Future UK space policy – Indications from the UK Space Conference 2011

The UK government appears to be taking space more seriously, even if funding for the sector remains limited. Speeches and attendees at the conference confirm this trend, with a particular emphasis on innovation and a general sense that prospects for the UK space industry are good. The various themes and highlights of the conference are discussed.     

The use of the Earth’s gravitational potential for interplanetary flights

An efficient scheme of the use of the Earth’s gravity in interplanetary flights is suggested, which opens up new opportunities for exploration of the solar system. The scheme of the gravitational maneuver allows one to considerably reduce the spacecraft mass consumption for a flight and the time of flight. An algorithm of the gravitational maneuver is suggested that takes into account the restriction on the altitude of a planet flyby. Estimates are made of transport capabilities for delivery of a spacecraft to the orbits of Jupiter, Saturn, and Uranus. The spacecraft is based on a middle-class carrier launcher of the Soyuz type and includes chemical and electric plasma jet engines of the SPD-140 type, which use solar energy.     

The commercial development of space: is an international regulatory framework needed?

The commercial space sector to date has failed to develop comprehensive regulations--"rules of the road"--for its international activities. Within the next 5 years, conflicts with respect to international trade in satellite sales and launch services could emerge, highlighting the need for such a regulatory framework. If the commercial space sector is to continue to develop, it is important to begin discussions now, before these conflicts become significant, on the elements of an appropriate international regulatory framework. The existing framework for space activities was developed when government, not commercial, space activities were dominant, or was adapted from regulations in other sectors such as terrestrial telecommunications.     

On the strategy of space station injection in the point of Earth — Moon Libration / way of making the asteroid patrol/

One of the most important problem in the ecological area that stay for humanity is the problem of prevention Earth and asteroids collision. The danger of such collision isn't realized of the general public. But we know that on average twice in the every century the Earth comes into collision with the large celestial bodies (for example Tungussky or Arizonsky meteorites). The incidence of such meteorite in density population region of the Earth will simulate the ecumenical catastrophe. Much more seldom the Earth experiences collision with the particularly large celestial bodies. In accordance with one of the hypotheses namely the collision Earth with such body 65,000,000 years ago leads to the global change of Earth biosphere (in particular to the extinction of dinosaurs).Now we are able to stave off or at least to forewarn of this danger. One of the way for that is making the specific space station - asteroid patrol. Such the station will be able to track the approaching celestial bodies and perhaps (on second stage) to attempt altering its trajectory (for example with directional thermonuclear explosions)Some of the expedient points in the Space for the asteroid patrol's placing are the librations' points of the Earth - Moon system. In the report the preliminary results of analysis the problem of space station's taking into the libration's point are presented. For this taking it is suggested the electric jet propulsion to use.     

Sсheme of rendezvous mission to lunar orbital station by spacecraft launched from Earth

In recent years, great experience has been accumulated in manned flight astronautics for rendezvous in near-Earth orbit. During flights of Apollo spacecraft with crews that landed on the surface of the Moon, the problem of docking a landing module launched from the Moon’s surface with the Apollo spacecraft’s command module in a circumlunar orbit was successfully solved. A return to the Moon declared by leading space agencies requires a scheme for rendezvous of a spacecraft launched from an earth-based cosmodromee with a lunar orbital station. This paper considers some ballistic schemes making it possible to solve this problem with minimum fuel expenditures.     

The Influence of artificial plasma irregularities on the propagation of VLF waves in the Earth’s magnetosphere

In the framework of the approximation of geometric optics, the peculiarities of VLF-wave propagation in the Earth’s ionosphere and magnetosphere during the creation of large-scale artificial plasma irregularities by heating facilities such as HAARP and “Sura” in the ionosphere are studied. For calculation of ray trajectories, the profile of the concentration and ion composition of plasma is taken by calculating the SAMI2 ionospheric model, which was modified to take the influence on the ionosphere of the HF emissions of heating facilities into account. As a result of the influence of the heating facilities on the ionosphere, a region could occur with an increased plasma concentration that is stretched out along the geomagnetic field (up to heights on the order of the Earth’s radius) with small dimensions across the field (～1°). The ray trajectories of waves that propagate from heights of about 100 km from different initial points in the region where such a disturbance has been created with different initial inclination angles of the wave normal are studied in this paper. Both lightning discharges and modulated HF heating of the ionosphere could be the sources of such waves. It is shown on the basis of the performed analysis that the presence of such disturbances in density can lead to a substantial changes in wave-propagation trajectories, in particular, to efficient channeling of VLF waves in the disturbance region and an increase in the interval of the initial propagation angles of waves, which can reach the ionosphere in the opposite hemisphere.     

