The attitude inversion method of geostationary satellites based on unscented particle filter

The attitude information of geostationary satellites is difficult to be obtained since they are presented in non-resolved images on the ground observation equipment in space object surveillance. In this paper, an attitude inversion method for geostationary satellite based on Unscented Particle Filter (UPF) and ground photometric data is presented. The inversion algorithm based on UPF is proposed aiming at the strong non-linear feature in the photometric data inversion for satellite attitude, which combines the advantage of Unscented Kalman Filter (UKF) and Particle Filter (PF). This update method improves the particle selection based on the idea of UKF to redesign the importance density function. Moreover, it uses the RMS-UKF to partially correct the prediction covariance matrix, which improves the applicability of the attitude inversion method in view of UKF and the particle degradation and dilution of the attitude inversion method based on PF. This paper describes the main principles and steps of algorithm in detail, correctness, accuracy, stability and applicability of the method are verified by simulation experiment and scaling experiment in the end. The results show that the proposed method can effectively solve the problem of particle degradation and depletion in the attitude inversion method on account of PF, and the problem that UKF is not suitable for the strong non-linear attitude inversion. However, the inversion accuracy is obviously superior to UKF and PF, in addition, in the case of the inversion with large attitude error that can inverse the attitude with small particles and high precision.     

静止气象卫星测距系统及测距信号的应用

简要介绍日本静止气象卫星(GMS)的三点测距系统以及侧音测距的基本原理,利用静止气象卫星测距信号进行时间比对同步实验。最后展望了利用我国静止气象卫星开展时间比对和发播工作的设想。     

Adjustable box-wing model for solar radiation pressure impacting GPS satellites

One of the major uncertainty sources affecting Global Positioning System (GPS) satellite orbits is the direct solar radiation pressure. In this paper a new model for the solar radiation pressure on GPS satellites is presented that is based on a box-wing satellite model, and assumes nominal attitude. The box-wing model is based on the physical interaction between solar radiation and satellite surfaces, and can be adjusted to fit the GPS tracking data.     

Single-event upset in geostationary transfer orbit during solar-activity maximum period measured by the Tsubasa satellite

This paper reports single-event upset (SEU) occurrence related to the space radiation environment in geostationary transfer orbit during solar-activity maximum period measured by the Tsubasa satellite. Most SEUs are measured in the inner radiation belt, indicating that they are mainly caused by trapped protons. Thus, the spatial distribution and the temporal variation of the SEU count correlate well with those of trapped protons. The peak SEU rate appears around L = 1.4. The transition point from SEUs caused by trapped protons to those caused by galactic cosmic rays is around L = 2.6. During the experiment period, increased SEU count was sometimes detected due to solar and geomagnetic events outside the inner radiation belt.     

Evolution of the orbital elements for objects with high area-to-mass ratios in geostationary transfer orbits

A new population of uncatalogued objects in geosynchronous Earth orbits (GEO), with a mean motion of about 1 rev/day and eccentricities up to 0.6, has been identified recently. The first observations of this new type of objects were acquired in the framework of the European Space Agency’s (ESA) search for space debris in GEO and the geostationary transfer orbit (GTO) using the ESA 1-m telescope on Tenerife. Earlier studies have postulated that the perturbations due to the solar radiation pressure can lead to such large eccentricities for GEO objects with a high area-to-mass ratio (A/M). The simulations showed that the eccentricities of GEO objects with large A/M exhibit periodic variations with periods of about one year and amplitudes depending on the value of A/M. The findings of these studies could be confirmed by observations from the ESA 1-m telescope on Tenerife.     

