The Interplanetary Internet: a communications infrastructure for Mars exploration

A strategy is being developed whereby the current set of internationally standardized space data communications protocols can be incrementally evolved so that a first version of an operational "Interplanetary Internet" is feasible by the end of the decade. This paper describes its architectural concepts, discusses the current set of standard space data communications capabilities that exist to support Mars exploration and reviews proposed new developments. We also speculate that these current capabilities can grow to support future scenarios where human intelligence is widely distributed across the Solar System and day-to-day communications dialog between planets is routine.     

Research priorities and plans for the International Space Station-results of the 'REMAP' Task Force

Recent events in the International Space Station (ISS) Program have resulted in the necessity to re-examine the research priorities and research plans for future years. Due to both technical and fiscal resource constraints expected on the International Space Station, it is imperative that research priorities be carefully reviewed and clearly articulated. In consultation with OSTP and the Office of Management and budget (OMB), NASA's Office of Biological and Physical Research (OBPR) assembled an ad-hoc external advisory committee, the Biological and Physical Research Maximization and Prioritization (REMAP) Task Force. This paper describes the outcome of the Task Force and how it is being used to define a roadmap for near and long-term Biological and Physical Research objectives that supports NASA's Vision and Mission. Additionally, the paper discusses further prioritizations that were necessitated by budget and ISS resource constraints in order to maximize utilization of the International Space Station. Finally, a process has been developed to integrate the requirements for this prioritized research with other agency requirements to develop an integrated ISS assembly and utilization plan that maximizes scientific output.     

航天飞机用的液体火箭助推器

用液体火箭发动机作为航天飞机助推器的设想虽然很早有人提出过,但被人们搁置了达20年之久.美国肮天局早期的结论认为液体火箭发动机不能承受海水浸渍.但自从“挑战者”号航天飞机固体助推器发生故障而导致灾难性事故之后,美国航天局又重新对液体助推器方案进行了考查,以了解这种方案能否对安全飞行有所改善,以及能否增加有效载荷.这段时间美国肮天局及其承包公司进行了论证,发现液体助推器有不少好处,例如一旦出现故障,实现中止飞行的可信度较高;可增加有效载荷,对低地球轨道     

导引头实物仿真技术

讨论了美国陆军导弹司令部在研制面空导弹时采用的导引头实物仿真技术.目前在导弹系统的研制过程中,人们受到很多限制,例如经费有限,需要进行可靠的系统试验,要求在逼真的环境,包括电磁干扰和抗干扰环境中评价系统等.导引头实物仿真试验能为解决上述问题发挥重要作用.介绍和讨论了射频、非红外成像和电-光波段的现有仿真设备及其性能;举例介绍了最近完成的仿真试验结果及其对降低导弹系统研制成本所起的作用.最后介绍了主要的仿真技术和美国陆军提高仿真器能力的未来计划.     

The European Astronaut Centre prepares for International Space Station operations

The European Space Agency (ESA) contribution to the International Space Station (ISS) goes much beyond the delivery of hardware like the Columbus Laboratory, its payloads and the Automated Transfer Vehicles. ESA Astronauts will be members of the ISS crew. ESA, according to its commitments as ISS international partner, will be responsible to provide training on its elements and payloads to all ISS crewmembers and medical support for ESA astronauts. The European Astronaut Centre (EAC) in Cologne has developed over more than a decade into the centre of expertise for manned space activities within ESA by contributing to a number of important co-operative spaceflight missions. This role will be significantly extended for ISS manned operations. Apart from its support to ESA astronauts and their onboard operations, EAC will have a key role in training all ISS astronauts on ESA elements and payloads. The medical support of ISS crew, in particular of ESA astronauts has already started. This paper provides an overview on status and further plans in building up this homebase function for ESA astronauts and on the preparation towards Training Readiness for ISS crew training at EAC, Cologne. Copyright 2001 by the European Space Agency. Published by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Inc., with permission. Released to IAF/IAA/AIAA to publish in all forms.     

Spore UV and acceleration resistance of endolithic Bacillus pumilus and Bacillus subtilis isolates obtained from Sonoran desert basalt: implications for lithopanspermia

Bacterial spores have been used as model systems for studying the theory of interplanetary transport of life by natural processes such as asteroidal or cometary impacts (i.e., lithopanspermia). Because current spallation theory predicts that near-surface rocks are ideal candidates for planetary ejection and surface basalts are widely distributed throughout the rocky planets, we isolated spore-forming bacteria from the interior of near-subsurface basalt rocks collected in the Sonoran desert near Tucson, Arizona. Spores were found to inhabit basalt at very low concentrations (相似文献   

超近程防空系统-RAM导弹

1973年西德海军认为,用以对抗空中目标的超近程防御系统乃是一项空白——因此在对各种可能方案作了比较鉴定以后,美国、丹麦和西德三国终于在1979年达成了一项合作研制和生产旋体导弹(RAM)的协议.通用动力公司被指定为主承包商,同时还建立了一个以美国为首的集体管理机构.本文重点介绍拟装备在西德海军103级驱逐舰、122级护卫舰和143级巡逻快艇上的RAM系统.     

Production of neutrons from interactions of GCR-like particles

In order to help assess the risk to astronauts due to the long-term exposure to the natural radiation environment in space, an understanding of how the primary radiation field is changed when passing through shielding and tissue materials must be obtained. One important aspect of the change in the primary radiation field after passing through shielding materials is the production of secondary particles from the breakup of the primary. Neutrons are an important component of the secondary particle field due to their relatively high biological weighting factors, and due to their relative abundance, especially behind thick shielding scenarios. Because of the complexity of the problem, the estimation of the risk from exposure to the secondary neutron field must be handled using calculational techniques. However, those calculations will need an extensive set of neutron cross section and thicktarget neutron yield data in order to make an accurate assessment of the risk. In this paper we briefly survey the existing neutron-production data sets that are applicable to the space radiation transport problem, and we point out how neutron production from protons is different than neutron production from heavy ions. We also make comparisons of one the heavy-ion data sets with Boltzmann-Uehling-Uhlenbeck (BUU) calculations.