What should nations reveal about their spying from space? An examination of the US experience

Revelation of the details of countries' space-based reconnaissance programs was unusual until the end of the Cold War, despite debates on the subject within the US government. Since then – and in contrast to Russia – the USA has been more open about its spying activities. This article charts the history of declassification in the USA from the Eisenhower Administration to that of G.W. Bush. It discusses issues such as the need to ensure freedom of space for the operation of spy satellites, gaining public acceptance of space-based reconnaissance by demonstrating the civil uses of such photography, and tradeoffs between revealing one's capabilities and letting others know how closely their actions can be observed.     

Erratum to: The Influence of the Earth’s Oblateness on the Energy Integral and Some Characteristics of a Spacecraft’s Orbit

Cosmic Research - An Erratum to this paper has been published: https://doi.org/10.1134/S0010952521120029     

A Study of the Reflection of Radio Waves from the Plasma Region on the Track behind an Axisymmetric Body Moving in the Earth’s Atmosphere

The results of numerical calculation of the dependences of the electron density, the eigenfrequency and the dielectric plasma permeability on the geometric parameters and the altitude of body motion in the near and far wake behind a thin conical body with a spherical nose blunting have been presented. The electron density maximum has been shown to be located in the region of the neck of the near wake behind the body, which determines the type of this region (supercritical or subcritical). This in turn affects the propagation of radio waves through this plasma region. A comparative analysis was performed for two different bodies with the same ballistic coefficient values. No characteristic distinctions were revealed in the values of electron density or the plasma eigenfrequency in the near and far wake behind these bodies. However, it has been shown that there are differences in the values of the distance from the bottom cross section to the neck of the near wake behind these bodies.     

Broad-search algorithms for the spacecraft trajectory design of Callisto–Ganymede–Io triple flyby sequences from 2024 to 2040, Part I: Heuristic pruning of the search space

Triple flybys of the Galilean moons of Jupiter can capture a spacecraft into orbit about Jupiter or quickly adjust the Jupiter-centered orbit of an already captured spacecraft. Because Callisto does not participate in the Laplace resonance among Ganymede, Europa, and Io, triple flyby sequences involving gravity-assists of Callisto, Ganymede, and Io occur only aperiodically for limited time windows. An exhaustive search of triple-flyby trajectories over a 16-year period from 2024 to 2040 using “blind” searching would require 8,415,358 Lambert function calls to find only 127,289 possible triple flyby trajectories. Because most of these Lambert function calls would not converge to feasible solutions, it is much more efficient to prune the solution space using a heuristic algorithm and then direct a much smaller number of Lambert function calls to find feasible triple flyby solutions. The novel “Phase Angle Pruning Heuristic” is derived and used to reduce the search space by 99%.     

Towards a cooperation between the arts,space science research and the European Space Agency – Preliminary findings of the ESA Topical Team Arts and Sciences (ETTAS)

The arts offer alternative insights into reality, which are explored by science in general, and broadened by the activities conducted by the European Space Agency [4] and other space agencies. Similar to the way the members of ESA are ambassadors for spaceflight and science, artists and cultural professionals are ambassadors for human expression, experimentation, and exploration. In June 2011, the ESA Topical Team Arts and Sciences (ETTAS) held a three-day workshop at the European Astronaut Centre in Cologne, Germany. During this workshop, topics and ideas were discussed to develop initiatives between the arts, sciences and ESA. The aim was to foster and expand the human and cultural aspects of space exploration, and at the same time offer a means of communication that aims to reach audiences beyond the scope of traditional space-related channels. The consensus of the team was that establishing and sustaining a transdisciplinary professional community consisting of ESA representatives, scientists and artists would fuel knowledge transfer, and mutual inspiration. Potential ways to provide a sustainable cooperation within and between the various groups were discussed. We present the preliminary findings including a number of measures and mechanisms to initiate and conduct such an initiative. Plausible organisational measures, procedures and consequences, as well as a proposition on how to proceed are also discussed. Overall, the involvement and cooperation between the arts, space science research and ESA will enhance in the citizens of the ESA member states the sense of public ownership of ESA results, and participation in ESA?s research.     

Observations of electromagnetic emissions inside the Earth’s plasmasphere from the <Emphasis Type="Italic">Interball-1</Emphasis> satellite

The spectrum analyzer AKR-X onboard the Interball-1 satellite at the beginning (August–October 1995) and at the end (August–October 2000) of satellite operation in perigees of its orbital motion recorded and analyzed electromagnetic emissions of the inner regions of the Earth’s plasmasphere in the frequency band 100–1500 kHz at distances of 1.1–1.8 R _E. The observations have shown that the electromagnetic modes (the Z and LO modes escaping the magnetosphere) which are formed at the altitudes 600–4000 km are associated with the subauroral nonthermal continuum and with the recently discovered kilometric continuum. There are noticeable differences in the spectral character of these emissions during the minimum (1996) and maximum (2000) solar activity, when, as a rule, the LO mode escaping the plasmaphere and the continua are not present.