Russian Federal Space Agency Research Articles

Study on low gravity effect on bearing capacity and slope stability of a new lunar highland soil simulant (LSS-ISAC-1) for futuristic moon habitation

The future lunar missions of the space research organizations (SRO) such as the (US) National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the China National Space Administration (CNSA), the European Space Agency (ESA), the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), and the Russian Federal Space Agency (RFSA or Roscosmos), etc., comprise extended stay on Moon, making the lunar surface a launchpad for the interplanetary missions and Moon habitation. These are the most challenging task for the space research organizations (SRO) and the researchers, which needs all engineering disciplines. Also, the distinct difference in the environment between the lunar surface (lunar gravity, moonquakes, high temperature, etc.) and the Earth forced the SROs and the researchers to study the geotechnical properties such as specific gravity, particle size distribution, density, shear strength, and bearing capacity of the lunar soils. In this, the lunar gravity (1/6g) significantly influences the bearing capacity of the lunar soil, which is the predominant property for the design and analysis of foundation systems of the lunar structures. Assessing the bearing capacity under the reduced lunar gravity will enhance the evaluation of design criteria for the lunar structures and their foundation systems. In this respect, this paper explains the low gravity effect on the bearing capacity of the new lunar highland soil simulant LSS-ISAC-1 developed to represent the geotechnical properties of the highland soils of the lunar surface. The bearing capacity of the simulant for both the lunar and Earth gravity was evaluated and compared with the lunar soils and lunar simulants. The plate load test and single wheel load tests were performed to determine the sinkage property (compression/settlement) of the LSS-ISAC-1. The slope stability and self-standing height of the LSS-ISAC-1 were also determined for a better understanding of stability. Overall, the comparison results state that the new simulant LSS-ISAC-1 is more than sufficient to support virtually any conceivable structures based on the results.

Analytical approach to the diversification effect evaluation of the innovative engineering projects portfolio for a machine-building enterprise

As a tool to reduce the risks of innovation at the machine-building enterprises the authors suggest a new methodology aimed at point-based assessment of innovation risks. However, the experts are more likely to give interval estimates when assessing the risks of innovation. To work with interval estimates, a new software system was developed. The authors suggest using a market model that assumes a division of risks into systematic and non-systematic and allows to take into account the effect of diversification of the innovative portfolio of the machine-building enterprise. The steps of the methodology and its approbation on the data on innovative projects of one of Russian Federal Space Agency (Roskosmos) enterprises are presented in the paper.

Phobos LIFE (Living Interplanetary Flight Experiment).

The Planetary Society's Phobos Living Interplanetary Flight Experiment (Phobos LIFE) flew in the sample return capsule of the Russian Federal Space Agency's Phobos Grunt mission and was to have been a test of one aspect of the hypothesis that life can move between nearby planets within ejected rocks. Although the Phobos Grunt mission failed, we present here the scientific and engineering design and motivation of the Phobos LIFE experiment to assist with the scientific and engineering design of similar future experiments. Phobos LIFE flew selected organisms in a simulated meteoroid. The 34-month voyage would have been the first such test to occur in the high-radiation environment outside the protection of Earth's magnetosphere for more than a few days. The patented Phobos LIFE “biomodule” is an 88 g cylinder consisting of a titanium outer shell, several types of redundant seals, and 31 individual Delrin sample containers. Phobos LIFE contained 10 different organisms, representing all three domains of life, and one soil sample. The organisms are all very well characterized, most with sequenced genomes. Most are extremophiles, and most have flown in low Earth orbit. Upon return from space, the health and characteristics of organisms were to have been compared with controls that remained on Earth and have not yet been opened.

America’s First Cosmonauts: Reflections on the Human Cost of Shuttle-Mir

ABSTRACTShuttle-Mir, the joint space exploration effort between NASA and the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos), faced a wide variety of challenges throughout its five-year run between 1993 and 1998. These included institutional differences, high costs to both the American and Russian governments, and poor public reception. The focus herein is on the personal reflections and experiences of American men and women who participated directly in the program: the seven Shuttle-Mir astronauts from the United States. These men and women joined an unprecedented exchange in which they had to train for and serve aboard a foreign space station for extended periods of time. This article utilizes archival records, official oral histories, and personal memoirs to outline three specific challenges faced in common by all of the U.S. astronauts. Primarily, they had to master both the everyday and technical intricacies of the Russian language, live in Russia during the post-Soviet economic collapse, and adapt to new institutional procedures and training methods under Roscosmos. Combined, these experiences presented serious difficulties in working with their Russian counterparts aboard the space station Mir, and made crisis situations even more hazardous. Overall, these experiences introduced yet another cost to the Shuttle-Mir program—a human one.

