Design study for a three-meter balloon-borne telescope for far infrared and submillimeter astronomy

A NASA supported design study is being carried out for a three-meter balloon-borne far infrared and submillimeter telescope. The goal of this project is to provide a facility for frequent flights for photometry, spectroscopy, and imaging in the spectral region 30 micrometers to 1 millimeter. It is intended to provide a scientific and technical step on the way to a large submillimeter telescope in space in the future. The study is concentrating on areas where technical advances are required: materials and fabrication techniques for lightweight primary mirrors, telescope and gondola structure, and pointing and stabilization. We are carrying out a design optimization and environmental test program of state-of-the-art carbon fiber reinforced plastic sandwich panels in collaboration with Dornier Systems. Similar efforts are being pursued for very lightweight molded glass mirrors. Innovative approaches to the telescope support and stabilization are being explored for achieving the required 1 arcsecond pointing stability.     

Dynamic modeling and multi-stage integrated control method of ultra-quiet spacecraft

Space telescope ultrahigh precision pointing control requires the spacecraft platform to provide an ultra-quiet working environment. Vibration isolator rejection control and the multi-stage integrated control method is believed to be one of the best methods to improve the space telescope attitude control performance. In this paper, the fine dynamics model of multi-stage spacecraft systems is presented and the multi-stage integrated controller design techniques are provided. Effectiveness of the multi-stage integrated control approach is demonstrated by both the numerical simulation and experiment results. An integrated design and demonstrated experimental environment is developed for high-fidelity control performance assessment. The verification experiments for the space telescope attitude control and vibration control are carried out. The results show that the pointing accuracy and stability of the line-of-sight (LOS) for space telescope are improved at least one order by the multi-stage integrated control method.     

Stacked recurrent neural network based high precision pointing coupled control of the spacecraft and telescopes

In some space missions especially in the field of space gravitational wave detection, the telescope needs to point to a certain target through attitude movement and pointing control. In several mainstream gravitational wave detection missions, the detector usually consists of a cluster of three identical satellites, flying in a quasi-equilateral triangular formation with a big edge length, so every satellite needs two telescopes to point each other and constitute three giant Michelson-Type interferometers. Therefore, a satellite platform system with two telescopes is researched in this paper. This research helps to characterize the attitude motion of a telescope for space astronomical observation or space gravitational wave detection, provides new method on the telescope’s high-precision pointing control. For this purpose, we derive a satellite-telescope coupling attitude model, design the sliding mode controller for satellite and the stacked recurrent neural network adaptive controller for telescope. In the stacked recurrent neural network adaptive controller design, a sliding mode control technology is adopted. In addition, we propose a combinatorial optimization method for network weights in the stacked recurrent neural network training process, that is, the output layer is corrected by the adaptive law, and the correction of other layers adopt the error backpropagation method. Finally, a numerical simulation method verifies the effectiveness of the controller design.     

The ROSAT mission

A primary scientific objective of the ROSAT mission is to perform the first all-sky survey with an imaging X-ray telescope leading to an improvement in sensitivity by several orders of magnitude compared with previous surveys. A large number of new sources (? 10⁵) will be discovered and located with an accuracy of 1 arcmin or better. These will comprise almost all astronomical objects from nearby normal stars to distant quasistellar objects. After completion of the survey which will take half a year the instrument will be used for detailed observations of selected sources with respect to spatial structure, spectra and time variability. In this mode which will be open for guest observers ROSAT will provide substantial improvement over the imaging instruments of the Einstein observatory.The main ROSAT telescope consists of a fourfold nested mirror system with 83 cm aperture having three focal plane instruments. Two of them will be imaging proportional counters (0.1 – 2 keV) providing a field of view of 2°, an angular resolution of ≈ 30″ in the pointing mode and a spectral resolution ^ΔE/E ≈ 45% FWHM at 1 keV. The third focal instrument will be a high resolution imager (≈ 3″). The main ROSAT telescope will be complemented by a parallel looking Wide Field camera which extend the spectral coverage into the XUV band.     

