Science Missions Using CubeSats

As the role of missions and experiments carried out in outer space becomes more and more essential in our understanding of many earthly problems, such as resource management, environmental problems, and disaster management, as well as space science questions, thanks to their lower cost and faster development process CubeSats can benefit humanity and therefore, young scientists and engineers have been motivated to research and develop new CubeSat missions. Not very long after their inception, CubeSats have evolved to become accepted platforms for scientific and commercial applications. The last couple of years showed that they are a feasible tool for conducting scientific experiments, not only in the Earth orbit but also in the interplanetary space. For many countries, a CubeSat mission could prompt the community and young teams around the world to build the national capacity to launch and operate national space missions. This paper presents an overview of the key scientific and engineering gateways opened up to the younger scientific community by the advent and adaptation of new technology into CubeSat missions. The role of cooperation and the opportunities for capacity-building and education are also explored. Thus, the present article also aims to provide useful recommendations to scientists, early-career researchers, engineers, students, and anyone who intends to explore the potential and opportunities offered by CubeSats and CubeSats-based missions.      

利用TDRS数据进行启动定轨

哥达德航天中心已研制出一种星载定轨系统的模型机,用于星上导航的研究与开发。该系统有两种形式,一种用于实验室研究,另一种用于地面验征,以便深入研究以微处理机为基础的自动定轨系统的可行性和实用性。本文描述了每个系统的数学模型和软件结构,并给出了计算精度和实时处理性能方面的实验室鉴定结果。     

DAIS航空电子软件研制技术

软件研制技术的主要目的是产生正确的工作软件.把本文提供的技术应用于一个完整的软件工程研制计划时,可降低产品的价格和寿命期费用,同时保持了高可靠性。空军 DAIS 计划担负着降低军用航空电子系统的研制、维护和寿命期费用的任务.DAIS 系统提供了一种硬件配置,该配置便于硬件维修、更换和增长.高级软件(HOS)提供一种产生高可靠性软件的方法,此软件是建立在一种高级的设计和开发基础上的.HOS 原理应用于 DAIS 系统,产生了标准的航空电子软件设计和管理方法,该设计方法建立了一个与 DAIS 目标相一致的软件结构标准;该管理方法提供了一种严格受控的、安排很好的软件开发过程,该过程受配置管理方案、开发和验证方法及自动生成文件支持。这里没有给出另一些软件费用因素是:软件的获得过程、人力的安排和组织、航空电子系统方案和支援软件的可移植性。这些费用因素是重要的,因为处理得不合理时,有时会发挥不出好的开发技术的益处。本文假定这些因素不影响 DAIS 航空电子软件所使用的技术。     

Responses of haloarchaea to simulated microgravity

Various effects of microgravity on prokaryotes have been recognized in recent years, with the focus on studies of pathogenic bacteria. No archaea have been investigated yet with respect to their responses to microgravity. For exposure experiments on spacecrafts or on the International Space Station, halophilic archaea (haloarchaea) are usually embedded in halite, where they accumulate in fluid inclusions. In a liquid environment, these cells will experience microgravity in space, which might influence their viability and survival. Two haloarchaeal strains, Haloferax mediterranei and Halococcus dombrowskii, were grown in simulated microgravity (SMG) with the rotary cell culture system (RCCS, Synthecon). Initially, salt precipitation and detachment of the porous aeration membranes in the RCCS were observed, but they were avoided in the remainder of the experiment by using disposable instead of reusable vessels. Several effects were detected, which were ascribed to growth in SMG: Hfx. mediterranei's resistance to the antibiotics bacitracin, erythromycin, and rifampicin increased markedly; differences in pigmentation and whole cell protein composition (proteome) of both strains were noted; cell aggregation of Hcc. dombrowskii was notably reduced. The results suggest profound effects of SMG on haloarchaeal physiology and cellular processes, some of which were easily observable and measurable. This is the first report of archaeal responses to SMG. The molecular mechanisms of the effects induced by SMG on prokaryotes are largely unknown; haloarchaea could be used as nonpathogenic model systems for their elucidation and in addition could provide information about survival during lithopanspermia (interplanetary transport of microbes inside meteorites).     

Availability of O(2) and H(2)O(2) on pre-photosynthetic Earth

Old arguments that free O(2) must have been available at Earth's surface prior to the origin of photosynthesis have been revived by a new study that shows that aerobic respiration can occur at dissolved oxygen concentrations much lower than had previously been thought, perhaps as low as 0.05?nM, which corresponds to a partial pressure for O(2) of about 4?×?10(-8) bar. We used numerical models to study whether such O(2) concentrations might have been provided by atmospheric photochemistry. Results show that disproportionation of H(2)O(2) near the surface might have yielded enough O(2) to satisfy this constraint. Alternatively, poleward transport of O(2) from the equatorial stratosphere into the polar night region, followed by downward transport in the polar vortex, may have brought O(2) directly to the surface. Thus, our calculations indicate that this "early respiration" hypothesis might be physically reasonable.     

The potential for low-temperature abiotic hydrogen generation and a hydrogen-driven deep biosphere

The release and oxidation of ferrous iron during aqueous alteration of the mineral olivine is known to reduce aqueous solutions to such extent that molecular hydrogen, H2, forms. H2 is an efficient energy carrier and is considered basal to the deep subsurface biosphere. Knowledge of the potential for H2 generation is therefore vital to understanding the deep biosphere on Earth and on extraterrestrial bodies. Here, we provide a review of factors that may reduce the potential for H2 generation with a focus on systems in the core temperature region for thermophilic to hyperthermophilic microbial life. We show that aqueous sulfate may inhibit the formation of H2, whereas redox-sensitive compounds of carbon and nitrogen are unlikely to have significant effect at low temperatures. In addition, we suggest that the rate of H2 generation is proportional to the dissolution rate of olivine and, hence, limited by factors such as reactive surface areas and the access of water to fresh surfaces. We furthermore suggest that the availability of water and pore/fracture space are the most important factors that limit the generation of H2. Our study implies that, because of large heat flows, abundant olivine-bearing rocks, large thermodynamic gradients, and reduced atmospheres, young Earth and Mars probably offered abundant systems where microbial life could possibly have emerged.     

Pumice as a remarkable substrate for the origin of life

The context for the emergence of life on Earth sometime prior to 3.5 billion years ago is almost as big a puzzle as the definition of life itself. Hitherto, the problem has largely been addressed in terms of theoretical and experimental chemistry plus evidence from extremophile habitats like modern hydrothermal vents and meteorite impact structures. Here, we argue that extensive rafts of glassy, porous, and gas-rich pumice could have had a significant role in the origin of life and provided an important habitat for the earliest communities of microorganisms. This is because pumice has four remarkable properties. First, during eruption it develops the highest surface-area-to-volume ratio known for any rock type. Second, it is the only known rock type that floats as rafts at the air-water interface and then becomes beached in the tidal zone for long periods of time. Third, it is exposed to an unusually wide variety of conditions, including dehydration. Finally, from rafting to burial, it has a remarkable ability to adsorb metals, organics, and phosphates as well as to host organic catalysts such as zeolites and titanium oxides. These remarkable properties now deserve to be rigorously explored in the laboratory and the early rock record.     

机载雷达的Searchwater系列

新的Searchwater 2000系列的三个雷达是自二次世界大战以来英国生产的一长串机载雷达中最新的几个。本文概述这种雷达系列的发展史并对最新系统的某些特性进行描述。