The compatability of cloud tracked winds from the United States,European, and Japanese geostationary satellites

Overlap of coverage of the five geostationary satellites has allowed an intercomparison of the FGGE cloud tracked winds. No attempt was made during FGGE to standardize the cloud tracking techniques. In spite of this potential for differences between data sets, the compatability of the various cloud wind data sets was generally quite good. The vector magnitude differences between nearly co-located vectors showed similar cumulative frequency statistics for all data producers. A study of systematic biases which could affect a global wind analysis of any given synoptic period showed that image alignment errors caused less than 2 m s^?1 bias for all data producers except the NESS high level winds which had an average bias of slightly greater than 3 m s^?1. This appears to be caused by the manual alignment of images in the movie loops. Height bias studies showed the Japanese winds to be higher than other data producers by as much as 100 mb for both the high and low levels winds. Height biases appear to be caused by the differences in cloud wind height assignment procedures.     

Improving the orbits of GPS block IIA satellites during eclipse seasons

During Sun-Earth eclipse seasons, GPS-IIA satellites perform noon, shadow and post-shadow yaw maneuvers. If the yaw maneuvers are not properly taken into account in the orbit determination process, two problems appear: (1) the observations residuals increase since the modeled position of the satellite’s navigation antenna differs from the true position, and (2) the non-conservative forces like solar radiation pressure or Earth radiation pressure are mismodeled due to the wrong orientation of the satellite’s surfaces in space.     

Evaluation of geostationary and polar orbiting satellites to collect meteorological data from automatic stations in the Antarctic Peninsula

This paper summarizes the main results, needs and perspectives on the use of Satellite Data Collection Systems (DCS) in the Antarctic Peninsula as derived from the operation of an experimental net of five Data Collection Platforms (DCPs) installed to collect meteorological data from remote sites, during the period 1978–1984. Main logistics problems have been solved and also the maintenance of a continuous data link along the year through Landsat (initially) and GOES satellites (actually). It is hoped to solve in the near future the remaining data quality problems on the DCP sensors.     

Interpretation of data on laser sensing of aerosol atmosphere from space

A single-frequency lidar, using aerosol scattering as an informative component, is the simplest and reliable facility for remote sensing of the atmosphere. The information on vertical distribution of atmospheric aerosol which can be obtained using such a lidar is necessary for investigating the physics of atmospheric processes and forecast of optical state of the atmosphere. At the same time, the interpretation of data on single-frequency sounding is associated with some difficulties of fundamental character, mainly due to insufficient software of the experiment. Under such conditions the problems of optimal processing of lidar returns aiming at extracting the useful information on aerosol are of great importance, especially if one takes into account the hindering effects of atmospheric background and optical noises. This paper presents a statistical approach to this problem, and the possibilities of single-frequency sounding from space are analyzed.     

Contact-free release dynamics of tens of stacked satellites with multiaxial rotations

Stacked satellites have a promising application in aerospace engineering for the merits of high launch efficiency and networking capability. As one of the key technical points, releasing tens or even hundreds of satellites from the stacked state in a simple and contact-free manner is of importance. In this paper, the contact-free release dynamics of tens of stacked satellites is studied with only the initial multiaxial rotations of the system. First of all, a rigid multibody dynamic model of the stacked satellite system is established via the natural coordinate formulation (NCF). The NCF modeling scheme is able to describe the large overall motions of the satellites without any singularity and makes it possible to simplify the varying constraints between the satellites. Then, the orbital dynamics of the stacked satellite system is derived via coordinate transformation by taking the Coriolis forces, centrifugal forces, and gravity gradient into consideration. In order to rapidly and accurately detect the possible contact between satellites, a convex optimization model for minimum distance computation is proposed by using a hyperelliptic approximation for a cubic satellite. Finally, a benchmark example is given to validate the contact detection algorithm and three release dynamic cases for the stacked satellites are presented to demonstrate the effectiveness of the contact-free releasing approach with multiaxial rotations.     

