Hybrid optimization for multiple-impulse reconfiguration trajectories of satellite formation flying

A hybrid optimization method is developed for fuel-optimal reconfigurations of a group of satellites flying in formation. The genetic algorithm performs a global search to find two-impulse trajectories, and primer vector analysis finds multiple-impulsive local optimal trajectories with the two-impulse trajectories as initial guesses. Hybrid optimization finds globally optimal trajectories for formation reconfigurations, including formation resizing, reassignment and reorientation maneuvers. Multiple-impulse trajectories reduce the fuel consumption from the two-impulse trajectories by up to 4.4% for those maneuvers. In real missions, satellites can follow two-impulse trajectories to gain the advantage of a smaller number of impulses, with the cost of slightly more propellant. The qualitative characteristics of the optimal trajectories are analyzed from the number of optimal trajectories found by hybrid optimization.     

7. Dynamics,winds, circulation and turbulence in the atmosphere of venus

With the possible exception of the lowest one or two scale heights, the dominant mode of circulation of Venus' atmosphere is a rapid, zonal, retrograde motion. Global albedo variations in the ultraviolet may reflect planetary scale waves propagating relative to the zonal winds. Other special phenomena such as cellular convection in the subsolar region and internal gravity waves generated in the interaction of the zonal circulation with the subsolar disturbance may also be revealed in ultraviolet imagery of the atmosphere. We discuss the contributions of experiments on the Orbiter and Entry Probes of Pioneer Venus toward unravelling the mystery of the planet's global circulation and the role played by waves, instabilities and convection therein.     

Slowly varying bias of magnetometer based on orbit geometry

A new method is proposed to correct the induced magnetic disturbance using a set of measured magnetic field data from the three-axis-magnetometer on orbit. The magnetic field correction is based on the orbit geometry and its algorithm excludes the geomagnetic field model. The considered satellite is supposed to operate in the Earth-point mode and the Sun-point mode in accordance with the mission requirements. Particularly, the magnetic field correction is performed via static estimation based on an average method and dynamic estimation with an estimation law. Besides, the usefulness of the proposed method is investigated throughout both the simulation and the real telemetry data of KOMPSAT-1.     

Flight performance analysis of GRACE K-band ranging instrument with simulation data

A dual one-way ranging (DOWR) system provides very high accuracy range measurements between two satellites. The GRACE satellite mission implements the DOWR, called KBR (K-band ranging), to measure very small inter-satellite range change in order to map the Earth gravity field. The flight performance of the KBR is analyzed by using a hybrid software simulator that incorporates actual satellite orbit data into a comprehensive KBR simulator, which was earlier used for computing the GRACE baseline accuracy. Three types of experiments were performed. First is the comparison of the flight data with the simulated data in spectral domain. Second is the comparison of double differenced noise level. Third is the comparison of the range-rate difference with GPS clock estimates. The analysis shows a good agreement with the simulation model except some excessive high frequency noise, e.g. 10⁻⁴ m/√Hz at 0.1 Hz. The range-rate difference shows 0.003 cyc/s discrepancy with the clock estimates. These analyses are helpful to refine the DOWR simulation model and can be benefit to future DOWR instrument development.     

UVCS Observations of Velocity Shear at Streamer Boundaries in the Corona

Space Science Reviews - Measurements of the intensities of the O?vi 1032and 1037&;nbsp;Å spectral lines in the southern solar hemisphere, from 1.5 to 5&;nbsp;R s, were made with...     

Observability of an integrated GPS/INS during maneuvers

An observability analysis of a GPS/INS system during manoeuvers is presented based upon a perturbation model with respect to the Earth-centered-Earth-fixed (ECEF) coordinate system. Analysis is performed on two types of manoeuvers, linear acceleration and steady turn. These manoeuvers could be used for in-flight INS alignment using GPS. During the constant linear acceleration without rotation relative to the Earth, the linear system model is shown to be time-invariant. The observability analysis for the time invariant linear system model shows that linear acceleration does not change the number of observable modes but rather the structure of the observable space. For a nonconstant linear acceleration or a steady turn, the perturbation linear system becomes time varying. For this time-varying system, three types of observability are considered, complete, differential, and instantaneous observability. Instantaneous observability is the strongest properties and means that the state of the system at any time may be determined instantaneously from observation of the output and its derivatives. Instantaneous observability is important for fast in-flight INS alignment. It is shown that the number of instantaneously observable moded is increased by at least 2 during a maneuver. Hence, some linear combinations of the attitude angles become instantaneously observable.     

