The infrared space observatory

The Infrared Space Observatory (ISO), a programme of the European Space Agency, is an astronomical satellite operating at wavelength from 2.5 to 200 m. It will be launched in 1995.The ISO optical subsystem is a cryogenically cooled telescope with its baffling system (main baffle and sunshade). The telescope, a 60 cm Ritchey-Chrétien type, focuses the beam to the four scientific instruments located in its focal plane. The extremely low temperature, 1.8 K, is provided by the payload module (PLM) cryostat, filled with superfluid He.This paper presents the main choices done for the telescope design together with their rationale and the performances achieved on the flight model (FM) of the telescope. The FM telescope is presently installed inside the payload module, ready for the system final verifications.     

SOFIA: The next generation airborne observatory

The United States and German Space Agencies (NASA and DARA) are collaborating in plans for SOFIA — The Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy. It is a 2.5 meter telescope to be installed in a Boeing 747 aircraft and operated at altitudes from 41,000 to 45,000 feet. It will permit routine measurement of infrared radiation absorbed by the atmosphere at lower altitudes, and observation of astronomical objects and transient events from anywhere in the world. The concept is based on 20 years of experience with NASA's Kuiper Airborne Observatory (KAO), which SOFIA would replace. SOFIA will complement the capabilities of other future space missions, and will enable scientists to make observations which would otherwise be made from space.     

The Edison infrared space observatory

For five years, theEdison program has had the goal of developing new designs for infrared space observatories which will break the cost curve by permitting more capable missions at lower cost. Most notably, this has produced a series of models for purely radiative and radiative/mechanical (hybrid) cooling which do not use cryogens and optical designs which are not constrained by the coolant tanks. Purely radiatively-cooled models achieve equilibrium temperatures as low as about 20 K at a distance of 1 AU from the sun. More advancedEdison designs include mechanical cooling systems attached to the telescope assembly which lower the optical system temperature to 5 K or less. Via these designs, near-cryogenic temperatures appear achievable without the limitations of cryogenic cooling. OneEdison model has been proposed to the European Space Agency as the next generation infrared space observatory and is presently under consideration as a candidate ESA Cornerstone mission. The basic design is also the starting point for elements of future infrared space interferometers.     

The infrared space observatory (ISO)

The Infrared Space Observatory (ISO), a fully approved and funded project of the European Space Agency (ESA), is an astronomical satellite, which will operate at wavelengths from 2.5–240 m. ISO will provide astronomers with a unique facility of unprecedented sensitivity for a detailed exploration of the universe ranging from objects in the solar system right out to distant extragalactic sources. The satellite essentially consists of a large cryostat containing at launch over 2000 litres of superfluid helium to maintain the Ritchey-Chrétien telescope, the scientific instruments and the optical baffles at temperatures between 2 K and 8 K. The telescope has a 60-cm diameter primary mirror and is diffraction-limited at a wavelength of 5 m. A pointing accuracy of a few arc seconds is provided by a three-axis-stabilisation system consisting of reaction wheels, gyros and optical sensors. ISO's instrument complement consists of four instruments, namely: an imaging photo-polarimeter (2.5–240 m), a camera (2.5–17 m), a short wavelength spectrometer (3–45 m) and a long wavelength spectrometer (43–196 m). These instruments are being built by international consortia of scientific institutes and have been delivered to ESA for in-orbit operations. ISO will be launched in September 1995 by an Ariane 4 into an elliptical orbit (apogee 70000 km and perigee 1000 km) and will be operational for at least 18 months. In keeping with ISO's role as an observatory, the majority of its observing time is being made available to the general astronomical community via a Call for Observing Proposals.     

Stellar infrared astronomy with EDISON

In this review the IR emission from circumstellar material is discussed, both of ionized gas and dust grains, and the astrophysical information that can be extracted from such observations. Some emphasis is placed on the possibilities of stellar IR astronomy using a large space-borne telescope, especially with respect to the much better spatial and spectral resolution of such a telescope compared to the current generation of ground-based and space IR telescopes.     

The future of space infrared astronomy

Conclusion I can remember vividly when Tim Hawarden first came into my office about 7 years ago and talked very excitedly about passively-cooled space infrared telescopes. He was sufficiently persuasive that we even managed to get the idea into the various forward-look exercises in which the SERC indulges every year. The idea has evolved considerably since then and the climax of that activity was when Tim presented the case for POIROT to the European Space Agency a couple of years ago. The project did very well indeed as it passed through the peer-review committees and was unlucky just to miss being selected for further study.Since then, the momentum has continued largely through the enthusiasm of Tim and of Harley Thronson's advocacy in the USA. It is my view that the time has come when the agencies have to take these proposals very seriously indeed as the way forward for space infrared astronomy. Our goal over the next two days is to expose all the issues which have to be addressed to convert the concept into a realistic space mission.     

