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.     

A high sensitivity phoswich scintillator X-ray telescope for hard X-ray (20 – 120 keV) astronomy from balloon platform

A large area (400 cm²) low background X-ray telescope consisting of four collimated NaI/CsI scintillator phoswich detectors (each 100 cm²) was built and successfully flown several times during 1980–1984. The phoswich configuration enables one to eliminate X-ray background produced by high energy atmospheric and cosmic gamma-rays. Combined with large area, small field of view (5° × 5°) and large exposure time that was possible due to an on-board telescope pointing programmer, for the 20 – 120 Kev energy range, 3σ sensitivity achieved was 5 × 10⁻⁶ photon/cm² sec Kev for exposure time of 10⁴ sec at observational altitude of 4 g/cm². The Instrument characteristics, relevant details on pointing system, detector system, associated electronics and telemetry and in-flight performance in 1983 and 1984 are presented.     

The ROSAT mission

A primary scientific objective of the ROSAT mission is to perform the first all-sky survey with an imaging X-ray telescope leading to an improvement in sensitivity by several orders of magnitude compared with previous surveys. A large number of new sources (? 10⁵) will be discovered and located with an accuracy of 1 arcmin or better. These will comprise almost all astronomical objects from nearby normal stars to distant quasistellar objects. After completion of the survey which will take half a year the instrument will be used for detailed observations of selected sources with respect to spatial structure, spectra and time variability. In this mode which will be open for guest observers ROSAT will provide substantial improvement over the imaging instruments of the Einstein observatory.The main ROSAT telescope consists of a fourfold nested mirror system with 83 cm aperture having three focal plane instruments. Two of them will be imaging proportional counters (0.1 – 2 keV) providing a field of view of 2°, an angular resolution of ≈ 30″ in the pointing mode and a spectral resolution ^ΔE/E ≈ 45% FWHM at 1 keV. The third focal instrument will be a high resolution imager (≈ 3″). The main ROSAT telescope will be complemented by a parallel looking Wide Field camera which extend the spectral coverage into the XUV band.     

An icy mineralogy package (IMP) for in-situ studies of Titan’s surface

We describe the scientific case for and preliminary design of an instrument whose primary goal is to determine the chemistry (element abundance) and mineralogy (compound identity and abundance) of Titan’s surface using a combination of energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy (EDXRF) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). XRD is capable of identifying any crystalline substance present on Titan’s surface at relative abundances greater than ∼1 wt%, allowing unambiguous identification of, for example, structure I and II clathrates (even in the presence of ice), and various organic solids, which may include C₂H₂, C₂H₄, C₄H₂, HCN, CH₃CN, HC₃N, and C₄N₂). The XRF component of the instrument will obtain elemental abundances for 16 < Z < 60 with minimum detection limits better than 10 ppm (including detection of atmospheric noble gas isotopes), and may achieve detection limits of 0.01–1% for lighter elements down to Z = 6 (carbon). The instrument is well suited to integration with other analytical tools as part of a light-weight surface chemistry and mineralogy package. Although considerably less sensitive to elemental abundance than GC–MS (10⁻² vs. 10⁻⁸) it is likely to be significantly lighter (<0.5 kg vs. 10 kg).     

Passive cooling of superconducting magnetic systems in space

The equilibrium temperature of a system in space can be lowered by a suitable choice of its geometry and its attitude. This remark is important for devices based on medium temperature and high temperature superconducting materials, and offers the possibility of their fully passive cooling without or with a marginal recourse to active systems. General parameterizations are given and simple schemes discussed. The adopted geometrical configuration and the attitude can enhance the role of passive cooling of the large superconducting magnetic systems required for protecting from ionizing radiation manned habitats in deep space. A specific example based on MgB₂ cable for protecting large volume habitats (500 and 1000 m³) is treated. The systems can be run in deep space at equilibrium temperatures around 20 K mainly by passive cooling, provided that their geometry and attitude would be suitably chosen.     

深空探测光学导航敏感器在轨几何定标方法

光学导航敏感器是光学自主导航的一个核心器件,它所获得的导航目标源的光线指向的精度将直接影响自主导航的精度。设计了一个分步式的光学导航敏感器在轨几何定标方法,该方法先求解外定标参数,然后在外定标所确定的广义相机坐标系下求解内定标参数,从而完成对内外定标参数的标定。为了在星上计算资源与能力有限的环境下,利用更多的参考星图实现对定标参数的高精度估计,利用逐行法化最小二乘方法估计定标参数。实验表明,通过高精度的在轨几何定标,可以有效提高光学导航敏感器的指向量测精度,使其满足光学自主导航的需求。     

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.     

