Whole lichen thalli survive exposure to space conditions: results of Lithopanspermia experiment with Aspicilia fruticulosa

The Lithopanspermia space experiment was launched in 2007 with the European Biopan facility for a 10-day spaceflight on board a Russian Foton retrievable satellite. Lithopanspermia included for the first time the vagrant lichen species Aspicilia fruticulosa from Guadalajara steppic highlands (Central Spain), as well as other lichen species. During spaceflight, the samples were exposed to selected space conditions, that is, the space vacuum, cosmic radiation, and different spectral ranges of solar radiation (λ?≥?110, ≥200, ≥290, or ≥400?nm, respectively). After retrieval, the algal and fungal metabolic integrity of the samples were evaluated in terms of chlorophyll a fluorescence, ultrastructure, and CO(2) exchange rates. Whereas the space vacuum and cosmic radiation did not impair the metabolic activity of the lichens, solar electromagnetic radiation, especially in the wavelength range between 100 and 200?nm, caused reduced chlorophyll a yield fluorescence; however, there was a complete recovery after 72?h of reactivation. All samples showed positive rates of net photosynthesis and dark respiration in the gas exchange experiment. Although the ultrastructure of all flight samples showed some probable stress-induced changes (such as the presence of electron-dense bodies in cytoplasmic vacuoles and between the chloroplast thylakoids in photobiont cells as well as in cytoplasmic vacuoles of the mycobiont cells), we concluded that A. fruticulosa was capable of repairing all space-induced damage. Due to size limitations within the Lithopanspermia hardware, the possibility for replication on the sun-exposed samples was limited, and these first results on the resistance of the lichen symbiosis A. fruticulosa to space conditions and, in particular, on the spectral effectiveness of solar extraterrestrial radiation must be considered preliminary. Further testing in space and under space-simulated conditions will be required. Results of this study indicate that the quest to discern the limits of lichen symbiosis resistance to extreme environmental conditions remains open.     

激光卫星通信提供太空无线链路

与微波系统相比，激光卫星通信设备在质量方面有三倍的优势，在功率方面有两倍的优势。     

Motor timing under microgravity

Five participants were tested on their ability to produce accurate and regular inter-response intervals in the 350 to 530 ms time range. Three of them were members of the French-Russian CASSIOPEE 96 spaceflight mission, and the other two were control subjects tested on the ground. During spaceflight, the target inter-response intervals were increasingly undershot and the timing became more variable (less regular). The increase in the timing variability was mostly attributable to the internal timekeeping processes rather than those involved in motor execution. The results are discussed with reference to the physiological mechanisms possibly underlying the timing of fast serial movements.     

中巴地球资源卫星在巴西的应用

重点介绍了当前巴西以用户为导向的中巴地球资源卫星(CBERS-1)数据在森林采伐监测、土地利用规划、影像制图和科学应用等方面的应用项目，对今后利用中巴地球资源卫星开展国家项目发表了一些看法。     

Active Aerothermoelastic Control of Hypersonic Double-wedge Lifting Surface

Designing re-entry space vehicles and high-speed aircraft requires special attention to the nonlinear thermoelastic and aerodynamic instability of their structural components. The thermal effects are important since temperature environment brings dramatic influences on the static and dynamic behaviors of flight structures in supersonic/hypersonic regimes and is likely to cause instability, catastrophic failure and oscillations resulting in structural failure due to fatigue. In order to understand the dynamic behaviors of these ＂hot＂ structures, a double-wedge lifting surface with combining freeplay and cubic structural nonlinearities in both plunging and pitching degrees-of-freedom operating in supersonic/hypersonic flight speed regimes has been analyzed. A third order piston theory aerodynamic is used to estimate the applied nonlinear unsteady aerodynamic loads. Also considered is the loss of torsional stiffness that may be incurred by lifting surfaces subject to axial stresses induced by aerodynamic heating. The aerodynamic heating effects are estimated based on the adiabatic wall temperature due to high speed airstreams. As a recently emerging technology, the active aerothermoelastic control is aimed at providing solutions to a large number of problems involving the aeronautical/aerospace flight vehicle structures. To prevent such damaging phenomena from occurring, an application of linear and nonlinear active control methods on both flutter boundary and post-flutter behavior has been fulfilled. In this paper, modeling issues as well as numerical simulation have been presented and pertinent conclusions outlined. It is evidenced that a serious loss of torsional stiffness may induce the dynamic instability; however active control can be used to expand the flutter boundary and convert unstable limit cycle oscillations （LCO） into the stable LCO and/or to shift the transition between these two states toward higher flight Mach numbers.     

DARA vestibular equipment onboard MIR

In space, the weightless environment provides a different stimulus to the otolith organs of the vestibular system, and the resulting signals no longer correspond with the visual and other sensory signals sent to the brain. This signal conflict causes disorientation. To study this and also to understand the vestibular adaptation to weightlessness, DARA has developed scientific equipment for vestibular and visuo-oculomotoric investigations. Especially, two video-oculography systems (monocular--VOG--and binocular--BIVOG, respectively) as well as stimuli such as an optokinetic stimulation device have successfully been employed onboard MIR in the frame of national and European missions since 1992. The monocular VOG was used by Klaus Flade during the MIR '92 mission, by Victor Polyakov during his record 15 months stay onboard MIR in 1993/94 as well as by Ulf Merbold during EUROMIR '94. The binocular version was used by Thomas Reiter and Sergej Avdeyev during the 6 months EUROMIR '95 mission. PIs of the various experiments include H. Scherer and A. Clarke (FU Berlin), M. Dieterichs and S. Krafczyk (LMU Munchen) from Germany as well as C.H. Markham and S.G. Diamond from the United States. Video-Oculography (VOG) is a technique for examining the function of the human balance system located in the inner ear (vestibular system) and the visio-oculomotor interactions of the vestibular organ. The human eye movements are measured, recorded and evaluated by state-of-the-art video techniques. The method was first conceived and designed at the Vestibular Research Laboratory of the ENT Clinic in Steglitz, FU Berlin (A. Clarke, H. Scherer). Kayser-Threde developed, manufactured and tested the facilities for space application under contract to DARA. Evaluation software was first provided by the ENT Clinic, Berlin, later by our subcontractor Sensomotoric Instruments (SMI), Teltow. Optokinetic hardware to support visuo-oculomotoric investigations, has been shipped to MIR for EUROMIR '95 and has successfully been used in conjunction with VOG by ESA astronaut Thomas Reiter. Most recently, BIVOG aboard MIR will be reused in the frame of German/Russian joint experiment sessions employing two Russian cosmonauts from August 1997 to January 1998.