Validation of the in-flight calibration procedures for the MICROSCOPE space mission

The MICROSCOPE space mission aims to test the Equivalence Principle with an accuracy of 10^-15${10}^{-15}$. The drag-free micro-satellite will orbit around the Earth and embark a differential electrostatic accelerometer including two cylindrical test masses submitted to the same gravitational field and made of different materials. The experience consists in testing the equality of the electrostatic acceleration applied to the masses to maintain them relatively motionless. The accuracy of the measurements exploited for the test of the Equivalence Principle is limited by our a priori knowledge of several physical parameters of the instrument. These parameters are partially estimated on-ground, but with an insufficient accuracy, and an in-orbit calibration is therefore required to correct the measurements. The calibration procedures have been defined and their analytical performances have been evaluated. In addition, a simulator software including the dynamics model of the instrument, the satellite drag-free system and the perturbing environment has been developed to numerically validate the analytical results. After an overall presentation of the MICROSCOPE mission, this paper will describe the calibration procedures and focus on the simulator. Such an in-flight calibration is mandatory for similar space missions taking advantage of a drag-free system.     

An all-sky survey at 230 GHz by MLS on Aura

The Microwave Limb Sounder (MLS) instrument is a small satellite-borne radio telescope. Its purpose is to make limb-scanning measurements of atmospheric composition. One of the gases to which it is sensitive is carbon monoxide (CO), detected via the J = 2 → 1 rotational transition at 230 GHz. CO is present in molecular gas clouds in the Milky Way. Although it was not designed for the purpose, MLS can detect emissions from galactic CO, allowing a map of the 230 GHz radio sky to be constructed. We report the MLS measurements of galactic radio emission and discuss their effect on the atmospheric mission of MLS. The region of the Milky Way with emissions strong enough to significantly affect MLS observations of atmospheric CO is identified. Ground-based radio astronomers have been mapping the sky using CO emission for many years. However, the MLS data are the first such survey to be carried out from space. The MLS survey covers a larger area of the sky than any other 230 GHz survey, but no previously unknown gas clouds are observed.     

Impact of GPS antenna phase center variations on precise orbits of the GOCE satellite

The first European Space Agency Earth explorer core mission GOCE (Gravity field and steady-state Ocean Circulation Explorer) has been launched on March 17, 2009. The 12-channel dual-frequency Global Positioning System receiver delivers 1 Hz data and provides the basis for precise orbit determination (POD) on the few cm-level for such a very low orbiting satellite (254.9 km). As a member of the European GOCE Gravity Consortium, which is responsible for the GOCE High-level Processing Facility (HPF), the Astronomical Institute of the University of Bern (AIUB) provides the Precise Science Orbit (PSO) product for the GOCE satellite. The mission requirement for 1-dimensional POD accuracy is 2 cm. The use of in-flight determined antenna phase center variations (PCVs) is necessary to meet this requirement. The PCVs are determined from 154 days of data and the magnitude is up to 3-4 cm. The impact of the PCVs on the orbit determination is significant. The cross-track direction benefits most of the PCVs. The improvement is clearly seen in the orbit overlap analysis and in the validation with independent Satellite Laser Ranging (SLR) measurements. It is the first time that SLR could validate the cross-track component of a LEO orbit.     

Design and Verification of the Feet Design used for the “Heat Flow Property Package Instrument” (HP3) on-board the Mars Mission InSight

The HP³ instrument measures the thermal flux through the Martian crust using a penetration probe. Launched on the InSight mission in 2018, HP³ was deployed for penetration activities in the beginning of 2019. During initial operation, the instrument is vulnerable to slip, due to a combination of low system mass (3.3 kg on Earth), shocks delivered by the penetration probe’s action, and the possibility of an inclined attitude on the surface. An uncontrolled position change of the instrument on the surface can reduce the scientific output and even lead to a loss of the experiment if the probe’s supporting structure moves laterally. Naturally, the design of the feet has major impact on the total amount of slippage. A new design for the feet with a high slippage resistance capability at a low level of complexity and mass was developed for this instrument’s supporting structure. The design provides sufficient slippage resistance while fulfilling the challenging set of requirements for a Mars surface mission. The design was verified by test campaigns which emulate launch environments and operational behavior on Mars. This paper gives a detailed overview of the HP³ instrument itself, the relevant requirements, the complex different test campaigns and the final flight design.     

