Far-UVC light as a new tool to reduce microbial burden during spacecraft assembly

This work aims to investigate far-UVC light at 222 nm as a new microbial reduction tool for planetary protection purposes which could potentially be integrated into the spacecraft assembly process. The major advantage of far-UVC (222 nm) compared to traditional germicidal UVC (254 nm) is the potential for application throughout the spacecraft assembly process in the presence of humans without adverse health effects due to the limited penetration of far-UVC light into biological materials. Testing the efficacy of 222-nm light at inactivating hardy bacterial cells and spores isolated from spacecraft and associated surfaces is a necessary step to evaluate this technology. We assessed survival of Bacillus pumilus SAFR-032 and Acinetobacter radioresistens 50v1 exposed to 222-nm light on proxy spacecraft surfaces simulated by drying the bacteria on aluminum coupons. The survival fraction of both bacteria followed a single stage decay function up to 60 mJ/cm², revealing similar susceptibility of both species to 222-nm light, which was independent of the exposure rate. Irradiation with far-UVC light at 222 nm is an effective method to decontaminate the proxy spacecraft materials tested in this study.     

Public Attitudes Towards Space Science

Astronomy and space science, including their associated basic research activities, enjoy broad popular backing. People generally support them, and say that they follow their results with interest. This article summarizes some of the detailed results of public surveys in the United States, focusing on popular opinions and attitudes, and the somewhat paradoxical finding that despite being interested and supportive, people are often ignorant about the basic facts. I explore some of the reasons for the popularity of space science, and suggest ways of justifying space science research in the broader context of science research. I argue that vigorous and innovative education and outreach programs are important, and can be made even more effective. This revised version was published online in June 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

略论海峡两岸科技术语的对照和统一

为减少和消除海峡两岸科技文化交流上的词汇障碍，各学科广泛开展着科技术语的调查研究、交流和讨论。当前做法为两步走，首先是分析两岸用词上相同和差异的词目，共同编订对照本，共建对照和约定；然后逐步地通过对存在差异的个例进行选优汰劣和具体的商榷，过渡到更多的协调和一致。     

Late Stages of Stellar Evolution

A large fraction of ISO observing time was used to study the late stages of stellar evolution. Many molecular and solid state features, including crystalline silicates and the rotational lines of water vapour, were detected for the first time in the spectra of (post-)Asymptotic Giant Branch (AGB) stars. Their analysis has greatly improved our knowledge of stellar atmospheres and circumstellar environments. A surprising number of objects, particularly young planetary nebulae with Wolf-Rayet (WR) central stars, were found to exhibit emission features in their ISO spectra that are characteristic of both oxygen-rich and carbon-rich dust species, while far-IR observations of the PDR around NGC 7027 led to the first detections of the rotational line spectra of CH and CH⁺. Based on observations with ISO, an ESA project with instruments funded by ESA Member States (especially the PI countries: France, Germany, The Netherlands, and the United Kingdom), and with the participation of ISAS and NASA.     

Scientific Planning and Commanding of the Rosetta Payload

ESA’s Rosetta mission was launched in March 2004 and is on its way to comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, where it is scheduled to arrive in summer 2014. It comprises a payload of 12 scientific instruments and a Lander. All instruments are provided by Principal Investigators, which are responsible for their operations. As for most ESA science missions, the ground segment of the mission consists of a Mission Operations Centre (MOC) and a Science Operations Centre (SOC). While the MOC is responsible for all spacecraft-related aspects and the final uplink of all command timelines to the spacecraft, the scientific operations of the instruments and the collection of the data and ingestion into the Planetary Science Archive are coordinated by the SOC. This paper focuses on the tasks of the SOC and in particular on the methodology and constraints to convert the scientific goals of the Rosetta mission to operational timelines.     

Emergence of a Habitable Planet

We address the first several hundred million years of Earth’s history. The Moon-forming impact left Earth enveloped in a hot silicate atmosphere that cooled and condensed over ∼1,000 yrs. As it cooled the Earth degassed its volatiles into the atmosphere. It took another ∼2 Myrs for the magma ocean to freeze at the surface. The cooling rate was determined by atmospheric thermal blanketing. Tidal heating by the new Moon was a major energy source to the magma ocean. After the mantle solidified geothermal heat became climatologically insignificant, which allowed the steam atmosphere to condense, and left behind a ∼100 bar, ∼500 K CO₂ atmosphere. Thereafter cooling was governed by how quickly CO₂ was removed from the atmosphere. If subduction were efficient this could have taken as little as 10 million years. In this case the faint young Sun suggests that a lifeless Earth should have been cold and its oceans white with ice. But if carbonate subduction were inefficient the CO₂ would have mostly stayed in the atmosphere, which would have kept the surface near ∼500 K for many tens of millions of years. Hydrous minerals are harder to subduct than carbonates and there is a good chance that the Hadean mantle was dry. Hadean heat flow was locally high enough to ensure that any ice cover would have been thin (<5 m) in places. Moreover hundreds or thousands of asteroid impacts would have been big enough to melt the ice triggering brief impact summers. We suggest that plate tectonics as it works now was inadequate to handle typical Hadean heat flows of 0.2–0.5 W/m². In its place we hypothesize a convecting mantle capped by a ∼100 km deep basaltic mush that was relatively permeable to heat flow. Recycling and distillation of hydrous basalts produced granitic rocks very early, which is consistent with preserved >4 Ga detrital zircons. If carbonates in oceanic crust subducted as quickly as they formed, Earth could have been habitable as early as 10–20 Myrs after the Moon-forming impact.     

连杆位置综合的一种解析方法

本文根据半角转动的原理,提出了一种连杆位置综合的解析方法。此法概念清晰,计算比较方便。而且易于与图解法相沟通。列出了连杆五个位置综合问题的四个非线性方程。在解法上把上述问题化归为用优化方法求解。     

宇航科学文献情报源初析

本文通过对《宇航学报》1981～1988年322篇论文中2466条参考文献的统计分析,得出以下结论,(a)宇航科学的文献情报源重在期刊类文献。(b)以《宇航学报》、《航空学报》、《AIAA,Jourual》等六种期刊类文献为重点文献。(c)中文的引文作者和论文作者相对集中。(d)期刊类文献的半衰期为8～10年。     

美国航空预研计划及其管理

首先根据世界航空工业发展形势，以美国近期的十二项典型重大航空预研计划为例，叙述其预研计划所包括的内容及执行效果，最后，透过所述的预研计划，分析了美国航空预研计划及其管理的特点，并对我国航空技术预研工作提出几点建议。     

不均布行星齿轮传动装置设计的几个问题

推导了不均布行星传动的装配条件；提出了不均布所带来的各行星轮合力及工作过程中的动不平衡离心力的计算公式；推荐了使其合力为零或减至最小的方法；得出了行星轮不均布的行星传动装置的使用条件和设计时应注意的几个问题。