Drag and energy accommodation coefficients during sunspot maximum

Conditions appropriate to gas-surface interactions on satellite surfaces in orbit have not been successfully duplicated in the laboratory. However, measurements by pressure gauges and mass spectrometers in orbit have revealed enough of the basic physical chemistry that realistic theoretical models of the gas-surface interaction can now be used to calculate physical drag coefficients. The dependence of these drag coefficients on conditions in space can be inferred by comparing the physical drag coefficient of a satellite with a drag coefficient fitted to its observed orbital decay. This study takes advantage of recent data on spheres and attitude stabilized satellites to compare physical drag coefficients with the histories of the orbital decay of several satellites during the recent sunspot maximum. The orbital decay was obtained by fitting, in a least squares sense, the semi-major axis decay inferred from the historical two-line elements acquired by the US Space Surveillance Network. All the principal orbital perturbations were included, namely geopotential harmonics up to the 16th degree and order, third body attraction of the Moon and the Sun, direct solar radiation pressure (with eclipses), and aerodynamic drag, using the Jacchia-Bowman 2006 (JB2006) model to describe the atmospheric density. After adjusting for density model bias, a comparison of the fitted drag coefficient with the physical drag coefficient has yielded values for the energy accommodation coefficient as well as for the physical drag coefficient as a function of altitude during solar maximum conditions. The results are consistent with the altitude and solar cycle variation of atomic oxygen, which is known to be adsorbed on satellite surfaces, affecting both the energy accommodation and angular distribution of the reemitted molecules.     

The fast debris evolution model

The ‘particles-in-a-box’ (PIB) model introduced by Talent [Talent, D.L. Analytic model for orbital debris environmental management. J. Spacecraft Rocket, 29 (4), 508–513, 1992.] removed the need for computer-intensive Monte Carlo simulation to predict the gross characteristics of an evolving debris environment. The PIB model was described using a differential equation that allows the stability of the low Earth orbit (LEO) environment to be tested by a straightforward analysis of the equation’s coefficients. As part of an ongoing research effort to investigate more efficient approaches to evolutionary modelling and to develop a suite of educational tools, a new PIB model has been developed. The model, entitled Fast Debris Evolution (FADE), employs a first-order differential equation to describe the rate at which new objects ?10 cm are added and removed from the environment. Whilst Talent [Talent, D.L. Analytic model for orbital debris environmental management. J. Spacecraft Rocket, 29 (4), 508–513, 1992.] based the collision theory for the PIB approach on collisions between gas particles and adopted specific values for the parameters of the model from a number of references, the form and coefficients of the FADE model equations can be inferred from the outputs of future projections produced by high-fidelity models, such as the DAMAGE model.     

High-fidelity geometry models for improving the consistency of CHAMP,GRACE, GOCE and Swarm thermospheric density data sets

During the last two decades, accelerometers on board of the CHAMP, GRACE, GOCE and Swarm satellites have provided high-resolution thermosphere density data to improve our knowledge on atmospheric dynamics and coupling processes in the thermosphere-ionosphere region. Most users of the data have focused on relative density variations. Scale differences between datasets and models have been largely neglected or removed using ad hoc scale factors. The origin of these scale differences arises from errors in the aerodynamic modelling, specifically in the modelling of the satellite outer surface geometry and of the gas-surface interactions. Therefore, the first step to remove the scale differences is to enhance the geometry modelling. This work forms the foundation for the future improvement of characterization of satellite aerodynamics and gas-surface interactions models at TU Delft, as well as for extending the use of sideways and angular accelerations in the aerodynamic analysis of accelerations and derivation of thermosphere datasets. Although work to improve geometry and aerodynamic force models by other authors has focused on CHAMP and GRACE, this paper includes the GOCE and Swarm satellites as well. In addition, it uses a density determination algorithm that is valid for arbitrary attitude orientations, enabling a validation making use of attitude manoeuvres. The results show an improvement in the consistency of density data between these four missions, and of data obtained before, during and after attitude manoeuvres of CHAMP and Swarm. The new models result in larger densities, compared to the previously used panel method. The largest average rescaling of density, by switching to the new geometry models is reached for Swarm at 32%, the smallest for GRACE at 5%. For CHAMP and GOCE, mean differences of 11% and 9% are obtained respectively. In this paper, an overview of the improvements and comparisons of data sets is provided together with an introduction to the next research phase on the gas-surface interactions.     

