The Rosat mission

The 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. Consequently a large number of new sources (> 10⁵) will be discovered and located with an accuracy of 1 arcmin. After completion of the survey which will take about half a year the instrument will be used for detailed observations of selected targets.The X-ray telescope consists of a fourfold nested Wolter type I mirror system with 80 cm aperture and 240 cm focal length, and three focal plane detectors. In the baseline version these will be imaging proportional counters (0.1 – 2 keV) providing a field of view of 2⁰ × 2⁰.     

Synthesis of an Optimal Output Regulating System with a Reference Vector

The difficult problem of synthesizing an optimal regulation scheme for linear time-invariant systems, assuming an integral quadratic cost functional, when the desired output is a constant nonzero vector and when the upper time limit approaches infinity, is studied in this paper. The problem is solved by properly redefining the cost functional, so that consistence with the stability requirement is achieved. The problem of the optimal closed-loop regulation of a singleinput/single-output system has always been an interesting topic for control engineers. The most common assumption is that the cost functional to minimize be of quadratic type, with infinity as an upper limit. The classical frequency domain approach, assuming the absence of initial conditions, suggests an optimal compensator in forward loop. On the other hand, the modern time-domain approach, based on the direct application of the maximum principle, yields a closed-form solution for the case in which the desired output is zero. This paper presents results which allow one to consider from a unifying point of view the two above approaches and, in addition, suggests a stable optimal scheme which is valid for any initial state and for any desired constant output.     

An Analysis of the Performance of the Oscillating Limiter Driven by FM Signals Corrupted by Noise

The behavior of the oscillating limiter (OL) driven by FM signals is surveyed, and its performance with signal corrupted by noise is investigated. For high values of the carrier-to-noise ratio (CNR), if the frequency deviation of the signal is small in comparison with the locking range of the OL, it is calculated, and experimentally verified, that a system OL discriminator is equivalent to a system bandpass limiter discriminator followed by a linear network whose frequency response has been specified. When the frequency deviation is not so small, the baseband noise power increases with it; a formula is given that allows the calculation of this power when the signal is such that the circuit operates in quasistationary fashion. For low values of the CNR, a mathematical analysis presents unsurmountable difficulties. However, heuristic argumentation leads to an interpretation of the operation of the OL in the threshold region, which is substantiated by an experimental investigation. The results of this paper enable a comparative evaluation of a system OL discriminator and a system bandpass limiter discriminator, to which the former reduces when the feedback path in the OL is open.     

The German space processing programme TEXUS with sounding rockets

This paper reports on the objectives of the German space processing programme with sounding rockets and the scientific results obtained thus far.     

The Jupiter helium interferometer experiment on the Galileo Entry Probe

We discuss the scientific objective, instrument design, and calibration of a miniaturized Jamin-Mascart interferometer which is to perform an accurate measurement of the refractive index of the Jovian atmosphere in the pressure range 2.5 to 10 bar. The instrument is to perform this measurement in December 1995 aboard the entry probe of the NASA Galileo spacecraft. From the data obtained the mole fraction of helium in the atmosphere of Jupiter is to be calculated with an estimated uncertainty of ± 0.0015. The instrument has a total mass of 1.4 kg and consumes 0.9 W of electrical power.     

The adjusted optical properties for Galileo/BeiDou-2/QZS-1 satellites and initial results on BeiDou-3e and QZS-2 satellites

