Feasibility analysis of solar thermal propulsion system with thermal energy storage

Possessing relatively high specific impulse and moderate thrust levels, solar thermal propulsion (STP) is a promising candidate in spacecraft propulsion system. However, the traditional solar thermal propulsion system suffers from thrust failure in the shadow area, which seriously affects its applicability. In this paper, we investigate feasibility of regenerative solar thermal propulsion system (RSTP) incorporating thermal energy storage, which can effectively overcome unmatched synchronous working time and illumination time. A numerical model for RSTP considering the whole energy transfer process from light concentrating, heat storage, to thrust generation is built, which is verified by experiment measurements with relative errors less than 15 %. The result shows that the maximum time to complete heat storage is about 4000 s, which is within the illumination time for low Earth orbit. In the solar eclipse region, the thrust (F_t) and the specific impulse (I_sp) of the system increase with the propellant flow rate, which can reach about 2 N and 690 s, respectively. What’s more, the system can operate for around 100 s continuously at the maximum thrust in the shadow area. This work provides alternative approaches for microsatellite propulsion with high specific impulse, high thrust, and continuous operation despite presence of solar eclipse.     

“田园一号”微推进系统设计与性能测试

针对“田园一号”微纳星编队飞行任务的技术需求，开展了微推进系统的总体设计。常规冷气推进由于其比冲低、贮存压力高、结构复杂，难以满足微纳卫星需求。选择R134a作为推进工质，通过将推进剂液化，减小系统体积。基于3D打印技术，设计贮箱、稳压罐、管路一体的推进系统。采用MEMS加工工艺，设计并研制出电加热喷口，从而提高系统比冲。分析了不同喷口尺寸、供气压力以及温度下所产生的推力和比冲大小，确定出喷口设计。表征测试所研制的电加热喷口，结果表明喷口加工误差控制在2%以内。真空条件下，采用扭摆测量系统测试推力器推进性能，测试结果表明，当稳压罐内气体压力在0.1～0.2 MPa变化时，推力大小为5～10 mN。当喷气温度从25℃升至95℃时，推进系统比冲可提升10%以上。     

基于冲量变轨原理的地球同步卫星有限推力变轨策略

  推力有限时,地球同步轨道卫星在远地点变轨的弧段很长,会导致较多的燃料消耗。基于冲量变轨原理,研究了地球同步轨道卫星远地点有限推力多次变轨问题,提出了具有星下点约束的最省燃料变轨方案,给出了每次变轨的推力方向和点火起止时刻及最优中间过渡轨道。仿真结果验证了该方案的有效性。     

轨道机动过程中推力加速度的在线最小方差估计

定位和跟踪空间机动目标时，对目标运动建模受发动机推力的不确定性影响，通过统计处理离散的雷达观测数据实时估计发动机的推力，进而定位和跟踪机动目标便是本文所要研究和解决的问题，本文在地心惯性系建立了常推力轨道机动过程中连续变质量运动模型和离散雷达量测模型，机动过程中质量秒耗量和排气速度作为表征轨控发动机推力的两个近似常量，应用扩展卡尔曼滤波对离散雷达测量数据进行序贯统计处理得到发动机推力的最小方差估计；文中详细地给出了线性化量测模型的变分方程和观测矩阵；仿真结果表明该算法能快速、准确地在线估计轨控发动机的等效推力。     

In orbit performance of butane propulsion system

The present work focuses on the determination of the in orbit performance of the Alsat-1 microsatellite propulsion system. The satellite mass is 90 kg, of which 6.2 kg is the propulsion system dry mass. The system is a butane propulsion system using low power resistojet thruster with 2.3 kg of propellant. The liquefied butane gas was selected due to its higher storage density and safety compared to the other propellants used for microsatellites. The purpose of this paper is the analysis of the firings performed after the launch of the satellite and to evaluate the system specific impulse and thrust level during the system lifetime. A total of 273 firings were performed on the Alsat-1 propulsion system in the period between the end of 2002 and mid 2009, the cumulated firing time is more than 12 h 49 min. The analysis of all the propulsion telemetry data shows that the system provides a total mission delta V of 25.3 m/s which is more than the 10 m/s specified for this mission. Furthermore, the mission average specific impulse and thrust are respectively 99.9 s and 48.8 mN.     

