Distance variations between laser ranging stations derived from LAGEOS tracking data

The results obtained by the DGFI analysis center for the MERIT campaign have demonstrated that from LAGEOS laser ranging data the relative positions of the globally distributed tracking stations can be evaluated with an accuracy of a few centimeters. It therefore seemed promising to investigate the stability of tracking station coordinates over a period of several years in order to detect interstation distance variations due to global horizontal deformations of the Earth's surface. The investigation focussed on a selected number of stations which have a good tracking data coverage over the 1980 – 1984 time span. Annual geocentric coordinates of these stations were estimated. From the coordinates spherical distances between stations on five different lithospheric plates were derived and the changes in length from year to year were investigated.     

NO2 field observations in the stratosphere during Map/Globus campaign in 1983 and 1985

NO₂ has been measured from balloons, plane and ground during Map/Globus Campaign in Europe in 1983. The results have shown an agreement between in situ and remote sensing techniques in the lower stratosphere, but some divergence at higher altitude. Part of the differences might be due to unknown experimental systematic errors and part to real atmospheric variations as the observations were not performed on the same day. In order to improve the knowledge of the instruments performances and to evaluate the NO_x stratospheric budget a new field campaign has been set up in Europe in 1985. Simultaneous in situ and balloons, ground and satellites remote sensing observations of NO and NO₂ were obtained, covering a 24 H period.     

Encounter trajectories for deep space mission ASTER to the triple near Earth asteroid 2001-SN263. The laser altimeter (ALR) point of view

In cooperation with Russia, the Brazilian deep space mission ASTER plans to send a small spacecraft to investigate the triple asteroid 2001-SN263. The nearest launch opportunities for this project include June 2022 and June 2025. One main exploration campaign is being planned with focus on the largest asteroid (Alpha). Among the instruments under development, a laser altimeter (named ALR) was preliminarily designed and presented in 2010–2011. Many studies to define mission and instruments requirements were performed aiming at the characterization of important issues for the successful realization of the mission. Among them, the identification of a suitable trajectory that could be followed by the ASTER spacecraft in the encounter phase, when the main campaign will take place. This paper describes the effort undertaken with focus on the laser altimeter operation. Possible encounter trajectories were modelled and simulated to identify suitable approach parameters and conditions allowing the accomplishment of the intended investigation. The simulation also involves the instrument operation, considering approach geometry, attitude, relative motion, time/date, and the dynamics of the main asteroid. From the laser altimeter point of view, keeping in mind the desired coverage results (50% minimum surface coverage of asteroid Alpha, complying with horizontal and vertical resolution requirements), results point out crucial features for the encounter trajectory, like the need for a small inclination (10^-6 degrees; with respect to the asteroid's orbit), the most favourable spacecraft positioning (between the Sun and the asteroid) and pointing condition (back to the Sun), the minimum amount of achievable surface coverage (58%, focused on central areas), and the most proper time to conduct the main campaign (January 2025). Concerning the instrument, results offer refined values for divergence angle (500 to 650 μrad, half-cone), pulse repetition frequencies (from 1/20 to 1 Hz), and consequent data generation rates. A simulation tool that can use any 3D generated trajectories as input data was created for the analyses presented here. Although created for the ALR in this mission, this simple analysis tool can be adapted to other instruments in this or other missions.     

Precise orbit determination and sea-surface topography from ERS-1

Results of ERS - 1 orbit refinement procedures for long-arcs are summarised with particular reference to gravity field modelling and sea-surface topography. Long arcs from the three day and thirty - five day repeat cycles have been used to refine the earth's gravity field constrained by the JGM- 2 covariance matrix and simultaneously to solve for the quasi - stationary sea - surface topography. Orbital computations are presented for arcs not included within the refinement process with improvements identified through rms of fit to laser, altimeter and single satellite crossover data. Additional results utilising dual crossovers with TOPEX / POSEIDON in a full dynamic process are also presented. In particular, reference is made to the relative altimeter biases between the respective satellites and the characteristics of the orbital adjustment through inclusion of dual crossover data.     

基于云模型的目标威胁等级评估

目标威胁等级评估的实时性、正确性对于后续作战仿真具有重要意义.提出了基于云模型的威胁等级评估的方法,通过对依据专家经验得到的对定性概念评估的隶属云图的贝叶斯修正,得到了标尺云.由战场态势信息对标尺云的匹配和处理,最终得到了目标威胁评估云图,实现了威胁评估.定性概念对战场态势的描述以及隶属云图体现了模糊性与随机性的较好结合,反映了空战时飞行员获取信息的不确定性的特点.通过实例验证表明:基于云模型的威胁等级评估的方法能有效地实现对目标威胁等级的确定.     

