Mineral and nitrogen balance study: results of metabolic observations on Skylab II 28-day orbital mission

Prediction that the various stresses of flight, particularly weightlessness, would bring about significant derangements in the metabolism of the musculoskeletal system has been based on various observations of long-term immobilized or inactive bed rest. The only attempt at controlled measurement of metabolic changes in space prior to Skylab, a study during the 14-day Gemini VII flight, revealed rather modest losses of important elements. The three astronauts of Skylab II consumed a planned day-by-day, quite constant, dietary intake of major metabolic elements in mixed foods and beverages and provided virtually complete collections of excreta for 31 days preflight, during the 28 days inflight, and for 17 days postflight. Analyses showed that, in varying degree among the crewmen, urinary calcium increased gradually during flight in a pattern similar to that observed in bed-rest studies: the mean plateau peak of urinary calcium excretion in the latter part of flight was double preflight levels. Fecal calcium excretion did not change significantly, but calcium balance, owing to the urinary calcium rise, became either negative or less positive than in preflight measurement. Increased excretion and negative balance of nitrogen and phosphorus indicated appreciable loss of muscle tissue in all three crewmen. Significant losses also occurred inflight in potassium, sodium, and magnesium. Based on the similarity in pattern and degree between these observations and those in bed rest of the losses in calcium, phosphorus, and nitrogen, musculoskeletal integrity would not be threatened in space flights of up to at least 3 months. However, if similar changes occur, indicative of continuing losses of these elements, in the planned Skylab flights for considerably more than 28 days, concern for capable musculoskeletal function should be serious for flights of very many months' duration, and greater research attention will need to be given to development of protective counter-measures.     

Does the centre of mass remain stable during complex human postural equilibrium tasks in weightlessness?

In normal gravity conditions the execution of voluntary movement involves the displacement of body segments as well as the maintenance of a stable reference value for equilibrium control. It has been suggested that centre of mass (CM) projection within the supporting base (BS) is the stabilised reference for voluntary action, and is conserved in weightlessness. The purpose of this study was to determine if the CM is stabilised during whole body reaching movements executed in weightlessness. The reaching task was conducted by two cosmonauts aboard the Russian orbital station MIR, during the Franco-Russian mission ALTAIR, 1993. Movements of reflective markers were recorded using a videocamera, successive images being reconstructed by computer every 40ms. The position of the CM, ankle joint torques and shank and thigh angles were computed for each subject pre- in- and post-flight using a 7-link mathematical model. Results showed that both cosmonauts adopted a backward leaning posture prior to reaching movements. Inflight, the CM was displaced throughout values in the horizontal axis three times those of pre-flight measures. In addition, ankle dorsi flexor torques inflight increased to values double those of pre- and post-flight tests. This study concluded that CM displacements do not remain stable during complex postural equilibrium tasks executed in weightlessness. Furthermore, in the absence of gravity, subjects changed their strategy for producing ankle torque during spaceflight from a forward to a backward leaning posture.     

Gravity and perceptual stability during translational head movement on earth and in microgravity

We measured the amount of visual movement judged consistent with translational head movement under normal and microgravity conditions. Subjects wore a virtual reality helmet in which the ratio of the movement of the world to the movement of the head (visual gain) was variable. Using the method of adjustment under normal gravity 10 subjects adjusted the visual gain until the visual world appeared stable during head movements that were either parallel or orthogonal to gravity. Using the method of constant stimuli under normal gravity, seven subjects moved their heads and judged whether the virtual world appeared to move “with” or “against” their movement for several visual gains. One subject repeated the constant stimuli judgements in microgravity during parabolic flight. The accuracy of judgements appeared unaffected by the direction or absence of gravity. Only the variability appeared affected by the absence of gravity. These results are discussed in relation to discomfort during head movements in microgravity.     

NUMERICAL SIMULATION ON MULTI-FLUID INTERFACES

INTRODUCTIONThe study on phenomenon of multi- fluid in-terface driven by shock waves include:( 1 ) totrack the motion of multimaterial interfaces;( 2 )to simulate the chemical reaction on the inter-faces. As the pioneering work,chemical reactionis neglected in this paper. The objective is totrack the interfaces. Of course,the fluids aretreated as compressible medium under such ahigh impact.Although Eulerian schemes workwell for most gas flows,they have been shownto be too dissipative nea…     

海南地区电离层闪烁监测及初步统计分析

为开展赤道区的电离层闪烁形态特性及相关物理过程的研究,空间中心海南台站建立了一套GPS电离层闪烁监测系统.该系统是利用Plessey GPS Builder-2系统开发的,对软件的源码进行了修改,使其能以高采样率(50/s)同时并行记录11个通道GPS信号强度数据.对2003年7-12月间L-波段电离层闪烁事件的初步统计分析结果表明,电离层闪烁主要发生在日落后到午夜附近,其中9-11月较7-8月闪烁发生和结束的时间明显提前;电离层闪烁发生的频率和强度在9-11月较其他月份明显增强,其中10月达到最大;电离层闪烁的逐日变化具有很强的随机性,闪烁的发生在秋分附近9月底到10月中旬的磁静日期间达到最大;太阳和地磁活动的增强通常会抑制电离层闪烁的发生,这种情形在秋分附近尤为明显.     

降阶脉冲发动机的点火控制逻辑

本文研究脉冲发动机在战术导弹,特别是空空导弹上的应用.因为其飞行任务要求对能量消耗作仔细地监控.一般的中程空空导弹使用助推-主发动机作为动力.除了接近交会之外,发射时导弹雷达导引头并不知道目标.一般的中程空空导弹使用比例导航或者在终段制导使用改进的比例导航,同时为了使导弹在较高的高度飞行以减小阻力,在中段附加了预编程的     

标准化提高了我军军械技术装备研制的费用效益

以实例说明了标准化工作对提高我军军械研制费用效益的作用，并对进一步做好这项工作提出了几点建议。     

时钟在GPS接收机中的作用

每个刚接触GPS的人首先了解到的是:时钟是该技术的核心。GPS卫星载有非常精确、超稳定、每个耗费数万美元的原子钟。然而,出于显而易见的原因,大多数GPS接收机中的时钟很便宜。除了跟踪卫星信号时,由于要求时钟信号中的相位噪声,对接收机时钟要求较高,其它应用对接收机时钟的要求都不是很高。这一要求通常用100美元左右或更少的温补晶振就可满足。