High energy-density propulsion—reducing the risk to humans in planetary exploration

The potential benefits to humankind of space exploration are tremendous. Space is not only the final frontier but is also the next marketplace. The orbital space above Earth offers tremendous opportunities for both strategic assets and commercial development. The critical obstacle retarding the use of the space around the Earth is the lack of low cost access to orbit. Further out, the next giant leap for mankind will be the human exploration of Mars. Almost certainly within the next 30 years, a human crew will brave the isolation, the radiation, and the lack of gravity to walk on and explore the Red planet. Both of these missions will change the outlook and perspective of every human being on the planet. However, these missions are expensive and extremely difficult. Chemical propulsion has demonstrated an inability to achieve orbit cheaply and is a very high-risk option to accomplish the Mars mission. An alternative solution is to develop a high performance propulsion system. Nuclear propulsion has the potential to be such a system. The question will be whether humanity is willing to take on the challenge.     

The Solution of Some Problems of Optimizing the Processes of a Flexible Correction of Motion of Satellite Systems: I

The first of a series of problems of the optimization of correction of satellite systems, moving over near-circular orbits, is considered. The correction is accomplished by means of low-thrust engines and is supposed to be flexible, where only the parameters of the relative motion of satellites must be corrected. The problem has a large dimension, but is invariant with respect to renumbering of satellites. This allows us to decompose the problem, i.e., to find new variables, linearly dependent on old ones, in which the problem breaks down into a series of independent subproblems of low dimension. The decomposition is accomplished by means of the technique [1] based on the theory of linear representations of groups.     

Radio Occultation Measurements of the Radio Wave Absorption and the Sulfuric Acid Vapor Content in the Atmosphere of Venus

The results of the determination of centimeter ( = 5 cm) radio waves absorption in the radio occultation experiments, carried out using the Venera-15and Venera-16spacecraft, are presented. The altitude distribution of the absorber substance is analyzed. The absorbing layer is shown to exist at altitudes of 64 to 58 km in the near-polar regions of the planet. At middle latitudes such an absorbing layer was not found. In the altitude range from 56 to 46 km the radio wave absorption by the sulfuric acid (H₂SO₄) vapor is observed. The content of the sulfuric acid vapor is shown to increase with decreasing altitude: in the mid-latitude region at altitudes of 56.7 and 53 km it equals 5 and 20 ppm, respectively, and at polar latitudes the same content of H₂SO₄vapor is observed at altitudes of 51.2 and 47 km, respectively. A comparison of these results with the data of radio wave absorption in the = 13 cm band, obtained in the Pioneer Venus Orbiterradio occultation experiments, leads to the conclusion that the obtained values of the sulfuric acid vapor content well agree in the regions of overlap of the data.     

Effect of volatile metabolites of dill, radish and garlic on growth of bacteria

In a model experiment plants were grown in sealed chambers on expanded clay aggregate under the luminance of 150 W/m2 PAR and the temperature of 24 degrees C. Seven bacterial strains under investigation, replicated on nutrient medium surface in Petri dishes, were grown in the atmosphere of cultivated plants. Microbial response was evaluated by the difference between colony size in experiment and in control. In control, bacteria grew in the atmosphere of clean air. To study the effects of volatile metabolites of various plant on microbial growth, the experimental data were compared with the background values defined for each individual experiment. Expanded clay aggregate, luminance, temperature, and sealed chamber (without plants) for the background were the same. Volatile metabolites from 28-days old radish plants have been reliably established to have no effect on the growth of microbes under investigation. Metabolites of 30-days old dill and 50-days old garlic have been established to have reliable bacteriostatic effect on the growth of three bacterial strains. Dill and garlic have been found to have different range of effects of volatile substances on bacterial growth. Volatile metabolites of dill and garlic differed in their effect on the sensitivity spectrum of bacteria. An attempt has been made to describe the obtained data mathematically.     

