小行星远距离抵近轨道（英文）

讨论了小行星引力一阶项可被忽略情况下的小行星远距离轨道设计及动力学。此时,航天器的运动受太阳引力和太阳光压的影响。航天器和小行星的加速度之差在这两者之间形成的独特的相对动力学,为航天器在小行星附近停驻与观测提供特定轨道。完整解决了小行星处于圆形日心轨道这一较简单情况,也考虑和阐述了椭圆轨道情况,并取得了一些初步结果。     

考虑太阳摄动的小行星附近轨道动力学

本文研究了艳后星(216 Kleopatra)和爱神星(433 Eros)附近的周期轨道,在考虑太阳引力摄动的情况下,发现了以往所遗漏的216 Kleopatra轨道族和环绕433 Eros的12族周期轨道,并且给出了它们的特性。研究结果表明,太阳引力对小行星平衡点位置的影响很小,但是对平衡点上航天器运动的影响较大。同族不稳定轨道中,大Jacobi常数轨道更容易在摄动后保持轨道原来特性,这很好地解释了小行星卫星在较远轨道上长期存在的可能性。     

一种不规则小行星附近周期轨道全局搜索策略

研究不规则小行星附近的自然周期轨道,有助于更好地认识小行星附近的动力学特性。周期轨道的搜索过程需要频繁地进行轨道递推,其中绝大多数的计算时间消耗在不规则小行星附近的引力加速度计算中。为提高加速度计算效率,提出一种不规则小行星引力加速度快速估计方法;在此基础上,通过参数空间内随机化粗略搜索获得周期轨道的初值猜想;利用遗传算法在初值猜想附近区间进行精细搜索,找到周期轨道的初值。通过对不规则小行星433 Eros附近周期轨道的搜索,对其附近不同形状的周期轨道进行了分类,分析周期轨道在小行星附近的分布规律。     

太阳系天体引力对空间引力波探测日心编队构型的影响分析

针对太极空间引力波探测任务,建立了太阳系天体引力摄动对日心编队构型影响的数学模型,利用仿真手段分析了太阳系中行星和月球、矮行星和小行星引力摄动对空间引力波探测日心编队构型的影响,提出了一种综合考虑小行星到卫星轨道距离和星等的二重筛选方法,能够快速估计小行星相对加速度的上界.分析了日心编队构型卫星初始相位角变化对太阳系天...     

电磁航天器编队悬停鲁棒协同控制方法

针对电磁航天器编队近地轨道悬停问题,提出一种在缺少参考轨道准确信息时的协同控制方法。用TH方程描述航天器间的相对运动,选择与参考轨道同周期的圆轨道为标称轨道。将参考轨道相对于标称圆轨道的偏差、地球非球形引力、大气阻力及其他天体引力等参数单独归类,视其为不确定量,构成不确定系统。通过引入一致性理论,在电磁作用模型和动力学方程均存在不确定性的条件下,针对航天器编队悬停的目标设计了鲁棒协同控制律。考虑能量消耗最优和均衡以及轨道姿态解耦,给出了通过优化进行磁矩配置的方案。仿真结果表明,所设计的鲁棒协同控制律能够实现编队电磁航天器高精度悬停,所给出的磁矩配置方案能够实现磁矩的合理分配。      

航天器上为什么有失重环境？

太空中不存在没有引力的区域，但在两个天体之间却存在引办相互抵消的引力平衡点，如果航天的运动轨迹始终处于引力平衡点上，航天器就会平步青云失重环境。不过，航天器上的失重环境不必只在这种特殊条件下才有，凡是做轨道运动的航天器，都会具有失重环境。     

登陆小行星从海底起步

除了家园地球之外,人类仅仅登上了月球这一个天体,并计划着登陆火星。此外,美国航宇局还设想在不远的将来能够登上一颗近地小行星。不过,登陆小行星可能会比登陆火星更加困难。难点在于两个方面,一个是引力环境。月球的引力只有地球的六分之一,所以阿波罗登月的航天员在月球上是蹦跳着行走的。而小行星的引力如何呢?     