环量控制翼型非定常气动力建模

针对目前环量控制技术中射流参数与迎角对翼型气动特性的影响高度耦合,对应非定常气动力模型精度较差的研究现状,基于环量控制翼型强迫俯仰振动数值模拟数据,借助Kriging模型实现环量控制翼型的定常气动力插值,借助微分方程模型完成了适用于环量控制翼型的线性微分方程建模,采用两步线性回归参数辨识方法辨识线性微分方程模型中特征时间常数等参数,对高动量系数大振幅流动状态下的非线性影响进行修正。研究结果表明:基于Kriging模型实现的环量控制翼型定常气动力插值精度较传统气动导数模型高,建立的环量控制翼型非定常气动力模型能够精确预测不同流动状态下的气动力和力矩系数变化情况。      

Analysis of tape tether survival in LEO against orbital debris

The low earth orbit (LEO) environment contains a large number of artificial debris, of which a significant portion is due to dead satellites and fragments of satellites resulted from explosions and in-orbit collisions. Deorbiting defunct satellites at the end of their life can be achieved by a successful operation of an Electrodynamic Tether (EDT) system. The effectiveness of an EDT greatly depends on the survivability of the tether, which can become debris itself if cut by debris particles; a tether can be completely cut by debris having some minimal diameter. The objective of this paper is to develop an accurate model using power laws for debris-size ranges, in both ORDEM2000 and MASTER2009 debris flux models, to calculate tape tether survivability. The analytical model, which depends on tape dimensions (width, thickness) and orbital parameters (inclinations, altitudes) is then verified with fully numerical results to compare for different orbit inclinations, altitudes and tape width for both ORDEM2000 and MASTER2009 flux data.     

Analysis of the orbit lifetime of CubeSats in low Earth orbits including periodic variation in drag due to attitude motion

It is estimated that more than 22,300 human-made objects are in orbit around the Earth, with a total mass above 8,400,000 kg. Around 89% of these objects are non-operational and without control, which makes them to be considered orbital debris. These numbers consider only objects with dimensions larger than 10 cm. Besides those numbers, there are also about 2000 operational satellites in orbit nowadays. The space debris represents a hazard to operational satellites and to the space operations. A major concern is that this number is growing, due to new launches and particles generated by collisions. Another important point is that the development of CubeSats has increased exponentially in the last years, increasing the number of objects in space, mainly in the Low Earth Orbits (LEO). Due to the short operational time, CubeSats boost the debris population. One of the requirements for space debris mitigation in LEO is the limitation of the orbital lifetime of the satellites, which needs to be lower than 25 years. However, there are space debris with longer estimated decay time. In LEÓs, the influence of the atmospheric drag is the main orbital perturbation, and is used in maneuvers to increment the losses in the satellite orbital energy, to locate satellites in constellations and to accelerate the decay.The goal of the present research is to study the influence of aerodynamic rotational maneuver in the CubeSat?s orbital lifetime. The rotational axis is orthogonal to the orbital plane of the CubeSat, which generates variations in the ballistic coefficient along the trajectory. The maneuver is proposed to accelerate the decay and to mitigate orbital debris generated by non-operational CubeSats. The panel method is selected to determine the drag coefficient as a function of the flow incident angle and the spinning rate. The pressure distribution is integrated from the satellite faces at hypersonic rarefied flow to calculate the drag coefficient. The mathematical model considers the gravitational potential of the Earth and the deceleration due to drag. To analyze the effects of the rotation during the decay, multiple trajectories were propagated, comparing the results obtained assuming a constant drag coefficient with trajectories where the drag coefficient changes periodically. The initial perigees selected were lower than 400 km of altitude with eccentricities ranging from 0.00 to 0.02. Six values for the angular velocity were applied in the maneuver. The technique of rotating the spacecraft is an interesting solution to increase the orbit decay of a CubeSat without implementing additional de-orbit devices. Significant changes in the decay time are presented due to the increase of the mean drag coefficient calculated by the panel method, when the maneuver is applied, reducing the orbital lifetime, however the results are independent of the angular velocity of the satellite.     

