Ground Compatibility Tests for Gravity Measurement of SELENE: Accuracies of Two- and Four-Way Doppler and Range Measurements

The Japanese lunar mission Selenological and Engineering Explorer (SELENE) was launched in September 2007 and continued its mission until June 2009, when the main orbiter impacted with the surface of the Moon. SELENE consisted of three satellites: Main, Rstar, and Vstar. Rstar’s tasks were to forward up-link signals from the Usuada Deep Space Center (UDSC) to Main, and to down-link returning signals from Main to UDSC. We refer to this tracking sub-system as a four-way Doppler measurement. In contrast, conventional tracking systems between Rstar and UDSC as well as between Main and ground stations are referred to as two-way Doppler and range measurements. Using Main and Rstar, we successfully observed the gravity field over the farside of the Moon. Because four-way Doppler measurements via a relay sub-satellite were a fundamental experiment in space for Japanese space agencies, compatibility of radiometric instruments onboard Main and Rstar to UDSC were carefully examined at the UDSC using components manufactured for flight models. These tests not only proved the feasibility of the four-way Doppler measurements but also provided biases and variations of the four-way Doppler and two-way Doppler and range measurements that were later taken into account during the processing of tracking data and the analysis of the lunar global gravity field.     

Space escalator,semi-perpetual motion in space

A novel orbital transfer system using the mutual action-reaction of two spacecraft as the main propulsive force is proposed. A set of space platforms which are deployed on circular orbits of various altitude and have mobility to transfer to other orbits by themselves can work on a very little propellant.     

Capability for ozone high-precision retrieval on JEM/SMILES observation

We estimate the capability of ozone (O₃) retrieval with the Superconducting Submillimeter-Wave Limb-Emission Sounder (SMILES) instrument attached to the Exposed Facility of the Japanese Experiment Module (JEM) on the International Space Station (ISS). SMILES carries a 4-K mechanical refrigerator to cool superconducting devices in space. Since SMILES has high sensitivity thanks to the superconducting receiver, it is expected that SMILES has ability to retrieve O₃ profiles more precisely than the previous millimeter–submillimeter limb measurements from satellites.     

Nuclear fragmentation database for GCR transport code development

A critical need for NASA is the ability to accurately model the transport of heavy ions in the Galactic Cosmic Rays (GCR) through matter, including spacecraft walls, equipment racks, etc. Nuclear interactions are of great importance in the GCR transport problem, as they can cause fragmentation of the incoming ion into lighter ions. Since the radiation dose delivered by a particle is proportional to the square of (charge/velocity), fragmentation reduces the dose delivered by incident ions. The other mechanism by which dose can be reduced is ionization energy loss, which can lead to some particles stopping in the shielding. This is the conventional notion of shielding, but it is not applicable to human spaceflight since the particles in the GCR tend to be too energetic to be stopped in the relatively thin shielding that is possible within payload mass constraints. Our group has measured a large number of fragmentation cross sections, intended to be used as input to, or for validation of, NASA’s radiation transport models. A database containing over 200 charge-changing cross sections and over 2000 fragment production cross sections has been compiled. In this report, we examine in detail the contrast between fragment measurements at large acceptance and small acceptance. We use output from the PHITS Monte Carlo code to test our assumptions using as an example ⁴⁰Ar data (and simulated data) at a beam energy of 650 MeV/nucleon. We also present preliminary analysis in which isotopic resolution was attained for beryllium fragments produced by beams of ¹⁰B and ¹¹B. Future work on the experimental data set will focus on extracting and interpreting production cross sections for light fragments.     

Principle and Design of a Vernier FM Radar System

This paper describes the principle and the signal design of a proposed new FM radar system. In order to measure the surface characteristics of a small target at a long distance, or to discriminate among multiple targets, very accurate range or Doppler resolutions are necessary [1]. The proposed system satisfies the range resolution requirement by detecting the target with two different resolutions: coarse resolution for measuring range, and fine resolution for measuring the target details. The principal advantage of the system is in the vernier scale for the measurement of a distance. The system is just as easily realizable as conventional FM radar, requires no special filters in the receiver, and represents a saving in the required bandwidth for the same range resolution.     

