Capacity building in space law and space policy

A high level of expertise in space policy and law is required to initiate and keep pace with the expansion of space activities, including those undertaken by the private space industry. Space activities generally refer to those undertakings that are carried out with the use of several technologies for the exploration and utilization of outer space often for scientific, military, economic and social proposes within international and national policy and regulatory frameworks. Space policies and legal regimes determine the scope, nature, pace, possibility and development of space undertakings. Therefore, appropriate space policies and regulatory regimes, both at the international and national levels, are indispensable for the initiation, operation and enhancement of space activities. There are various regulatory models and approaches for regulating space activities, and for building capacity in space law and space policy. It is imperative to have the appropriate human resources and capabilities in the development and implementation of space policies and space legal regimes. This crucial requirement has been well recognized in the more advanced space-faring nations, but not to the same level in other space-faring or space-aspiring nations.     

Cubesats: Cost-effective science and technology platforms for emerging and developing nations

The development, operation, and analysis of data from cubesats can promote science education and spur technology utilization in emerging and developing nations. This platform offers uniquely low construction and launch costs together with a comparative ubiquity of launch providers; factors that have led more than 80 universities and several emerging nations to develop programs in this field. Their small size and weight enables cubesats to “piggyback” on rocket launches and accompany orbiters travelling to Moon and Mars. It is envisaged that constellations of cubesats will be used for larger science missions. We present a brief history, technology overview, and summary of applications in science and industry for these small satellites. Cubesat technical success stories are offered along with a summary of pitfalls and challenges encountered in both developed and emerging nations. A discussion of economic and public policy issues aims to facilitate the decision-making process for those considering utilization of this unique technology.     

Capacity building in regional space cooperation: Asia-pacific space cooperation organization

The increasing gap in the space capabilities of different countries has led to the need for capacity building in modern times. Space capacity building of countries without or with limited space capacity via international cooperation with advanced spacefaring nations is a good practice towards intragenerational equity among all spacefaring countries, and between spacefaring and non-spacefaring countries at the same period of time. A case study is used here to show the current situation of the Asia-Pacific Space Cooperation Organization (APSCO) and its member states that are associated with their space capacity building. The study finds that neither the satellite technology development model developed by Wood and Weigel (2011) nor the model developed by Ercan and Kale (2017) is a good fit for the development of space capability in all of the developing countries. Therefore, using the APSCO member states as a case study may offer guidelines towards the space capacity building of other developing countries. Moreover, an in-depth analysis of the merits and flaws of APSCO’s capacity building programs through comparing them with similar projects carried out by the European Space Agency (ESA), the Asia-Pacific Regional Space Agency Forum (APRSAF) and some other countries is conducive to providing some references for regional cooperation in the field of space capacity building. While international space law and the APSCO Convention can provide the general principles for capacity building activities under the framework of APSCO, they are only relevant to the development of scientific and technological capacities for space and human resources rather than organizational development and legal frameworks. Some international soft laws can likewise provide guidance for the capacity building activities of APSCO and its member states in the areas of international direct television broadcasting, remote sensing and cooperative way. To enhance its and its member states’ space capabilities, APSCO, in the context of space commercialization and maintaining the long-term sustainability of outer space activities (LTSOSA), should establish a comprehensive internal regime that addresses scientific and technological capacity building for space, human resources, organizational development and legal frameworks, a flexible regime for international cooperation with other developed spacefaring nations and international organizations with relevant technical capabilities and an internal research center for space law, and actively expand its membership by embracing other economically or technologically developed spacefaring nations in the Asia-Pacific region.     

Toward a global space exploration program: A stepping stone approach

In response to the growing importance of space exploration in future planning, the Committee on Space Research (COSPAR) Panel on Exploration (PEX) was chartered to provide independent scientific advice to support the development of exploration programs and to safeguard the potential scientific assets of solar system objects. In this report, PEX elaborates a stepwise approach to achieve a new level of space cooperation that can help develop world-wide capabilities in space science and exploration and support a transition that will lead to a global space exploration program. The proposed stepping stones are intended to transcend cross-cultural barriers, leading to the development of technical interfaces and shared legal frameworks and fostering coordination and cooperation on a broad front. Input for this report was drawn from expertise provided by COSPAR Associates within the international community and via the contacts they maintain in various scientific entities. The report provides a summary and synthesis of science roadmaps and recommendations for planetary exploration produced by many national and international working groups, aiming to encourage and exploit synergies among similar programs. While science and technology represent the core and, often, the drivers for space exploration, several other disciplines and their stakeholders (Earth science, space law, and others) should be more robustly interlinked and involved than they have been to date. The report argues that a shared vision is crucial to this linkage, and to providing a direction that enables new countries and stakeholders to join and engage in the overall space exploration effort. Building a basic space technology capacity within a wider range of countries, ensuring new actors in space act responsibly, and increasing public awareness and engagement are concrete steps that can provide a broader interest in space exploration, worldwide, and build a solid basis for program sustainability. By engaging developing countries and emerging space nations in an international space exploration program, it will be possible to create a critical bottom-up support structure to support program continuity in the development and execution of future global space exploration frameworks. With a focus on stepping stones, COSPAR can support a global space exploration program that stimulates scientists in current and emerging spacefaring nations, and that will invite those in developing countries to participate—pursuing research aimed at answering outstanding questions about the origins and evolution of our solar system and life on Earth (and possibly elsewhere). COSPAR, in cooperation with national and international science foundations and space-related organizations, will advocate this stepping stone approach to enhance future cooperative space exploration efforts.     