Boundary layer aerosol retrieval from thermal infrared nadir sounding – Preliminary results

A non-empirical algorithm is presented to retrieve the optical depth in the 750–1250 cm⁻¹ spectral range, of aerosol located in the boundary layer over the ocean, from nadir high-resolution radiance spectra in the thermal infrared. The algorithm is based on a line-by-line radiative transfer forward model and used the Optimal Estimation Method for the retrieval. Its performance strongly depends on the quality of the a priori temperature and H₂O atmospheric profiles. To demonstrate the relevance of the algorithm, distributions of maritime aerosol parameters have been retrieved from IMG/ADEOS data for December 1996, using the algorithm with the LBLRTM radiative transfer code, and ERA40 (ECMWF) a priori atmospheric profiles and surface conditions.     

Remote sensing of the atmospheric from scientific stations “Salyut”

A review of the four-channel teleradiometer “Micron” calibration and data processing techniques has been presented. The sensor validation of the space-borne teleradiometer “Micron” was based on the following: the preflight absolute calibration with the state certificated standard, the secondary onboard standard (miniature filament lamp), the inflight measurements of the Moon's brightness. The procedure of the extinction coefficient determination from the daytime horizon profiles has been developed. The validity of the used techniques was estimated by carring out model calculations. An optimal measuring procedure has been recommended. The proposed simple techniques are used for processing the space measured horizon brightness data. The results have been compared with the earlier published ones.     

A novel predictive algorithm for double difference observations of obstructed BeiDou geostationary earth orbit (GEO) satellites

Transmission link disturbances and device failure cause global navigation satellite system (GNSS) receivers to miss observations, leading to poor accuracy in real-time kinematic (RTK) positioning. Previously described solutions for this problem are influenced by the length of the prediction period, or are unable to account for changes in receiver state because they use information from previous epochs to make predictions. We propose an algorithm for predicting double difference (DD) observations of obstructed BeiDou navigation system (BDS) GEO satellites. Our approach adopts the first-degree polynomial function for predicting missing observations. We introduce a Douglas-Peucker algorithm to judge the state of the rover receiver to reduce the impact of predictive biases. Static and kinematic experiments were carried out on BDS observations to evaluate the proposed algorithm. The results of our navigation experiment demonstrate that RTK positioning accuracy is improved from meter to decimeter level with fixed ambiguity (horizontal?<?2?cm, vertical?<?18?cm). Horizontal accuracy is improved by over 50%, and the vertical accuracies of the results of the static and kinematic experiments are increased by 47% and 27% respectively, compared with the results produced by the classical approach. Though as the baseline becomes longer, the accuracy is weakened, our predictive algorithm is an improvement over existing approaches to overcome the issue of missing data.     

Measurements of the earth radiation budget from satellites during the first garp global experiment

Two special measurements of the energy exchange between earth and space were made in connection with the FGGE. A global monitoring program using wide-field-of-view and scanner detectors from NASA's NIMBUS-7 satellite successfully returned measurements during the entire FGGE. This experiment system also used a black cavity detector to measure the total energy output of the sun to very high precision. A second set of high frequency time and space estimates of the radiation budget were determined from selected geostationary satellite data. Preliminary results from both radiation budget data sets and the solar “constant” measurements will be presented.     

Infrared radiation from compact X-ray sources

Observations of the X-ray binaries 4U 0115+634 and A 0535+262 performed in 1981 – 1982 revealed significant IR variabilities of these sources. 4U 0115+634 was observed twice, in the state close to X-ray activity, and in the state of low activity, thus changing from K = 7^m.75 to K > 9^m. A 0535+262 shows the temporal variations ranged from tens minutes to some days. The regular variations of IR brightness are suspected with teh period close to 104 s that corresponds to the period of axial rotation of neutron star in A 0535+262. The results obtained present arguments in favour of hypothesis that IR radiation is generated near the accreting neutron star and is possibly of maser nature.     

