САНИТАРНО-МИКРОБИОЛОГИЧЕСКИЙ МОНИТОРИНГ СРЕДЫ ОБИТАНИЯ ЧЛЕНОВ ЭКИПАЖА НАЗЕМНОГО ИЗОЛЯЦИОННОГО ЭКСПЕРИМЕНТА SIRIUS-23

The capabilities of maximising standard payload modules’ functionalities for applications such as on-orbit satellite servicing or planetary exploration depend critically on the creation and availability of a standard interface (IF). Standard interface should provide, aside from the necessary mechanical interconnections, electrical power and data connections, as well as thermal transfer between “building block” payload modules. The overall flexibility enabled by such IF will allow endless reconfigurations of payload and other modules for different functional requirements. This can be considered a game changer technology, enabling transformation from the current approach to space missions, deploying single-use system with pre-planned and limited functionalities, to a radically new approach with multi-use, dynamically reconfigurable and multi-functional systems. Hence, SIROM aims to set a new research agenda for future affordable space missions. Within this context, the partners of the SIROM (Standard Interface for Robotic Manipulation of payloads in future space missions) project are developing the first standard IF solution that combines the four required functionalities in an integrated and compact form for future space missions. With a mass lower than 1.5 kg and having an external diameter of 120 mm and a height of 30 mm, this novel interface permits not only mechanical coupling but also electrical, data and thermal connectivity between so called Active Payload Modules (APMs), as well as other modules such as the robotic end-effectors. This multi-functional IF features an androgynous design to allow for replacement and reconfiguration of the individual modules in any combination desired. It consists of the following sub-assemblies: mechanical IF, electrical IF, data IF, thermal IF and IF controller. A clear advantage of SIROM design is that its mechanical IF consists of a latching and guiding systems for misalignment correction, capable of withstanding certain robotic arm positioning inaccuracies: ± 5 mm translation and ± 1.5° rotation in all axes. Regarding the electrical and data IFs, SIROM transfers up to 150 W electrical power and provides a data transfer rate of 100 Mbit/s via SpaceWire, plus command communication with speeds up to 1Mbit/s via CAN bus. The thermal IF provides fluidic ports for flow transfer and has the potential to transfer 2500 W between APMs accordingly provided with the corresponding close-loop heat exchange system. Although not envisaged for SIROM current design, a possible variation could be to use these ports for satellite re-fuelling. Apart from that, SIROM exhibits redundant coupling capabilities: it can match and couple another completely passive SIROM. It is provided with main and redundant connectors for thermal, electrical, data and control flow in case of one of the lines fails. All in all, SIROM will enable long duration missions with no logistic support, refurbishing, maintenance and reconfiguration of satellites, cost efficiency and simplification of the tool exchange in scientific exploration missions. SIROM is designed to be a common building block for European and possibly world future space robotics enabled missions.

Why moral bioenhancement in future space missions may not be a good idea: The perspective of feminist bioethics of space exploration

There are good theoretical rationales for considering germline gene editing (GGE) as a recommended and perhaps even necessary procedure for future long-term human space missions. This paper examines the arguments for applying GGE in a hypothetical future scenario where future parents living on Earth make decisions about applying GGE to their future children with the goal of allowing them to participate in space missions. The paper presents an ethical rationale for GGE. The paper also recognizes an area of potential moral controversy that is not so much related to the application of GGE itself, but to the risk of different perceptions of well-being by parents and children that may result in the need for genetically modified children to leave Earth against their will.

It is clear that the cost efficiency is becoming a major driver in future space missions. Because of the constraints on total cost, including design, implementation and operation, future spacecraft are limited in terms of their size, power and complexity. Consequently, it is expected to have future missions operate on marginal space-to-ground communication links which, in turn, can pose an additional risk on the successful scientific return of these missions. For low data rate and low downlink margin missions, the concept of buffering the telemetry signal for further signal processing to improve data return has been widely adopted. The paper describes techniques used for post-processing of the buffered telemetry signal segments (called gaps) to recover data lost during acquisition and resynchronization. Two methods, one for a closed-loop and the other one for an open-loop configuration, are discussed. Both of them can be used in either forward or backward processing of signal segments, depending on where a gap is specifically situated in a pass.

Future human space missions to Mars and beyond may be realized for different research, economic, political or survival reasons. Since space remains a hazardous environment for humans, space exploration and exploitation requires the development and deployment of effective countermeasures. In this paper, we discuss prospects for human enhancement by gene editing, synthetic biology, or implants, for the purposes of future space missions. We argue that there are good reasons to consider such options, and that ethical arguments can be made in favor of human enhancement to enable long-term space exploration.