In-flight testing of the injection of the LISA Pathfinder test mass into a geodesic

LISA Pathfinder is a technology demonstrator space mission, aimed at testing key technologies for detecting gravitational waves in space. The mission is the precursor of LISA, the first space gravitational waves observatory, whose launch is scheduled for 2034. The LISA Pathfinder scientific payload includes two gravitational reference sensors (GRSs), each one containing a test mass (TM), which is the sensing body of the experiment. A mission critical task is to set each TM into a pure geodesic motion, i.e. guaranteeing an extremely low acceleration noise in the sub-Hertz frequency bandwidth. The grabbing positioning and release mechanism (GPRM), responsible for the injection of the TM into a geodesic trajectory, was widely tested on ground, with the limitations imposed by the 1-g environment. The experiments showed that the mechanism, working in its nominal conditions, is capable of releasing the TM into free-fall fulfilling the very strict constraint imposed on the TM residual velocity, in order to allow its capture on behalf of the electrostatic actuation.However, the first in-flight releases produced unexpected residual velocity components, for both the TMs. Moreover, all the residual velocity components were greater than maximum value set by the requirements. The main suspect is that unexpected contacts took place between the TM and the surroundings bodies. As a consequence, ad hoc manual release procedures had to be adopted for the few following injections performed during the nominal mission. These procedures still resulted in non compliant TM states which were captured only after impacts. However, such procedures seem not practicable for LISA, both for the limited repeatability of the system and for the unmanageable time lag of the telemetry/telecommand signals (about 4400 s). For this reason, at the end of the mission, the GPRM was deeply tested in-flight, performing a large number of releases, according to different strategies. The tests were carried out in order to understand the unexpected dynamics and limit its effects on the final injection. Some risk mitigation maneuvers have been tested aimed at minimizing the vibration of the system at the release and improving the alignment between the mechanism and the TM. However, no overall optimal release strategy to be implemented in LISA could be found, because the two GPRMs behaved differently.     

Vertical TEC in the equatorial anomaly region from satellite altimetry data

The high-precision demands imposed by the ocean altimetry community of the late 1980 resulted in the TOPEX/Poseidon mission. This mission was the first to carry as its main instrument a dual-frequency sea-altimeter on board a satellite. This instrument together with other state-of-the-art technologies involved in the mission, led to sea-height determinations with precision better than 2 cm. As a by-product, the TOPEX/Poseidon mission provided vertical TEC determinations that since they became available, have demonstrated to be a powerful tool for ionospheric studies.     

Space VLBI: from first ideas to operational missions

The operational period of the first generation of dedicated Space VLBI (SVLBI) missions commenced in 1997 with the launch of the Japan-led mission VSOP/HALCA and is coming to closure in 2019 with the completion of in-flight operations of the Russia-led mission RadioAstron. They were preceded by the SVLBI demonstration experiment with the Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System (TDRSS) in 1986–1988. While the comprehensive lessons learned from the first demonstration experiment and two dedicated SVLBI missions are still awaiting thorough attention, several preliminary conclusions can be made. This paper addresses some issues of implementation of these missions as they progressed over four decades from the original SVLBI concepts to the operational status.     

A neutral gas mass spectrometer to measure the chemical composition of the stratosphere

The Polar Balloon Atmospheric Composition Experiment (P-BACE) is a new generation of neutral gas mass spectrometer based on the time-of-flight principle. P-BACE is the scientific experiment on the Mars Environment Analog Platform (MEAP) flown successfully on a balloon mission in summer 2008. The MEAP mission was flown with a 334,000 m³ helium balloon in the stratosphere on a semicircular trajectory from northern Sweden around the North Pole to Canada using the summer northern hemispheric wind current. The atmospheric conditions at an atmospheric altitude of 35–40 km are remarkably similar to those on the surface of Mars and thus the balloon mission was an ideal testbed for our mass spectrometer P-BACE. Originally this instrument was designed for in situ measurements of the chemical composition of the Martian atmosphere.P-BACE has a unique mass range from 0 to 1000 amu/q with a mass resolution m/Δm (FWHM) > 1000, and the dynamic range is at least six orders of magnitude. During this experiment, the acquisition of one mass spectrum is a sum of 65,535 single spectra, recorded in a time frame of 66 s.The balloon mission lasted 5 days and had successfully demonstrated the functionality of the P-BACE instrument during flight conditions. We had recorded more than 4500 mass spectra. With little modifications, P-BACE can be used on a planetary mission for Mars, but for example also for Venus or Mercury, if placed on a satellite.     