球载高能天文望远镜的超视距自动跟踪

本文在HAPI-4原有系统的基础上，利用80C196超16位单片机，首次实现了球载姿态指向控制系统的数字化；借助于全球卫星定位系统GPS，实现了气球位置的高精度定位和时间的绝对定标；采用小型高密度磁带机作为球载数据流存储器，利用海事卫星实现超视距测控，形成了新一代的球载高能望远镜控制系统．     

Air-LUSI: A robotic telescope design for lunar spectral measurements

This paper presents the mechanical design of a new robotic telescope that was designed and built to acquire lunar spectral measurements from the science pod of NASA's ER-2 aircraft while flying at an altitude of 70,000 feet (21.34 km). The robotic telescope used a double gimbal design that allowed for target tracking in azimuth and elevation. In addition to the challenging and restrictive geometry of the science pod, each component needed to be carefully selected to ensure that they could withstand the operating conditions at high altitude such as harsh temperatures extending as low as −54 °C and atmospheric pressure less than 1.05 psi (7.23 kPa). Due to the cold temperatures, low atmospheric pressure and the likely exposure to moisture, high strength industrial linear actuators were used to create an adjustable linkage system that controlled the pointing and tracking of the telescope. Although unconventional, this allowed for a robust design that outperformed the team's expectations by tracking the Moon for 40 min with an average tracking error under 0.05°. The results presented within this paper were acquired during a first set of engineering test flights, with further scientific missions to follow.     

The space telescope program

The 2.4-m Space Telescope is well into its development phase and is planned for launch in early 1985. The major components of the optical telescope portion are completed and the supporting systems are being designed and acquired. The five scientific instruments, including the ESA provided Faint Object Camera, are on schedule for delivery by the summer of 1983. After successful completion of the optical components, the greatest design challenge has been the pointing and control system. The original design goals of near diffraction limited performance in the visible and near ultraviolet remain as do the other goals of versatility and long life.     

The Zadko telescope: A resource for science education enrichment

This paper describes plans for employing a new fully robotic optical telescope in Western Australia, the Zadko telescope, for evaluating education-outreach. A key feature of the telescope is the optimized observation-scheduling program, developed by our French collaborators who operate the TAROT robotic telescope network. It provides a simple interface for requesting observation time remotely, and has the potential for school students to participate in real astronomical research. The University of Western Australia and Curtin University are commencing a study for evaluating changes in student perceptions of science by participation in our astronomy research. Other areas of interest include broadening the program to include access of students from European countries, and exploring how remote access astronomy can be used to encourage awareness between different cultures.     

A two-dimensional position-sensitive spectroscopic proportional counter for balloon-borne hard X-ray astronomy

A new design of position sensitive spectroscopic proportional counter is described, for use in a balloon borne hard x-ray telescope. Initial position and spectral resolution data from a one-dimensional laboratory prototype are reported. With this device, the final telescope will have an angular resolution of better than 10 minutes of arc.     

一种辐射带电子望远镜

此仪器为测量辐射带电子分布,估计空间电子对卫星仪器设备的损伤效应而研制。 仪器分三个能挡,即E_(e1)≥0.25MeV,E_(e2)≥0.5MeV,E_(e3)≥0.8MeV。探头部分采用三块贯穿式金硅面垒型半导体探测器构成望远镜式结构,具有高的分辨率,噪声低,线性响应好等特性,能够将电子信号和其他带电粒子(如质子、α粒子等)产生的干扰信号可靠地区别开来。 仪器经过校准、环境实验以及在卫星上实际使用,性能可靠,达到了设计要求,取得了一系列实验数据。     

Simulation experiments of the cosmic ray isotope telescope on ETS VI

A computer simulation was carried out to evaluate the basic characteristics of a Δ E×E cosmic ray telescope consisting of 23 solid state detectors including 3 position sensitive detectors with large effective area. Based on the simulation, the geometric factor of the telescope is deduced to be as large as 22.5 cm²sr, almost independent of charge and energy concerned. The energy ranges to be covered by the telescope are, for example, 18–98 MeV/n for Li and 56–339 MeV/n for Fe. By analyzing simulated data, the mass resolution for iron in the overall energy range covered by the telescope is estimated as about 0.22 amu in standard deviation. The expected counting rates and mass-histograms are simulated for Galactic cosmic rays and solar energetic particles.     