Korean CDC experts first reported the likelihood of reactivation in COVIOD-19 patients. They hypothesized that like childhood chicken pox infections which lie dormant for tens of years only to cause shingles in seniors, SARS-CoV-2 can reactivate. However, as testing for the virus had been flawed at that time, U.S. infectious disease experts were skeptical about the reports of second COVID-19 infections. New reports have addressed the urgent need to conduct large-scale studies to better understand the potential recurrence of SARS-CoV-2 in COVID-19 patients. Moreover, some case studies show possible reactivation of SARS-CoV-2 in a family cluster. Given this consideration, major space stressors such as microgravity and space radiation and their interactions which are not fully known, so far can increase the risk of reactivation of SARS-CoV-2 in future space missions, an event that can easily impact the success of any space mission. Since about 80% of infected people are either asymptomatic or show only mild symptoms, in a near future, it would be likely that astronauts who start their mission even after complex medical examinations, experience reactivation of the virus during their mission. Moreover, we have previously addressed the potential higher fatality of COVID-19 infections in space due to: 1) uselessness of social distancing due to microgravity; 2) immune system dysregulation; 3) possibly higher mutation rates of the novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) as a RNA virus; 4) higher risk of reactivation of the virus; 5) existence of strong selective pressure and 6) decreased maximum oxygen uptake.

Future space missions such as in-space assembly of telescopes and on-orbit servicing require rendezvous and proximity operations trajectories that avoid thruster-induced contamination of delicate components onboard the client spacecraft. We present a novel technique to incorporate a hard thruster pointing constraint into the indirect optimal control formulation and solve the problem using a single-shooting method. A thruster pointing constraint is an inequality constraint that imposes a limit on the angular range over which a spacecraft thruster is permitted to operate, thus mitigating plume contamination during rendezvous and proximity operations. Through novel incorporation of the constraint directly into the dynamic model, the problem can be easily solved with no a priori knowledge of the burn sequence or information about when the constraint is active or inactive. Our formulation is capable of handling a constant thruster pointing constraint as well as one that varies as a function of distance from the target spacecraft. Results are presented under Clohessy–Wiltshire dynamics; however, the method can be easily extended to handle nonlinear dynamic systems. As expected, we see an increase in fuel consumption with increasing constraint angle for the solution of problems with the same boundary conditions and time of flight. To validate our method, we compare the performance and results to those of a direct method, sequential convex optimization, utilizing the CVX MATLAB plug-in and the MOSEK solver. We found that our approach converged more easily and required no hand-tuning of parameters. It also converged to solutions that satisfy the pointing constraints to a stricter tolerance. We anticipate that our novel approach to generating thruster-pointing-constrained fuel-optimal trajectories will be enabling to a host of future servicing space missions.

Water contained in brine is critical to water loop closure during future extended manned space missions where resupply logistics become increasingly prohibitive beyond earth orbit. Current primary water processes recover greater than 90% of the water in wastewater and produce highly contaminated brine. Additional water recovery has been limited by the high level of solids in urine, one of the largest wastewater sources, because inorganic solids reach saturation levels and precipitate while organic solids tend to form sticky pastes that foul equipment and impede water removal. This paper describes a microgravity-compatible Advanced Air Evaporation System (AAES) for reclaiming nearly 100% of water from brine without concern for these solids. This novel approach utilizes hydrophilic ceramic fabrics, felts, or fibers as a refractory wicking material. Water is evaporated from brine-saturated ceramic wicks in a drying chamber resulting in the recovery of water vapor by condensation while brine solids accumulate on ceramic wicks. Several sub-processes are utilized to regenerate these wicks. After each drying cycle, organic solids are removed by thermal oxidation leaving inorganic salts on the wick. Additional brine may then be processed using the partially regenerated wick. Following several oxidation cycles, inorganic salts are removed by elutriation with water forming a saturated salt solution and a fully regenerated wick. This initial two-step regeneration cycle recovers 78% of the water from the brine with the remaining water forming the salt solution. Recovery of the remaining water from the salt solution without the presence of organic solids is a straightforward process and the resultant overall water recovery will approach 100%. Future development of the AAES will enable increased water recovery, reduced resupply logistics, improved reliability, and lowered Equivalent System Mass (ESM) for water recycling during future space missions.

Mankind must continue to explore the universe in order to gain a better understanding of how we relate to it and how we can best use its resources to our benefit. This exploration will begin with manned missions to the moon and to Mars, first for scientific discoveries, then for mining and manufacturing. Because of the great financial costs of this type of exploration, it can only be accomplished through an international team effort. This unified effort must include the design, planning and, execution phases of future space missions, extending down to such activities as isotope processing, and shipping package design, fabrication, and certification. All aspects of this effort potentially involve the use of radioisotopes in some capacity, and the transportation of these radioisotopes will be impossible without a shipping package that is certified by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission or the U.S. Department of Energy for domestic shipments, and the U.S. Department of Transportation or the International Atomic Energy Agency for international shipments. To remain without the international regulatory constraints, and still support the needs of new and challenging space missions conducted within ever‐shrinking budgets, shipping package concepts must be innovative. A shipping package must also be versatile enough to be reconfigured to transport the varying radioisotopic source materials that may be required to support future space and terrestrial missions. One such package is the Mound USA/9516/B(U)F. Taking into consideration the potential need to transport specific types of radioisotopes, approximations of dose rates at specific distances were determined taking into account the attenuation of dose rate with distance for varying radioisotopic source materials. As a result, it has been determined that the shipping package requirements that will be demanded by future space (and terrestrial) missions can be met by making minor modifications to the USA/9516/B(U)F.