Thermosphere density and wind measurements in the equatorial region using a constellation of drag balance nanospacecraft

A mission for in situ thermosphere density and winds measurement is described, based on nanospacecraft equipped with a drag balance instrument (DBI) and a GPS receiver. The mission is based on nanosatellite clusters deployed in three orbital planes. In this study, clusters of 10 nanospacecraft are considered, leading to a mission based on a total of 30 nanospacecraft. The geometry analyzed is a symmetrical one, including an equatorial orbit and two orbits with the same inclination and opposing ascending nodes. The main idea is that, by combining the accurate information on the satellite inertial position and velocity provided by the GPS receiver and the drag acceleration intensity provided by the DBI, due to the orbits’ geometrical configuration, both atmospheric drag and wind can be resolved in a region close to the orbit nodes. Exploiting the Earth oblateness effect, a complete scan of the equatorial regions can be accomplished in the short mission lifetime typical of very low Earth orbit satellites, even in high solar activity peaks, when the expected nanospacecraft lifetime is about 40 days.     

A compact dopplergraph/magnetograph suitable for space-based measurements of solar oscillations and magnetic fields

A compact Dopplergraph/magnetograph placed in a continuous solar-viewing orbit will allow us to make major advancements in our understanding of solar internal structure and dynamics. An international program is currently being conducted at JPL and Mt. Wilson to develop such an instrument. By combining a unique magneto-optical resonance filter with CID and CCD cameras we have been able to obtain full- and partial-disk Dopplergrams and magnetograms. Time series of the velocity images are converted into k-ω power spectra which show clear- the solar nonradial p-mode oscillations. Magnetograms suitable for studying the long-term evolution of solar active regions have also been obtained with this instrument. A flight instrument based on this concept is being studied for possible inclusion in the SOHO mission.     

Imaging interplanetary CMEs at radio frequency from solar polar orbit

Coronal mass ejections (CMEs) represent a great concentration of mass and energy input into the lower corona. They have come to be recognized as the major driver of physical conditions change in the Sun–Earth system. Consequently, observations of CMEs are important for understanding and ultimately predicting space weather conditions. This paper discusses a proposed mission, the Solar Polar Orbit Radio Telescope (SPORT) mission, which will observe the propagation of interplanetary CMEs to distances of near 0.35 AU from the Sun. The orbit of SPORT is an elliptical solar polar orbit. The inclination angle between the orbit and ecliptic plane should be about 90°. The main payload on board SPORT will be an imaging radiometer working at the meter wavelength band (radio telescope), which can follow the propagation of interplanetary CMEs. The images that are obtained by the radio telescope embody the brightness temperature of the objectives. Due to the very large size required for the antenna aperture of the radio telescope, we adopt interferometric imaging technology to reduce it. Interferometric imaging technology is based on indirect spatial frequency domain measurements plus Fourier transformation. The SPORT spacecraft will also be equipped with a set of optical and in situ measurement instruments such as a EUV solar telescope, a solar wind ion instrument, an energetic particle detector, a magnetometer, a wave detector and a solar radio burst spectrometer.     

Multi precursors analysis associated with the powerful Ecuador (MW = 7.8) earthquake of 16 April 2016 using Swarm satellites data in conjunction with other multi-platform satellite and ground data

After DEMETER satellite mission (2004–2010), the launch of the Swarm satellites (Alpha (A), Bravo (B) and Charlie (C)) has created a new opportunity in the study of earthquake ionospheric precursors. Nowadays, there is no doubt that multi precursors analysis is a necessary phase to better understand the LAIC (Lithosphere Atmosphere Ionosphere Coupling) mechanism before large earthquakes. In this study, using absolute scalar magnetometer, vector field magnetometer and electric field instrument on board Swarm satellites, GPS (Global Positioning System) measurements, MODIS-Aqua satellite and ECMWF (European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts) data, the variations of the electron density and temperature, magnetic field, TEC (Total Electron Content), LST (Land Surface Temperature), AOD (Aerosol Optical Depth) and SKT (SKin Temperature) have been surveyed to find the potential seismic anomalies around the strong Ecuador (M_w = 7.8) earthquake of 16 April 2016. The four solar and geomagnetic indices: F10.7, D_st, K_p and a_p were investigated to distinguish whether the preliminary detected anomalies might be associated with the solar-geomagnetic activities instead of the seismo-ionospheric anomalies. The Swarm satellites (A, B and C) data analysis indicate the anomalies in time series of electron density variations on 7, 11 and 12 days before the event; the unusual variations in time series of electron temperature on 8 days preceding the earthquake; the analysis of the magnetic field scalar and vectors data show the considerable anomalies 52, 48, 23, 16, 11, 9 and 7 days before the main shock. A striking anomaly is detected in TEC variations on 1 day before earthquake at 9:00 UTC. The analysis of MODIS-Aqua night-time images shows that LST increase unusually on 11 days prior to main shock. In addition, the AOD variations obtained from MODIS measurements reach the maximum value on 10 days before the earthquake. The SKT around epicentral region presents anomalous higher value about 40 days before the earthquake. It should be noted that the different lead times of the observed anomalies could be acknowledged based on a reasonable LAIC earthquake mechanism. Our results emphasize that the Swarm satellites measurements play an undeniable role in progress the studies of the ionospheric precursors.     

