材料空间暴露试验综述

随着空间科学研究的深入和载人航天、深空探测的需要,材料暴露试验引起了人们更多的关注和重视。主要介绍了国外该类试验的设计、内容、方案,分析了暴露材料与环境因素相互作用的机制,为我国开展此类试验提供参考。     

The role of nucleotides in augmentation of lymphocyte locomotion: Adaptional countermeasure development in microgravity analog environments

Space travel and long-term space residence such as envisaged in the exploration era implicates burdens on the immune system. An optimal immune response is required to countered and with-stand exposure to pathogens. Countermeasure development is an important avenue in space research especially for long-term space exploration. Microgravity exposure causes detrimental effects in lymphocyte functions which may impair immune response. Impaired lymphocyte function can be remedied by bypassing cell membrane events. This is done by using compounds such as Phorbol Myristate Acetate (PMA). Since activation in mouse splenocytes was augmented using nucleotides, it was essential to observe their effects on human lymphocyte locomotion. A nucleotide/nucleoside (NT/NT) mixture from Otsuka Pharmaceuticals (Naruto, Japan) was used at recommended doses. In lymphocytes cultured in modeled microgravity, the NT/NT mixture used orchestrated locomotion recovery by more than 87%, similar to the response documented with PMA in lymphocytes. Both 12µM and 120µM doses worked similarly. These are preliminary results leading to the possible use of the NT/NT mixture to mitigate immune suppression in micro-gravity. More studies in this direction are required to delineate the role of NT/NT on the immune response in microgravity.     

The “gene” experiment in the spanish soyuz mission to the ISS. effects of the cold transportation step

If exploration of outer space is going to be a major human enterprise in the future, it is important to establish the nature of the biological response to the space environment. In one of the recent Soyuz missions to serve the ISS, the Spanish Soyuz Mission in October 2003, we sent a group of Drosophila pupae that underwent almost complete development there. Microarray analyses of the RNAs extracted from flies fixed in the ISS revealed that a relatively large set of genes (15% of the total number assayed) suffered a significant expression change in these conditions. Furthermore, the samples had to be transported to the launch site and it was necessary to slow down their development by exposing them to a lower temperature, fully compatible with pupal development. Such a pre- exposure had an effect by itself on the pattern of gene expression observed after pupal development at normal temperature, but the two environmental factors seemed to act synergistically together with the containment in the type I container. These findings indicate the importance of maintaining a vigorous scientific program in the ISS to understand the consequences of the modified environment in outer space on living organisms.     

深空探测与我国深空探测展望

对人类已经开展的深空探测活动进行了回顾，简介了近期已开展和未来5年内将要开展的深空探测任务，以及未来主要航天国家的深空探测规划，提出了未来我国开展深空探测应掌握和突破的关键技术；介绍了我国深空探测的现状，对绕月探测工程和嫦娥1号进行了简介，重点介绍了探月工程二、三期的思路和二期工程的立项论证情况和初步总体方案，同时简要叙述了正在论证中的中俄联合火星探测、夸父计划、硬X射线天文望远镜和空间太阳望远镜等项目的概况；给出了对我国未来深空探测发展方向的思考和展望。［关键词］ 深空探测；行星际探测；多目标多任务；中国探月工程     

地外人工光合成材料研究进展

太空探索已成为人类共同目标,重返月球、载人火星等人类历史上的重大里程碑任务已逐步实施。如何实现地外极端环境下人类生存和发展已成为载人太空探索的基本能力和基础技术。由南京大学和钱学森空间技术实验室提出的地外人工光合成技术,模拟地球绿色植物的自然光合作用,利用密闭空间废弃资源或地外天体环境中丰富的资源,通过光电催化方法原位、加速、可控地将二氧化碳转化成为氧气和含碳燃料,大幅度降低载人航天器的物资供应需求,支撑可承受、可持续的载人深空探索。本文回顾了近年来国际航空航天领域利用二氧化碳转换生成氧气和碳氢燃料的现有方法,并深入探讨面向地外原位资源利用的人工光合成材料研究进展,期望深化对地外人工光合成材料与技术的认知,有力支撑载人航天发展。     

Cellular effects of energetic heavy ions: from DNA breaks to chromosomal rearrangements

