Orbit determination of BDS-3 satellite based on regional ground tracking station and inter-satellite link observations

The BeiDou global navigation satellite system (BDS-3) has established the Ka-band inter-satellite link (ISL) to realize a two-way ranging function between satellites, which provides a new observation technology for the orbit determination of BDS-3 satellites. Therefore, this study presents a BDS satellite orbit determination model based on ground tracking station (GTS) observations and ISL ranging observations firstly to analyze the impact of the ISL ranging observations on the orbit determination of BDS-3 satellites. Subsequently, considering the data fusion processing, the variance component estimation (VCE) algorithm is applied to the parameter estimation process of the satellite orbit determination. Finally, using the measured data from China’s regional GTS observations and BDS-3 ISL ranging observations, the effects of ISL ranging observations on the orbit determination accuracy of BDS-3 satellites are analyzed. Moreover, the impact of the VCE algorithm on the fusion data processing is evaluated from the aspects of orbit determination accuracy, Ka-band hardware delay parameter stability, and ISL ranging observation residuals. The results show that for China’s regional GTSs, the addition of BDS-3 ISL ranging observations can significantly improve the orbit determination accuracy of BDS-3 satellites. The observed orbit determination accuracy of satellite radial component is improved from 48 cm to 4.1 cm. In addition, when the initial weight ratio between GTS observations and ISL ranging observations is not appropriate, the various indicators which include orbit determination accuracy, ISL hardware delay, and ISL observation residuals were observed to have improved after the adjustment of the VCE algorithm. These results validate the effectiveness of the VCE algorithm for the fusion data processing of the GTS observations and ISL ranging observations.     

基于双滤波器的高精度目标跟踪估计方法

针对连续推力的合作航天器，采用双重无迹卡尔曼滤波(DUKF)算法估计其状态和加速度。通过状态滤波器和参数滤波器的配合，提升滤波精度，完成运动状态和参数的估计，从而实现合作目标的运动轨迹跟踪。与合作航天器相比，非合作航天器存在大小未知、发生时刻未知的机动，无法获得加速度，且信息获取和运动状态的估计难度大。针对非合作航天器，基于简化的相对运动方程，结合天基平台获得目标的观测信息，采用两个扩展卡尔曼滤波(EKF)及基于半正焦弦的机动检测策略实现多未知脉冲机动的运动状态的估计。仿真结果表明：相比于无迹卡尔曼滤波（UKF），DUKF在对合作航天器的状态和加速度估计方面具有更快的收敛速度和更高的滤波精度；对于存在未知机动的非合作航天器，通过对比验证机动检测策略与滤波器切换策略相结合的方法的有效性，该方法能够检测到多次机动并且减少误判。     

2021 Turkey mega forest Fires: Biodiversity measurements of the IUCN Red List wildlife mammals in Sentinel-2 based burned areas

Mega wildfires are one of the environmental disasters worldwide. This study evaluates the pre-fire species diversity and the indirect effects, including habitat loss for one of the largest wildfires in Manavgat (Antalya-Turkey) in 2021, with a two-step methodology. Here, (1) burnt areas in the Manavgat district (2021) were detected with remote sensing data from Sentinel-2A by delta Normalized Burn Ratio calculation for a selected area in Google Earth Engine, and (2) mammals' habitat vector data of International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List were integrated into Habitat and Biodiversity modelling of Terrset to analyze the alpha, beta, gamma diversity and Range Restriction Index for the wildfire region. In the total 4210 km² study area, 696 km² of the area was damaged by different fire severity; also, there were 56 mammal species' habitats here. These species include bats (i.e. Nyctalus leisleri), felids (i.e. Felis chaus), rodents (i.e. Rattus norvegicus) and large mammals (i.e. Ursus arctos). 88 % of these species are in IUCN's Least Concern category. The remaining classes are Near Threatened (3.7 %) and Vulnerable (7.4 %). This study also indicated that the burnt area's species richness does not totally consist of endemic species. Therefore, pre-fire species richness analyses of this study can be a base for further studies about the species' post-fire activity and occupancy.Furthermore, the 2021 mega wildfires show us the necessity of wildfire monitoring and risk studies in the entire Mediterranean ecosystem to evaluate the risks to the Sustainable Development Goals. Therefore, post-fire spatial data, fire migration monitorization, and recording of the species' activities should be performed temporally. In this way, the ability of wildlife's recovering, and the direct and indirect effects of the fire will be examined for ecosystems in the long term.     

