Endurance-test and theoretical prediction of a rare earth nanocathode for the applied field magnetoplasmadynamic thruster

The erosion loss of cathode is essential for the lifetime of magnetoplasmadynamic thruster(MPDT).In this work,an endurance test system for MPDT cathodes was designed and developed,and the erosion characteristics,erosion rate and erosion mechanism of the cathode were studied using the system under vacuum condition.The WCe20 hollow cathode was selected to carry out the long-term erosion of 540 h with the argon propellant supply flow rate of40 ml min^(-1),the input current of 25 A,and the central magnetic field intensity of 96 Gs.In order to predict the theoretical service life of cathode,a steady state erosion numerical model was established.The calculation results show that the total erosion rate of sputtering and evaporation is 11.58 mg h^(-1),which is slightly smaller than the test data of the average cathode corrosion rate of 12.70 mg h^(-1) in the experiment,because the experimental value includes start-up erosion rate.

Autophagic induction of amyotrophic lateral sclerosislinked Cu/Zn superoxide dismutase 1 G93A mutant in NSC34 cells

Previous studies have confirmed that the beclin 1 complex plays a key role in the initial stage of autophagy and deregulated autophagy might involve in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. However, the mechanism underlying altered autophagy associated with the beclin 1 complex remains un- clear. In this study, we transfected the Cu/Zn superoxide dismutase 1 G93A mutant protein into the motor neuron-like cell line NSC34 cultured in vitro. Western blotting and co-immunopre- cipitation showed that the Cu/Zn superoxide dismutase 1 G93A mutant enhanced the turnover of autophagic marker microtubule-associated protein light chain 3II （LC3Ⅱ） and stimulated the conversion of EGFP-LC3Ⅰ to EGFP-LC3Ⅱ, but had little influence on the binding capacity of the autophagy modulators ATG14L, rubicon, UVRAG, and hVps34 to beclin 1 during auto- phagosome formation. These results suggest that the amyotrophic lateral sclerosis-linked Cu/Zn superoxide dismutase I G93A mutant can upregulate autophagic activity in NSC34 cells, but that this does not markedly affect beclin 1 complex components.

The View of Micropropulsion Technology for China’s Advanced Small Platforms in Deep Space

In this paper,micropropulsion systems are analyzed in conjunction with the various mission requirements of China’s deep space exploration.As a great challenge facing the world,deep space exploration can be enabled only in a few countries with a success rate of around 50%.With the advancement of spacecraft and scientific instruments,it is now feasible to build small and low-cost spacecraft for a variety of deep space missions.As spacecraft become smaller,there is a need for proper micropropulsion systems.Examples of propulsion system selections for deep space exploration are discussed with a focus on products developed by Beijing Institute of Control Engineering(BICE).The requirements for propulsion systems are different in lunar/interplanetary exploration and gravitational wave detection.Chemical propulsion is selected for fast orbit transfer and electric propulsion for increasing scientific payloads.Cold gas propulsion and microelectric propulsion are good choices for space-based gravitational wave detection due to the capability of variable thrust output at the micro-Newton level.The paper also introduces the sub-1-U micropropulsion modules developed by BICE with satisfactory performance in flight tests,which are promising propulsion systems for small deep space platforms.A small probe with an electric sail propulsion system has been proposed for the future solar system boundary exploration of China.The electric sail serves as not only a propellant-free thruster but also a detector probing the properties of the space medium.