Solar cycle variations of cosmic ray intensity and large-scale structure of the heliosphere

This review summarizes some of the recent results obtained by ground-based detectors recording cosmic-ray intensity at high energies (>1 GeV) for almost five decades. The long-term changes observed in the isotropic and anisotropic components of cosmic-ray intensity are presented. It is noted in particular that significant changes occurred in the characteristics of cosmic-ray modulation after the 1969–70 period. Most of these are definitively related to the reversal of the solar poloidal field; their characteristics are described with a view to relate these with the heliospheric configuration. Anomalies in the variational characteristics of both isotropic and anisotropic parts of cosmic ray intensity, noticed particularly during the period of very high speed solar wind streams, are discussed in detail. Phenomena with periodicities of 11 and 22 years occur simultaneously; their relative importance is derived and related to interplanetary variables. Suggestions for further studies, as needed, are also incorporated.Presented at the Fifth International Symposium on Solar-Terrestrial Physics, held at Ottawa, Canada, May 1982.     

Applications of tuned mass dampers to improve performance of large space mirrors

In order for future imaging spacecraft to meet higher resolution imaging capability, it will be necessary to build large space telescopes with primary mirror diameters that range from 10 m to 20 m and do so with nanometer surface accuracy. Due to launch vehicle mass and volume constraints, these mirrors have to be deployable and lightweight, such as segmented mirrors using active optics to correct mirror surfaces with closed loop control. As a part of this work, system identification tests revealed that dynamic disturbances inherent in a laboratory environment are significant enough to degrade the optical performance of the telescope. Research was performed at the Naval Postgraduate School to identify the vibration modes most affecting the optical performance and evaluate different techniques to increase damping of those modes. Based on this work, tuned mass dampers (TMDs) were selected because of their simplicity in implementation and effectiveness in targeting specific modes. The selected damping mechanism was an eddy current damper where the damping and frequency of the damper could be easily changed. System identification of segments was performed to derive TMD specifications. Several configurations of the damper were evaluated, including the number and placement of TMDs, damping constant, and targeted structural modes. The final configuration consisted of two dampers located at the edge of each segment and resulted in 80% reduction in vibrations. The WFE for the system without dampers was 1.5 waves, with one TMD the WFE was 0.9 waves, and with two TMDs the WFE was 0.25 waves. This paper provides details of some of the work done in this area and includes theoretical predictions for optimum damping which were experimentally verified on a large aperture segmented system.     

Active phased array design for high reliability

We discuss strategies for designing: active phased array antennas with high reliability. We show how to consider fault-tolerance in the design of the antenna architecture, so that replacement of failed components can be avoided for an extended period of time. First, we address the dependence of antenna life cycle cost on component failure rates. Then we discuss the design of active phased array architecture for maximizing antenna mean-time-between-failures (MTBF). The antenna MTBF is defined in terms of a specified degradation in peak sidelobe level. We present simulated data showing the effect of random, single, and clustered element failures on the peak sidelobe level of a low sidelobe antenna aperture. We use these data as a basis for analyzing various phased array architectures in terms of their antenna MTBF     

Attitude control schemes for the first recovery mission of India

This paper describes the attitude control schemes for the various phases such as acquisition, on-orbit, orbit maneuver, de-boost maneuvers and coast phases of the India's first recovery mission Space Capsule Recovery Experiment-I (SRE-1). During the on-orbit phase, the SRE was configured to point the negative roll axis to Sun. The attitude referencing of SRE-1 was based on dry tuned gyros with updates from the attitude determined using on-board Sun sensors and magnetometer. For attitude acquisition, attitude maneuvers and for providing the velocity corrections for de-orbiting operations; a set of eight thrusters grouped in functionally redundant blocks were used. The control scheme with thrusters was based on proportional derivative controller with a modulator. In order to ensure micro-gravity environment during the on-orbit payload operations a linear quadratic regulator (LQR) based control scheme was designed to drive an orthogonal configuration of magnetic torquers which in turn produced three-axis control torque with the interaction of Earth's magnetic field. Proportional derivative control scheme with modulator was designed to track the steering commands during the velocity reduction as well as during the coasting phase of the de-orbiting operations. A novel thruster failure detection, isolation and reconfiguration scheme implemented on-board for the de-orbiting phase is also discussed in this paper.     

A broad spectral band Indian Astronomy satellite ‘Astrosat’

Astrosat will be the first full-fledged Indian Astronomy mission aimed at multiwavelength studies in the optical, near- and far-UV and a broad X-ray spectral band covering 0.5–100 keV. This mission will have the capability of high time-resolution X-ray studies (10 μs timing), low and medium energy-resolution spectral studies and high angular-resolution (about 2″) imaging observations in the UV and optical bands simultaneously. This is realized by using a set of three co-aligned X-ray astronomy instruments and one UV imaging telescope consisting of two similar instruments. Detection and timing studies of X-ray transients and persisting sources will be done by a Scanning Sky X-ray Monitor. This mission will enable studies of different classes of galactic and extragalactic sources in the frontier area of high energy astronomy. Scientific objectives of the mission are highlighted in this paper. A brief summary of the design and characteristics of the X-ray and UV instruments and their expected sensitivities are presented.     

Effects of output filter on cross regulation in SRC

Cross regulation performance of multioutput series resonant converter (SRC) topologies using capacitive or inductive filters is analyzed. The steady state cross regulation characteristics are derived using the state-plane techniques and are illustrated by the examples of two-output SRCs with capacitive and inductive filters. The characteristic curves show that over some range of output currents, the cross regulation performance of an SRC with an inductive filter is much improved over the SRC with capacitance filter and less dependent on the tolerances in leakage inductances and the loading on unregulated outputs. It is shown that the converter control characteristics of an SRC with an inductive filter are relatively unaffected by the addition of the second output. The theoretical results are verified by simulation     

Auto Reconfiguration of Reaction Wheels in IRS

The Indian remote sensing satellite (IRS) employs four reaction wheels for attitude control. The fourth, a skew wheel, provides redundancy to the failure of any of the orthogonal wheels. To avoid attitude loss before the redundant skew wheel takes over due to failure of any of the orthogonal wheels, an automatic reconfiguration scheme has been developed and implemented through a microprocessor. The details of reconfiguration logic and the computer simulation results are presented.