Design and experiment of onboard laser time transfer in Chinese Beidou navigation satellites

High-precision time synchronization between satellites and ground stations plays the vital role in satellite navigation system. Laser time transfer (LTT) technology is widely recognized as the highest accuracy way to achieve time synchronization derived from satellite laser ranging (SLR) technology. Onboard LTT payload has been designed and developed by Shanghai Astronomical Observatory, and successfully applied to Chinese Beidou navigation satellites. By using the SLR system, with strictly controlling laser firing time and developing LTT data processing system on ground, the high precise onboard laser time transfer experiment has been first performed for satellite navigation system in the world. The clock difference and relative frequency difference between the ground hydrogen maser and space rubidium clocks have been obtained, with the precision of approximately 300 ps and relative frequency stability of 10E−14. This article describes the development of onboard LTT payload, introduces the principle, system composition, applications and LTT measuring results for Chinese satellite navigation system.     

Ballooning activities in Japan

The Scientific Balloon Center of ISAS/JAXA has carried out two balloon campaigns at Sanriku, Iwate, Japan every year. Ten to twelve balloon vehicles are launched annually for scientific and engineering experiments. Since 2005, a Brazilian balloon campaign has also been conducted in cooperation with INPE. In the 2006 Brazilian campaign, large and heavy payloads up to 1500 kg for astronomy will be launched. New generation balloons, such as super-pressure balloons and high-altitude balloons with ultra-thin films, are being developed. The current status and prospect of the Japanese scientific ballooning are discussed.     

Rocket studies of atmospheric scattering and the aerosol size distribution in the troposphere and lower stratosphere over Thumba

Measurements have been made of the atmospheric scattering in the ultraviolet (λ = 0.31 μm) during the 16 February 1980 solar eclipse rocket campaign. The amplitude of the scattered fluxes as well as the angular distribution could be measured from ground up to an altitude of about 24 km. The Rayleigh scattering component was estimated using standard atmospheric models and the observations have been used to study the scattering due to aerosols at tropospheric and lower stratospheric altitudes.     

A new dynamical atmospheric ionizing radiation (AIR) model for epidemiological studies.

A new Atmospheric Ionizing Radiation (AIR) model is currently being developed for use in radiation dose evaluation in epidemiological studies targeted to atmospheric flight personnel such as civilian airlines crewmembers. The model will allow computing values for biologically relevant parameters, e.g. dose equivalent and effective dose, for individual flights from 1945. Each flight is described by its actual three dimensional flight profile, i.e. geographic coordinates and altitudes varying with time. Solar modulated primary particles are filtered with a new analytical fully angular dependent geomagnetic cut off rigidity model, as a function of latitude, longitude, arrival direction, altitude and time. The particle transport results have been obtained with a technique based on the three-dimensional Monte Carlo transport code FLUKA, with a special procedure to deal with HZE particles. Particle fluxes are transformed into dose-related quantities and then integrated all along the flight path to obtain the overall flight dose. Preliminary validations of the particle transport technique using data from the AIR Project ER-2 flight campaign of measurements are encouraging. Future efforts will deal with modeling of the effects of the aircraft structure as well as inclusion of solar particle events.     

Dosimetry during the first IBIS facility flight.

The dosimetry of cosmic rays was performed during the first experimental flight of the IBIS facility. Different thermoluminescent detectors (TLD) have been used to measure the contribution of the low linear energy transfer component (LET < 10 keV/micrometer) and plastic nuclear track detectors (PNTD) for the high linear energy tranfer (LET) component. Several parameters of tracks have been measured to determine the LET spectra of primary and secondary charged particles. The total absorbed dose rate (TLD+PNTD) during the flight was 0.23 mGy/day and the dose equivalent rate using the ICRP 60 was 0.52 mSv/day. The corresponding mean quality factor was 2.4. These results are in agreement with those obtained aboard the MIR station with a tissue equivalent proportional counter.     

