Removing orbital debris with lasers

Orbital debris in low Earth orbit (LEO) are now sufficiently dense that the use of LEO space is threatened by runaway collision cascading. A problem predicted more than thirty years ago, the threat from debris larger than about 1 cm demands serious attention. A promising proposed solution uses a high power pulsed laser system on the Earth to make plasma jets on the objects, slowing them slightly, and causing them to re-enter and burn up in the atmosphere. In this paper, we reassess this approach in light of recent advances in low-cost, light-weight modular design for large mirrors, calculations of laser-induced orbit changes and in design of repetitive, multi-kilojoules lasers, that build on inertial fusion research. These advances now suggest that laser orbital debris removal (LODR) is the most cost-effective way to mitigate the debris problem. No other solutions have been proposed that address the whole problem of large and small debris. A LODR system will have multiple uses beyond debris removal. International cooperation will be essential for building and operating such a system.     

Internal fuselage noise: comparison of computations and tests on a Falcon airframe

An unequipped Falcon 2000 airframe, a complex heterogeneous structure reduced to the fuselage alone, was subjected to vibro-acoustic characterization within the framework of a cooperative effort by Aerospatiale, Dassault-Aviation, and Onera. Onera's Structural Dynamics and Coupled Systems Department measured the structure's vibro-acoustic responses for four mechanical excitation configurations, and analysed three structural configurations: fuselage alone without floor, with floor, and with floor and internal wall. The resulting database of vibratory and acoustic level measurements is used for validating numerical models in the low- and medium-frequency range, as well as statistical energy analysis (SEA) models in the medium- and high-frequency range.The database was analysed by Dassault-Aviation and Onera. We present here the computation/test comparisons and the limitations of the methods in use. All of the data and comparisons validate the predictive vibro-acoustic response models and methods for a Falcon fuselage subjected to a mechanical excitation.     

Deflecting APOPHIS with a flotilla of solar shields

The possibility to use the photonic pressure from the Sun for acting upon the orbit of a man-made object is well known.     

Cometary Dust

This review presents our understanding of cometary dust at the end of 2017. For decades, insight about the dust ejected by nuclei of comets had stemmed from remote observations from Earth or Earth’s orbit, and from flybys, including the samples of dust returned to Earth for laboratory studies by the Stardust return capsule. The long-duration Rosetta mission has recently provided a huge and unique amount of data, obtained using numerous instruments, including innovative dust instruments, over a wide range of distances from the Sun and from the nucleus. The diverse approaches available to study dust in comets, together with the related theoretical and experimental studies, provide evidence of the composition and physical properties of dust particles, e.g., the presence of a large fraction of carbon in macromolecules, and of aggregates on a wide range of scales. The results have opened vivid discussions on the variety of dust-release processes and on the diversity of dust properties in comets, as well as on the formation of cometary dust, and on its presence in the near-Earth interplanetary medium. These discussions stress the significance of future explorations as a way to decipher the formation and evolution of our Solar System.     

Origin of Molecular Oxygen in Comets: Current Knowledge and Perspectives

The Rosetta Orbiter Spectrometer for Ion and Neutral Analysis (ROSINA) instrument onboard the Rosetta spacecraft has measured molecular oxygen (O₂) in the coma of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko (67P/C-G) in surprisingly high abundances. These measurements mark the first unequivocal detection of O₂ in a cometary environment. The large relative abundance of O₂ in 67P/C-G despite its high reactivity and low interstellar abundance poses a puzzle for its origin in comet 67P/C-G, and potentially other comets. Since its detection, there have been a number of hypotheses put forward to explain the production and origin of O₂ in the comet. These hypotheses cover a wide range of possibilities from various in situ production mechanisms to protosolar nebula and primordial origins. Here, we review the O₂ formation mechanisms from the literature, and provide a comprehensive summary of the current state of knowledge of the sources and origin of cometary O₂.     

A Program Plan for Earth Orbital Space Astronomy

Manned space flight offers the opportunity to couple the astronaut /scientist's ability to select and process data and to calibrate, modify, and repair instruments with the vantage point for astronomical observations provided by a platformlocated above the Earth's atmosphere. The role which manned space flight may play in the 1970-1990 time period in meeting astronomy research needs is examined. The instruments and facilities that appear feasible for that period are described.     

Enhanced wave and finite element method for wave propagation and forced response prediction in periodic piezoelectric structures

As a promising numerical tool of structural dynamics in mid-and high frequencies, the wave and finite element method (WFEM) is receiving increasingly attention and applications. In this paper, an enhanced WFEM has been developed with a reduced model and a new eigenvalue scheme. The reduced model is applicable for structures with piezoelectric shunts or local dampers;the new eigenvalue scheme can mitigate the ill-conditioning when the wave basis is calculated. The enhanced WFEM is applied to a thin-wall structure with periodically distributed piezoelectric mate-rials (PZT). Both free wave characteristics and forced response are analyzed and the influences of the suggested enhancements are presented. It is shown that if the control factors are properly cho-sen, these enhancements can improve the accuracy while accelerating the calculation. Resulting from the complexity of the application, these enhancements are not optional but imperative.     

Reconfigurability in planetary surface vehicles

Traditionally, space systems have been built for fixed requirements and optimized for highest performance. Future systems for human exploration of Moon and Mars, however, require focus on new architectural strategies geared towards increased affordability and survivability in addition to performance. Reconfigurability is a new paradigm in system design that enhances these qualities. Reconfigurable systems can attain different states with new or modified capabilities, as required with changing needs, over time. Such systems can lower mission costs through mass savings by efficient use of a fixed set of hardware for multiple functions. Their survivability is improved through their ability to reconfigure into different states so that some level of over-all functionality is retained. This study, with a focus on planetary surface vehicles, presents a methodology for determining optimal designs of reconfigurable systems. It also proposes metrics for assessing the impact of reconfigurability. It is found that for the specific scenario considered, the mass utilization efficiency in a fleet of reconfigurable vehicles is increased by 27% while the survivability can be increased by a factor of 3.     

Impact of a novel hybrid accelerometer on satellite gravimetry performance

The state-of-the-art electrostatic accelerometers (EA) used for the retrieval of non-gravitational forces acting on a satellite constitute a core component of every dedicated gravity field mission. However, due to their difficult-to-control thermal drift in the low observation frequencies, they are also one of the most limiting factors of the achievable performance of gravity recovery. Recently, a hybrid accelerometer consisting of a regular EA and a novel cold atom interferometer (CAI) that features a time-invariant observation stability and constantly recalibrates the EA has been developed in order to remedy this major drawback. In this paper we aim to assess the value of the hybrid accelerometer for gravity field retrieval in the context of GRACE-type and Bender-type missions by means of numerical closed-loop simulations where possible noise specifications of the novel instrument are considered and different components of the Earth’s gravity field signal are added subsequently. It is shown that the quality of the gravity field solutions is mainly dependent on the CAI’s measurement accuracy. While a low CAI performance (10^?8 to 10^?9?m/s²/Hz^1/2) does not lead to any gains compared to a stand-alone EA, a sufficiently high one (10^?11?m/s²/Hz^1/2) may improve the retrieval performance by over one order of magnitude. We also show that improvements which are limited to low-frequency observations may even propagate into high spherical harmonic degrees. Further, the accelerometer performance seems to play a less prominent role if the overall observation geometry is improved as it is the case for a Bender-type mission. The impact of the accelerometer measurements diminishes further when temporal variations of the gravity field are introduced, pointing out the need for proper de-aliasing techniques. An additional study reveals that the hybrid accelerometer is – contrary to a stand-alone EA – widely unaffected by scale factor instabilities.