Galileo radio science investigations

The radio science investigations planned for Galileo's 6-year flight to and 2-year orbit of Jupiter use as their instrument the dual-frequency radio system on the spacecraft operating in conjunction with various US and German tracking stations on Earth. The planned radio propagation experiments are based on measurements of absolute and differential propagation time delay, differential phase delay, Doppler shift, signal strength, and polarization. These measurements will be used to study: the atmospheric and ionospheric structure, constituents, and dynamics of Jupiter; the magnetic field of Jupiter; the diameter of Io, its ionospheric structure, and the distribution of plasma in the Io torus; the diameters of the other Galilean satellites, certain properties of their surfaces, and possibly their atmospheres and ionospheres; and the plasma dynamics and magnetic field of the solar corona. The spacecraft system used for these investigations is based on Voyager heritage but with several important additions and modifications that provide linear rather than circular polarization on the S-band downlink signal, the capability to receive X-band uplink signals, and a differential downlink ranging mode. Collaboration between the investigators and the space-craft communications engineers has resulted in the first highly-stable, dual-frequency, spacecraft radio system suitable for simultaneous measurements of all the parameters normally attributed to radio waves.     

Sensor-fault tolerant attitude determination using two-stage estimator

Satellite attitude determination accuracy significantly drops when sensor-fault occurs. Hence, a proper mitigation strategy to detect sensor-fault and accurately estimate corresponding fault magnitudes is mandatory for robust and accurate attitude determination. In this paper, a novel sensor-fault tolerant precise attitude estimator is proposed consisting of two stages. In the first stage, sensor-fault is detected, and the associated sensor parameter change is roughly estimated using an interacting multiple-model (IMM) approach. Subsequently, the second stage is triggered. The sensor parameter change is precisely estimated with a new sensor-parameter-augmented filter. This is defined as a selectively augmented extended Kalman filter (SAEKF) in this paper. The conventional augmented extended Kalman filter (AEKF) is computationally more expensive than the proposed SAEKF. The SAEKF augments only the sensor parameters affected by sensor-faults, not the full sensor parameters, into the state vector. This leads to a significant computational time-saving. A transition method from the first stage to the second stage is also investigated. Numerical simulation results demonstrate that the proposed two-stage approach has smaller attitude determination errors than the existing algorithms, ranged from 21.7% to 88.8%, in cases with gyro scale factor error or misalignment.     

Associating the Solar Wind Measured by Ulysses with its Source at the sun

Radio occultation, ultraviolet, and white-light measurements have expanded our knowledge of the morphology of density and velocity in polar coronal holes, and made it possible to carry out the first systematic comparisons between the Ulysses solar wind measurements and quantitative white-light observations of the solar corona. This paper summarizes the rationale and salient features of this new approach which has been used to relate the solar wind observed by Ulysses in 1993–1995 to the inner corona. The statistical characteristics (average, standard deviation, and autocorrelation function) of the Ulysses density measurements of the fast wind are found to be mirrored in those of polarized brightness measurements of path-integrated density made by the High Altitude Observatory (HAO) Mauna Loa K-coronagraph at 1.15 R _⊙. These results reinforce the conclusions from comparisons between measurements of the outer and inner corona. They show that the polar coronal hole extends radially into the solar wind, and that sources of the fast wind are not limited to coronal holes. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Aerodynamic design optimization of helicopter rotor blades including airfoil shape for hover performance

This study proposes a process to obtain an optimal helicopter rotor blade shape for aerodynamic performance in hover flight. A new geometry representation algorithm which uses the class function/shape function transformation (CST) is employed to generate airfoil coordinates. With this approach, airfoil shape is considered in terms of design variables. The optimization process is constructed by integrating several programs developed by author. The design variables include twist, taper ratio, point of taper initiation, blade root chord, and coefficients of the airfoil distribution function. Aerodynamic constraints consist of limits on power available in hover and forward flight. The trim condition must be attainable. This paper considers rotor blade configuration for the hover flight condition only, so that the required power in hover is chosen as the objective function of the optimization problem. Sensitivity analysis of each design variable shows that airfoil shape has an important role in rotor performance. The optimum rotor blade reduces the required hover power by 7.4% and increases the figure of merit by 6.5%, which is a good improvement for rotor blade design.