极区夏季中间层半日潮汐的VHF雷达观测

采用德国SOUSYVHF雷达观测数据,研究了极区夏季中间层半日潮汐的结构和变化特征.纬向和经向风的动态Lomb-Scargle谱表明,半日潮是中间层高度上占支配地位的波动,其谱峰对应的频率一般与1/12c·h-1有偏离,说明它们经常处在被扰动状态.稳定的半日潮振幅随高度增加而迅速增长,在87.9km高度附近达到饱和;经向分量的相位一般比纬向分量的相位超前π/4-π/2,从而水平扰动速度矢量端点随时间变化的轨迹显示出顺时针方向旋转的特征.半日潮汐特征参量在纬向和经向风中随时间的变化在基本趋势一致的基础上显示出一定程度的各向异性.      

A prospectus on airborne laser mapping systems

Airborne laser systems have demonstrated enormous potential for topographic and bathymetric mapping. Both profiling and scanning systems have been evaluated for terrain elevation mapping, stream valley cross-section determination, and nearshore bottom profiling. Performance of the laser systems has been impressive and for some applications matches current operational accuracy requirements. Determining the position of individual laser measurements remains a constraint for most applications. Laser technology constrains some terrain and bathymetric applications, particularly for water penetration and frequency of measurements for high-spatial resolution over large areas.     

The effect of aerosols on climate and aerosol climatology on the basis of observations from space

Principal aspects of the effect of aerosols on climate are discussed and the possibilities of obtaining a climatic data set of global aerosols are analyzed. Based on the analysis of space images, new data have been obtained on gigantic dust outbreaks in various regions of the Earth. It has been shown that dust outbreaks can propagate over hundreds and sometimes thousands of kilometers. The western Sahara - Atlantic Ocean is the major region of propagation of these outbreaks. The continent-to-continent trajectories of dust clouds have been discovered (from Africa to the coast of America, from Central Asia to the Pacific Ocean). Maps of the sources of strong dust transformations have been studied and drawn. In particular, an anthropogenic dust source has been found out on the northeastern coast of the Aral Sea. A striped mesostructure of dust formations has been analyzed, determined by both the inhomogeneous surface and peculiarities of the eddy dust transport. The techniques have been discussed in detail for retrieving the parameters of aerosol size distribution and the vertical profiles of the coefficients of aerosol extinction in the stratosphere and lower mesosphere from the data on the brightness of the twilight and daytime horizon as well as occultation measurements of solar radiation attenuation by the atmosphere.The difficulty of reliably predicting possible environmental changes arises both from the problems of estimating complex interactions of numerous processes and from a lack of information concerning various environmental parameters. For example, an important factor in present day climatic changes is the increased dust content of the atmosphere due to man's activities. However, a reliable estimate of this influence is found to be impossible due to the absence of definitive data on the global distribution of atmospheric dust and the properties of dust in various parts of the world [4,5,13–15]. The impact of aerosols on climate has been discussed in detail in a number of monographs [12–15].Observations from space have opened up new possibilities for studying atmospheric dust. For this purpose, both the imagery and spectrometry of the Earth's atmosphere from space are used. Rather attractive are the prospects for laser sounding [1].     

An introduction of mountain-based GPS radio occultation experiments in China

The mountain-based GPS radio occultation is a novel approach to lower atmospheric profiling. The experiments of the mountain-based GPS radio occultation were conducted on the top of Mt. Yaogu (29.38°N, 113.68°E, ∼1240 m) on December 17, 2003, and on the top of Mt. Jiugong (29.39°N, 114.65°E, ∼1550 m) on July 24, 2004. Based on these observation data, the scientific data processing software has been developed and is used to retrieve successfully the atmospheric refractivity profiles. The validation experiment was performed on the top of Mt. Wuling (40.60°N, 117.48°E, ∼2118 m) during August 1–29, 2005. Collocated automatic weather station and the radiosondes nearby were operated simultaneously for the comparison campaign. Results show that the radio occultation technique obtained about 40 profiles every day with the receiver antenna pointing to the south. Comparisons show that the refractivity measured by occultation agree well with those by the radiosondes, but not well with those by the automatic weather station due to their much different geographic locations of measurements. Results of these experiments suggest that the mountain-based GPS radio occultation is an economic reliable novel technique monitoring temporal and spatial variations of local lower atmospheric environments.     

