利用TDRSS星上导航系统为地球观测卫星精密导航

地球观测系统卫星ＥＯＳ－ＡＭ１的基本导航系统是ＴＤＲＳＳ星上导航系统，为成角仪器标校和例行操作提供精密位置和速度信息。本文给出实时导航性能评价结果，看一下基于ＴＯＮＳ的轨道和频率测定精度能否满足这一要求。     

具有实时图像形成能力的高分辨率、四波段SAR试验台

描述了在Sandia国家实验室研制的双水獭SAR试验台。该试验台很灵活、适应性强，能工作于四种频：Ka、Ku和VHF／UHF频带。这种SAR的特点是在聚束模式和条带测绘模式下具有高分辨实时图像形成能力。高质量的图像是采用重叠子孔径（OSA）图像形成算法和相位梯度自聚然（PGA）算法实时形成的。     

LDA测量方截面U型旋转通道速度分布

为了深入了解旋转涡轮叶片内冷通道中的流动特性，用激光多谱勒测速仪(LDA)测量了旋转U型通道中的平均速度分布。通道的横截面积为50mm×50mm，弯管的平均半径与水利直径的比值为0.65，旋转轴与弯管的曲率轴平行。在Re＝105时分别测量了转动数Ro＝0，0.2和-0.2三种旋转状态下的速度分布。在这三种情况下弯管内侧θ＝90°至下游一定范围内都有流动的分离出现。由于不同的旋转状态二次流的方向和强弱不同，导致了分离区大小和通道中速度分布的不同。     

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.     

Some ecological mechanisms to generate habitability in planetary subsurface areas by chemolithotrophic communities: the Río Tinto subsurface ecosystem as a model system

Chemolithotrophic communities that colonize subsurface habitats have great relevance for the astrobiological exploration of our Solar System. We hypothesize that the chemical and thermal stabilization of an environment through microbial activity could make a given planetary region habitable. The MARTE project ground-truth drilling campaigns that sampled cryptic subsurface microbial communities in the basement of the Río Tinto headwaters have shown that acidic surficial habitats are the result of the microbial oxidation of pyritic ores. The oxidation process is exothermic and releases heat under both aerobic and anaerobic conditions. These microbial communities can maintain the subsurface habitat temperature through storage heat if the subsurface temperature does not exceed their maximum growth temperature. In the acidic solutions of the Río Tinto, ferric iron acts as an effective buffer for controlling water pH. Under anaerobic conditions, ferric iron is the oxidant used by microbes to decompose pyrite through the production of sulfate, ferrous iron, and protons. The integration between the physical and chemical processes mediated by microorganisms with those driven by the local geology and hydrology have led us to hypothesize that thermal and chemical regulation mechanisms exist in this environment and that these homeostatic mechanisms could play an essential role in creating habitable areas for other types of microorganisms. Therefore, searching for the physicochemical expression of extinct and extant homeostatic mechanisms through physical and chemical anomalies in the Mars crust (i.e., local thermal gradient or high concentration of unusual products such as ferric sulfates precipitated out from acidic solutions produced by hypothetical microbial communities) could be a first step in the search for biological traces of a putative extant or extinct Mars biosphere.