大型天文望远镜研究

提出新建一台4.3m 光学红外新技术望远镜,并与北京天文台2.16m 望远镜用真空管道联机作CCD 照相和光干涉测量,提高集光能力达4.8m 口径,分辨率达10m 口径。     

太阳X-EUV成像望远镜的移动补偿系统

卫星帆板转动和自身颤动会导致太阳X射线-极紫外射线(X-EUV)成像望远镜的成像质量下降.用移动补偿系统控制相机的CCD驱动器,使势阱转移到相邻相的位置上,转移的方向正好与图像在传感器上移动方向一致,使得图像的每个光子在移动后仍然落入传感器的同一个势阱内,补偿由于帆板移动造成的图像偏移.CCD相移沿列的方向进行,而CCD的列平行于东西向.高精度太阳敏感器使用两轴直角坐标来定位太阳的位置.移动补偿系统只使用其中一个轴向数据,由于南北指向误差远远小于东西指向,因此不对南北指向补偿.该移动补偿系统利用高精度太阳敏感器构成半闭环控制系统,通过偏移CCD势阱来实现一个方向上的移动补偿.该方案可以在不增加成本的前提下,消除长时间曝光过程中的太阳的平移和帆板颤动对图像质量造成的影响,扩大动态观测范围.      

An imaging telescope for soft gamma-ray astronomy: The preliminary in-flight tests

A large area (6000 cm²) actively shielded low energy gamma-ray telescope is going to be built by an Anglo-Italian collaboration. The telescope, named ZEBRA, will be capable of producing images of the X and gamma ray sky in the energy range 0.015–20 MeV with an intrinsic angular resolution of a few tenths of a degree. A prototype detector has been built in order to experimentally study the main characteristics of the detection plane. The preliminary results obtained during a balloon flight from Trapani, Sicily in July 1981 are presented.     

High angular resolution observations in the soft gamma-ray band with sigma

The launch in December 1989, of SIGMA, one of the main devices aboard the GRANAT spacecraft, has provided high-energy astronomers for the first time with a telescope whose imaging properties in the soft γ-ray regime match those of instruments operating in the hard X-ray band. Having examined 300 celestial fields during more than two years of successful in-orbit operations, this coded-aperture telescope, sensitive to radiation in the energy range 35 keV to 1.3 MeV, has succeeded both in disentangling severe source confusion problems and in providing firm identifications and reliable spectra of sources at soft γ-ray wavelengths. A selection of the salient scientific results obtained so far is presented, with intent to emphasize the unique contribution of a coded-mask telescope able to perform accurate images of the sky in the soft γ-ray domain.     

Proposed lunar-based telescopes for NEO observations

The first lunar-based telescope for a test of NEO observations is discussed within a scenario of NASDA's sequence of lunar missions. There have been no real telescopes on the moon as yet, and therefore we have to step up from a primitive level of telescope to real NEO telescopes. The first telescope with an aperture of 30 cm is expected to be launched around 2005.     

射电天文望远镜的焦面阵设计

为使射电天文望远镜的视场得到扩大,分析望远镜的视场时对天线的反射面提出共形网格剖分法,对物理光学法的常规计算方法进行了改进,使计算精度得到提高,且剖分网格少.采用改进的算法计算了WSRT望远镜的焦面场,并根据计算结果设计了WSRT望远镜的致密焦面阵结构;用共轭匹配法对阵列单元加权、计算相应的远场方向图,并与采用单个馈源时的远场方向图作比较.结果表明采用致密焦面阵能扩大视场并保证视场连续,增益也得到提高.      

First astrometric observations of space debris with the MéO telescope

The MéO (for Métrologie Optique) telescope is the Satellite and Lunar Laser Ranging (SLR) dedicated telescope of Observatoire de la Côte d’Azur (France) located at plateau de Calern. The telescope uses an altazimuth mount. The motorization of the mount has a capability of 6 deg/s allowing the follow up of Low Earth Orbits (LEO) satellites, as well as Medium Earth Orbits (MEO) and geostationary (GEO) satellites, and the Moon. The telescope has a primary mirror of 1.54 m. It uses a Nasmyth focus equipped with an EMCCD camera. The telescope field of view, defined by the equivalent focal length and the size of the camera, is currently 3.4 arcmin × 3.4 arcmin.     

毫秒脉冲星计时的多星观测

在评价脉冲星时研究发展趋势的基础上 ,讨论了基于毫秒脉冲星自转的脉冲星时间的短期特征和长期稳定度。并对影响其稳定度的因素作了初步分析。 5 0m射电望远镜计时观测的目的之一就是综合脉冲星时研究。对于 5 0m望远镜计时观测的选星和由多星观测进行综合脉冲星时研究中的数据分析问题进行了讨论。