Manipulation of Colloidal Droplets in Space and the Instability of Thermocapillary Convection in Large Prandtl Number Liquid Bridge in Microgravity

In 2016 and 2017, SJ-10 and TG-2 satellites were launched. In this short paper, we report recent progress on the studies of manipulation of colloidal droplets and instability of thermocapillary convection in large Prandtl number liquid bridge that based on the space experiments boarding SJ-10 and TG-2 satellites, separately. It was shown that the colloidal droplets can be successfully formed and manipulated in microgravity through the patterned substrates. In another aspect, the coffee-ring effect was observed at the first time in space. For the studies of the instability of thermocapillary convection in large Prandtl number liquid bridge in microgravity, our experiments in TG-2 broadened the way of such kind of study and abundant experimental results are emerging.      

Downsizing an orbital space robot: A dynamic system based evaluation

Small space robots have the potential to revolutionise space exploration by facilitating the on-orbit assembly of infrastructure, in shorter time scales, at reduced costs. Their commercial appeal will be further improved if such a system is also capable of performing on-orbit servicing missions, in line with the current drive to limit space debris and prolong the lifetime of satellites already in orbit. Whilst there have been a limited number of successful demonstrations of technologies capable of these on-orbit operations, the systems remain large and bespoke. The recent surge in small satellite technologies is changing the economics of space and in the near future, downsizing a space robot might become be a viable option with a host of benefits. This industry wide shift means some of the technologies for use with a downsized space robot, such as power and communication subsystems, now exist. However, there are still dynamic and control issues that need to be overcome before a downsized space robot can be capable of undertaking useful missions. This paper first outlines these issues, before analyzing the effect of downsizing a system on its operational capability. Therefore presenting the smallest controllable system such that the benefits of a small space robot can be achieved with current technologies. The sizing of the base spacecraft and manipulator are addressed here. The design presented consists of a 3 link, 6 degrees of freedom robotic manipulator mounted on a 12U form factor satellite. The feasibility of this 12U space robot was evaluated in simulation and the in-depth results presented here support the hypothesis that a small space robot is a viable solution for in-orbit operations.     

太阳极紫外多波段成像仪

在目前仪器特点和性能的基础上, 结合中国现有卫星特点和技术基础, 提出了一种新型太阳极紫外多波段成像仪, 采用小型化设计, 利用一台仪器实现对日冕和色球层4个不同波段的高分辨率成像, 不仅能有效利用卫星资源, 提高空间探测水平, 还能实现对日冕和色球的同时观测, 推动空间天气研究, 提高空间天气预报水平.      

Large constellations assessment and optimization in LEO space debris environment

Recent plans for large constellations in Low-Earth Orbit have opened the debate on both their vulnerability and their influence on the already hazardous space debris environment. In fact, given that large constellations normally employ satellites of small size, there might be situations in which cm-size debris could have enough energy to cause fragmentation of a significant part of these spacecraft upon impact, while smaller debris could affect the functionalities of critical subsystems, even compromising the success of disposal operations planned at end-of-life. In this context, this paper investigates: (1) collisions with large objects that could initiate the fragmentation of a significant part of the satellite, and (2) impacts with small debris that might perforate the spacecraft hull thus causing relevant performance/functionality degradation. These two points are merged in a simple statistical tool for risk assessment, which analyses the effects of the main parameters of the constellations on its vulnerability (i.e. operational life, number of satellites, spacecraft cross section, satellites reliability). In more details, the tool relates impact probability (for both small and large debris) to the ballistic response of spacecraft structures and protections, defining the critical configurations that might compromise the expected disposal operations. This method requires a limited knowledge of the spacecraft internal layout, as it is based on a statistical analysis of impact damage instead of a complete evaluation of the vulnerability of each subsystem. In parallel, non-debris related failures are also investigated and statistic models of spacecraft reliability characteristic are proposed. Among the results, it is shown that reducing the lifetime of individual satellites in a constellation might improve the success rate of post-mission disposal, thanks to the reduction of the spacecraft exposure to the space environment with the consequential degradation of its performance. On the other hand, reducing the lifetime would seriously affect the debris environment: the increase in traffic in the most crowded altitudes would be not counterbalanced by the higher post mission disposal success rate, causing an overall increase of the total number of uncontrolled resident objects.     

