Deorbiter CubeSat mission design

This paper presents the mission design for a CubeSat-based active debris removal approach intended for transferring sizable debris objects from low-Earth orbit to a deorbit altitude of 100 km. The mission consists of a mothership spacecraft that carries and deploys several debris-removing nanosatellites, called Deorbiter CubeSats. Each Deorbiter is designed based on the utilization of an eight-unit CubeSat form factor and commercially-available components with significant flight heritage. The mothership spacecraft delivers Deorbiter CubeSats to the vicinity of a predetermined target debris, through performing a long-range rendezvous maneuver. Through a formation flying maneuver, the mothership then performs in-situ measurements of debris shape and orbital state. Upon release from the mothership, each Deorbiter CubeSat proceeds to performing a rendezvous and attachment maneuver with a debris object. Once attached to the debris, the CubeSat performs a detumbling maneuver, by which the residual angular momentum of the CubeSat-debris system is dumped using Deorbiter’s onboard reaction wheels. After stabilizing the attitude motion of the combined Deorbiter-debris system, the CubeSat proceeds to performing a deorbiting maneuver, i.e., reducing system’s altitude so much so that the bodies disintegrate and burn up due to atmospheric drag, typically at around 100 km above the Earth surface. The attitude and orbital maneuvers that are planned for the mission are described, both for the mothership and Deorbiter CubeSat. The performance of each spacecraft during their operations is investigated, using the actual performance specifications of the onboard components. The viability of the proposed debris removal approach is discussed in light of the results.     

Multi-mode diagnosis of a gas turbine engine using an adaptive neuro-fuzzy system

Gas Turbine Engines (GTEs) are vastly used for generation of mechanical power in a wide range of applications from airplane propulsion systems to stationary power plants. The gas-path components of a GTE are exposed to harsh operating and ambient conditions, leading to several degradation mechanisms. Because GTE components are mostly inaccessible for direct measurements and their degradation levels must be inferred from the measurements of accessible parameters, it is a challenge to acquire reliable information on the degradation conditions of the parts in different fault modes. In this work, a data-driven fault detection and degradation estimation scheme is developed for GTE diagnostics based on an Adaptive Neuro-Fuzzy Inference System (ANFIS). To verify the performance and accuracy of the developed diagnostic framework on GTE data, an ensemble of measurable gas path parameters has been generated by a high-fidelity GTE model under (a) diverse ambient conditions and control settings, (b) every possible combination of degradation symptoms, and (c) a broad range of signal to noise ratios. The results prove the competency of the developed framework in fault diagnostics and reveal the sensitivity of diagnostic results to measurement noise for different degradation symptoms.     

航天器系统工程技术发展思路

系统工程技术水平是航天器系统研制和创新能力的重要体现。对我国航天器系统工程技术发展问题进行了思考。首先对比分析了国内外航天器系统工程技术发展差距,阐述了国内面临的空间任务形势及系统工程技术发展要求;然后,研究构建了以系统工程过程和活动为核心,并包含任务能力支撑要素、发展基础要素和发展保障要素的航天器系统工程技术体系框架;随后,提出了航天器系统工程技术发展目标,并从专业技术发展、经验继承、活动过程研究、工具方法完善、标准规范开发和发展机制健全等方面梳理了航天器系统工程技术建设内容;此外,还探讨了航天器系统工程技术发展的实施途径。     

航天器系统方案设计模式研究

航天器系统方案设计是航天器系统工程研制的关键阶段工作,直接决定了航天器的综合性能及研制成本。分析了当前系统方案设计模式存在的问题;根据航天器系统工程的特点及要求,提出了系统方案设计模式改进的原则与思路;重点从组建专职系统方案设计项目组、改进系统方案设计工作管理、完善系统方案设计过程方面,研究探讨了系统设计模式改进方案。     

航天器总体设计技术成就与展望

经过40年的发展,我国航天器总体设计技术取得了令人瞩目的成就,但也面临着新的机遇和挑战。文章根据未来我国航天器总体设计技术的发展目标和主要任务,对其技术发展方向进行了初步的分析。     

A deorbiter CubeSat for active orbital debris removal

This paper introduces a mission concept for active removal of orbital debris based on the utilization of the CubeSat form factor. The CubeSat is deployed from a carrier spacecraft, known as a mothership, and is equipped with orbital and attitude control actuators to attach to the target debris, stabilize its attitude, and subsequently move the debris to a lower orbit where atmospheric drag is high enough for the bodies to burn up. The mass and orbit altitude of debris objects that are within the realms of the CubeSat’s propulsion capabilities are identified. The attitude control schemes for the detumbling and deorbiting phases of the mission are specified. The objective of the deorbiting maneuver is to decrease the semi-major axis of the debris orbit, at the fastest rate, from its initial value to a final value of about 6471?km (i.e., 100?km above Earth considering a circular orbit) via a continuous low-thrust orbital transfer. Two case studies are investigated to verify the performance of the deorbiter CubeSat during the detumbling and deorbiting phases of the mission. The baseline target debris used in the study are the decommissioned KOMPSAT-1 satellite and the Pegasus rocket body. The results show that the deorbiting times for the target debris are reduced significantly, from several decades to one or two years.     

Fuzzy multi-criteria decision-making approach to prioritization of space debris for removal

As private companies and government space agencies begin to seriously consider the task of active space debris removal, it is becoming increasingly more important to determine the highest priority objects to deorbit. This work sets forth an approach for prioritization of space debris through the utilization of Multi-Criteria Decision-Making methodologies and fuzzy logic, as well as both quantitative and qualitative criteria. The proposed debris prioritization approach considers various criteria including the orbit, size, mass, pairwise and total collision probabilities, and decay timeframe of each debris object. The means of assigning attributes to each assessment criterion is discussed in detail. To determine the weighting scheme for the criteria, a questionnaire was prepared and shared with experts in the field of space situational awareness. The work examines over two thousand critical debris objects selected from the existing debris catalog with respect to these criteria. The quantified attributes for each debris object are then aggregated through the fuzzy versions of the Analytic Hierarchy Process and the Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution. The results of the analysis identify high-priority debris objects for removal from Earth-bound orbits.