Australia''s space heritage

An overview is provided of Australian space activities and their legacy, including the Woomera launch centre, tracking stations, space science, technology and applications. The military basis for many of the larger activities is discussed and the importance of using space-based remote sensing to deal with mounting global problems is emphasized.     

A search for chiral signatures on Mars

It is thought that the chiral molecules of living material can induce circular polarization in light at levels much higher than expected from abiotic processes. We therefore obtained high quality imaging circular polarimetry of the martian surface during the favorable opposition of 2003 to seek evidence of anomalous optical activity. We used two narrow-band filters covering 43% of the martian surface, 15% of it in-depth. With polarization noise levels <0.1% (4.3 upper limits 0.2-0.3%) and spatial resolution 210 km, we did not find any regions of circular polarization. When data were averaged over the observed face of the planet, we did see a small non-zero circular polarization 0.02%, which may be due to effects associated with the opposition configuration though it is at the limit of the instrumental capability. Our observations covered only a small fraction of parameter space, so although we obtained a null result, we cannot exclude the presence of optical activity at other wavelengths, in other locations, or at higher spatial resolution.     

Spherical oscillation patterns

Spherical harmonics are an integral part of the study of stellar pulsations. To gain an understanding of how the star is affected by non-radial pulsations, the radial part of the oscillation is plotted, with an assumed sinusoidal time variation. The amplitude of the motion is arbitrarily set at 20% of the radius.     

Applications of stereoscopic height computations from dual geosynchronous satellite data/joint NASA-Japan stereo project

Stereoscopic heights of the top of an Oklahoma thunderstorm were computed, finding that high cloud tops are not always characterized by very cold IR temperature. The identical method was also applied to the computation of stereo heights based on GOES West and GMS stereo pairs obtained under the NASA-JAPAN cooperative program. It was found that stereo techniques are extremely useful in understanding the structure of thunderstorms in the United States, as well as that of hurricanes over the South Pacific.     

发动机维修业务将创造售后市场增长纪录

<正>据《航空周刊》预测,未来十年全球民用航空售后服务市场将以3%的复合增长率增长,市值将创下8623亿美元的新纪录,而其中预计将有近3000亿美元花费在发动机MRO服务上,主要贡献者将是成熟的窄体飞机发动机。根据《航空周刊》2019机队与维修市场预测,未来十年全球民用飞机机队数量将以2.8%的复合增长率增长,在此推动     

Backstepping sliding-mode control of stratospheric airships using disturbance-observer

In the presence of unknown disturbances and model parameter uncertainties, this paper develop a nonlinear backstepping sliding-mode controller (BSMC) for trajectory tracking control of a stratospheric airship using a disturbance-observer (DO). Compared with the conventional sliding mode surface (SMS) constructed by a linear combination of the errors, the new SMS manifold is selected as the last back-step error to improve independence of the adjustment of the controller gains. Furthermore, a nonlinear disturbance-observer is designed to process unknown disturbance inputs and improve the BSMC performances. The closed-loop system of trajectory tracking control plant is proved to be globally asymptotically stable by using Lyapunov theory. By comparing with traditional backstepping control and SMC design, the results obtained demonstrate the capacity of the airship to execute a realistic trajectory tracking mission, even in the presence of unknown disturbances, and aerodynamic coefficient uncertainties.     

Contingency target assessment,trajectory design,and analysis for NASA’s NEA scout solar sail mission

The presented study examines contingency target selection and trajectory design for NASA’s Near-Earth Asteroid Scout mission under the assumption of a missed lunar gravity assist. Two previously considered asteroids are selected as potential targets for the given scenario based on favorable orbital characteristics for launch dates ranging from June 27, 2020 through July 26, 2020. Initially, a simplified circular restricted 3-body problem + ideal solar sail model is utilized to survey trajectory options for a month-long launch window. Selected solutions from this data set are then converged in an N-body ephemeris + non-ideal sail model. Results suggest that NEA Scout can still perform asteroid rendezvous mission under the missed lunar gravity assist scenario with new targets, 2019 GF1, 2018 PK21, and 2007 UN12, based on the target launch dates. Further target assessment is carried out for 165 days beyond the current June 27, 2020 launch date.     

2020年窄体飞机发动机维修市场预测

随着新一代发动机及衍生型投入脚步放缓,如波音737MAX停飞后又停产,其选配的Leap-1B发动机的交付情况也有待考量,同时预计将会影响一系列发动机的售后维修市场。由于新一代发动机投入运营的步伐放慢,成熟型号的发动机服役时间一再延长,所以这些成熟型发动机MRO需求仍在增加。例如,近年来CFM国际公司的Leap发动机(CFM56的衍生型),以及普惠公司的PW1000G齿轮传动涡喷发动机(GTF)陆续出现各种技术问题。但CFM56和V2500等成熟机型的维修需求并未减少。     

The South Pole-Aitken basin region,Moon: GIS-based geologic investigation using Kaguya elemental information

Using Geographic Information Systems (GIS), we performed comparative analysis among stratigraphic information and the Kaguya (SELENE) GRS data of the ∼2500-km-diameter South Pole-Aitken (SPA) basin and its surroundings. Results indicate that the surface rock materials (including ancient crater materials, mare basalts, and possible SPA impact melt) are average to slightly elevated in K and Th with respect to the rest of the Moon. Also, this study demonstrates that K and Th have not significantly changed since the formation of SPA. The elemental signatures of the impact basin of Fe, Ti, Si, O through time include evidence for resurfacing by ejecta materials and late-stage volcanism. The oldest surfaces of SPA are found to be oxygen-depleted during the heavy bombardment period relative to later stages of geologic development, followed by both an increase in silicon and oxygen, possibly due to ejecta sourced from outside of SPA, and subsequent modification due to mare basaltic volcanism, which increased iron and titanium within SPA. The influence of the distinct geologic history of SPA and surroundings on the mineralogic and elemental abundances is evident as shown in our investigation.