An introduction to China FY3 radio occultation mission and its measurement simulation

GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System) radio occultation mission for remote sensing of the Earth’s atmosphere will be performed by GNOS (GNSS Occultation Sounder) instrument on China FengYun-3 (FY3) 02 series satellites, the first of which FY3-C will be launched in the year 2013. This paper describes the FY3 GNOS mission and presents some results of measurement simulation. The key designed specifications of GNOS are also shown. The main objective of simulation is to provide scientific support for GNOS occultation mission on the FY3-C satellites. We used EGOPS software to simulate occultation measurements according to GNOS designed parameters. We analyzed the accuracy of retrieval profiles based on two typical occultation events occurring in China South–East area among total simulated events. Comparisons between the retrieval atmospheric profiles and background profiles show that GNOS occultation has high accuracy in the troposphere and lower stratosphere. The sensitivities of refractivity to three types of instrumental error, i.e. Doppler biases, clock stability and local multipath, were analyzed. The results indicated that the Doppler biases introduced by along-ray velocity error and GNOS clock error were the primary error sources for FY3-C occultation mission.     

中性原子成像探测的物理设计与仿真

研究了磁层-电离层-热层耦合星座(MIT)卫星计划中高能中性原子成像仪(NAIS-H)探测方案的原理设计和模拟仿真. 以双星中性原子成像仪设计思想为基础,依据MIT卫星计划的总体科学目标和磁层卫星的轨道环境及相应自旋姿态,给出中性原子成像仪的技术架构,并针对地磁偶极场的环电流模型进行了模拟仿真. 仿真结果表明,所研制的NAIS-H以其高时空分辨能力适用于监测和反演磁暴期间磁层等离子体的全球动力学过程.      

Repair of radiation induced genetic damage under microgravity.

The influence of microgravity on the repair of radiation induced genetic damage in a temperature-conditional repair mutant of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae (rad 54-3) was investigated onboard the IML-1 mission (January 22nd-30th 1992, STS-42). Cells were irradiated before the flight, incubated under microgravity at the permissive (22 degrees C) and restrictive (36 degrees C) temperature and afterwards tested for survival. The results suggest that repair may be reduced under microgravity.     

Carbon monoxide spatial gradients over source regions as observed by SCIAMACHY: A case study for the United Kingdom

Carbon monoxide (CO) is an important air pollutant whose emissions and atmospheric concentrations need to be monitored. The measurements of the SCIAMACHY instrument on ENVISAT are sensitive to CO concentration changes at all atmospheric altitude levels including the boundary layer. The SCIAMACHY CO measurements therefore contain information on CO emissions. Until now no studies have been published where the SCIAMACHY CO measurements have been used to quantify CO emissions by applying, for example, inverse modelling approaches. Here we report about a step in this direction. We have analysed three years of CO columns to investigate if spatial gradients resulting from United Kingdom (UK) CO emissions can be observed from space. The UK is an interesting target area because the UK is a relatively well isolated CO source region. On the other hand, the UK is not the easiest target as its emissions are only moderate and because the surrounding water has low reflectivity in the 2.3 μm spectral region used for CO retrieval. We determined horizontal CO gradients from seasonally and yearly averaged CO during 2003–2005 over the UK taking into account daily wind fields. We show that the measured CO longitudinal (downwind) gradients have the expected order of magnitude. The estimated 2σ error of the gradients depends on time period and applied filtering criteria (e.g., land only, cloud free) and is typically 10–20% of the total column. The gradients are barely statistically significant within the 2σ error margin. This is mainly because of the relatively high noise of the SCIAMACHY CO measurements in combination with a quite low number of measurements (∼100) mainly due to cloud cover.     

