Sensitivity analysis of test methods for aspheric off-axis mirrors

Following the Hubble Space Telescope (HST), the next generation James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is being developed to be launched in a few years. JWST will be a segmented mirror telescope with a design much like that developed for ground-based telescopes over the past 20 years. Several segmented mirror telescopes are currently in operation, and next generation ground-based telescopes of the 30-m class are also being designed using segmented primary mirrors. Regardless of size, segmented primary mirror telescopes often require the use of aspheric segment mirrors. One of the key factors in fabrication of aspheric segment mirrors is feasibility of testing off-axis surfaces with high accuracy. A couple of test methods have been investigated for aspheric off-axis segments. As a case study, we apply these test methods to secondary segmented mirror models of the Giant Magellan Telescope. We derive required dimensions of test set-ups and assess sensitivity of optical alignment. Characteristics of the test methods are also discussed.     

Dynamic modeling and multi-stage integrated control method of ultra-quiet spacecraft

Space telescope ultrahigh precision pointing control requires the spacecraft platform to provide an ultra-quiet working environment. Vibration isolator rejection control and the multi-stage integrated control method is believed to be one of the best methods to improve the space telescope attitude control performance. In this paper, the fine dynamics model of multi-stage spacecraft systems is presented and the multi-stage integrated controller design techniques are provided. Effectiveness of the multi-stage integrated control approach is demonstrated by both the numerical simulation and experiment results. An integrated design and demonstrated experimental environment is developed for high-fidelity control performance assessment. The verification experiments for the space telescope attitude control and vibration control are carried out. The results show that the pointing accuracy and stability of the line-of-sight (LOS) for space telescope are improved at least one order by the multi-stage integrated control method.     

Progress on Solar Physics Research in China

The progress on Chinese Space Solar Telescope (SST) in 2002-2004 is introduced. The documentations on plans and outlines based on the standards of Chinese aerospace industry for SST mission has been fulfilled. The key technical problems of SST satellite platform and payloads are tackled during pre-study stage of the mission. The laboratory assembly and calibration of the main optical telescope of 1.2 m spherical mirror and 1 m plain mirror have been carried out with the accuracy of λ/40 and λ/30, respectively. The prototype at 17.1 nm for extreme ultraviolet telescope is under development and manufacture with a diameter of 13 cm. Its primary and secondary mirrors have a manufacturing error of 5 nm with a roughness degree of less than 0.5 nm and a multiplayer reflection factor of better than 20%. The on-board scientific data processing unit has been developed. Prototypes for other payloads such as H. and white light telescope, wide band spectroscopy in high energy and solar and interplanetary radio spectrometer have been developed accordingly.     

Progress on Space Solar Telescope in 2002-2004

The progress on Chinese Space Solar Telescope (SST) in 2002-2004 is introduced. The documentations on plans and outlines based on the standards of Chinese aerospace industry for SST mission has been fulfilled. The key technical problems of SST satellite platform and payloads are tackled during pre-study stage of the mission. The laboratory assembly and calibration of the main optical telescope of 1.2 m spherical mirror and 1 m plain mirror have been carried out with the accuracy of λ/40 and λ/30, respectively. The prototype at 17.1 nm for extreme ultraviolet telescope is under development and manufacture with a diameter of 13 cm. Its primary and secondary mirrors have a manufacturing error of 5nm with a roughness degree of less than 0.5 nm and a multiplayer reflection factor of better than 20%. The on-board scientific data processing unit has been developed. Prototypes for other payloads such as H and white light telescope, wide band spectroscopy in high energy and solar and interplanetary radio spectrometer have been developed accordingly.     

A 3—Axis stabilised balloon platform for use during day- and night-time flights

The Balloon Platform developed at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory (R.A.L.) is being adapted to carry the ZEBRA telescope which requires an arc-minute day- and night- pointing capability. The basic features of the platform and the modifications necessary for the ZEBRA application are briefly described. The new inertial stabilisation system uses 3-axis rate integrating gyros. Problems relating to gyro drifts and the methods of drift compensation to achieve the required pointing accuracy are discussed. The paper concludes by outlining the proposed strategy for setting up the control system in flight.     

基于谐波传动的星间链路天线驱动机构设计研究

星间链路天线驱动机构(GDA)具有长寿命、大驱动力矩、高精度指向和适应复杂空间环境的任务要求.谐波传动具有减速比大、承载能力大、传动精度高等优点,在航天、航空等多个领域广泛应用.分析了主要设计约束,比较了三种双轴构型的优缺点,给出了基于谐波传动的GDA单轴驱动器的结构框图,对电机、谐波减速器、测角传感器的选择以及机电热接口的设计要点进行了分析,论述了紧凑而轻量化的结构布局、长寿命润滑、高精度指向等关键技术,介绍了长寿命和高精度捕获跟踪性能的验证试验方案.     

The space telescope program

The 2.4-m Space Telescope is well into its development phase and is planned for launch in early 1985. The major components of the optical telescope portion are completed and the supporting systems are being designed and acquired. The five scientific instruments, including the ESA provided Faint Object Camera, are on schedule for delivery by the summer of 1983. After successful completion of the optical components, the greatest design challenge has been the pointing and control system. The original design goals of near diffraction limited performance in the visible and near ultraviolet remain as do the other goals of versatility and long life.     