基于机动力模型的GEO卫星恢复期间定轨

北斗卫星导航系统(BDS)中GEO卫星频繁的轨道机动对高精度、实时不间断的导 航服务需求提出了更高要求, 如何在短弧跟踪条件下提高GEO卫星轨道快速 恢复能力, 是提升导航系统服务精度的关键因素. 针对该问题, 本文提出了基 于机动力模型的动力学定轨方法, 尝试利用高精度的C波段转发式测距数据, 辅 以机动期间的遥测遥控信息建立机动力模型, 联合轨控前后的观测数据进行动 力学长弧定轨. 利用BDS中GEO卫星实测数据进行了定轨试验与分析, 结果表明, 恢复期间需要采用解算机动推力的定轨方法, 联合机动前、机动期间和机 动后4h数据定轨的轨道位置精度在20m量级, 径向精度优于2.5m. 该方 法克服了短弧跟踪条件下动力学法定轨和单点定位中的诸多问题, 提供了解决 GEO卫星机动后轨道快速恢复问题的技术方法.      

基于分段常值的全电推进GEO卫星制导策略

电推进技术因其比冲高的技术特点在GEO轨道转移中应用可大大减少燃料质量，提高有效载荷质量比，延长任务寿命等。针对全电推进GEO卫星入轨的轨迹优化和制导问题，首先利用间接法获得小推力燃料最优GEO轨道转移的数值解，提出一种多项式曲线拟合最优轨迹的方法，多项式曲线形式简单，可作为参考轨道在星上存储和使用。在多项式参考轨道的基础上，建立了一种分段常值推力跟踪参考轨道的闭环制导策略，在常值推力条件下，轨道要素控制量与控制力有解析关系，简化了制导律设计；将多圈轨道转移问题分解为多个单圈轨道优化问题。结果显示，本文提出的分段常值跟踪制导策略跟踪精度高，和最优轨道相比多消耗7%的燃料。本制导策略控制结构简单，易于工程实施。     

微爆轰推力器的冲量计算

轻型微爆轰推力器由许多装有微量含能材料的推力单元组成。文章利用瞬时爆轰假设以及小药量线性近似，假设推力单元内的微量含能材料的爆轰反应在瞬时完成，从理论上计算了微爆轰推力单元在真空中的冲量和推力；并在此基础上研究了含能材料的爆热、产物的等熵指数以及喷管长度对单元的冲量和推力的影响。研究结果表明，推力单元的冲量随装药质量、等熵指数和比爆热的增大而增加；为了获得理想的推进性能，喷管的长度不能小于装药长度的4倍。     

全电推进卫星轨道优化的推力同伦解法

全电推进卫星的入轨过程是一个典型的多圈小推力轨道优化问题，由于其推力器加速度小，变轨圈数多，造成其最优理论解的求解较困难。为解决该问题，利用最优控制理论建立了全电推进卫星变轨优化的间接法模型，将变轨优化问题转化为协态变量初值猜测的两点边值问题。从大推力问题开始，通过遗传算法获得大范围猜测值并结合系列二次规划方法获得大推力的精确解。采用推力同伦思想，使用逐渐缩小推力的方式完成小推力问题的求解。仿真算例表明，采用推力同伦的方法，通过数十次的推力缩减即可有效解决多达上百圈变轨的静止轨道全电推进卫星入轨优化问题。     

微小卫星轨道保持的混合切换控制方法

固体微推力器阵列作为一种新型推力装置用于微小卫星轨道保持具有精度高、无燃料泄漏、冲量可调等优点,但是微推力器推力不连续的特点,使得控制系统设计时与以往的连续系统有所不同。为了充分发挥微推力器高精度的特性,采用基于混合系统的切换控制思想,建立了微推力器混合切换系统控制模型。首先,根据固体微推力器的推力特点推导了卫星离散动力学模型;其次,以李雅普诺夫稳定性定律为基础,设计了混合系统脉冲切换控制律;最后,针对小卫星轨道控制进行了仿真验证。结果表明,基于混合系统建立的控制模型能准确反映微推力器的特点,轨道保持精度能达到0.2m,而且推力器消耗量满足卫星长时间在轨运行要求。     

