Ionospheric electron density over Resolute Bay according to E-CHAIM model and RISR radar measurements

In this study, predictions of the E-CHAIM ionospheric model are compared with measurements by the incoherent scatter radars RISR at Resolute Bay, Canada, in the northern polar cap. Reasonable coverage was available for all seasons except winter for which no conclusions were drawn. It is shown that ratios of the model-to measured electron densities are close to unity in the central part of the F layer, around its peak. This is particularly evident for summer daytime. Distributions of the ratios are wider for other seasons indicating larger number of cases when the model underestimates or overestimates. E-CHAIM underestimates the electron density at ionospheric topside and bottomside by ～ 10–20 %. At the bottomside, the underestimations are strongest in summer and equinoctial nighttime. At the topside, the underestimations are strongest in autumn nighttime. Model overestimations are noticeable in the middle part of the F layer during dawn hours in autumn. Overall, the model tends to not predict highest-observed peak electron densities and the largest-observed heights of the peak.     

基于五阶自由曲面垂轴偏移的空间相机变焦方法

变焦光学系统在空间探测领域中有着重要的应用需求,提出了一种基于五阶自由曲面垂轴偏移的变焦方法,实现了具有两倍变焦能力的光学系统模型。分析了五阶自由曲面透镜的变焦原理和像差模型,采用两组五阶自由曲面透镜设计并搭建了伽利略望远系统,通过控制五阶自由曲面透镜的垂轴偏移量,来改变透镜的光焦度。仿真结果分析表明：该方法的变焦曲线具有单调性,且垂轴偏移量在8mm 以内。与传统变焦方法相比,该变焦方法的特点是结构紧凑、变焦连续、控制方法简单,避免了大幅轴向变焦运动,对于可见光、红外空间光学相机轻小型化具有重要的应用价值。     

烧蚀端头锥模型激波风洞试验研究

介绍了在激波风洞中用压电天平进行1m量级烧蚀端头大模型五分量气动力试验研究情况。试验目的是测量出烧蚀端头模型的Cm0和Cn0,以期为端头烧蚀模型的Cm0和Cn0换算到全尺寸飞行器下提供试验依据。针对设计部门关心的Cm0和Cn0测量,在天平设计上采取了粗短主体结构另配支杆的方式;在风洞试验中采用正负攻角等较为有效的方法。风洞试验主要结果如下:烧蚀变形对锥模型轴向力影响较大,对其余的气动力分量影响值较小。在0°攻角下Cm0为10-4量级,Cn0为10-3量级,配平攻角约为0.028°。由此表明:激波风洞压电天平能够测量该烧蚀端头模型的小Cm0和Cn0。     

Comparison of ionosphere characteristic parameters obtained by ionosonde with IRI-2007 model over Southeast Asia

In this work, the foF2 and hmF2 parameters at the conjugate points near the magnetic equator of Southeast Asia are studied and compared with the International Reference Ionosphere (IRI) model. Three ionosondes are installed nearly along the magnetic meridian of 100°E; one at the magnetic equator, namely Chumphon (10.72°N, 99.37°E, dip angle 3.0°N), and the other two at the magnetic conjugate points, namely Chiang Mai (18.76°N, 98.93°E, dip angle 12.7°N) and Kototabang (0.2°S, 100.30°E, dip angle 10.1°S). The monthly hourly medians of the foF2 and hmF2 parameters are calculated and compared with the predictions obtained from the IRI-2007 model from January 2004 to February 2007. Our results show that: the variations of foF2 and hmF2 predicted by the IRI-2007 model generally show the similar feature to the observed data. Both parameters generally show better agreement with the IRI predictions during daytime than during nighttime. For foF2, most of the results show that the IRI model overestimates the observed foF2 at the magnetic equator (Chumphon), underestimates at the northern crest (Chiang Mai) and is close to the measured ones at the southern crest of the EIA (Kototabang). For hmF2, the predicted hmF2 values are close to the hmF2(M3000F2_OBS) during daytime. During nighttime, the IRI model gives the underestimation at the magnetic equator and the overestimation at both EIA crests. The results are important for the future improvements of the IRI model for foF2 and hmF2 over Southeast Asia region.     

Variations in cosmic ray cutoff rigidities during the great geomagnetic storm of November 2004

A very strong interplanetary and magnetospheric disturbance observed on 7–13 November 2004 can be regarded as one of the strongest events during the entire period of space observations. In this paper we report on the studies of cosmic ray cutoff rigidity variations during 7–13 November 2004 showing how storm conditions can affect the direct cosmic ray access to the inner magnetosphere. Effective cutoff rigidities have been calculated for selected points on the ground by tracing trajectories of cosmic ray particles through the magnetospheric magnetic field of the “storm-oriented” Tsyganenko 2003 model. Cutoff rigidity variations have also been determined by the spectrographic global survey method on the basis of experimental data of the neutron monitor network. Relations between the calculated and experimental cutoff rigidities and the geomagnetic Dst-index and interplanetary parameters have been investigated. Correlation coefficients between the cutoff rigidities obtained by the trajectory tracing method and the spectrographic global survey method have been found to be in the limits 0.76–0.89 for all stations except the low-latitude station Tokyo (0.35). The most pronounced correlation has been revealed between the cutoff rigidities that exhibited a very large variation of ∼1–1.5 GV during the magnetic storm and the Dst index.     