Динамика создания объектов интеллектуальной собственности предприятиями Роскосмоса: анализ и прогнозирование

Динамика создания объектов интеллектуальной собственности предприятиями Роскосмоса: анализ и прогнозирование

The read-out ASIC for the Space NUCLEON project

This paper summarizes the design results for the read-out ASIC for the space NUCLEON project of the Russian Federal Space Agency ROSCOSMOS. The ASIC with a unique high dynamic range (1–40 000 mip) at low power consumption (< 1.5 mW per channel) has been developed. It allows to record signals of relativistic particles and nuclei with charges from Z = 1 up to Z > 50, generated by silicon detectors, having capacitances up to 100 pF. The chip structure includes 32 analog channels, each consisting of a charge sensitive amplifier (CSA) with a p-MOS input transistor (W = 8 mm, L = 0.5 μ m), a shaper (peaking time of 2 us) and a T&H circuit. The ASIC showed a 120 pC dynamic range at a SNR of 2.5 for the particles with minimal ionization energy (1 mip). The chip was fabricated by the 0.35 um CMOS process via Europractice and tested both at lab conditions and in the SPS beam at CERN.

OUTER SPACE AS RUSSIA'S SOFT-POWER TOOL

Click to increase image sizeClick to decrease image size Notes 1. Joseph S. Nye, “Soft Power and U.S.–European Relations,” Svobodnaya Mysl XXI , No. 10 (2004), <http://postindustrial.net/en/2004/11/myagkaya-sila-i-amerikano-evropejskie-otnosheniya/>, last accessed June 14, 2012. 2. Joseph S. Nye, Jr, Soft Power: The Means to Success in World Politics (New York: Public Affairs, 2004). 3. See opinion polls: VTsIOM, <http://www.wciom.ru/index.php?id=1#>, last accessed June 14, 2012; Levada-Center, <http://www.levada.ru/>, last accessed June 14, 2012; Gallup, <http://www.gallup.com/home.aspx>, last accessed June 14, 2012; Pew Research Center, <http://www.pewresearch.org/>, last accessed June 14, 2012. 4. “Fundamental Space Research,” The Russian Federal Space Agency, <http://www.federalspace.ru/main.php?id=25>, last accessed June 14, 2012. 5. “Russian Space Strategy to 2030 and Beyond,” The Russian Federal Space Agency, <http://www.federalspace.ru/main.php?id=402>, last accessed June 14, 2012. 6. “Profiles of Government Space Programs,” Euroconsult, <http://www.euroconsult-ec.com/research-reports/space-industry-reports/profiles-of-government-space-programs-38-37.html>, last accessed June 14, 2012. 7. See, for example: “National Space Security Strategy Outlines Rules of the Road,” U.S. Department of Defense, 2011, February 11, <http://www.defense.gov/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=62791>, last accessed June 14, 2012. 8. At the very least Russia has begun to raise the issue at the UN. See: “Report of the Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space. 54th Session” (June 1–10, 2011), UN General Assembly, Official Reports, Addendum No. 20, p. 12, <http://www.oosa.unvienna.org/pdf/gadocs/A_66_20R.pdf>, last accessed June 14, 2012. 9. Apart from all else, the very possibility of launching a privately owned Russian lunar robot on a Russian carrier is still in doubt. See: official website of the Selenokhod company, <http://selenokhod.com/ru>, last accessed June 14, 2012.

Radioastron (Spectr-R Project)—a radio telescope much larger than the earth: main parameters and prelaunch tests

The Russian Academy of Sciences and the Russian Federal Space Agency are planning to launch Radioastron in 2011, which is a unique space observatory with a 10-meter reflector antenna. In conjunction with the largest ground-based radio telescopes and tracking stations, it forms the first system that will be able to carry out studies with a resolution millions of times greater than that of eyesight.

Russia sets sights on lunar base

Vladimir Popovkin, director of Roscomos, the Russian Federal Space Agency, said the agency is setting its sights on the Moon. “We strongly feel that it is time for us to start working toward being able to establish a permanent base on the Moon,” Popovkin said at a 22 May panel discussion and news briefing held in conjunction with the Global Space Exploration Conference in Washington, D. C. Establishing a goal of lunar exploration does not mean that Roscomos is giving up on other priorities such as exploration of Mars, asteroids, or the moons of Jupiter, Popovkin said. “We have much better chances to come up with very productive and tangible results while concentrating on Moon exploration,” he said, noting the findings of water in polar areas.

