传递对准系统的设计。由于ＡＤＫＥＭ有高加速度和较短的拦截时间，导弹的从惯性测量装置（１ＭＵ）同地面发射车的主ＩＭＵ对准必须以高精度在短时间内完成。本文提出的传递对准系统设计的内容包括惯笥制导精度的评价，传递对准方程，环境试验仿真，机动方案评价，系统误差分析，比较研究，以及滤     

指控中心STS轨道器各系统飞行监视操作自动化

约翰逊航天中心任务操作部(MOD)的主要任务是为空间运输(STS)系统提供地面保障和训练宇航员。随着轨道器飞行频度增加,而且航天计划日益成为国家的科技实用资源,用现有方法和设施提供高质量的保障、产品以及宇航员训练面临着极其严峻的挑战。为此正在进行几项工作,通过应用自动化技术(特别是在遥测监视和分析领域)减轻目前压在训练有素的操作人员肩上的重担。利用由操作人员设计和开发的软件,分阶段引进多任务分布式工作站的工程也在顺利进行。确立了一种用户开发样机的新概念,样机与现有集中式监视系统同时工作,相互参照评价,然后分阶段投入实用。从概念提出到样机移交,用户和开发者的广泛参与可确保评价、改进,以及最重要的——验收高度成功。