Cosmic ray 1H and 2H spectra from BESS 98

The Balloon-borne Experiment with a Super-solenoidal Spectrometer (BESS) instrument has been flown annually from Lynn Lake Manitoba since 1993. The instrument has been upgraded several times to improve its performance. The instalment flown in 1998 was able to detect ²H clearly between 0.13 and 1.78 GeV/n as a result of improvements made on the time-of-flight (TOF) system. The BESS 98 data were analyzed to obtain the ratio and absolute fluxes of ¹H and ²H over this energy range. The results were compared with different cosmic ray propagation models and their implications regarding their propagation history are discussed in this paper.     

In situ measurements of ionospheric plasma turbulence over five frequency decades: Heritage flight of the Plasma Local Anomalous Noise Experiment (PLANE)

Observations of ionospheric plasma density and frequency-dependent broadband plasma turbulence made during the heritage flight of the Plasma Local Anomalous Noise Experiment (PLANE) are presented. Rather than record high frequency time series data, the experiment was designed to record Power Spectral Distributions (PSDs) in five decadal frequency bins with upper limits ranging from 1.0 Hz to 10 kHz. Additionally, PLANE was designed distinguish turbulence in the ambient plasma from that local to the spacecraft. The instrument consists of two retarding potential analyzers (RPAs) connected together via a feedback loop to force one analyzer into the I–V trace retardation region at all times. Fluctuations in this measurement are believed to be ambient only as the RPA’s voltage would be too high for locally turbulent plasma to surmount the potential barrier, which is nominally at ram energy. The instrument requires pointing along the spacecraft’s ram velocity vector to make this measurement, thus requiring stabilization in pitch and yaw. During PLANE’s heritage flight, though the satellite’s attitude control system failed early in the mission, plasma data were collected during opportune times in which the instrument rotated into and out of the ram. Observations of plasma density and PSDs of high frequency plasma turbulence were recorded on several occasions. Additionally, a plasma source onboard the satellite was used to generate artificial plasma turbulence, and the PLANE data observed periodic structure presumably associated with the rotation of the spacecraft during these source firings. A brief comparison with other high frequency in situ plasma instruments is presented.     

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.     

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.     

The oriented scintillation spectrometer experiment for the gamma-ray observatory

The Oriented Scintillation Spectrometer Experiment (OSSE) for the Gamma Ray Observatory is described. OSSE uses four identical NaI(T1)-CsI(Na) phoswich detectors to provide gamma-ray line and continuum detection capability in the 0.05–10 MeV energy range. Additional gamma-ray and neutron detection capability is achieved above 10 MeV. Each detector has a CsI annular shield and a tungsten alloy collimator which define a 5° × 11° (FWHM) field-of-view. The detectors have independent, single-axis orientation systems which permit offset pointing to provide source-background subtraction. The sensitivity for line gamma rays in the 0.05–10 MeV region will be 2–3 × 10^?5 photons/cm²-s for a 10⁶-second observation period. The several modes of data acquisition and the emphases for the planned observational program are discussed.     

Feasibility of performing space surveillance tasks with a proposed space-based optical architecture

Under ESA contract an industrial consortium including Aboa Space Research Oy (ASRO), the Astronomical Institute of the University of Bern (AIUB), and the Dutch National Aerospace Laboratory (NLR), proposed the observation concept, developed a suitable sensor architecture, and assessed the performance of a space-based optical (SBO) telescope in 2005. The goal of the SBO study was to analyse how the existing knowledge gap in the space debris population in the millimetre and centimetre regime may be closed by means of a passive optical instrument. The SBO instrument was requested to provide statistical information on the space debris population in terms of number of objects and size distribution. The SBO instrument was considered to be a cost-efficient with 20 cm aperture and 6° field-of-view and having flexible integration requirements. It should be possible to integrate the SBO instrument easily as a secondary payload on satellites launched into low-Earth orbits (LEO), or into geostationary orbit (GEO). Thus the selected mission concept only allowed for fix-mounted telescopes, and the pointing direction could be requested freely. Since 2007 ESA focuses space surveillance and tracking activities in the Space Situational Awareness (SSA) preparatory program. Ground-based radars and optical telescopes are studied for the build-up and maintenance of a catalogue of objects. In this paper we analyse how the proposed SBO architecture could contribute to the space surveillance tasks survey and tracking. We assume that the SBO instrumentation is placed into a circular sun-synchronous orbit at 800 km altitude. We discuss the observation conditions of objects at higher altitude, and select an orbit close to the terminator plane. A pointing of the sensor orthogonal to the orbital plane with optimal elevation slightly in positive direction (0° and +5°) is found optimal for accessing the entire GEO regime within one day, implying a very good coverage of controlled objects in GEO, too. Simulations using ESA’s Program for Radar and Optical Observation Forecasting (PROOF) in the version 2005 and a GEO reference population extracted from DISCOS revealed that the proposed pointing scenario provides low phase angles together with low angular velocities of the objects crossing the field-of-view. Radiometric simulations show that the optimal exposure time is 1–2 s, and that spherical objects in GEO with a diameter of below 1 m can be detected. The GEO population can be covered under proper illumination nearly completely, but seasonal drops of the coverage are possible. Subsequent observations of objects are on average at least every 1.5 days, not exceeding 3 days at maximum. A single observation arc spans 3° to 5° on average. Using a simulation environment that connects PROOF to AIUB’s program system CelMech we verify the consistency of the initial orbit determination for five selected test objects on subsequent days as a function of realistic astrometric noise levels. The initial orbit determination is possible. We define requirements for a correlator process essential for catalogue build-up and maintenance. Each single observation should provide an astrometric accuracy of at least 1”–1.5” so that the initially determined orbits are consistent within a few hundred kilometres for the semi-major axis, 0.01 for the eccentricity, and 0.1° for the inclination.     