Risk from exposure to energetic heavy ions is considered one of the main problems for human space exploration. Late stochastic risk estimates, particularly cancer, are affected by large uncertainties. Basic cell biology studies to elucidate the mechanisms involved in genetic damage are necessary to reduce the uncertainty and eventually design effective countermeasures. To study the influence of nuclear architecture on the formation of chromosomal rearrangements, normal diploid human fibroblasts have been exposed to heavy ions in horizontal and vertical positions. Analysis of chromosomal aberrations by arm-specific mFISH shows that, at the same radiation dose, the yield of chromosomal damage is modified by the irradiation geometry. A clear difference is seen in the fraction of aberrant cells, owing to the different nuclear cross sections.     

空间材料的原子氧侵蚀理论和预测模型

低地轨道环境中的原子氧对航天器材料的侵蚀导致材料的性能变坏甚至失效，原子氧的侵蚀机理和防护技术是当前空间环境效应研究的热点．在对原子氧效应机理已有理解的基础上，准确预测空间材料在低地轨道环境中由原子氧引起的侵蚀效应，可对设计者在工程选材和飞行器设计提供帮助。本文综述了近年来发展的原子氧与空间材料相互作用的理论模型和侵蚀速率预测模型，并对各种模型进行了分析，也指出了关于原子氧效应的研究重点．     

玻璃材料在设计艺术中的形态表现

以玻璃材料在日常生活应用的各种形式特征为切入点,运用横向类比的研究方法,通过探索玻璃材料制品"虚"与"实"的关系,来分析解读玻璃类制品在设计艺术中形态的虚实美;通过探索玻璃材料制品光与影的关系,来分析解读玻璃类制品在设计艺术中形态的光影美;通过探索玻璃材料制品的内在意蕴,来分析解读玻璃材料在设计艺术中形态的意象美;通过探索玻璃制品的"时间"与"空间"关系,来分析解读玻璃材料设计艺术中形态的时空美;通过探索玻璃材料制品的外在吸引力,来解读玻璃材料设计艺术形态的趣味美。     

Polymer modeling

The modeling of polymers, the most prominent of soft materials, has reached a level of maturity within the last few years, but new advances are being made in several areas of considerable practical importance. New sampling techniques are being developed to accelerate the exploration of configuration space, which has been and continues to be of paramount importance in the determination of the properties of polymeric materials. Simultaneous length and time scale problems are being addressed with new coarse-grained methods, while more traditional methods are being applied to problems of increasing chemical complexity and reality. These several advances are yielding unprecedented insights into the relative importance of intramolecular (manifested in long-range polymeric structure) and intermolecular interactions in determining the properties of materials.     

Systems approaches to uncovering the contribution of environment-mediated drug resistance

Cancer drug response is heavily influenced by the extracellular matrix (ECM) environment. Despite a clear appreciation that the ECM influences cancer drug response and progression, a unified view of how, where, and when environment-mediated drug resistance contributes to cancer progression has not coalesced. Here, we survey some specific ways in which the ECM contributes to cancer resistance with a focus on how materials development can coincide with systems biology approaches to better understand and perturb this contribution. We argue that part of the reason that environment-mediated resistance remains a perplexing problem is our lack of a wholistic view of the entire range of environments and their impacts on cell behavior. We cover a series of recent experimental and computational tools that will aid exploration of ECM reactions space, and how they might be synergistically integrated.     

四极质谱计在一些外星球大气成份分析中的应用

四极质谱计多次搭载在探测器上对金星、土星、木星、土卫六等外星球表面大气成份进行了分析,获得了一些有价值的信息.本文分析了四极质谱计在空间应用时面临的问题;以具体的空间探测任务为例.探讨了质谱计设计的成功和不足之处,以及未来空间探测任务对四极质谱计提出的新要求.     

Human posture simulation to assess cumulative spinal load due to manual lifting. Part I: methods

The estimation of cumulative spinal load (CSL) resulting from exposure to manual materials handling (MMH) may provide a sensitive method for assessing the risk of highly varying exposures. This article reports on a CSL method that involves human posture simulation of workers from videotape in order to assess spinal load exposures due to MMH. The proposed method appears to be sensitive to different durations of exposure, easy to use and useful for assessing jobs with a high degree of variability in task characteristics between lifts. Although the method remains to be validated, it appears to be a useful addition to the range of tools available for assessing manual lifting exposures in worksite-based epidemiologic studies. Ergonomic methods are lacking for assessing highly variable MMH tasks, such as tasks found in warehousing. The existing methods do not include sufficient factors to account for variable exposure patterns or tasks with highly variable task characteristics, such as varying load weights and lift geometries. The CSL assessment method described in this article may provide a way to evaluate these types of tasks in order to assess the overall risk of workers developing work-related musculoskeletal disorders.     