Intelli-FIELDTM: the next generation electrostatic fielddisturbance sensor

Outdoor perimeter volumetric field disturbance sensors must reliably detect perturbations to the field caused by an intruder, while rejecting noise and environmental changes that may be orders of magnitude greater than the target response. Currently, E-Field(R) systems are widely deployed in nuclear, correctional, and industrial sites to provide perimeter security. These systems are effective in rejecting the majority of noise and environmental stimuli through combined fixed attribute threshold comparison techniques. However, some environmental stimuli closely mimic target stimuli, so improved discrimination techniques have been sought. We describe the results of current studies and investigations of electrostatic sensor system response to targets and to various environmental changes. Fundamental principles in the character of sensor response to these varied stimuli are discussed. Techniques and methods that may be used to exploit the difference between intruder and environmental responses, while using cost-effective discrimination methods, are described. We show how the new Intelli-FIELD system was created, using currently available technologies, to provide both excellent detection properties, and an extremely low nuisance alarm rate, while, at the same time, greatly simplifying installation, calibration, and maintenance. The details of the new system hardware components and test results from initial field installations are described. A comparison of field performance with the previous E-Field product is provided to indicate the advantages of this new sensor technology     

Solid-state power controller for the next generation

The design philosophies of an electrical load management center (ELMC) for military platforms and the advantages and features made possible only through the use of real-time solid-state power controllers (SSPCs) are discussed. Computer control of power distribution systems will be required to off-load crews and increase system reliability, with improved fault handling, while also protecting the wire and load. The electrical, mechanical, and special competitive features of the SSPC series, the military screening and mechanical specifications, and other product options are highlighted     

Integrated modular avionics for next generation commercialairplanes

The goals are objectives of integrated modular avionics (IMA) are discussed. One candidate computing architecture for IMA, the Boeing 777 Airplane Information Management System (AIMS), is presented. The cabinet architecture, fault tolerance characteristics, backplane bus, and functional growth provisions are considered. The integration concepts developed for AIMS represent a first step in real-world application of the IMA technologies     

Developing the next generation cockpit display system

The goal of advanced cockpit display systems is to present large amounts of information quickly and in an understandable format, enabling the aviator to improve mission performance. Current front-line cockpit display systems utilize low-resolution analog video to present two-dimensional (2-D) images on many separate displays. The future cockpit will be capable of integrating large picture digital video with three-dimensional (3-D) and 2-D color images. This system will be capable of rendering icons, maps, and world-views. It will be compatible with head mounted displays and multiple large displays to improve war-planning and combat aviator situational awareness. We are developing a massively parallel 3-D renderer which will be capable of updating 500,000 3-D triangles per second with shading, lighting, transparency, texture mapping, and hidden surface removal. The renderer design employs a massively parallel architecture with 1,024 ALUs per chip to display one million anti-aliased vectors per second. Current high end workstations are capable of these display goals, but fall far short of military reliability, size, and power requirements. The rendering system will be small enough to fit on one board, extensible to dual-seat configuration, and capable of up to eight windows per display channel     

A space observatory for astrophysical explorations in the REALM of gamma-ray astronomy

Conclusion The space observatory whose major systems are outlined in the present paper is being designed to ensure astrophysical explorations in the field of -ray astronomy during the course of one year. The observatory is supposed to travel along a circular orbit up to 400 km in altitude, inclined at 51.6°. Investigations to be accomplished in the observatory will enable us to make substantial progress in gaining a deeper insight into a wide variety of astrophysical phenomena.     

Next generation space avionics: layered system implementation

Advances in electronics over the past decade have produced major improvements in the power and flexibility of computer systems. Unfortunately current avionics systems for space applications typically have not leveraged these COTS advantages. A decade ago, the state-of-the-art for avionics systems made a step change to the Integrated Modular Avionics (IMA) used in the Boeing 777. This next generation avionics architecture is not based upon traditional Byzantine redundancy structures, but on a truth-based scheme where each element knows when an internal failure occurs and removes itself from the system. IMA utilizes a lock-step microprocessor design that communicates to a COTS Backplane for input/output, and to a Virtual Backplane/spl trade/ (a reliable high-speed serial bus) for intra-system communication. The system functions are implemented using a time and space partitioned operating system. The entire system provides the simplicity of a simplex system, implements the highest level of reliability providing complete flexibility to reconfigure both software applications and hardware interfaces, allows for rapid prototyping using low-cost COTS hardware, and is easily expandable beyond the initial point implementation. As the only 5/sup th/ generation avionics architecture, the concepts incorporated into Honeywell's IMA are ideally suited to be the backbone of the next generation Space Exploration Program avionics architectures.     

The einstein observatory medium sensitivity survey

Results are presented from an X-ray survey of 50 square degrees of the high galactic latitude sky at sensitivities in the range 7·10^–14 – 5·10^–12 erg/cm² sec (0·3–3·5 keV) carried out with the Imaging Proportional Counter (IPC) aboard the Einstein Observatory. The extragalactic sample consists of 48 sources which have been used to determine the number flux relation. The content of the sample is analyzed in terms of types of sources and is found to be significantly different from the content of similar samples selected at higher fluxes.     