Study of aerosol anomaly associated with large earthquakes (M>6)

We present the variation of unusual atmospheric phenomena, aerosols, to understand the preseismic irregularities for two major earthquakes in Japan. We consider aerosol optical depth and Angstrom exponent data retrieved from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) instrument onboard the Terra satellite to establish possible connections between earthquakes and the generation of aerosols. Variation of the aerosol parameters shows significant changes before the April 15, 2016, Kumamoto earthquake ($M=7.0,h=10$ km) and the November 21, 2016, Fukushima earthquake ($M=6.9$ and $h=9$ km), where M indicates the Richter magnitude and h indicates the focal depth. To identify the source of the aerosol particles, we use the Hybrid Single-Particle Lagrangian Integrated Trajectory model (HYSPLIT-4). This model uses both Lagrangian and Eulerian approaches to compute trajectories and establish a source-receptor relationship. We compute backward trajectories to check whether the aerosol generated near the epicenter is due to the preseismic processes or is transported from other areas. From our results, we conclude the fine-mode aerosols are generated in the vicinity of the epicenter, 3–7 days before the earthquakes.     

Sailing with solar and planetary radiation pressure

Literature on solar sailing has thus far mostly considered solar radiation pressure (SRP) as the only contribution to sail force. However, considering a sail in a planetary mission scenario, a new contribution can be added. Since the planet itself emits radiation, this generates a radial planetary radiation pressure (PRP) that is also exerted on the sail. Hence, this work studies the combined effects of both SRP and PRP on a sail for two case studies, i.e. Earth and Venus. In proximity of the Earth, the effect of PRP can be significant under specific conditions. Around Venus, instead, PRP is by far the dominating contribution. These combined effects have been studied for single- and double-sided reflective coating and including eclipse. Results show potential increase in the net acceleration and a change in the optimal attitude to maximise the acceleration in a given direction. Moreover, an increasing semi-major axis manoeuvre is shown with and without PRP, to quantify the difference on a real-case scenario.     

基于空间信息的GE O卫星蓄电池充电优化控制

以提高GEO三轴卫星氢镍蓄电池充电效率为目的,首次将卫星、太阳的空间信息与卫星蓄电池充电结合起来,设计了基于空间信息的蓄电池最佳补充充电方法,建立了极值法预测蓄电池充电最佳时段的解算模型,并仿真验证了蓄电池最佳充电时刻与蓄电池壳温最低时刻的一致性。在轨应用表明,采用地面解算模型充电与星上自主充电相比,有效充电容量提高了5倍,解决了常规地面蓄电池补充充电不能满足星上能源需求的难题。     

辐射测温中环境辐射的影响

在辐射测温中，环境辐射对辐射测温有一定的影响。对于环境辐射的影响，不少参考资料中指出500℃以上可以忽略，经理论分析得出，是否考虑环境辐射的影响，不仅与所测温度有关，同时与辐射温度计的工作波长和所测物体的发射率有关。为了提高测温的准确性，分别对单色、比色测温中环境辐射的影响进行了分析比较。     

Assessment of the close approach frequency and collision probability for satellites in different configurations of large constellations

The Earth orbital environment is drastically changing due to an intensification of the space activities. In particular, several projects of large constellations, proposed for the next years for communications purpose like global internet access, Internet of Things, or for Earth observations, will lead to the deployment of several thousands of new satellites at an unprecedented rate. It is a crucial challenge for space traffic management, which will deal with a great number of satellite conjunctions, potentially causing a collision with damaging consequences for the constellation itself and the space environment sustainability.In this paper, we investigate the close approach frequency and the cumulative collision probability for each referenced constellation. For this purpose, we compute the orbital evolution of satellites in different constellations during the lifecycle, from the deployment to the decommissioning, and we apply the CUBE algorithm and the Foster method to assess the collision probability with the background space debris population assuming a constant uncertainty in position. We show the variation of risk defined by the close approach frequency and the cumulative collision probability as a function of the proposed configuration. In particular, satellites of the Iridium and Kuiper constellation, but also satellite of the Telesat constellation on polar orbits are the most exposed at a collision. Moreover, the decommissioning phase contribute for a major part to the final cumulative collision probability.