A Sounding Rocket Experiment to Control Boiling by Means of Acoustic Waves

One of the most critical issues when considering long-term space exploration missions is the management and storage of cryogenic propellants. The exposure of storage tanks to radiation and extreme temperatures implies the need of efficient technologies to counteract their effects on the fuel. A potentially dangerous effect for spacecraft operations is the generation of vapor bubbles in cryogenic propellants. We present an experimental setup and procedure to mature a technology based on acoustic waves to control boiling in microgravity.     

Life sciences issues affecting space exploration

The U.S. space program is undertaking a serious examination of new initiatives in human space exploration involving permanent colonies on the Moon and an outpost on Mars. Life scientists have major responsibilities to the crew, to assure their health, productivity, and safety throughout the mission and the postflight rehabilitation period; to the mission, to provide a productive working environment; and to the scientific community, to advance knowledge and understanding of human adaptation to the space environment. Critical areas essential to the support of human exploration include protection from the radiation hazards of the space environment, reduced gravity countermeasures, artificial gravity, medical care, life support systems, and behavior, performance, and human factors in an extraterrestrial environment. Developing solutions to these concerns is at the heart of the NASA Life Sciences ground-based and flight research programs. Facilities analogous to planetary outposts are being considered in Antarctica and other remote settings. Closed ecological life support systems will be tested on Earth and Space Station. For short-duration simulations and tests, the Space Shuttle and Spacelab will be used. Space Station Freedom will provide the essential scientific and technological research in areas that require long exposures to reduced gravity conditions. In preparation for Mars missions, research on the Moon will be vital. As the challenges of sustaining humans on space are resolved, advances in fundamental science, medicine and technology will follow.     

Emerging Materials and Strategies for Passive Daytime Radiative Cooling

In recent decades, the growing demands for energy saving and accompanying heat mitigation concerns, together with the vital goal for carbon neutrality, have drawn human attention to the zero-energy-consumption cooling technique. Recent breakthroughs in passive daytime radiative cooling (PDRC) might be a potent approach to combat the energy crisis and environmental challenges by directly dissipating ambient heat from the Earth to the cold outer space instead of only moving the heat across the Earth's surface. Despite significant progress in cooling mechanisms, materials design, and application exploration, PDRC faces potential functionalization, durability, and commercialization challenges. Herein, emerging materials and rational strategies for PDRC devices are reviewed. First, the fundamental physics and thermodynamic concepts of PDRC are examined, followed by a discussion on several categories of PDRC devices developed to date according to their implementation mechanism and material properties. Emerging strategies for performance enhancement and specific functions of PDRC are discussed in detail. Potential applications and possible directions for designing next-generation high-efficiency PDRC are also discussed. It is hoped that this review will contribute to exciting advances in PDRC and aid its potential applications in various fields.     

Impact of materials exposure on assembly workstation performance

This paper examines how the choice of materials exposure impacts workstation performance, in terms of non-value-adding work, space requirements and ergonomics. In a typical Swedish automotive setting, components are exposed in wooden pallets with frames beside the assembly line and supplied by forklift truck. In a case study, three workstations on an assembly line were studied and redesigned following the principles of lean production, using smaller plastic containers for the materials exposure. After the redesign, the space required for materials was reduced by 67%, non-value-adding work decreased by 20%, and walking distance was reduced by 52%. Furthermore, the ergonomics for the assembly operator improved greatly, with a 92% reduction of potentially harmful picking activities, thereby almost eliminating potentially harmful body movements. The theoretical contribution of this paper is firstly the development of an analysis model describing the impact of material exposure on workstation performance and secondly development of the existing categorisation of work operations to include different materials handling activities. The most important managerial implication is an increased understanding of the relationship between space, ergonomics, non-value-adding work and materials exposure. These findings have direct implications on workstation design in industry.     