Earth Observation Data Policy and Europe

This paper summarizes the final report of the Earth Observation and Data Policy and Europe (EOPOLE) fixed-term project, set up to review national research on the subject and to make recommendations for its improvement within an EU-wide context. It identifies the major issues to have emerged from the areas of user perspectives, pricing policy, the impact of new technologies on data policy, archiving policy and legal regulation and suggests ways of dealing with them. These include orienting data policies towards specific uses rather than users themselves; presenting a common European voice over the trade and exchange of geo-information via new communication means; and establishing a European-scale think-tank able to provide independent assessments of the economic, legal and international relations questions affecting Earth observation.     

Statistical Relationships between Solar, Interplanetary, and Geomagnetospheric Disturbances, 1976–2000

Within the framework of the Space Weather program, 25-year data sets for solar X-ray observations, measurements of plasma and magnetic field parameters in the solar wind, and D _st index variations are analyzed to reveal the factors that have had the greatest influence on the development of magnetospheric storms. The correlation between solar flares and magnetic storms practically does not exceed a level of correlation for random processes. In particular, no relation was found between the importance of solar flares and the minimum of the D _st index for storms that could be connected with considered flares by their time delay. The coronal mass ejections (CME; data on these phenomena cover a small part of the interval) result in storms with D _st < –60 nT only in half of the cases. The most geoeffective interplanetary phenomena are the magnetic clouds (MC), which many believe to be interplanetary manifestations of CMEs, and compressions in the region of interaction of slow and fast streams in the solar wind (the so-called Corotating Interaction Region, CIR). They correspond to about two-thirds of all observed magnetic storms. For storms with –100 < D _st < –60 nT, the frequencies of storms from MC and CIR being approximately equal. For strong storms with D _st < – 100 nT, the fraction of storms from MC is considerably higher. The problems of reliable prediction of geomagnetic disturbances from observations of the Sun and conditions in interplanetary space are discussed.     

Influence of Trapped Plasma on the Structure of Collisionless Thin Current Sheets

Using both analytical and numerical models of the collisionless anisotropic current sheet generated by the impinging flows of transient ions, we have studied the self-consistent solutions taking the plasma trapped in the sheet into account. It is demonstrated that there exists a limited window in the space of system parameters where self-consistent solutions can exist. When the density of the quasi-trapped plasma is sufficiently large, a redistribution of the total current can be a cause of the sheet decay, when the local current of the trapped particles compensate (totally or in part) the main current in the center and at the edges of the sheet, while the total current generated by ions on the trapped trajectories vanishes.     

Using the PROGRESS transport spacecraft in structure of the International Space Station for realization of scientific experiments under microgravity conditions

The problem is considered of using the PROGRESS transport spacecraft, which will deliver the payload on the ISS, as a free flying platform for realization of space experiments. For maintenance of the ISS 5-6 PROGRESS flights per year are planned. Usually after delivery of the payload the PROGRESS undocks from the ISS and burns down in the Earth atmosphere. However, the operating conditions of its onboard systems allow to prolong operation and to make free flight near to the station and repeatedly to be docked to it. It is offered to use this possibility for performing experiments on Material Science.     

Radial velocity search for low mass companions of nearby stars

The detection of substellar companions of nearby stars is very difficult, because these objects are very faint and are located close to their bright parent stars. One way to attack this problem is to look for small periodic motion of the bright star, induced by the gravitational attraction exerted by the unseen small companion. Over the past decade stellar spectroscopy has been used by a few teams to monitor the radial velocities of several samples of stars, with a threshold for detection of companions well below the substellar limit of about 0.08 M. So far, only a few possible spectroscopic binaries have been identified where the unseen companions might be substellar.Recently, radio observers discovered that the millisecond pulsar PSR B1257+12 displays periodic variations in the pulse arrival times, indicating the existence of at least three unseen companions in circular orbits around the pulsar. This is the first convincing case for an extra-solar planetary system. This discovery suggests that planetary systems can form in very different situations, and therefore may prove to be common.