Solar Radiation Pressure (SRP) is the dominant non-gravitational perturbation for GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System) satellites. In the absence of precise surface models, the Empirical CODE Orbit Models (ECOM, ECOM2) are widely used in GNSS satellite orbit determination. Based on previous studies, the use of an a priori box-wing model enhances the ECOM model, especially if the spacecraft is a stretched body satellite. However, so far not all the GNSS system providers have published their metadata. To ensure a precise use of the a priori box-wing model, we estimate the optical parameters of all the Galileo, BeiDou-2, and QZS-1 (Quasi Zenith Satellite System) satellites based on the physical processes from SRP to acceleration. Validation using orbit prediction proves that the adjusted parameters of Galileo and QZS-1 satellites exhibit almost the same performance as the corresponding published and “best guess” values. Whereas, the estimated parameters of BeiDou-2 satellites demonstrate an improvement of more than 60% over the initial “guess” values. The resulting optical parameters of all the satellites are introduced into an a priori box-wing model, which is jointly used with ECOM and ECOM2 model in the orbit determination. Results show that the pure ECOM2 model exhibits better performance than the pure ECOM model for Galileo, BeiDou-2 GEO and QZS-1 orbits. Combined with the a priori box-wing model the ECOM model (ECOM+BW) results in the best Galileo, BeiDou-2 GEO and QZS-1 orbits. The standard deviation (STD) of satellite laser ranging residuals reduce by about 20% and 5% with respect to the pure ECOM2 model for Galileo and BeiDou-2 GEO orbits, while the reductions are about 40% and 60% for QZS-1 orbits in yaw-steering and orbit-normal mode respectively. BeiDou-2 IGSO and MEO satellite orbits do not benefit much from the a priori box-wing model. In summary, we suggest setting up a unified SRP model of ECOM+BW for Galileo, QZS-1, and BeiDou-2 orbits based on the adjusted metadata. In addition, we estimate the optical parameters of BeiDou-3e and QZS-2 satellites using a limited number of tracking stations. Results regarding the unified SRP model indicate the same advantages, the STD of satellite laser ranging residuals reduces by about 30% and 20% for QZS-2 and BeiDou-3e orbits respectively over orbit products without a priori model. The estimation procedure is effective and easy to apply to the new emerging satellites in the future.     

Nanofillers modification of Epocast 50-A1/946 epoxy for bonded joints

Epocast 50-A1/946 epoxy was primarily developed for joining and repairing of composite aircraft structural components. The objective of the present work is to modify the Epocast epoxy resin by different nanofillers infusion. The used nanofillers include multi-walled carbon nanotubes（MWCNTs）, SiC and Al2O3 nanoparticles. The nanofillers with different weight percentages are ultrasonically dispersed in the epoxy resin. The sonication time and amplitude for MWCNTs are reduced compared to Al2O3 and SiC nanoparticles to avoid the damage of MWCNTs during sonication processes. The fabricated neat epoxy and twelve nanocomposite panels were characterized via standard tension and in-plane shear tests. The experimental results show that the nanocomposites materials with 0.5wt% MWCNTs, 1.5wt% SiC and 1.5wt% Al2O3 nanoparticles have the highest improvement in the tensile properties compared to the other nanofiller loading percentages.The improvements in the shear properties of these nanocomposite materials were respectively equal to 5.5%, 4.9%, and 6.3% for shear strengths, and 10.3%, 16.0%, and 8.1% for shear moduli. The optimum nanofiller loading percentages will be used in the following papers concerning their effect on the bonded joints/repairs of carbon fiber reinforced composites.     

Mechanism of error propagation from the subdaily Universal Time model into the celestial pole offsets estimated by VLBI

Within the analysis of space geodetic observations, errors of the applied subdaily Earth rotation model can induce systematic effects in different estimated parameters. In this paper, we focus on the impact of the subdaily Universal Time (UT1) model on the celestial pole offsets (CPO) estimated from very long baseline interferometry (VLBI) observations. We provide a mechanism that describes the error propagation from the subdaily UT1 into the daily CPO.In typical 24-h VLBI sessions the observed quasars are well distributed over the sky. But the observations, if looked at from the Earth-fixed frame, are not homogeneously distributed. The amount of observations performed in different terrestrial directions shows an irregularity which can be roughly compared to the case where the observations are collected in only one Earth-fixed direction. This peculiarity leads to artefacts in VLBI solutions, producing a correlation between the subdaily variations in UT1 and the position of the celestial pole. As a result errors in diurnal terms of the subdaily UT1 model are partly compensated by the estimated CPO. We compute for each 24-h VLBI session from 1990 until 2011 the theoretical response of the CPO to an error in the subdaily UT1 by setting up a least-squares adjustment model and using as input the coordinates of the observed quasars and observation epochs. Then real observed response of the estimated CPO derived from the VLBI session solutions is compared to the predicted one. A very good agreement between the CPO values estimated from VLBI and the predicted values was achieved. The presented model of error propagation from the subdaily UT1 into the daily CPO allows to predict and explain the behaviour of CPO estimates of VLBI solutions computed with different subdaily Earth rotation models, what can be helpful for testing the accuracy of different subdaily tidal models.