Quality variation of GPS satellite clocks on-orbit using IGS clock products

Over 60% clocks on board of the GPS satellites are working longer than their designed life. Therefore realizing their stabilities in a long time scales is essential to GPS navigation and positioning plus IGS time scale maintaining. IGS clock products from 2001 to 2010 are used to analyze the GPS satellite clock qualities such as frequency stabilities and clock noise level. We find out that for the clocks of Block IIA satellites the frequency stabilities and clock noise are 10 times worse than that of the Block IIR and IIR-M satellites. Moreover, the linear relationships between frequency stabilities and clock residuals have been deduced with an accuracy of better than 0.02 ns. Specially, it is noticed that the clock of the PRN27 is instable and the relationship between the frequency stability and residuals is at least a quadratic curve. Therefore, we suggested that GPS satellite clocks should be weighted by their quality levels in application, and the observations of the Block IIA should not be used for real-time positioning which required precision better than one meter.     

Finite element reconstruction approach for on-orbit spacecraft breakup dynamics simulation and fragment analysis

Breakup model is the key area of space debris environment modeling. NASA standard breakup model is currently the most widely used for general-purpose. It is a statistical model found based on space surveillance data and a few ground-based test data. NASA model takes the mass, impact velocity magnitude for input and provides the fragment size, area-to-mass ratio, velocity magnitude distributions for output. A more precise approach for spacecraft disintegration fragment analysis is presented in this paper. This approach is based on hypervelocity impact dynamics and takes the shape, material, internal structure and impact location etc. of spacecraft and impactor, which might greatly affect the fragment distribution, into consideration. The approach is a combination of finite element and particle methods, entitled finite element reconstruction (FER). By reconstructing elements from the particle debris cloud, reliable individual fragments are identified. Fragment distribution is generated with undirected graph conversion and connected component analysis. Ground-based test from literature is introduced for verification. In the simulation satellite targets and impactors are modeled in detail including the shape, material, internal structure and so on. FER output includes the total number of fragments and the mass, size and velocity vector of each fragment. The reported fragment distribution of FER shows good agreement with the test, and has good accuracy for small fragments.     

An improved approach to model regional ionosphere and accelerate convergence for precise point positioning

Given the severe effects of the ionosphere on global navigation satellite system (GNSS) signals, single-frequency (SF) precise point positioning (PPP) users can only achieve decimeter-level positioning results. Ionosphere-free combinations can eliminate the majority of ionospheric delay, but increase observation noise and slow down dual-frequency (DF) PPP convergence. In this paper, we develop a regional ionosphere modeling and rapid convergence approach to improve SF PPP (SFPPP) accuracy and accelerate DF PPP (DFPPP) convergence speed. Instead of area model, ionospheric delay is modeled for each satellite to be used as a priori correction. With the ionospheric, wide-lane uncalibrated phase delay (UPD) and residuals satellite DCBs product, the wide-lane observations for DF users change to be high-precision pseudorange observations. The validation of a continuously operating reference station (CORS) network was analyzed. The experimental results confirm that the approach considerably improves the accuracy of SFPPP. For DF users, convergence time is substantially reduced.     

基于相似理论的月球车月面牵引性能预测

引入相似理论对月球车的轮土交互系统进行研究,建立了月壤-车轮交互系统的地面力学相似模型,针对原位月壤内聚力较小的特点,提出了一种无需改变车轮尺寸、以模拟月壤为土壤介质的模型试验方法,对月面重力环境下月球车轮的牵引性能进行预测.利用室内土槽试验和颗粒流仿真相结合的方法对该模型试验方法的有效性进行验证,验证结果与模型试验的理论分析结果较为接近,表明该法具有较好的可行性和有效性,可考虑用于预测月球车的月面牵引性能.     

椭圆轨道非线性相对运动模型的周期解与应用

在长期的航天器编队飞行中传统的基于线性相对运动模型设计编队保持轨道的方法会引起较多的燃料消耗.首先采用摄动法解析地求得了考虑二阶非线性项时椭圆轨道相对运动模型的周期性条件和周期解;然后以此周期解为参考轨道设计了基于Lyapunov稳定的PD保持控制律.仿真结果表明:基于椭圆轨道非线性相对运动模型的周期解较基于椭圆轨道线性相对运动模型的周期解,精度明显提高;以前者为参考轨道的保持控制与以后者为参考轨道的保持控制相比,燃耗明显降低.