垂直下降状态下的旋翼三维流场数值模拟

应用激励盘模型,采用计算流体力学(CFD, Computational Fluid Dynamics)方法结合动量叶素理论,计算了旋翼在垂直下降时的流场特征与气动性能.计算过程中,旋翼载荷被描绘成沿桨盘径向分布、与当地流动参数相关的压力源项.在直角坐标系中,运用有限体积方法直接求解了定常不可压N-S(Navier-Stokes)方程,湍流模型为S-A(Spalart-Allmaras)一方程模型,重点使用诱导速度经验公式计算出了压力源项.旋翼流场模拟结果和性能预计结果同实验测量数据吻合较好,表明这种CFD方法可以有效地分析旋翼下降飞行时的空气流动特性,为进一步的涡环状态研究提供了参考.     

重力梯度力矩作用下近地卫星自旋运动规律分析

为研究近地卫星自旋运动规律,建立了近地卫星在受摄动影响的轨道上运行并受重力梯度力矩作用下的姿态运动模型,推导了自旋角速率满足一定条件下自旋运动的进动角、章动角、自旋角的解析解,对重力梯度作用下的自旋姿态运动规律进行了仿真分析,并用仿真计算结果验证了解析解的正确性。在轨道面缓慢进动情况下,当卫星绕最大主惯量轴自旋时,给出了自旋角速率取值范围表达式,在该取值范围内卫星自旋运动能够跟随轨道面一起进动,自旋轴以恒定的平均角速率进动,章动角在小范围内波动。建立的自旋姿态运动模型和分析结论可用于近地卫星姿态失控后的姿态确定和预测、在轨姿态设计及在轨备份等。     

飞翼布局无人机进排气影响及机理分析

进气道尾喷管的存在不仅影响着飞机机身前后的流场特性与压力分布,而且影响着飞机升力特性、阻力特性以及力矩特性.为了研究进排气效应对飞机气动特性的影响,采用计算流体力学(CFD)数值模拟技术,建立飞翼布局无人机(UAV)堵锥整流模型和动力影响模型,其中动力影响模型是根据发动机不同的工作状态,在进气道以及尾喷管截面上设置不同的边界条件,对比分析这两种计算模型在流场特征和气动特性上的差异性,揭示内在的影响机理.进排气效应的研究有助于飞机/发动机的一体化气动综合设计.      

An improved focusing method for geosynchronous SAR

More and more attention is paid to Geosynchronous Orbit (GEO) Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) in recent years due to its fine temporal resolution and large coverage, so that GEO SAR will play an important role in monitoring natural disasters, but its imaging is more difficult compared to lower Earth orbit (LEO) SAR because of the increase of orbit height. This paper mainly studies the coverage property and focusing method in GEO SAR. As is known to us, the coverage of a GEO SAR satellite can reach 1/3 of the whole Earth, and the revisiting time can reduce to 2 h, which will remarkably improve the capability in ocean applications, earth dynamics and natural hazards management and so on. Compared with the imaging in LEO SAR, a problem in GEO SAR is that the linear trajectory model can bring a big error due to the long synthetic aperture time, so that the classical imaging algorithms in LEO SAR cannot be directly applied in GEO SAR. Using the Norm method and Taylor expansion method, this paper gains an accurate slant range model, which can resolve the big error of the linear trajectory at perigee and collapse of the linear trajectory at apogee. Furthermore, this paper deduces a novel imaging algorithm for GEO SAR by means of series reversion, which realizes the focusing on large scene under the synthetic aperture time of 100 s. Finally, the simulation results at apogee and perigee prove the correction of the slant range model and imaging algorithm.     