基于自适应LMS算法的空间光束快速精扫描跟踪控制方法

针对空间精密光学领域与国防应用对高精度快速光束控制的需求,给出自适应最小均方(LMS)算法对压电快摆镜进行光束扫描跟踪控制.首先描述了自适应LMS控制算法及快摆镜模型辨识方法,随后仿真分析了不同频率及迭代步长对自适应LMS算法跟踪控制的影响,最后采用自适应LMS算法进行了压电快摆镜辨识及扫描跟踪控制实验.实验结果表明,...     

Stacked recurrent neural network based high precision pointing coupled control of the spacecraft and telescopes

In some space missions especially in the field of space gravitational wave detection, the telescope needs to point to a certain target through attitude movement and pointing control. In several mainstream gravitational wave detection missions, the detector usually consists of a cluster of three identical satellites, flying in a quasi-equilateral triangular formation with a big edge length, so every satellite needs two telescopes to point each other and constitute three giant Michelson-Type interferometers. Therefore, a satellite platform system with two telescopes is researched in this paper. This research helps to characterize the attitude motion of a telescope for space astronomical observation or space gravitational wave detection, provides new method on the telescope’s high-precision pointing control. For this purpose, we derive a satellite-telescope coupling attitude model, design the sliding mode controller for satellite and the stacked recurrent neural network adaptive controller for telescope. In the stacked recurrent neural network adaptive controller design, a sliding mode control technology is adopted. In addition, we propose a combinatorial optimization method for network weights in the stacked recurrent neural network training process, that is, the output layer is corrected by the adaptive law, and the correction of other layers adopt the error backpropagation method. Finally, a numerical simulation method verifies the effectiveness of the controller design.     

AXAF,a permanent orbiting X-ray observatory: Telescope and instrumentation plans

The Advanced X-ray Astrophysics Facility (AXAF) now under study is to be a long-lived X-ray observatory in space. It is to be launched by the Space Shuttle, maintainable on-orbit, and retrievable for ground re-furbishment. The AXAF is conceived as an X-ray telescope with 6 nested grazing incidence X-ray mirrors (with a maximum aperture of 1.2 m) and interchangeable and replaceable focal plane instruments. The optics will provide 0.5 arcsecond imagery over a several arcminute field and somewhat reduced resolution over 1 degree in the X-ray band from 0.1 to 10 keV (1.2 to 120 A). The characteristics and expected performance of the observatory are described.     

一种空间目标高精度指向控制方法

针对空间动目标指向任务对卫星提出的高精度控制需求,研究了卫星星体/快反镜二级复合系统的指向控制问题,给出了一种空间运动目标高精度指向控制方法。首先,基于近圆轨道Clohessy Wiltshire方程获得追踪卫星与目标卫星的位置信息;然后,基于扩展Kalman滤波算法进行多信息融合确定追踪卫星姿态参数,并实时解算出追踪卫星载荷光轴与目标卫星的相对姿态,获得跟踪指向所需的方位角和俯仰角;最后,通过星体一级姿态控制和基于快反镜的载荷光轴二级指向控制,实现对目标卫星的快速、高精度指向。仿真结果表明,该方法可以在保证快速性的同时实现动态指向控制误差小于072″。该方法可以实现对空间目标的高精度指向控制,为未来空间中激光通信等航天任务提供技术支持。     

天基X射线掠入射式成像望远镜发展现状

阐述了太阳X射线成像观测在空间天气预报中的地位和作用，叙述了掠入射式X射线聚焦成像的基本原理，简要介绍了在轨成功运行的天体X射线成像望远镜和太阳X射线成像望远镜的基本设计和技术指标，并介绍了国内正开发研制的专门服务于空间天气预报的太阳X射线成像望远镜基本设计和主要特点．     

太空衍射望远镜大型桁架展开过程动力学建模

在太空衍射望远镜桁架展开过程中,各个桁架单元展开锁定的瞬间会引起构件的弹性振动,并对星体与主镜产生较大冲击。在考虑桁架各部件弹性变形的基础上,针对系统拓扑结构和约束条件的变化,对桁架展开与锁定过程建立了变拓扑的柔性多体系统动力学模型并进行了动力学数值分析。当桁架单元锁定时通过在关节处施加强力矩和阻尼来模拟锁定机构的作用。数值仿真结果表明,在锁定瞬时,桁架在纵向呈现大幅度振动,星体与主镜受到的冲击力出现峰值,且每一次峰值有差异,呈现周期性变化,这种现象是由桁架柔性部件的弹性变形引起的。研究结果对太空衍射望远镜结构设计与动力学控制提供了技术参考。     