航天器运输包装箱仿真验证平台技术研究

针对数量有限的物理跑车试验无法满足减振与保温性能测试需求的问题，提出一套航天器运输包装箱动力学与热学仿真验证方法，包括：建立适用于包装箱系统的刚柔耦合多体动力学系统，通过结合线路条件测试生成的动力学系统外部激励，实现减振性能虚拟跑车测试；建立基于计算流体力学的包装箱热学模型，通过模拟自然对流和空调控制，实现包装箱保温性能虚拟跑车测试；基于C/S架构和导航式流程设计思想，建立航天器运输包装箱仿真验证平台，通过实际案例证明该平台仿真结果与实际跑车测试数据具有较高的一致性。     

Development and performance evaluation of tropospheric scintillation model on Ku-band satellite link over Akure,Nigeria

Existing amplitude scintillation prediction models often perform less satisfactorily when deployed outside the regions where they were formulated. This necessitates the need to evaluate the performance of scintillation models developed in one region using data data from other regions while documenting their relative errors. Due to its variation with elevation angle, frequency, other link parameters and meteorological factors, we employed three years (January 2016 to December 2018) of concurrently measured satellite radio beacons and tropospheric weather parameters to develop a location-based amplitude scintillation prediction model over the Earth-space path of Akure (7.17^oN, 5.18^oE), South-western Nigeria. The satellite beacon measurement used Tektronix Y400 NetTek Analyzer at 1 s integration time while meteorological parameters, namely; temperature, pressure and relative humidity were measured using Davis Vantage Vue weather station at 1 min integration time. Comparative study of the model’s performance with nine (9) existing scintillation prediction models indicates that the best and worst performing models, in terms of root mean square error (RMSE), are the Statistical Temperature and Refractivity (STN) and direct physical and statistical prediction (DPSP) models with values 11.48 and 51.03 respectively. Also, worst month analysis indicates that April, with respective enhancement and fade values of 0.88 and 0.90 dB for 0.01% exceedance, is the overall worst calendar month for amplitude scintillation.     

Modelling ignition probability with pairwise mixing-reaction model for flame particle tracking

Reduced order models for ignition analysis can offer insights into ignition processes and facilitate the combustor optimization. In this study, a Pairwise Mixing-Reaction (PMR) model is formulated to model the interaction between the flame particle and the surrounding cell mixture during Lagrangian flame particle tracking. Specifically, the model accounts for the two-way coupling of mass and energy between the flame particle and the surrounding shell layer by modelling the corresponding turbulent mixing, chemical reaction and evaporation process if present. The state of a flame particle, e.g., burnt, hot gas or extinguished, is determined based on particle temperature. This model can properly describe the ignition process with a spark kernel being initiated in a nonflammable region, which is of practical importance in certain turbine engines and has not been rigorously accounted for by the existing models based on the estimation of local Karlovitz number. The model is integrated into an ignition probability analysis platform and is demonstrated for a methane/air bluff-body flame with the flow and fuel/air mixing characteristics being extracted from a non-reacting simulation. The results show that for the spark location being at the extreme fuel-lean outer shear layer of the recirculation zone, PMR can yield ignition events with a significant number of active flame particles. The mechanisms for the survival of the initial flame particles and the entrainment of the survived flame particles into the recirculation zone are analyzed. The results also show that the ignition probability map from PMR agrees well with the experimental observation: a high ignition probability in the shear layer of the recirculation zone near the mean stoichiometric surface, and low ignition probabilities inside the recirculation zone and the top stagnation region of the recirculation zone. The parametric study shows that the predicted shape of the ignition progress factor and ignition probability is in general insensitive to the model parameters and the model is adequate for quantifying the regions with high ignition probabilities.     

