Aiming at a 1-cm Orbit for Low Earth Orbiters: Reduced-Dynamic and Kinematic Precise Orbit Determination

The computation of high-accuracy orbits is a prerequisite for the success of Low Earth Orbiter (LEO) missions such as CHAMP, GRACE and GOCE. The mission objectives of these satellites cannot be reached without computing orbits with an accuracy at the few cm level. Such a level of accuracy might be achieved with the techniques of reduced-dynamic and kinematic precise orbit determination (POD) assuming continuous Satellite-to-Satellite Tracking (SST) by the Global Positioning System (GPS). Both techniques have reached a high level of maturity and have been successfully applied to missions in the past, for example to TOPEX/POSEIDON (T/P), leading to (sub-)decimeter orbit accuracy. New LEO gravity missions are (to be) equipped with advanced GPS receivers promising to provide very high quality SST observations thereby opening the possibility for computing cm-level accuracy orbits. The computation of orbits at this accuracy level does not only require high-quality GPS receivers, but also advanced and demanding observation preprocessing and correction algorithms. Moreover, sophisticated parameter estimation schemes need to be adapted and extended to allow the computation of such orbits. Finally, reliable methods need to be employed for assessing the orbit quality and providing feedback to the different processing steps in the orbit computation process. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Astrophysics in 2006

The fastest pulsar and the slowest nova; the oldest galaxies and the youngest stars; the weirdest life forms and the commonest dwarfs; the highest energy particles and the lowest energy photons. These were some of the extremes of Astrophysics 2006. We attempt also to bring you updates on things of which there is currently only one (habitable planets, the Sun, and the Universe) and others of which there are always many, like meteors and molecules, black holes and binaries.     

Emergence of a Habitable Planet

We address the first several hundred million years of Earth’s history. The Moon-forming impact left Earth enveloped in a hot silicate atmosphere that cooled and condensed over ∼1,000 yrs. As it cooled the Earth degassed its volatiles into the atmosphere. It took another ∼2 Myrs for the magma ocean to freeze at the surface. The cooling rate was determined by atmospheric thermal blanketing. Tidal heating by the new Moon was a major energy source to the magma ocean. After the mantle solidified geothermal heat became climatologically insignificant, which allowed the steam atmosphere to condense, and left behind a ∼100 bar, ∼500 K CO₂ atmosphere. Thereafter cooling was governed by how quickly CO₂ was removed from the atmosphere. If subduction were efficient this could have taken as little as 10 million years. In this case the faint young Sun suggests that a lifeless Earth should have been cold and its oceans white with ice. But if carbonate subduction were inefficient the CO₂ would have mostly stayed in the atmosphere, which would have kept the surface near ∼500 K for many tens of millions of years. Hydrous minerals are harder to subduct than carbonates and there is a good chance that the Hadean mantle was dry. Hadean heat flow was locally high enough to ensure that any ice cover would have been thin (<5 m) in places. Moreover hundreds or thousands of asteroid impacts would have been big enough to melt the ice triggering brief impact summers. We suggest that plate tectonics as it works now was inadequate to handle typical Hadean heat flows of 0.2–0.5 W/m². In its place we hypothesize a convecting mantle capped by a ∼100 km deep basaltic mush that was relatively permeable to heat flow. Recycling and distillation of hydrous basalts produced granitic rocks very early, which is consistent with preserved >4 Ga detrital zircons. If carbonates in oceanic crust subducted as quickly as they formed, Earth could have been habitable as early as 10–20 Myrs after the Moon-forming impact.     

水平冲量作用下共面椭圆轨道上航天器的交会

本文研究了在三次水平冲量作用下,一般共面椭圆轨道上两个航天器的固定时间交会问题。推导了完成交会的必要条件,给出了三次水平冲量的大小及其作用时刻的计算方法。     

低空突防任务下综合飞行/推进系统的建模与仿真

建立了综合飞行／推进系统的数学模型，介绍了飞机全维非线性数学模型和涡轮风扇发动机非线性部件级数学模型的建模及综合方法。对飞机执行地形中随任务时，飞行员调节飞行速度的方法与基于总能量的调节飞行速度的方法进行了比较。结果表明，基于总能量的方法比飞行员直接控制飞行速度能够减小发动机的燃油消耗，降低发动机的磨损，进而可以增加飞机的航程，延长发动机的使用寿命。     

离心铸造Al—20wt%Si合金自生表面复合材料的组织与性能

采用热模金属型离心铸造Al－20wt％Si合金，获得了外层聚集粗大初晶Si、中层为共晶组织、内层聚集细小初晶Si的自生三层表面复合材料。考察了复合材料的组织形貌，检测了复合材料的硬度和耐性，分析了复合材料的断裂模式。     

数字地形数据的二维三次卷积插值

由于数字地形数据库是以网格的形式给出网格点上的地形高度信息，在低空突防轨迹优化过程中，往往需要非网格蹼地形的高度信息和地形曲面的导数，这些都是离散的地形数据库所无法提供的。对二维的地形数据进行插值是解决问题的有效手段。本文提出一种二维离散数据的插值方法－－二维三次卷积插值。该插值函数是地形曲面的三次逼近，具有连续的三阶导数，可以非常好地满足低空突防轨迹优化的需要。仿真结果表明，它具有比双线性插值和     

液体压力激波加工技术研究

机械产品的零部件，通常需要通过成形与改性才具有所需形状及实用功能，本文提出了一种新型材料成形与改性加工的方法——液体压力激波加工。采用脉冲超声波聚焦技术，通过压电陶瓷激波发生器在液体介质中产生高能瞬时压力激波，对材料进行冲击，产生变形或表面改性。经过理论研究和试验验证，初步掌握了液体压力激波的产生、激波能量的控制和激波加工的动力学机制。这种加工方法具有能量可控性好、成本低廉和安全高效等优点，非常适合具有复杂结构和型面的中小零件加工，是一种颇具竞争力的先进制造技术手段。     

复合材料桁架式发动机支架改型设计分析

采用DFH-3改进型平台的卫星变轨发动机支架直接安装在承力筒下锥段的内壁,要求在正弦振动载荷条件下,变轨发动机安装法兰面的最大加速度响应(5Hz~100Hz范围内)不得超过3g。针对上述条件,本文对DFH-3改进型平台变轨发动机支架直接继承现有产品的可行性进行了分析,并对几种可能的设计变更方式进行了分析,最终得到了对变轨发动机支架结构进行加强的优选方案。     

一种在线神经网络在补偿飞机模型不确定性误差中的应用

讨论了一种基于神经网络动态逆的直接自适应控制方法，并应用于超机动飞机的飞行控制中。基本控制律采用非线性动态逆方法进行设计，对由于模型不准确导致的逆误差采用单隐层神经网络进行在线补偿。仿真结果表明，神经网络通过补偿由于模型不准确引起的逆误差，弥补了非线性动态逆要求精确数学模型的缺点，提高了整个控制系统的鲁棒性，而且可以大大简化动态逆控制律的设计。