Research in Space

Research In space is important in several areas Including preparation of new materials, new physical phenomena, biological science, and crystal growth. Several recent efforts In the area of crystal growth in... 

University Research. Some of the most important pioneering research in space environments for humans has come from universities. For example, work done under the auspices of the Universities Space Research Association (which includes the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Harvard University, Stanford University, and more than one hundred other universities) in medical and biotechnology fields has studied the use of microwave devices for closing wounds and the development of a means for measuring the effects of radiation on astronauts. 

The neutrons in a research reactor can be used for many types of scientific studies, including basic physics, radiological effects, fundamental biology, analysis of trace elements, material damage, and treatment of disease. Neutrons can also be dedicated to the production of nuclear weapons materials such as plutonium-239 from uranium-238 and tritium, H, from lithium-6. Alternatively, neutrons can be used to produce radioisotopes for medical diagnosis and treatment, for gamma irradiation sources, or for heat energy sources in space. 

The study of the combustion of sprays of Hquid fuels can be divided into two primary areas for research purposes single-droplet combustion mechanisms and the interaction between different droplets in the spray during combustion with regard to droplet size and distribution in space (91—94). The wide variety of atomization methods used and the interaction of various physical parameters have made it difficult to give general expressions for the prediction of droplet size and distribution in sprays. The main fuel parameters affecting the quaHty of a spray are surface tension, viscosity, and density, with fuel viscosity being by far the most influential parameter (95). 

The work on colour centres outlined in Section 3.2.3.1, much of it in the 1930s, and its consequences for understanding electrically charged defects in insulating and semiconducting crystalline materials, helped to stimulate ceramic researches in the electrical/electronic industry. The subject is enormous and here there is space only for a cursory outline of what has happened, most of it in the last 80 years. 

The photoelectric effect (the creation of an electrical current when light shines on a photosensitive material connected m an electrical circuit) was first obseiwed in 1839 by the French scientist Edward Becqiierel. More than one hundred years went by before researchers in the United States Bell Laboratories developed the first modern PV cell in 1954. Four years later, PV was used to power a satellite in space and has provided reliable electric power for space exploration ever since. 

The first experiments with the thermal electric engine were conducted in Russia in 1929 by its inventor, Valentin P. Glushko, who later became a world-famous authority in rocket propulsion. For more than forty years, the United States and Russia have devoted many resources to research and development of various kinds of EREs. First tested in space by the Russians in 1964, these engines have found some limited applications in modern space technology. For more than two decades Russian weather and communication satellites have regularly used electric rocket engines for orbital stabilization. The first spacecraft to employ ERE for main propulsion was the American asteroid exploration probe Deep Space 1, launched in 1998. The performance of... 

Serious research in catalytic reduction of automotive exhaust was begun in 1949 by Eugene Houdry, who developed mufflers for fork lift trucks used in confined spaces such as mines and warehouses (18). One of the supports used was the monolith—porcelain rods covered with films of alumina, on which platinum was deposited. California enacted laws in 1959 and 1960 on air quality and motor vehicle emission standards, which would be operative when at least two devices were developed that could meet the requirements. This gave the impetus for a greater effort in automotive catalysis research (19). Catalyst developments and fleet tests involved the partnership of catalyst manufacturers and muffler manufacturers. Three of these teams were certified by the California Motor Vehicle Pollution Control Board in 1964-65 American Cyanamid and Walker, W. R. Grace and Norris-Thermador, and Universal Oil Products and Arvin. At the same time, Detroit announced that engine modifications by lean carburation and secondary air injection enabled them to meet the California standard without the use of catalysts. This then delayed the use of catalysts in automobiles. 

Segal et al, Eds, Polymers in Space Research , Marcel Dekker, NY (1970) 21) T. Takei ... 

Abstract The techniques of atom cooling combined with the atom interferometry make possible the realization of very sensitive and accurate inertial sensors like gyroscopes or accelerometers. Below earth-base developments, the use of these techniques in space, as proposed in the HYPER project (ass.stud), should provide extremely-high sensitivity for research in fundamental physics. 

El-Registan, G., Mulyukin, A., Nikolaev, Yu., Stepanenko, L, Kozlova, A., Martirosova, E., Shanenko, E., Strakhovskaya, M., Revina, A. The role of microbial low-molecular-weight autoregulatory factors (alkylhydroxybenzenes) in resistance of microorganisms to radiation and heat shock. Advances in Space Research, Vol.36, No.9, (2005), pp. 1718-1728, ISSN 0273-1177... 

Application to heterogeneous polymer solids, and elastic composites, is presented in the Section 7 (Gusev, Suter), which is followed by a summary and the outlook for the various methods reviewed here. It will be apparent to the reader that this review thus assembles several building blocks for the difficult task to bridge the gaps from the atomistic to the macroscopic scales in space and times for the simulation of polymeric materials. Integrating these building blocks into one coherent framework still is not fully solved and a matter of current research. 

---