伴随轨道拟合技术

航天器的伴随轨道可以执行各种特殊任务。文中给出一种从伴随轨道确定两个航天器轨道要素的方法,这一方法也可推广应用于多个航天器的情况。     

三小行星系统216 Kleopatra引力场中的动力学

主带三小行星系统216 Kleopatra是由主星216 Kleopatra及两个小月亮(moonlet)Alexhelios[S/2008(216)1]和Cleoselene[S/2008(216)2]组成。其中主星216Kleopatra是一个具有强不规则形状如哑铃的连接双星,大小为217km×94km×81km,外小月亮Alexhelios大小约为8.9km,内小月亮大小约为6.9km。其动力学行为具有非常丰富的科学内涵。研究了三小行星系统216Kleopatra自身的动力学机制及其引力场中探测器的运动规律,分析了主星质心固连系中探测器的动力学方程,给出了三小行星引力全多体问题的动力学方程及Jacobi积分,方程考虑了三个小行星的不规则外形、轨道与姿态。发现三小行星系统216Kleopatra主星引力场中一种新的周期轨道族的倍周期分岔。考虑主星的不规则精确外形与引力、两个小月亮的相互作用,研究了该三小行星系统的动力学构形。发现Kleopatra的强不规则几何外形及两个小月亮Alexhelios和Cleoselene的相互作用引起两个小月亮的轨道参数的显著变化。     

预防小行星撞击地球的十大措施

正自从人类认识到近地小行星(NEA)的撞击危险性以来,一直在思考如何减轻和避免小行星撞击地球带来的灾害,并提出了许多应对措施。从不同的角度出发,可以将这些措施分成几种类型。按对撞击者处理方式不同,可分为偏转小行星的轨道和击碎小行星两种方式;按使用的能源不同,可分为动能、电磁能、引力、太阳能以及核能等方式;按接近小行星的方式不同,可分为拦截、轨道交会等方式;根据是否能快速地向目标传递能量,还可以分为直接和间接两种方式。究竟采取何种方式,要根据撞击可能发生的时间、撞击者的大小和轨     

Design of a formation of solar pumped lasers for asteroid deflection

This paper presents the design of a multi-spacecraft system for the deflection of asteroids. Each spacecraft is equipped with a fibre laser and a solar concentrator. The laser induces the sublimation of a portion of the surface of the asteroid, and the resultant jet of gas and debris thrusts the asteroid off its natural course. The main idea is to have a formation of spacecraft flying in the proximity of the asteroid with all the spacecraft beaming to the same location to achieve the required deflection thrust. The paper presents the design of the formation orbits and the multi-objective optimisation of the formation in order to minimise the total mass in space and maximise the deflection of the asteroid. The paper demonstrates how significant deflections can be obtained with relatively small sized, easy-to-control spacecraft.     

Spacecraft swarm dynamics and control about asteroids

This paper presents a novel methodology to control spacecraft swarms about single asteroids. This approach enables the use of small, autonomous swarm spacecraft in conjunction with a mothership, reducing the need for the Deep Space Network and improving performance in future asteroid missions. The methodology is informed by a semi-analytical model for the spacecraft relative motion that includes relevant gravitational effects without assuming J2-dominance as well as solar radiation pressure. The dynamics model is exploited in an Extended Kalman Filter (EKF) to produce an osculating-to-mean relative orbital element (ROE) conversion that relies on minimum knowledge of the asteroid gravity. The resulting real-time relative mean state estimate is utilized in a new formation-keeping control algorithm. The control problem is cast in mean relative orbital elements to leverage the geometric insight of secular and long-period effects in the definition of control windows for swarm maintenance. Analytical constraints that ensure collision avoidance and enforce swarm geometry are derived and enforced in ROE space. The proposed swarm-keeping algorithms are tested and validated in high-fidelity simulations for a reference asteroid mission.     