Improving science return using orbit navigation analysis based on non-imaging science data and the GGS visualization tool

Planetary spacecraft orbital position and instrument pointing knowledge can be incomplete and/or inaccurate due to many operational factors. The degree of error has at times resulted in many hours of re-analysis by the science teams. NASA's Geometry and Graphics Software (GGS), an analysis tool being developed at the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP) at the University of Colorado at Boulder, provides the scientist with a standardized method to adjust the look direction knowledge based on the best fit to the science instrument data. The GGS tool locates the instrument boresight based on telemetered spacecraft knowledge and then adjusts that pointing knowledge based on the science analysis of the data obtained from the observation. This technique is similar to the C-Smithing technique (Wang, et al. 1988) which adjusts pointing knowledge based on body placement within an imaging instrument frame. The corrected geometry knowledge, in the SPICE kernel format, is then available for distribution to all mission science teams and for archiving. An example based on the Galileo Ultraviolet Spectrometer (UVS) data from the Earth 1 encounter will be presented.     

Instrument concept and preliminary performance analysis of GLORIA

The Global Radiance Limb Imager Experiment for the Atmosphere (GLORIA) shall provide a detailed global picture of the upper troposphere/lower stratosphere region (UTLS) and make available novel information on small-scale atmospheric dynamics.

The instrument will be a space borne imaging Fourier Transform Spectrometer operating in the thermal infrared spectral region. It will produce spectrally resolved images of the earth’s limb with a vertical extension of 60 km and a horizontal extension of 400 km. The paper focuses on the preliminary instrument concept and on results of studies concerning sensitivity and spectrometric performance. GLORIA has been proposed as a national German space mission. An aircraft version is currently under development.     

Impact of a novel hybrid accelerometer on satellite gravimetry performance

The state-of-the-art electrostatic accelerometers (EA) used for the retrieval of non-gravitational forces acting on a satellite constitute a core component of every dedicated gravity field mission. However, due to their difficult-to-control thermal drift in the low observation frequencies, they are also one of the most limiting factors of the achievable performance of gravity recovery. Recently, a hybrid accelerometer consisting of a regular EA and a novel cold atom interferometer (CAI) that features a time-invariant observation stability and constantly recalibrates the EA has been developed in order to remedy this major drawback. In this paper we aim to assess the value of the hybrid accelerometer for gravity field retrieval in the context of GRACE-type and Bender-type missions by means of numerical closed-loop simulations where possible noise specifications of the novel instrument are considered and different components of the Earth’s gravity field signal are added subsequently. It is shown that the quality of the gravity field solutions is mainly dependent on the CAI’s measurement accuracy. While a low CAI performance (10^?8 to 10^?9?m/s²/Hz^1/2) does not lead to any gains compared to a stand-alone EA, a sufficiently high one (10^?11?m/s²/Hz^1/2) may improve the retrieval performance by over one order of magnitude. We also show that improvements which are limited to low-frequency observations may even propagate into high spherical harmonic degrees. Further, the accelerometer performance seems to play a less prominent role if the overall observation geometry is improved as it is the case for a Bender-type mission. The impact of the accelerometer measurements diminishes further when temporal variations of the gravity field are introduced, pointing out the need for proper de-aliasing techniques. An additional study reveals that the hybrid accelerometer is – contrary to a stand-alone EA – widely unaffected by scale factor instabilities.     

Possible complex organic compounds on Mars.

It is suggested that primitive Mars had somehow similar environments as primitive Earth. If life was born on the primitive earth using organic compounds which were produced from the early Earth environment, the same types of organic compounds were also formed on primitive Mars. Such organic compounds might have been preserved on Mars still now. We are studying possible organic formation on primitive and present Mars. A gaseous mixture of CO2, CO, N2 and H2O with various mixing ratios were irradiated with high energy protons (major components of cosmic rays). Hydrogen cyanide and formaldehyde were detected among volatile products, and yellow-brown-colored water-soluble non-volatile substances were produced, which gave amino acids after acid-hydrolysis. Major part of "amino acid precursors" were not simple molecules like aminonitriles, but complex compounds which eluted earlier than free amino acids in cation-exchange HPLC. These organic compounds should be major targets in the future Mars mission. Strategy for the detection of the complex organics on Mars will be discussed.