伞衣透气性对翼伞气动特性的影响

为了提高翼伞的飞行性能,需要研究伞衣织物透气性对翼伞气动特性的影响。使用不可压雷诺时均Navier-Stokes(RANS)方程模拟伞衣外部流场,建立了包含附加动量源项的多孔介质域控制方程模拟伞衣,对2种透气性材料模型和无透气性影响传统模型的气动特性和流场分布进行了二维和三维定常数值模拟。数值结果表明,求解多孔介质域控制方程可以得到较准确的伞衣透气速度,伞衣表面的湍流度急剧增加;使用较大透气量材料制作伞衣时,升力系数大幅下降,阻力系数大幅上升,同时会造成内腔泄压影响翼伞的外形保持;使用微透气量材料制作伞衣时,升力系数在小迎角时小于不透气模型,在大迎角时大于不透气模型,较小的透气速度能在大迎角时延缓边界层分离。     

Impact of the time span selected to calibrate the ballistic parameter on spacecraft re-entry predictions

The trajectory modeling of satellites that are re-entering the Earth’s atmosphere, as a result of natural orbital decay, has always been a challenging task. Residual lifetime estimations and re-entry predictions are affected by substantial uncertainties, associated with atmospheric density models, with the forecasts of the relevant solar and geomagnetic activity indices and with tracking data, which for uncontrolled re-entries are usually sparse and not particularly accurate. Furthermore, modeling the aerodynamic forces that act on low altitude satellites is a formidable task, especially for objects of a complex shape and unknown attitude evolution.     

过失速机动的模糊逻辑建模仿真

对模糊逻辑建模方法进行了深入的研究,讨论了非定常气动力的模糊逻辑建模与参数辨识方法,针对其在飞机非定常气动力建模与辨识中的应用提出新的思路,使之更具有实用性,并应用于实际算例的计算分析中.利用振荡三角翼的试验数据建立了非定常气动力的两种模糊逻辑模型:一种采用减缩频率进行建模,另一种考虑时间历程对非定常气动力的影响.结果表明,所建立模糊逻辑模型的计算结果与实验数据结果符合较好.采用这两种不同的模糊逻辑模型对飞机的眼镜蛇机动进行了模拟、仿真,检验了模型的实用性.      

高超声速热化学非平衡对气动热环境影响

高超声速气动加热严重,考虑热化学非平衡对气动热环境影响,可以为热防护系统设计提供有效保障。采用Park和Gupta热化学非平衡模型,数值计算研究5组元(N_2,O_2,N,O,NO),17组化学反应的热化学非平衡效应对高超声速飞行器气动热环境影响,并与完全气体和热化学平衡模型进行对比分析。热化学非平衡模型流场温度及激波距离均比完全气体模型小。激波后气体密度因离解、化学反应而增大,且气体密度越大,激波距离越小,热化学平衡模型激波距离最小。完全气体和热化学平衡模型热流载荷计算值均比实验值偏大。Park和Gupta热化学非平衡模型数值计算激波距离及气动力载荷差别小。Park模型热流载荷计算值偏大,Gupta模型与实验结果相符,它可对气动热环境可靠预测。     

Accurate orbit predictions for debris orbit manoeuvre using ground-based lasers

Orbit manoeuvre of low Earth orbiting (LEO) debris using ground-based lasers has been proposed as a cost-effective means to avoid debris collisions. This requires the orbit of the debris object to be determined and predicted accurately so that the laser beam can be locked on the debris without the loss of valuable laser operation time. This paper presents the method and results of a short-term accurate LEO (<900 km in altitude) debris orbit prediction study using sparse laser ranging data collected by the EOS Space Debris Tracking System (SDTS). A main development is the estimation of the ballistic coefficients of the LEO objects from their archived long-term two line elements (TLE). When an object is laser tracked for two passes over about 24 h, orbit prediction (OP) accuracy of 10–20 arc seconds for the next 24–48 h can be achieved – the accuracy required for laser debris manoeuvre. The improvements in debris OP accuracy are significant in other applications such as debris conjunction analyses and the realisation of daytime debris laser tracking.     