Modeling and attitude control of CubeSat utilizing moving mass actuators

Any vehicle propelled by solid rocket motors (SRMs) must include an attitude control system capable of dealing with the torque generated by thrust misalignment. In order to expand the application of SRMs on CubeSats, an attitude control system utilizing moving mass actuators is discussed. The present research develops an eight-degree-of-freedom simulation model of a 2U CubeSat with two moving mass actuators. That model also considers the influence of propellant combustion processes. By analyzing the model disturbance source and systematic coupling, the key layout parameters are designed and a simplified control model is proposed. The controller is derived based on a combination of backstepping and sliding mode techniques. An orbit maneuver from 300 km circular orbit to 300 and 500 km elliptical orbit using this attitude control system is verified.     

空间站先进的推进系统

本文讨论空间站控制各种类型的推进系统。研究结论是推进剂消耗量是一个重要成本因素。电推进系统具有比化学推进器最少高一个数量级的比冲,所以采用电推进系统可以大量减少推进剂质量。电推进系统适用于比较大的总冲量的任务,诸如阻力补偿和轨道转移。     

基于电推力器进行南北位置保持的一种地球同步轨道注入参数方法

摘要： 电推力器在静止轨道卫星上应用越来越广泛,特别是基于电推力器进行南北位置保持,可以有效节省推进剂.提出改进的GPS星历参数解析算法,在此基础上考虑包含电推力模型在内多摄动项模型进行地面精密轨道计算,采用微分修正法,提出一种地球同步轨道注入参数方法,该方法可应用于星上自主完成基于电推力器的南北位置保持.仿真算例表明使用该方法得到的轨道注入参数,卫星能够在保证姿态确定精度的同时,完成南北位置保持任务.     

Navigating BepiColombo during the weak-stability capture at Mercury

BepiColombo is scheduled for launch in August 2013 and to arrive after a nearly six-year long transfer at Mercury in June 2019. The trajectory has a number of challenging elements: a launch with Soyuz/Fregat into a geostationary transfer orbit, followed by a lunar flyby, long low-thrust arcs and five more planetary flybys (one at the Earth, two at Venus and two at Mercury). At arrival the low thrust arcs reduce the approach velocity so much that BepiColombo passes by the Sun–Mercury Lagrange points L₁ and L₂ and gets weakly captured in a highly eccentric orbit around Mercury in case the orbit insertion manoeuvre would fail.This paper describes the navigation strategy during the final phase. Five trajectory correction manouevres during the last 65 days requiring up to 20 m/s (3σ) are proposed. With this strategy it is possible to navigate BepiColombo safely through the weak-stability boundary of Mercury and to reach the target periherm with a precision of 11 km.     

Orbit determination of BeiDou navigation satellite system maneuvered satellites based on instantaneous velocity pulses parameters