Next generation GPS-aided space navigation systems

The next generation of low cost Global Positioning System (GPS) receivers for space navigation and attitude determination are positioned to take full advantage of the improvements made in the commercial GPS receivers used for terrestrial applications. There have been recent improvements made to the GPS receivers that include the addition of extra GPS satellite channels that can be tracked simultaneously. The older style GPS receivers were only able to handle five channels at a time. In order for proper determination of three-dimensional position, a minimum of four channels was required and the fifth channel of the receiver was reserved to perform search functions for finding the next satellite. This included searching for satellites that could be used to replace exiting satellites moving out of the Field of View (FOV). The search function also enables the GPS receiver to search for the best constellation for maximum performance accuracy. The fifth roaming channel also provided a best next-satellite selection capability in case the field of view to one of the satellites was blocked or shaded.     

Radiative and hybrid cooling of infrared space telescopes

The designs of cold space telescopes, cryogenic and radiatively cooled, are similar in most elements and both benefit from orbits distant from the Earth. In particular such orbits allow the anti-sunward side of radiatively-cooled spacecraft to be used to provide large cooling radiators for the individual radiation shields. Designs incorporating these features have predictedT _tel near 20 K. The attainability of such temperatures is supported by limited practical experience (IRAS, COBE). Supplementary cooling systems (cryogens, mechanical coolers) can be advantageously combined with radiative cooling in hybrid designs to provide robustness against deterioration and yet lower temperatures for detectors, instruments, and even the whole telescope. The possibility of such major additional gains is illustrated by the Very Cold Telescope option under study forEdison, which should offerT _tel5 K for a little extra mechanical cooling capacity.     

Advanced materials for next generation NiMH portable, HEV and EVbatteries

While Ovonic NiMH batteries are already in high volume commercial production for portable applications, advances in materials technology have enabled performance improvements in specific energy (100 Wh/kg), specific power (600-1000 W/kg), high temperature operation, charge retention, and voltage stability. Concurrent with technology advances, Ovonic NiMH batteries have established performance and commercial milestones in electric vehicles, hybrid electric vehicles, as well as scooter, motorcycle and bicycle applications. As important as these advances, significant manufacturing cost reductions have also occurred which allow continued growth of NiMH technology. In this paper, advances in performance, applications and cost reduction are discussed with particular emphasis on the improved proprietary metal hydride and nickel hydroxide materials that make such advances possible     

“Dakota Sun”-the next generation solar powered racingvehicle

Based on the experience gained from Sunrayce '95, the Solar Motion Team has made many changes to the design of the next generation solar car. These changes have resulted in a vehicle that is very different from the “Solar Rolar”, The Dakota Sun is a three wheeled vehicle with separate cab and solar array. This design allows for improved aerodynamics, decreased weight, lower rolling resistance, and ease of manufacture compared to the four wheeled catamaran used in the last race. However, this design sacrifices total enclosed wheel base area, additional room for components, and added power from side solar panels, The major objectives for the team's redesigned Sunrayce '97 entry are: systems integration; decrease the weight of the car; decrease aerodynamic drag; more efficient use of available energy; and increased driver safety. The team has set a standard to use the latest available technology. Although this increases the complexity of the components, by using a systems engineering approach the “Dakota Sun” has evolved into a more integrated vehicle. This philosophy of integrated design has resulted in great improvements in mechanical design and manufacturing techniques, as well as electrical innovations. The major design changes evident from the original Sunraycen '95 vehicle are the result of an evolutionary design process that has produced the highly competitive Sunraycel '97 design outlined in this article     

Wave induced energetic particle generation and space plasma modeling

An increasing number of high-resolution spacecraft observations provide access to details of energetic electron and ion velocity-space distribution structures. Since resonant wave-particle interaction processes depend considerably on the distribution function details, space plasma modeling is of particular interest for studies of a variety of plasma environments as planetary magnetospheres, the interplanetary medium or solar flares. After summarizing the most popular particle acceleration processes we focus on wave-powered energization mechanisms induced by Landau interaction and demonstrate from a time-evolutionary scenario that power-law distributions, highly favored by observations in recent years, are generated resonantly by an Alfvén wave spectrum and possibly saturate. This process is further stimulated in non-uniform magnetic field configurations where multiple wave packets at different phase velocities provide the energy source for a continuous acceleration process. Moreover, in this conjunction we demonstrate that in particular κ-distributions are a consequence of a generalized entropy concept, favored by nonextensive statistics, which provides the missing link for power-law plasma models from fundamental physics. With regard to in situ space observations examples are provided illuminating that for non-thermal plasma characteristics the particular structure of the velocity-space distribution dominates as regulating mechanism for the wave-particle interaction process over effects related to changes in space plasma parameters. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

基于经济性和环保性的下一代客机轨迹优化

针对提高民航客机飞行经济性和降低其对环境污染的问题,基于"下一代航空运输系统"的连续性飞行剖面,建立纵向飞行轨迹模型,综合经济性和环保性两类目标,对飞行轨迹进行了优化。以某型客机为例,优化目标分别为直接使用成本、总温室气体排放量以及两者组合的多目标,基于"下一代航空运输系统"的连续性飞行剖面,选用不同的航程进行了轨迹优化。结果表明,排放量受飞行高度的影响较大,而直接使用成本则对航时和油耗更为敏感。