Photo-alteration of hydantoins against UV light and its relevance to prebiotic chemistry

Aqueous solutions of 5-substituted hydantoins were irradiated with ultraviolet (UV) light, to investigate their structural stability against UV radiation as well as the possible photolysis products. The photolysis products were identified and the degree of photolysis was measured using reversed-phase and ion-exchange high-performance liquid chromatography. Hydantoin (2,4-imidazolidinedione) was dominantly detected as a photolysis product of 5-substituted hydantoins. With hydrolysis of UV-irradiated 5-substituted hydantoins, glycine and alanine were dominantly detected. These experimental results are important for the prebiotic photochemistry of 5-substituted hydantoins in the formation of hydantoin since they have been detected in Solar System materials.     

Pion and electromagnetic contribution to dose: Comparisons of HZETRN to Monte Carlo results and ISS data

Recent work has indicated that pion production and the associated electromagnetic (EM) cascade may be an important contribution to the total astronaut exposure in space. Recent extensions to the deterministic space radiation transport code, HZETRN, allow the production and transport of pions, muons, electrons, positrons, and photons. In this paper, the extended code is compared to the Monte Carlo codes, Geant4, PHITS, and FLUKA, in slab geometries exposed to galactic cosmic ray (GCR) boundary conditions. While improvements in the HZETRN transport formalism for the new particles are needed, it is shown that reasonable agreement on dose is found at larger shielding thicknesses commonly found on the International Space Station (ISS). Finally, the extended code is compared to ISS data on a minute-by-minute basis over a seven day period in 2001. The impact of pion/EM production on exposure estimates and validation results is clearly shown. The Badhwar–O’Neill (BO) 2004 and 2010 models are used to generate the GCR boundary condition at each time-step allowing the impact of environmental model improvements on validation results to be quantified as well. It is found that the updated BO2010 model noticeably reduces overall exposure estimates from the BO2004 model, and the additional production mechanisms in HZETRN provide some compensation. It is shown that the overestimates provided by the BO2004 GCR model in previous validation studies led to deflated uncertainty estimates for environmental, physics, and transport models, and allowed an important physical interaction (π/EM) to be overlooked in model development. Despite the additional π/EM production mechanisms in HZETRN, a systematic under-prediction of total dose is observed in comparison to Monte Carlo results and measured data.     

The extension of the INCL model for simulation of shielding in space

Radiation hazard for space missions is mainly due to cosmic ray protons, helium nuclei and light ions, whose energy spectrum is maximum around 1 GeV per nucleon but remains non-negligible for energies up to 15 GeV per nucleon. Nuclear reactions induced by high energy protons are often described by intranuclear cascade plus evaporation models. The attention is focused here on the Liège Intranuclear Cascade model (INCL), which has been shown to reproduce fairly well a great deal of experimental data for nucleon-induced reactions in the 200 MeV to 2 GeV range, when coupled with the ABLA evaporation-fission code. In order to extend the model to other conditions relevant for space radiation, three improvements of INCL are under development. They are reported on here. First, the reaction model has been extended to nucleon–nucleus reactions at incident energies up to 15 GeV, mainly by the inclusion of additional pion production channels in nucleon–nucleon collisions during the cascade. Second, a coalescence mechanism for the emission of light charged particles has been implemented recently. Finally, the model has been modified in order to accommodate light ions as projectiles. First results are shown and compared with illustrative experimental data. Implications for issues concerning radiation protection in space are discussed.     

Comparison of the transport codes HZETRN,HETC and FLUKA for a solar particle event

The protection of astronauts and instrumentation from galactic cosmic rays and solar particle events is one of the primary constraints associated with mission planning in low earth orbit or deep space. To help satisfy this constraint, several computational tools have been developed to analyze the effectiveness of various shielding materials and structures exposed to space radiation. These tools are now being carefully scrutinized through a systematic effort of verification, validation, and uncertainty quantification. In this benchmark study, the deterministic transport code HZETRN is compared to the Monte Carlo transport codes HETC-HEDS and FLUKA for a 30 g/cm² water target protected by a 20 g/cm² aluminum shield exposed to a parameterization of the February 1956 solar particle event. Neutron and proton fluences as well as dose and dose equivalent are compared at various depths in the water target. The regions of agreement and disagreement between the three codes are quantified and discussed, and recommendations for future work are given.     

On radiation belt dynamics during magnetic storms

Temporal variations of the radiation belt particle during the magnetic storms are investigated using measurements by the low altitude satellite spectrometer. Along with several known effects, such as the outer radiation belt intensity decrease at the main phase, the radial diffusion with the particle acceleration and the recovery of the radiation belt during the recovery phase, some less known features were investigated, such as the dawn–dusk asymmetry of the radiation belt.     

准一维传热下冷面绝热边界材料对隔热试验结果的影响

为评估冷面绝热边界对试验结果的影响,在充分验证测控系统可控性和试验方法稳定性的基础上,分别以柔性隔热毡、刚性隔热瓦和纳米隔热材料为冷面绝热边界,对陶瓷纤维刚性隔热材料进行500℃、3 000s的石英灯热辐射考核试验,并利用迭代绝热边界当量热导率的方法对试验结果进行了模拟计算和分析。结果表明,以柔性隔热毡为冷面绝热边界时隔热材料的冷面温度最高,刚性隔热瓦和纳米隔热材料为冷面绝热边界时则冷面温度较低且相近,3者间最大相对偏差高达19.0%。模拟计算证实由冷面绝热边界材料引起的接触热阻对试验结果起到了决定性作用,而不简单地取决于绝热边界材料的隔热性能。     

On the Lyman α and O VI Line Profiles in Streamers and Coronal Holes

The profiles of the Lyα line at 1215.6 Å and of the O VI doublet at 1031.9 Å and 1037.6 Å in the extended solar corona have been analyzed vs. latitude and radial direction, performing observations with the Ultraviolet Coronagraph Spectrometer (UVCS) on board the ESA-NASA solar satellite SOHO (Solar and Heliospheric Observatory). The results show that these lines behave differently with latitude: the H I Ly α line has larger full width at half maximum (FWHM) values in the streamer region and narrower values towards the pole, while the FWHM of O VI lines has a minimum at the center of the streamer and slightly increases towards the polar regions. We briefly discuss the impact of the results on coronal heating theories.     

舱外航天服的轨道空间外热流计算方法

分析了舱外航天服在轨道空间环境的辐射换热热流。采用蒙特卡罗(MonteCarlo)法,计算了航天服及飞船处于各种相对位置时,航天服对飞船的红外辐射角系数;航天服相对于地球位于各种位置时,航天服对地球的红外辐射角系数;在一定太阳照射方向下,飞船及地球对航天服的太阳反射角系数。与文献数据比较,证明此方法计算舱外航天服空间外热流适用性强,结果准确、可靠,能满足工程使用要求。     

高速热喷流条件下二元收扩喷管扩张段壁面冷却的初步试验研究

在高速热喷流条件下 ,对二元收扩喷管超音段壁面的冷却进行了初步试验研究。采用的冷却方案共有3种 ,分别是缝隙式、离散孔式和波纹板式气膜冷却方案。得到了各冷却方案喷管的壁面压力分布、壁温分布和红外辐射特性。结果表明 :冷却气流对喷管壁面压力分布影响较大 ,不同冷却结构的壁面压力分布特点不同。通过冷却 ,各喷管的壁温和红外辐射强度明显降低。其中缝隙式气膜冷却和波纹板式气膜冷却冷却结构的冷却效果比较好