The BeiDou navigation satellite system (BDS) comprises geostationary earth orbit (GEO) satellites as well as inclined geosynchronous orbit (IGSO) and medium earth orbit (MEO) satellites. Owing to their special orbital characteristics, GEO satellites require frequent orbital maneuvers to ensure that they operate in a specific orbital window. The availability of the entire system is affected during the maneuver period because service cannot be provided before the ephemeris is restored. In this study, based on the conventional dynamic orbit determination method for navigation satellites, multiple sets of instantaneous velocity pulses parameters which belong to one of pseudo-stochastic parameters were used to simulate the orbital maneuver process in the orbital maneuver arc and establish the observed and predicted orbits of the maneuvered and non-maneuvered satellites of BeiDou regional navigation satellite system (BDS-2) and BeiDou global navigation satellite system (BDS-3). Finally, the single point positioning (SPP) technology was used to verify the accuracy of the observed and predicted orbits. The orbit determination accuracy of maneuvered satellites can be greatly improved by using the orbit determination method proposed in this paper. The overlapping orbit determination accuracy of maneuvered GEO satellites of BDS-2 and BDS-3 can improve 2–3 orders of magnitude. Among them, the radial orbit determination accuracy of each maneuvered satellite is basically better than 1 m. simultaneously, the combined orbit determination of the maneuvered and non-maneuvered satellites does not have a great impact on the orbit determination accuracy of the non-maneuvered satellites. Compared with the multi GNSS products (indicated by GBM) from the German Research Centre for Geosciences (GFZ), the impact of adding the maneuvered satellites on the orbit determination accuracy of BDS-2 satellites is less than 9 %. Furthermore, the orbital recovery time and the service availability period are significantly improved. When the node of the predicted orbit is traversed approximately 3 h after the maneuver, the accuracy of the predicted orbit of the maneuvered satellite can reach that of the observed orbit. The SPP results for the BDS reached a normal level when the node of the predicted orbit was 2 h after the maneuver.     

关于脉冲式轨道改变的讨论

讨论了以单脉冲方式使卫星由原轨道转入另一条新轨道的问题,给出了实现这种变轨的必要条件以及所需的速度增量。     

地球静止轨道卫星电推进位保策略研究

研究了利用电推进系统进行GEO卫星轨道保持问题,给出了一种基于日预报的位置保持策略。首先,根据GEO卫星轨道漂移规律,分析了小推力推进系统每日进行位保的可行性;然后,针对四电推力器配置构型,给出了每日轨道误差、各推力器工作时间与区间的预测方法;进一步,针对给定的定点位置,根据位保效果对电推进安装角进行了优化选择,并研究了推力变化对位保效果和燃料消耗的影响。以东经100°定点为例对所给方法进行了仿真验证,数值结果表明:所给策略可有效用于GEO卫星位置保持。     

磁等离子体推力器工作机理与应用前景研究

研究了发动机能量输入、工质电离、等离子体加速及能量转换过程及机理,同时分析了磁等离子体推力器在空间推进任务中的应用前景.研究表明磁等离子体推力器主要利用电磁力加速和磁喷管的能量转换作用来实现加速,这种方式在大功率条件下,能够获得大推力、高功率和较长工作时间,在大功率轨道航天器和深空任务中有广阔的应用前景.     

空间核电推进系统比质量优化建模及其木星探测应用分析

空间核电推进(Nuclear Electric Propulsion,NEP)系统是一种将核热能转换成电能,并驱动大功率电推力器而产生推力的革命性空间推进技术。和传统推进技术相比,NEP具有高比冲、大功率、长寿命等技术优势,非常适合未来大规模深空探测任务。基于NEP系统组成和小推力轨道理论,建立了以有效载荷为目标的NEP系统比质量优化模型。该模型能够解析NEP航天器的轨道运行时间、比质量、功率与有效载荷比的复杂耦合关系,为任务优化提供了计算依据。最后,利用该模型对NEP系统完成NASA "Juno号"航天任务进行了技术指标评估分析。计算表明,当NEP系统比质量达到4.8 kg/kWe时,其能将"Juno号"航天任务的地木转移时间由2 266 d缩短至665 d,有效载荷由160 kg提高到1 179 kg,极大地提高了航天器的探测能力,为任务方案的可行性论证和后续设计提供参考。     

固体运载火箭变轨发动机喷管气流分离研究

固体运载火箭变轨发动机喷管在工作过程中可能产生气流分离问题,为研究气流分离对喷管性能的影响,开展了理论计算与数值模拟分析。通过分析获得了气流分离点位置、推力系数、喷管壁面的压强、对流换热系数、温度分布。结果表明:地面推力系数是真空推力系数的73.3%,喷管气流分离影响了发动机能量转换;气流分离后喷管壁面压强、对流换热系数、温度存在跃变现象,从而会对喷管扩张段产生不利影响。该分析为进一步研究固体火箭发动机高空喷管通过地面试验性能预示高空性能及喷管扩张段热防护设计提供参考。