Synergistic approach of asteroid exploitation and planetary protection

The asteroid and cometary impact hazard has long been recognised as an important issue requiring risk assessment and contingency planning. At the same time asteroids have also been acknowledged as possible sources of raw materials for future large-scale space engineering ventures. This paper explores possible synergies between these two apparently opposed views; planetary protection and space resource exploitation. In particular, the paper assumes a 5 tonne low-thrust spacecraft as a baseline for asteroid deflection and capture (or resource transport) missions. The system is assumed to land on the asteroid and provide a continuous thrust able to modify the orbit of the asteroid according to the mission objective. The paper analyses the capability of such a near-term system to provide both planetary protection and asteroid resources to Earth. Results show that a 5 tonne spacecraft could provide a high level of protection for modest impact hazards: airburst and local damage events (caused by 15–170 m diameter objects). At the same time, the same spacecraft could also be used to transport to bound Earth orbits significant quantities of material through judicious use of orbital dynamics and passively safe aero-capture manoeuvres or low energy ballistic capture. As will be shown, a 5 tonne low-thrust spacecraft could potentially transport between 12 and 350 times its own mass of asteroid resources by means of ballistic capture or aero-capture trajectories that pose very low dynamical pressures on the object.     

Study of highly perturbed spacecraft formation dynamics via approximation

This paper explores methods for approximating and analyzing the dynamics of highly perturbed spacecraft formations with an emphasis on computationally efficient approaches. This facilitates on-board computation or rapid preliminary mission design analysis. Perturbed formation dynamics are often approximated as linear time-varying (LTV) systems, for which Floquet theory can be used to analyze the degree of system instability. Furthermore, the angular momentum of the relative orbital state can be computed with the approximate dynamics to provide additional insight. A general methodology is developed first and then applied to the problem of unstable formation dynamics in asteroid orbits. Here the dominant perturbative effects due to low-order gravitational harmonics and solar radiation pressure are modeled. Numerical simulations validate the approach and illustrate the approximation accuracy achieved.     

Stability of relative equilibria of the full spacecraft dynamics around an asteroid with orbit–attitude coupling

The full dynamics of spacecraft around an asteroid, in which the spacecraft is considered as a rigid body and the gravitational orbit–attitude coupling is taken into account, is of great value and interest in the precise theories of the motion. The spectral stability of the classical relative equilibria of the full spacecraft dynamics around an asteroid is studied with the method of geometric mechanics. The stability conditions are given explicitly based on the characteristic equation of the linear system matrix. It is found that the linearized system decouples into two entirely independent subsystems, which correspond to the motions within and outside the equatorial plane of the asteroid respectively. The system parameters are divided into three groups that describe the traditional stationary orbit stability, the significance of the orbit–attitude coupling and the mass distribution of the spacecraft respectively. The spectral stability of the relative equilibria is investigated numerically with respect to the three groups of system parameters. The relations between the full spacecraft dynamics and the traditional spacecraft dynamics, as well as the effect of the orbit–attitude coupling, are assessed. We find that when the orbit–attitude coupling is strong, the mass distribution of the spacecraft dominates the stability of the relative equilibria; whereas when the orbit–attitude coupling is weak, both the mass distribution and the traditional stationary orbit stability have significant effects on the stability. We also give a criterion to determine whether the orbit–attitude coupling needs to be considered.     