月地高速激光通信系统链路特性分析

根据地球、月球、探月卫星的三体运动,针对月地激光链路的建立与保持,分析了地球与月球对链路的遮挡问题,对链路模式进行分析。仿真结果表明:使用3颗月球极轨(Moon Polar Orbit,MPO)卫星来进行通信时,链路中断的次数将大大减少,但是在某些时间段上,仍然受到月球的遮挡而迫使通信链路频繁中断。使用4颗MPO卫星来进行通信时,链路将不再受到月球的阻挡,而仅受到地球的遮挡。同理,增加地球同步轨道卫星的数目可避免地球的遮挡。仿真结果表明,采用2颗地球同步轨道(Geostationary Earth Orbit,GEO)卫星建立链路,链路将不会受到地球的遮挡,建立深空科学研究的信息中继中心,采用激光通信技术,实现月地高速激光信息传输,为我国深空探测技术的发展提供支撑。     

Different space weather effects in anomalies of the high and low orbital satellites

Preliminary results of the EU INTAS Project 00810, which aims to improve the methods of safeguarding satellites in the Earth’s magnetosphere from the negative effects of the space environment, are presented. Anomaly data from the “Kosmos” series satellites in the period 1971–1999 are combined in one database, together with similar information on other spacecraft. This database contains, beyond the anomaly information, various characteristics of the space weather: geomagnetic activity indices (Ap, AE and Dst), fluxes and fluences of electrons and protons at different energies, high energy cosmic ray variations and other solar, interplanetary and solar wind data. A comparative analysis of the distribution of each of these parameters relative to satellite anomalies was carried out for the total number of anomalies (about 6000 events), and separately for high (5000 events) and low (about 800 events) altitude orbit satellites. No relation was found between low and high altitude satellite anomalies. Daily numbers of satellite anomalies, averaged by a superposed epoch method around sudden storm commencements and proton event onsets for high (>1500 km) and low (<1500 km) altitude orbits revealed a big difference in a behavior. Satellites were divided on several groups according to the orbital characteristics (altitude and inclination). The relation of satellite anomalies to the environmental parameters was found to be different for various orbits that should be taken into account under developing of the anomaly frequency models.     

Orbital debris environment resulting from future activities in space

A long-term evolution of space debris environment has been simulated by a numerical model. Based on previously published results in many 50-year runs of the “dynamic model”, an “average model” is derived to reduce the computation time in order to effectively simulate a very-long-term evolution of space debris environment. The evolution of space debris environment is examined with two different future space activities in LEO: (1) Increase the yearly traffic input of new satellites by 2%, 5%, 10%, 20%, and 50%; and (2) place ten large space structures of 100 meters in diameter in the year 1995 at either 500 km or 1000 km altitude. The results indicate that in a 170-year span from 1983, every space activity listed above results in a rapid runaway of debris fluxes from objects of 4 mm or larger.     

非合作失效航天器绳系拖曳系统研究

空间碎片的不断增加给人类航天活动的开展和在轨资产的安全造成严重威胁。在已经提出的多种空间碎片主动清除方式中,绳系拖曳（tethered space tug,TST）系统因有较好的应用前景而受到广泛关注。部分失效航天器因星上器件损坏且姿态控制系统异常,始终将姿态维持在某一特定指向,针对此类具有典型的非合作特征的大型空间碎片,开展绳系拖曳动力学与控制研究。将拖船和目标均视作刚体,用牛顿法建立了TST系统的动力学模型;根据目标姿态稳定方式分为自旋稳定和三轴稳定两种情况,开展了绳系拖曳动力学分析与控制设计,并考察了系绳在失效航天器表面连接点位置对系统稳定状态的影响。仿真结果表明,拖船和失效航天器会在系绳连接下表现出抗衡特点,最终系统会稳定在不同的均衡状态附近。此研究为安全清除尚有残余姿态控制能力的失效航天器中相关拖曳动力学与控制问题提供了参考。     

中国空间天文40周年

过去40年中国空间天文学研究取得了巨大的发展.尤其是近10年内发射了数颗天文卫星,未来几年还将有一些天文卫星计划发射.本文简要回顾了国际空间天文学的发展历程.对中国空间天文学过去40年的发展进行了回顾和总结,包括1970年代第一颗天文卫星计划、气球空间天文探测、基于载人航天工程的空间天文实验以及天文卫星等.此外,介绍了...     