A simulation study for anticipated accuracy of lunar gravity field model by SELENE tracking data

Results of numerical simulations are presented to examine the global gravity field recovery capability of the Japanese lunar exploration project SELENE (SELenological and ENgineering Explorer) which will be launched in 2007. New characteristics of the SELENE lunar gravimetry include 4-way satellite-to-satellite Doppler tracking of main orbiter and differential VLBI tracking of two small free-flier satellites. It is shown that the proposed satellite constellation will provide the first truly global satellite tracking data coverage. The expected results from these data are; (1) drastic reduction in far-side gravity error, (2) estimation of many gravity coefficients by the observation, not by a priori information, and (3) one order of magnitude improvement over existing gravity models for low-degree field.     

Studying the Lunar Ionosphere with SELENE Radio Science Experiment

Radio occultation observations of the electron density near the lunar surface were conducted during the SELENE (Kaguya) mission using the Vstar and Rstar sub-satellites. Previous radio occultation measurements conducted in the Soviet lunar missions have indicated the existence of an ionosphere with peak densities of several hundreds of electrons per cubic centimeters above the dayside lunar surface. These densities are difficult to explain theoretically when the removal of plasma by the solar wind is considered, and thus the generation mechanism of the lunar ionosphere is a major issue, with even the validity of previous observations still under debate. The most serious error source in the measurement is the fluctuation of the terrestrial ionosphere which also exists along the ray path. To cope with this difficulty, about 400 observations were conducted using Vstar to enable statistical analysis of the weak signal of the lunar ionosphere. Another method is to utilize Vstar and Rstar with the second one being used to measure the terrestrial ionosphere contribution. The observations will establish the morphology of the lunar ionosphere and will reveal its relationship with various conditions to provide possible clues to the mechanism.     

The variation of equatorial spread-F occurrences observed by ionosondes at Thailand longitude sector

The equatorial spread-F (ESF) is a phenomenon of ionopheric irregularities which are mainly generated by the generalized Rayleigh–Taylor (R–T) instability mechanism in conjunction with the other physical mechanisms, originated at the bottom side of the F-layer in the equatorial region after sunset. It degrades the quality of signals that propagate through these irregularities, especially in the navigation satellite system, which requires the high integrity signals. In this work, we analyze the ESF statistics obtained from the FM/CW ionosonde stations over Thailand longitude sector. One is at Chumphon (10.72°N, 99.37°E, dip latitude 3.0°), located near the geomagnetic equator, and the other station is located at Chiangmai (18.76°N, 98.93°E, dip latitude 12.7°). Both stations are as part of the South-East Asia Low Latitude Ionospheric Network (SEALION) project. The ionograms are obtained at every 15 min from September 2004 to August 2005, which has the monthly mean of solar 10.7 cm flux (F10.7) from ∼80 to ∼110. In addition, we compare the diurnal patterns between the ESF occurrences and the variation of virtual height of the F-layer bottom side (h’F) of these two stations. The results show that the ESF occurrences at Chumphon stations are higher than Chiangmai station in all seasons. The high ESF occurrences of both stations mostly occur in equinoctial months corresponded with the rapid rising of the monthly mean h’F in the post-sunset. However, some inconsistent results are still observed, implying the role of other factors such as gravity waves and planetary waves to ESF occurrences.     

A numerical study of the charge diameter effect on unsteady detonation

A numerical study for the unsteady detonation of an unconfined tetryl charge of small diameter, which is assumed to be homogeneous, was performed by using the two-dimensional Lagrangian hydrodynamic computer code, 2 DL, with the first order Arrhenius equation of reaction rate. Becker-Kistiakowsky-Wilson (BKW) and Kihara-Hikita (KH) equations of state have been applied to the detonation products.In the case of BKW, it is shown that the rarefaction waves propagating inward from the lateral surface make the reaction rate slow and give a curvature to the front. Then after an induction time, a strong initiation occurs in the reaction zone near the lateral surface and higher pressure zone moves to the axis. This higher pressure accelerates the detonation propagation near the lateral surface and the curvature of detonation front is reduced. Then, the reaction at the lateral surface again begins to decay by the rarefaction waves. Such a sequence of process is repeated periodically.The possibility of the occurrence of the strong initiation depends on the pressure and temperature in the shocked zone near the surface. In a small diameter charge, the delayed explosion becomes weaker near the surface, while its frequency increases. No shock interaction occurs because the direction of the particle flow is always divergent.In the case of KH equation of state, the temperature of detonation is higher than that obtained by BKW and the behaviour of instability becomes rather different from the previous result, i.e. in the axis the pressure oscillates repeating the overdriven and underdriven detonation similar with the case of BKW.