Achievable debris orbit prediction accuracy using laser ranging data from a single station

Earlier studies have shown that an orbit prediction accuracy of 20 arc sec ground station pointing error for 1–2 day predictions was achievable for low Earth orbit (LEO) debris using two passes of debris laser ranging (DLR) data from a single station, separated by about 24 h. The accuracy was determined by comparing the predicted orbits with subsequent tracking data from the same station. This accuracy statement might be over-optimistic for other parts of orbit far away from the station. This paper presents the achievable orbit prediction accuracy using satellite laser ranging (SLR) data of Starlette and Larets under a similar data scenario as that of DLR. The SLR data is corrupted with random errors of 1 m standard deviation so that its accuracy is similar to that of DLR data. The accurate ILRS Consolidated Prediction Format orbits are used as reference to compute the orbit prediction errors. The study demonstrates that accuracy of 20 arc sec for 1–2 day predictions is achievable.     

Time resolved study of laser triggered electric discharge spark in atmosphere: Machine learning approach

In this paper we analyze the possibilities of using machine learning algorithms for analysis of optical spectra of electric discharge spark in atmosphere. Breakdown in air can be initiated by intense laser pulse, making plasma which has a significant electrical conductivity. The formed plasma can be further maintained by electric current obtained from capacitor discharge. In such a case the capacitor voltage can be much lower than the striking voltage (the voltage needed to initiate the electric breakdown in air). Present setup has timing precision and low jitter of fast laser and arbitrary high energies corresponding to capacitance and voltage to which the capacitor is charged. We have used a streak camera equipped with a spectrograph to analyze optical emission of plasma obtained in this way. Q-switched Nd:Yag laser was used to achieve the initial breakdown in air. Machine learning methods were used in order to classify optical spectra of plasmas with different electron temperatures obtained with different excitation energies. We have shown that, instead of using the usual way of identifying the spectral peaks and calculating their intensity ratio, it is possible to train the computer software to recognize the spectra corresponding to different electron temperatures. Principal component analysis was used to reduce the dimensionality of problem. We present possibilities of plasma electron temperature estimation based on several clustering algorithms.     

Multiband echo tomography of Sco X-1

We present preliminary results of a simultaneous X-ray/optical campaign of the prototypical LMXB Sco X-1 at 1–10 Hz time resolution. Lightcurves of the high excitation Bowen/HeII emission lines and a red continuum at λ_c  6000 Å were obtained through narrow interference filters with ULTRACAM, and these were cross-correlated with simultaneous RXTE X-ray lightcurves. We find evidence for correlated variability, in particular when Sco X-1 enters the Flaring branch. The Bowen/HeII lightcurves lag the X-ray lightcurves with a light travel time which is consistent with reprocessing in the companion star while the continuum lightcurves have shorter delays consistent with reprocessing in the accretion disc.     

Saint-Santin observations of electric fields and neutral winds in the dynamo layer during the GTMS period of June 1984

Incoherent scatter measurements of ion drift velocities obtained by the quadristatic incoherent scatter sounder of Saint-Santin have been used to analyse midlatitude electrodynamic during the GTMS period of June 1984. June, 26, 1984 (first day of this period) is used as a magnetically quiet reference day in this study. The following results are obtained : 1) On June 27, the electric field and neutral wind disturbances could be interpreted by the sole action of the ionospheric disturbance dynamo process, 2) On June 28, two physical processes are invoked to interpret the observations : the ionospheric disturbance dynamo and the direct penetration of magnetospheric convection electric fields.     

80-100km高度范围高分辨率大气水平速度扰动谱

使用1989/1990年冬季在DYANA试验中从5枚Chaff火箭测量获得的高分辨率水平速度数据,讨论80-100km高度范围内水平速度垂直波数谱与饱和重力波谱的一致性,并决定特征垂直尺度.      

Space debris observations with the Slovak AGO70 telescope: Astrometry and light curves

The Faculty of Mathematics, Physics and Informatics of Comenius University in Bratislava, Slovakia (FMPI) operates its own 0.7-m Newtonian telescope (AGO70) dedicated to the space surveillance tracking and research, with an emphasis on space debris. The observation planning focuses on objects on geosynchronous (GEO), eccentric (GTO and Molniya) and global navigation satellite system (GNSS) orbits. To verify the system’s capabilities, we conducted an observation campaign in 2017, 2018 and 2019 focused on astrometric and photometric measurements. In last two years we have built up a light curve catalogue of space debris which is now freely available for the scientific community. We report periodic signals extracted from more than 285 light curves of 226 individual objects. We constructed phase diagrams for 153 light curves for which we obtained apparent amplitudes.