The Smallest Astronauts

The article discusses a mission by the Russian Federal Space Agency which seeks to determine if it is possible for life to survive travel between the Earth and Mars. The agency will send the Grunt probe, a space vehicle containing the Living Interplanetary Flight Experiment (LIFE) container, to Phobos, one of the planet's moons, and will return to Earth with a soil sample. LIFE will contain terrestrial organisms including bacteria such as Deinococcus radiodurans, Bacillus subtilis, and Bacillus safensis, archaea including Methanothermobacter wolfeii, Haloarcula marismortui, and Pyrococcus furiosus, and eukaryotes including Arabidopsis thaliana and Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

THE SPACE CAPABILITY OF RUSSIA IS A STRATEGIC INSTRUMENT

Russia has a unique rocket and space capability. However, the Russian space industry is currently being restructured to address new strategic tasks. What are those tasks, and what are the difficulties Russia is facing in developing and manufacturing new space technology? What is the balance between the military and civilian space programs? Can we at last expect a manned mission to Mars with Russian participation any time soon? We have put these questions to the Deputy Head of the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roskosmos) Sergey Ponomarev.

Using the CeSiC material for the WSO-UV spectrographs

The World Space Observatory Ultraviolet (WSO-UV) is a multi-national project lead by the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) with the objective of high performance observations in the ultraviolet range. The 1.7 m WSO-UV telescope is equipped with UV spectrographs (responsibility of Russia and Germany) and UV imagers (responsibility of Spain). The UV spectroscopic instrumentation comprises two high resolution echelle spectrographs operating in wavelength ranges of 102–176 nm and 174–310 nm respectively, and a Long Slit Spectrograph designed to operate in the range of 102–310 nm. All three spectrographs represent individual instruments. In order to save mass while maintaining high stiffness, the instruments are combined to a monoblock, World Space Observatory Ultraviolet Spectrographs (WUVS). Due to strict technical requirements stated by the customer the material CeSiC (provided by the company ECM) has been selected for the design of the spectrograph structure. In contrast to aluminium, the stable structure of CeSiC is significantly less sensitive to thermal gradients. No further mechanism for focus correction with high functional, technical and operational complexity and corresponding additional System costs are necessary. Using CeSiC also relaxes the thermal control requirements of ±5°C, which represents a considerable cost driver for the S/C design. The phase B2 study of the WUVS instrument finished in December 2010 in collaboration with Russia and with industrial support of the Kayser–Threde company. It included construction of a Structural Thermal Model (STM) for verification of thermal and mechanical loads, stability with respect to thermal distortions and CeSiC manufacturing feasibility.

Compression Garments as Countermeasures to Orthostatic Intolerance

All astronauts experience some degree of orthostatic intolerance following spaceflight, ranging from tachycardia to orthostatic hypotension and syncope. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the ability of two compression garments, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's inflatable antigravity suit (AGS) and the Russian Federal Space Agency's non-inflatable compression garment (Kentavr), to prevent hypovolemia-related orthostatic intolerance. To mimic the plasma volume loss experienced by astronauts during spaceflight 19 healthy subjects received an intravenous dose of a diuretic, furosemide (0.5 mg x kg(-1)), and then consumed a low-salt diet for 36 h. Thereafter, subjects participated in a 15-min 80 degrees head-up tilt test wearing either the AGS (N = 9) or Kentavr (N = 10). Compression garments were used in the fashion recommended by the respective agencies, delivering approximately 78 mmHg and approximately 30 mmHg of compression in the AGS and Kentavr, respectively. Incidence of presyncope and hemodynamic responses during upright tilt were compared to a separate group of hypovolemic control subjects (N = 16). Subjects wearing the AGS or Kentavr completed the full 15 min of upright tilt without incidence of orthostatic hypotension or presyncope. In contrast, only 9 control subjects (56%) were able to complete the tilt test. In addition, both types of compression garments maintained systolic blood pressure and significantly reduced tilt-induced tachycardia and reductions in stroke volume. Although both garments successfully countered hypovolemia-induced orthostatic intolerance, the Kentavr provided protection by using lower levels of compression. Determining the optimal compression level required for protection of intolerance may improve crewmember comfort and decrease restrictions on physical activities after spaceflight.

China Reaches For the Red Planet

The China National Space Administration and the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) signed a formal agreement in March that will allow China to send a small satellite called the CDP-I to Martian orbit, piggybacking on the Phobos-Grunt orbiter. According to Alexander Zakharov of the Space Research Institute in Moscow, project scientist for the Phobos-Grunt mission, the CDP-I would test a deep-space tracking system, measure the various constituents of the Martian atmosphere, and study the plasma field around Mars during a one-year period. The Chinese are also contributing a thermal differential analyzer for the gas-chromatograph system, to be used in analyzing the elements contained in soil samples taken from Phobos before they are brought back to Earth. The instrument is being built by the Hong Kong Polytechnic Institute.

Prospects of Russian participation in the international LWS program

This report describes current and future solar-terrestrial space missions of the Russian Federal Space Agency. They are discussed in the context of the International Living With a Star activity aimed at consolidation of efforts in developing a balanced cooperative program of solar-terrestrial and space weather oriented research. We provide information on several missions that are at different stages of realization: solar observing – CORONAS-F, CORONAS-PHOTON, and INTERHELIOPROBE; and magnetospheric – RESONANCE, ROY, and INTERBALL-PROGNOZ.