On tethered sample and mooring systems near irregular asteroids

A tethered asteroid sample and mooring system is investigated in this paper. In this system the spacecraft is moored to the surface of an irregular asteroid such as 216 Kleopatra by using a rocket-propelled anchor with a cable. The rocket-propelled anchor is a kind of space penetrator, which can inject into asteroids at high speeds generated by its own rocket engine. It can be used to explore the interior structure of asteroids, and it can also be used as a sample collector. When the sampling mission is done, the sample can be pulled back to the spacecraft with the anchor. Using this method, the spacecraft can be kept in a safe region in which it cannot be trapped by the gravitational field of the asteroid. This work is concerned with the dynamics of the tethered system near irregular asteroids. First, a shape model and gravitational field model of irregular asteroids are built. Then, the configuration and the stability of the tethered system are investigated, and the quasi-periodic motion near the equilibrium point of the tethered system is analyzed. Finally, the non-uniform density distribution of the asteroids is considered. The deployment process and the oscillation of the tethered system in the uncertain asteroid gravity field are simulated using the Monte Carlo method. The feasibility of the tethered asteroid sample and mooring system is proved.     

利用绳系太阳帆减缓小行星自转的技术研究

提出一种利用太阳帆绳系系统逐渐减小小行星自转速率的方法。在系绳长度不变的情况下,利用太阳帆受到的太阳光压力使其始终保持与小行星同步,避免了由于小行星自转而引起的系绳缠绕问题。通过控制太阳帆使系绳始终拉紧,系绳中的拉力便可以持续提供一个与小行星自转方向相反的力矩,从而减小其自转速率。仿真结果表明,面积10⁶ m²的太阳帆,经过约86天可将小行星的自转消除,验证了该方法的有效性。     

A small mission for in situ exploration of a primitive binary near-Earth asteroid

We present a concept for a challenging in situ science mission to a primitive, binary near-Earth asteroid. A sub-400-kg spacecraft would use solar electric propulsion to rendezvous with the C-class binary asteroid (175706) 1996 FG3. A campaign of remote observations of both worlds would be followed by landing on the ∼1 km diameter primary to perform in situ measurements. The total available payload mass would be around 34 kg, allowing a wide range of measurement objectives to be addressed. This mission arose during 2004 from the activities of the ad-hoc Small Bodies Group of the DLR-led Planetary Lander Initiative. Although the particular mission scenario proposed here was not studied further per se, the experience was carried over to subsequent European asteroid mission studies, including first LEONARD and now the Marco Polo near-Earth asteroid sample return proposal for ESA’s Cosmic Vision programme. This paper may thus be of interest as much for insight into the life cycle of mission proposals as for the concept itself.     

主带小行星采样返回任务中的离子电推进应用方案

由于离子电推进的高比冲特性,采用它执行小行星探测器巡航阶段轨道机动任务时,将使探测器在同样的有效载荷下的发射重量大大减轻。针对我国规划中的主带小行星采样返回任务,调研了国外离子电推进在深空探测任务中的应用情况,在借鉴国外成功经验和任务需求分析的基础上,设计了主带小行星探测器离子电推进系统方案和应用策略,计算了在目前离子推力器寿命水平下,既定探测任务对离子电推进推力、比冲、推进剂量以及功耗需求。研究表明,目前研制的离子推力器可以满足规划中的主带小行星探测任务需求。研究成果对探测器的方案设计有参考价值。     

The VESTA project: Combined studies of Mars and small bodies of the solar system

A mission to Mars and small solar system bodies is presently studied as a possible collaboration between INTERCOSMOS, CNES, ESA and eventually other participants. The VESTA concept, based on the same strategy as the successful VEGA mission, is more ambitious, as two spacecrafts separate soon after launch: a soviet spacecraft, dedicated to the study of Mars, and a spacecraft dedicated to the study of small bodies, under the responsibility of CNES and ESA. This spacecraft would use Mars gravity assists to visit up to 4 small bodies in less than 5 years. The mission is duplicated, which means that up to 8 small bodies could be studied (e.g. 6 main belt asteroids, 1 apollo-amor asteroid and 1 short period comet). Low relative velocities (< 3.5 km/s) should allow to drop a penetrator on two large main belt asteroids, such as 4 Vesta and 1 Ceres (1994 launch).