基于TLE的Starlink星座第一阶段部署情况分析

近年来,随着卫星技术的快速发展和低轨（low earth orbit,LEO）卫星宽带互联网建设需求的不断增加,低轨大规模星座发展日新月异。针对Starlink星座初始化部署问题,首先论述了“星链”（Starlink）星座现状,分析在轨卫星高度变化。然后利用公开的两行轨道根数（two-line element,TLE）,从卫星发射入轨、轨道面分布两个方面,简要分析了Starlink星座的部署情况,给出升交点的变化规律;同时仿真分析了Starlink星座对地面的覆盖性能。最后,给出星座轨道面和相位分布、故障卫星处置以及可见卫星数量。所分析的结果以期为中国未来部署大规模LEO星座的建设提供借鉴。     

A genetic algorithm for Initial Orbit Determination from a too short arc optical observation

Optical observations constitute a source of angular measurements of a satellite pass. Commonly, these observations have short durations with respect to the satellite orbit period. As a consequence, the use of classical orbit determination algorithms, as Laplace, Gauss or Escobal methods, give very poor results. The present work faces with the problem of estimating the orbital parameters of an orbiting object using its optical streak acquired by a telescope or a high accuracy camera. In the paper a new technique is developed for the Initial Orbit Determination from optical data by exploiting the genetic algorithms. The algorithm works without restrictions on the observer location. A recent challenging problem is the Initial Orbit Determination with space-based observations. This work focuses on the problem of determinating the orbital parameters of a satellite from an orbiting observer in LEO, using short time observations. We present the results based on a simulation with the observer on a sun-synchronous orbit with a single observation of just 60 s. Monte Carlo simulations are presented with different levels of sensor accuracy to show the reliability of the algorithm. The algorithm is able to yield a candidate solution for each observation. The coplanar case is analyzed and discussed as well.     

An active debris removal parametric study for LEO environment remediation

Recent analyses on the instability of the orbital debris population in the low Earth orbit (LEO) region and the collision between Iridium 33 and Cosmos 2251 have reignited interest in using active debris removal (ADR) to remediate the environment. There are, however, monumental technical, resource, operational, legal, and political challenges in making economically viable ADR a reality. Before a consensus on the need for ADR can be reached, a careful analysis of its effectiveness must be conducted. The goal is to demonstrate the need and feasibility of using ADR to better preserve the future environment and to explore different operational options to maximize the benefit-to-cost ratio. This paper describes a new sensitivity study on using ADR to stabilize the future LEO debris environment. The NASA long-term orbital debris evolutionary model, LEGEND, is used to quantify the effects of several key parameters, including target selection criteria/constraints and the starting epoch of ADR implementation. Additional analyses on potential ADR targets among the existing satellites and the benefits of collision avoidance maneuvers are also included.     

类X-20高超声速飞行器反馈线性化控制研究

通过对类X-20高超声速飞行器的气动系数与高度、马赫数、攻角、侧滑角和舵偏角的关系进行分析,对各项气动系数进行了简化和拟合,并将舵偏增量视作控制输入,在此基础上建立了类X-20飞行器仿射非线性形式的控制模型,证明了它是可以输入输出精确线性化的,从而可以设计反馈线性化控制器.最后在存在大气密度、气动力矩系数和转动惯量不确定性情形下,针对原动力学模型进行闭环仿真研究,原动力学模型考虑地球旋转,气动数据直接从类X-20飞行器的气动数据表插值得到.仿真结果表明,所设计的控制律可以实现控制目标,具有较强鲁棒性.     

基于非线性模型预测滤波的微纳卫星定位方法

针对采用星载GPS(Global Position System)定位的LEO(Low Earth Orbiter)微纳卫星获得的位置速度数据不连续,而使用轨道动力学获得的连续的位置速度信息误差快速发散的问题,提出了一种基于非线性MPF(Model Predict Filter)的LEO微纳卫星定位方法,它采用非线性MPF预测的模型误差作为一步状态估计,同时使用GPS信息作为观测量,并与改进的扩展卡尔曼滤波组合,既可获得连续的卫星位置速度信息,又可获得相当于GPS单点定位的精度.仿真结果表明,此种方法可以有效地获得连续的微纳卫星位置速度信息,并且精度优于EKF(Extended Kalman Filter).