European Contribution to Human Aspect Investigations for Future Planetary Habitat Definition Studies: Field Tests at MDRS on Crew Time Utilisation and Habitat Interfaces

Human factors are a dominant aspect in space missions, which may strongly influence work results and efficiency. To assess their impact on future long term space missions and to attempt a general quantification, the environmental and technical conditions to which astronauts may be confronted need to be reproduced as closely as possible. Among the stressors that occur during space missions, limited resources, limited social interactions, long term living and working in confined and isolated areas are among the most important for future planetary exploration. The European Space Agency (ESA) has a strong interest in obtaining data and insights in human aspects to prepare for future studies on the definition of future Lunar and Martian planetary habitats. In this frame, ESA’s Directorate of Human Space Flight was associated to the EuroGeoMars campaign conducted by the Crews 76 and 77 in February 2009 in The Mars Society’s ‘Mars Desert Research Station’ (MDRS) in the Desert of Utah. The EuroGeoMars Campaign lasted 5 weeks and encompassed two groups of experiments, on human crew related aspects and field experiments in geology, biology and astronomy/astrophysics. The human crew related aspects covered (1) crew time organization in a planetary habitat, (2) an evaluation of the different functions and interfaces of this habitat, (3) an evaluation of man–machine interfaces of science and technical equipment. Several forms and questionnaires were filled in by all crew members: time and location evaluation sheets and two series of questionnaires. In addition, the crew participated in another on-going food study where the type of food was imposed and crew impressions were collected via questionnaires. The paper recalls the objectives of the human crew related experiments of the EuroGeoMars project and presents the first results of these field investigations. Some recommendations and lessons learnt will be presented and used as first inputs for future planetary habitat definition studies.     

空间物理和空间天气探测与研究

空间物理学是1957年人造卫星发射成功后迅速发展起来的一门交叉学科。近50年来,空间已成为人类生存的第四环境,其重要性日益突出。20世纪90年代初,空间物理学与空间应用的密切结合产生了专门研究和预报空间环境中灾害性过程及其变化规律,减轻或防止空间灾害并为人类活动服务的空间天气学。文章简要总结了国外及国内空间物理和空间天气探测的历程和发展趋势,并提出对我国未来空间物理和空间天气探测发展规划和探测路线图的几点建议。     

Modelling and calculations of the response of tissue equivalent proportional counter to charged particles

Space activities in earth orbit or in deep space pose challenges to the estimation of risk factors for both astronauts and instrumentation. In space, risk from exposure to ionising radiation is one of the main factors limiting manned space exploration. Therefore, characterising the radiation environment in terms of the types of radiations and the quantity of radiation that the astronauts are exposed to is of critical importance in planning space missions. In this paper, calculations of the response of TEPC to protons and carbon ions were reported. The calculations have been carried out using Monte Carlo track structure simulation codes for the walled and the wall-less TEPC counters. The model simulates nonhomogenous tracks in the sensitive volume of the counter and accounts for direct and indirect events. Calculated frequency- and dose-averaged lineal energies 0.3 MeV-1 GeV protons are presented and compared with the experimental data. The calculation of quality factors (QF) were made using individual track histories. Additionally, calculations of absolute frequencies of energy depositions in cylindrical targets, 100 nm height by 100 nm diameter, when randomly positioned and oriented in water irradiated with 1 Gy of protons of energy 0.3-100 MeV, is presented. The distributions show the clustering properties of protons of different energies in a 100 nm by 100 nm cylinder.     

NASA at the crossroad

During the quarter-century that Technology in Society has been published, great strides have been made in planetary exploration and space flight in near-Earth orbit, both with robotic spacecraft and with piloted space vehicles. Robotic spacecraft have visited every planet in the solar system and several hundred people have been in space learning how to live and work in that environment. The International Space Station is well on the way to completion and the Earth-orbiting “Great Observatories” have unlocked many of the secrets of the universe. There have also been great difficulties. Management failures have caused delays and cost increases in several major programs. Two of the five space shuttles, Columbia and Challenger, have been lost, at the cost of 14 human lives. NASA has not found a focus for its efforts around which the resources to operate a successful space exploration enterprise can be mobilized. Suggestions to remedy NASA’s management and programmatic problems are made in this paper.