The extreme ultraviolet (EUV) telescopes and spectrometers have been used as powerful tools in a variety of space applications, especially in planetary science. Many EUV instruments adopted microchannel plate (MCP) detection systems with resistive anode encoders (RAEs). An RAE is one of the position sensitive anodes suitable for space-based applications because of its low power, mass, and volume coupled with very high reliability. However, this detection system with RAE has limitations of resolution (up to 512 x 512 pixels) and incident count rate (up to ~104 count/sec). Concerning the future space and planetary missions, a new detector with different position sensitive system is required in order to a higher resolution and dynamic range of incident photons. One of the solutions of this issue is using a CMOS imaging sensor. The CMOS imaging sensor with high resolution and high radiation tolerance has been widely used. Here we developed a new CMOS-coupled MCP detector for future UV space and planetary missions. It consists of MCPs followed by a phosphor screen, fiber optic plate, and a windowless CMOS. We manufactured a test model of this detector and performed vibration, thermal cycle, and performance tests. The test sample of FOP-coupled CMOS image sensor achieved the resolving limit of 32 lp/mm and the PSF of 28 um, corresponds to the spatial resolution of 1024 x 1024 pixels. Our results indicate that this new type of UV detector can be widely used for future space applications.

Modeling the deep space network costs for future space missions by using major cost drivers

Successful operations in space depend in part on the performance capabilities of astronauts and little is known about potential consequences of exposure to ionizing radiation on behavior and the brain during manned space flights. This possible threat has not been given much attention, since all manned mission have been located in low equitorial orbit and radiation there has not been considered hazardous. Future missions in space will probably involve polar orbits, long-term space travel beyond the Earth, and extended periods during which astronauts are operating outside their space craft. Since exposure to radiation increases under these conditions because of the absence of the Earth’s normally protective transpolar magnetosphere, astronauts may be placed at considerable additional risk. An understanding of this risk may be vital to the survival and effective performance of future missions in space. Therefore, it is desirable to understand the medical and operational risks to personnel, including an assessment of possible behavioral and neurobiological deficits.

<p>From the White Paper series within the ESA “Voyage 2050” process [1] and the US Astro 2020 Decadal [2], it is clear that the astronomical community is going to focus on investigating temperate, terrestrial exoplanets to understand their potential habitability and search for atmospheric signatures of biospheres. </p> <p>Various concepts for future space missions have been proposed, from a large IR/O/UV (LUVOIR/HabEx-like) space mission for studies in reflected light [3, 4], to the mid-infrared nulling interferometer LIFE (Large Interferometer for Exoplanets), to characterize the thermal portion of the planetary spectrum [5, 6]. Their goal is to constrain the bulk parameters, atmospheric structure and composition, and the surface conditions of dozens of terrestrial exoplanets. Atmospheric retrieval studies are essential to define the potential of future missions, determine the technical requirements, as well as to validate the analysis pipelines. It is also relevant at this stage to quantify any synergy among the various instruments, in order to identify compelling science cases whose characterization would be enhanced by observation in multiple wavelength ranges.</p> <p>Bayesian retrieval routines are the key to a statistically robust analysis of a measured atmospheric spectrum. The Bayesian retrieval method builds on iteratively fitting a parametric model for the planet spectrum to the observed spectrum to get estimates on the composition of the planet’s atmosphere and its structure. Such a method can be useful to quantify the amount of information that can be extracted from an observed spectrum, depending on its quality (in terms of resolution, signal-to-noise ratio, observing time, and wavelength range).</p> <p>Retrieval studies are currently being performed in order to determine the requirements for the upcoming missions. In this talk, I will summarize the main results of the latest atmospheric retrieval studies that were performed during the studies of some future space mission concepts. </p> <p> </p> <p>

<div class="htmlview paragraph">The prudent use of analog facilities for future missions to other planetary bodies has been validated in many locations. Site specific analog projects such as the Haughton-Mars Project and Devon Island have proven beneficial by conducting terrestrial science type missions and learning from them. An integrated facility oriented to ground testing allows the opportunity to bring many other activities associated with a future exploration mission together and add value to the analog experience. The focus of such a facility as the Advanced Integration Matrix (AIM) at Johnson Space Center includes operations and various technical disciplines needed to conduct the mission. These facilities bring together emerging and developing technologies and identify the issues and risks when they are interfaced with each other.</div> <div class="htmlview paragraph">The purpose of this paper is to identify areas of near term benefit of ground test facilities focused on future missions in space. One such benefit is to utilize the knowledge gained from these facilities toward solving more immediate, terrestrial problems, specifically looking at the application of what is learned in AIM to sustainable building architecture in developing countries. Just as the analog projects promote immediate Earth-based science, many of the technologies integrated and activities of AIM (e.g. operations, crew training, communications, logistics, management, and materials development) could prove to have direct application in the Earth-based built environment long before they are utilized to take us to the Moon or Mars.</div>

Photoabsorption in Ganymede’s atmosphere