基于光学测角数据的风云四号同步轨道卫星精密定轨

针对风云四号同步卫星的精密定轨和精度评估需求，首先利用地面光学测角数据对FY-4A卫星进行精密定轨，定轨后方位角和高度角的残差rms分别为0.25＂和0.45＂。与基于测距数据的轨道相比，位置精度在有测角数据的弧段内小于50m。进一步联合测角数据和测距数据对FY-4A卫星进行联合定轨，定轨后轨道重叠精度优于15m。利用联合定轨结果评估了基于测距数据的实时轨道产品精度，可以明显发现轨道精度随着测距数据的积累而逐步提高。     

An empirical solar radiation pressure model for satellites moving in the orbit-normal mode

We present a family of empirical solar radiation pressure (SRP) models suited for satellites orbiting the Earth in the orbit normal (ON) mode. The proposed ECOM-TB model describes the SRP accelerations in the so-called terminator coordinate system. The choice of the coordinate system and the SRP parametrization is based on theoretical assumptions and on simulation results with a QZS-1-like box-wing model, where the SRP accelerations acting on the solar panels and on the box are assessed separately. The new SRP model takes into account that in ON-mode the incident angle of the solar radiation on the solar panels is not constant like in the yaw-steering (YS) attitude mode. It depends on the elevation angle of the Sun above the satellite’s orbital plane. The resulting SRP vector acts, therefore, not only in the Sun-satellite direction, but has also a component normal to it. Both components are changing as a function of the incident angle. ECOM-TB has been used for precise orbit determination (POD) for QZS-1 and BeiDou2 (BDS2) satellites in medium (MEO) and inclined geosynchronous Earth orbits (IGSO) based on IGS MGEX data from 2014 and 2015. The resulting orbits have been validated with SLR, long-arc orbit fits, orbit misclosures, and by the satellite clock corrections based on the orbits. The validation results confirm that—compared to ECOM2—ECOM-TB significantly (factor 3–4) improves the POD of QZS-1 in ON-mode for orbits with different arc lengths (one, three, and five days). Moderate orbit improvements are achieved for BDS2 MEO satellites—especially if ECOM-TB is supported by pseudo-stochastic pulses (the model is then called ECOM-TBP). For BDS2 IGSOs, ECOM-TB with its 9 SRP parameters appears to be over-parameterized. For use with BDS2 IGSO spacecraft we therefore developed a minimized model version called ECOM-TBMP, which is based on the same axis decomposition as ECOM-TB, but has only 2 SRP parameters and is supported by pseudo-stochastic parameters, as well. This model shows a similar performance as ECOM-TB with short arcs, but an improved performance with (3-day) long-arcs. The new SRP models have been activated in CODE’s IGS MGEX solution in Summer 2018. Like the other ECOM models the ECOM-TB derivatives might be used together with an a priori model.     

Downsizing an orbital space robot: A dynamic system based evaluation

Small space robots have the potential to revolutionise space exploration by facilitating the on-orbit assembly of infrastructure, in shorter time scales, at reduced costs. Their commercial appeal will be further improved if such a system is also capable of performing on-orbit servicing missions, in line with the current drive to limit space debris and prolong the lifetime of satellites already in orbit. Whilst there have been a limited number of successful demonstrations of technologies capable of these on-orbit operations, the systems remain large and bespoke. The recent surge in small satellite technologies is changing the economics of space and in the near future, downsizing a space robot might become be a viable option with a host of benefits. This industry wide shift means some of the technologies for use with a downsized space robot, such as power and communication subsystems, now exist. However, there are still dynamic and control issues that need to be overcome before a downsized space robot can be capable of undertaking useful missions. This paper first outlines these issues, before analyzing the effect of downsizing a system on its operational capability. Therefore presenting the smallest controllable system such that the benefits of a small space robot can be achieved with current technologies. The sizing of the base spacecraft and manipulator are addressed here. The design presented consists of a 3 link, 6 degrees of freedom robotic manipulator mounted on a 12U form factor satellite. The feasibility of this 12U space robot was evaluated in simulation and the in-depth results presented here support the hypothesis that a small space robot is a viable solution for in-orbit operations.     

Maximal admissible mode decision delay in terminal guidance

Mode decision-maker is a critical component in the logic-based Integrated Estimation and Guidance(IEG) system. For the best possible estimation and guidance performance, the mode decision delay of the mode decision-maker should be limited to a range as small as possible. This paper presents a numerical method for computing the maximal admissible mode decision delay that varies with time-to-go. Particular attention has been paid to highly maneuvering target interception in terminal guidance. The results of this research offer useful guidelines for the design of the mode decision-maker in IEG systems.