热解气体燃烧对炭化复合材料烧蚀热响应影响规律

在近空间高超声速飞行器飞行时间长、马赫数不断增加的发展趋势下，热防护与轻量化的矛盾越来越突出。基于此，开展了热解气体燃烧对炭化复合材料表面烧蚀影响的相关数值模拟研究，并与风洞试验结果进行了对比。结果表明：热解气体的燃烧可降低炭化复合材料表面的烧蚀厚度，并且随着气动热的增加，热解气体燃烧对材料表面碳的保护作用越来越明显。研究成果可为下一代近空间高超声速飞行器热防护系统的优化设计提供技术支撑。     

Design of tracking mount and controller for mobile satellite laser ranging system

In this study, we have proposed and implemented a design for the tracking mount and controller of the ARGO-M (Accurate Ranging system for Geodetic Observation - Mobile) which is a mobile satellite laser ranging (SLR) system developed by the Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute (KASI) and Korea Institute of Machinery and Materials (KIMM). The tracking mount comprises a few core components such as bearings, driving motors and encoders. These components were selected as per the technical specifications for the tracking mount of the ARGO-M. A three-dimensional model of the tracking mount was designed. The frequency analysis of the model predicted that the first natural frequency of the designed tracking mount was high enough. The tracking controller is simulated using MATLAB/xPC Target to achieve the required pointing and tracking accuracy. In order to evaluate the system repeatability and tracking accuracy of the tracking mount, a prototype of the ARGO-M was fabricated, and repeatability tests were carried out using a laser interferometer. Tracking tests were conducted using the trajectories of low earth orbit (LEO) and high earth orbit (HEO) satellites. Based on the test results, it was confirmed that the prototype of the tracking mount and controller of the ARGO-M could achieve the required repeatability along with a tracking accuracy of less than 1 arcsec.     

超大型光学镜面面形的纳米定位技术

电容式传感器在纳米级测试中得到了广泛的应用，但是对环境条件要求较高，检测中温、湿度的变化、传感器本身结构乃至其电路性能等因素，将直接影响测量的准确度和灵敏度。介绍了大型天体望远镜光学镜面面形的控制方法和工作原理。该大型天体望远镜Φ１０ｍ的主镜由３６块对角线长１．８ｍ的六角形子镜拼接而成，应用电容测微技术使此超大型镜面的共面性达到纳米量级的定位控制。通过检测原理的分析，阐述了电容式传感器在使用中提高其准确度和长期稳定性的理论分析和具体技术措施，并针对国内正在研制的ＬＡＭＯＳＴ超大型天体望远镜实际应用环境和技术指标要求，提出新的差动式传感器，并采用新材料和高集成度的进口新器件，以满足传感器在温、湿度变化大的条件下实时监测的要求。     

Air-LUSI: A robotic telescope design for lunar spectral measurements

This paper presents the mechanical design of a new robotic telescope that was designed and built to acquire lunar spectral measurements from the science pod of NASA's ER-2 aircraft while flying at an altitude of 70,000 feet (21.34 km). The robotic telescope used a double gimbal design that allowed for target tracking in azimuth and elevation. In addition to the challenging and restrictive geometry of the science pod, each component needed to be carefully selected to ensure that they could withstand the operating conditions at high altitude such as harsh temperatures extending as low as −54 °C and atmospheric pressure less than 1.05 psi (7.23 kPa). Due to the cold temperatures, low atmospheric pressure and the likely exposure to moisture, high strength industrial linear actuators were used to create an adjustable linkage system that controlled the pointing and tracking of the telescope. Although unconventional, this allowed for a robust design that outperformed the team's expectations by tracking the Moon for 40 min with an average tracking error under 0.05°. The results presented within this paper were acquired during a first set of engineering test flights, with further scientific missions to follow.     

FAST望远镜主动反射面促动机构运动学研究

针对现有的FAST(Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Telescope)主动反射面调整运动机构和促动器试验方案的不足,提出一种新型机构,能够有效地解决反射面边缘单元侧滑问题,并提高整个系统机械效率、可靠性,降低制造成本和运行维护费用.改进的核心是利用Sarrus机构产生理想的直线运动而没有任何侧滑.通过运动学分析证实了模型样机的可行性,静力分析表明这个系统具有足够的强度和刚度.模型的运行试验和仿真证明,即使在基座倾斜45°的条件下这种新型促动器机构能够可靠地防止反射面单元侧滑.这种改进为实际系统的设计和研制提供了至关重要的理论依据和试验数据.      

Development of the Infrared Telescope in Space: IRTS

Infrared Telescope in Space (IRTS) is a cryogenically cooled small infrared telescope aboard the small space platform, SFU (Space Flyer Unit). IRTS has a telescope of 15 cm diameter, which is rather small compared with other big space missions. IRTS, however, is optimized to observe extended diffuse sources with four focal plane instruments which have wide wavelength coverage from the near infrared to the submillimeter region.

All instruments have been calibrated with a test cryostat, and integrated into the flight cryostat. Cooling tests of the whole IRTS system have confirmed that instruments and cryostat will perform as expected. Integration of the IRTS on the SFU will soon begin and the ground tests of the SFU system will be conducted in the coming year.

The launch of the SFU will be in early 1995. The IRTS will survey the 10% of the sky during the three week mission and provide significant scientific results on cosmology, galactic structure, interstellar matter, stars, and solar system.