The status of space science and technology in developed countries — The european experience

Space research in Western Europe began in the form of independent national space programmes confined in the first instance to the use of sounding rockets. These early steps were soon supplemented by bilateral collaborative projects with the USA and USSR whose agencies provided the satellite launch vehicles that Europe lacked at that time.In 1962 as a result of an agreement between ten member states the European Space Research Organisation (ESRO) was established for the purpose of carrying out a programme of space science. ESRO was succeeded in 1974 by the European Space Agency (ESA) with a much broader range of activities covering both scientific research and the application of space technology together with the development of launch vehicles.At the present time the totality of space activities of the ESA member states is made up of national programmes and collaborative projects with other nations and agencies together with participation in the agreed ESA programme. Because of its essentially non-military character, its relatively modest level of funding and its multinational nature the European experience with ESA may provide some useful guidance in the development of space science and technology elsewhere in the world.     

The role of space techniques in FGGE

The space-based sub-system of the composite observing system, operated during the Operational Year of the Global Weather Experiment, played an indispensable role in the acquisition of data and in transmitting data from surface-based and airborne observational platforms to data-processing centres. The sub-system comprised both geostationary and near-polar orbiting meteorological satellites and special efforts were undertaken to keep the performance of the system as close as possible to that which had been anticipated during the planning stage of the Experiment.Five geostationary satellites were spaced at approximately uniform intervals around the equator. They were used primarily to derive wind vectors by measuring the displacement of clouds. The satellites also provided communication support for the Aircraft to Satellite Data Relay system, by which flight level meteorological data were automatically transmitted to ground receiving stations.Three polar orbiting satellites provided data simultaneously during the whole Operational Year. Vertical temperature soundings, clear-radiance data, sea-surface temperature and wind speed data, and total atmospheric water vapour data were produced for inclusion in the research data set of the Experiment. Two of these satellites /TIROS-N and NOAA-6/ carried a new data collection and platform location system, a basic component of the Tropical Constant Level Balloon System and the Drifting Buoy System of FGGE.     

基于卫星编队的空间碎片视觉高精度导航方法

视觉方法被广泛应用于空间碎片这类和卫星之间没有任何通信的非合作目标导航。针对观测过程中视觉传感器的像差偏差引起位置不确定的问题,提出了利用卫星编队的立体视觉导航方法。首先,利用卫星编队构造了长基线的视觉传感器,通过Fisher矩阵对系统的可观测性进行了分析,验证了系统是可观的;其次,对视觉传感器进行了误差分析,通过安排最优视差角,使多颗卫星的观测信息融合达到最优;最后,应用卫星编队的视觉导航方法对空间碎片进行了导航仿真验证。结果表明,基于卫星编队的视觉导航方法可以显著减小观测误差,精度能达到01m量级,而且编队构形简单,易于工程实现。     

A material experiment for small satellites to characterise the behaviour of carbon nanotubes in space – development and ground validation

Over the last years, Carbon Nanotubes (CNT) drew interdisciplinary attention. Regarding space technologies a variety of potential applications were proposed and investigated. However, no complex data on the behaviour and degradation process of carbon nanotubes under space environment exist. Therefore, it is necessary to investigate the performance of these new materials in space environment and to revaluate the application potential of CNTs in space technologies.Hence, CiREX (Carbon Nanotubes – Resistance Experiment) was developed as a part of a student project. It is a small and compact experiment, which is designed for CubeSat class space satellites. These are a class of nanosatellites with a standardized size and shape. The CiREX design, electrical measurements and the satellites interfaces will be discussed in detail. CiREX is the first in-situ space material experiment for CNTs.To evaluate the data obtained from CiREX, ground validation tests are mandatory. As part of an extensive test series the behaviour of CNTs under solar ultra violet light (UV) and vacuum ultraviolet light (VUV) was examined. Single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNT), multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWNT) and MWNT/resin composite (ME) were exposed to different light sources. After the exposure, the defect density was investigated with Raman spectroscopy. There is a clear indication that UV and VUV light can increase the defect density of untreated CNTs and influence the electrical behaviour.     

Yarkovsky-Schach effect on space debris motion

The Yarkovsky-Schach effect is a small perturbation affecting Earth satellites and space debris illuminated by the Sun. It was first applied to the orbit of LAGEOS satellites as an explanation of the residuals in orbital elements. In this work, we carry out several numerical integration tests taking into consideration various orbit and rotation parameters, in order to analyse this effect in a broader context. The semi-major axis variations remain small and depend on the spin axis attitude with respect to the Sun. We show that the force amplitude is maximised for orbits inclined with $i\approx$?20–30°. We also observe the influence on other orbital elements, notably on the orbit inclination. However, these effects are clearly observed only on long timescales; in our simulations, we propagated the orbits for 200?y. The Yarkovsky-Schach effect is thus confirmed to have a minuscule magnitude. It should be taken into account in studies requiring high-precision orbit determination, or on expanded timescales.