The water cycle in closed ecological systems: Perspectives from the Biosphere 2 and Laboratory Biosphere systems

To achieve sustainable, healthy closed ecological systems requires solutions to challenges of closing the water cycle – recycling wastewater/irrigation water/soil medium leachate and evaporated water and supplying water of required quality as needed for different needs within the facility. Engineering Biosphere 2, the first multi-biome closed ecological system within a total airtight footprint of 12,700 m² with a combined volume of 200,000 m³ with a total water capacity of some 6 × 10⁶ L of water was especially challenging because it included human inhabitants, their agricultural and technical systems, as well as five analogue ecosystems ranging from rainforest to desert, freshwater ecologies to saltwater systems like mangrove and mini-ocean coral reef ecosystems. By contrast, the Laboratory Biosphere – a small (40 m³ volume) soil-based plant growth facility with a footprint of 15 m² – is a very simplified system, but with similar challenges re salinity management and provision of water quality suitable for plant growth. In Biosphere 2, water needs included supplying potable water for people and domestic animals, irrigation water for a wide variety of food crops, and recycling and recovering soil nutrients from wastewater. In the wilderness biomes, providing adequately low salinity freshwater terrestrial ecosystems and maintaining appropriate salinity and pH in aquatic/marine ecosystems were challenges. The largest reservoirs in Biosphere 2 were the ocean/marsh with some 4 × 10⁶ L, soil with 1 to 2 × 10⁶ l, primary storage tank with 0 to 8 × 10⁵ L and storage tanks for condensate and soil leachate collection and mixing tanks with a capacity of 1.6 × 10⁵ L to supply irrigation for farm and wilderness ecosystems. Other reservoirs were far smaller – humidity in the atmosphere (2 × 10³ L), streams in the rainforest and savannah, and seasonal pools in the desert were orders of magnitude smaller (8 × 10⁴ L). Key technologies included condensation from humidity in the air handlers and from the glass space frame to produce high quality freshwater, wastewater treatment with constructed wetlands and desalination through reverse osmosis and flash evaporation were key to recycling water with appropriate quality throughout the Biosphere 2 facility. Wastewater from all human uses and the domestic animals in Biosphere 2 was treated and recycled through a series of constructed wetlands, which had hydraulic loading of 0.9–1.1 m³ day⁻¹ (240–290 gal d⁻¹). Plant production in the wetland treatment system produced 1210 kg dry weight of emergent and floating aquatic plant wetland which was used as fodder for the domestic animals while remaining nutrients/water was reused as part of the agricultural irrigation supply. There were pools of water with recycling times of days to weeks and others with far longer cycling times within Biosphere 2. By contrast, the Laboratory Biosphere with a total water reservoir of less than 500 L has far quicker cycling rapidity: for example, atmospheric residence time for water vapor was 5–20 min in the Laboratory Biosphere vs. 1–4 h in Biosphere 2, as compared with 9 days in the Earth’s biosphere. Just as in Biosphere 2, humidity in the Laboratory Biosphere amounts to a very small reservoir of water. The amount of water passing through the air in the course of a 12-h operational day is two orders of magnitude greater than the amount stored in the air. Thus, evaporation and condensation collection are vital parts of the recycle system just as in Biosphere 2. The water cycle and sustainable water recycling in closed ecological systems presents problems requiring further research – such as how to control buildup of salinity in materially closed ecosystems and effective ways to retain nutrients in optimal quantity and useable form for plant growth. These issues are common to all closed ecological systems of whatever size, including planet Earth’s biosphere and are relevant to a global environment facing increasing water shortages while maintaining water quality for human and ecosystem health. Modular biospheres offer a test bed where technical methods of resolving these problems can be tested for feasibility.     

量子导航定位系统中的捕获和粗跟踪技术

量子导航定位系统需要借助于空间量子卫星信息通信系统来进行信号的捕获、跟踪和对准(acquisition,tracking and pointing,ATP).ATP系统是空间量子卫星信息通信的重要组成部分,涉及到量子通信链路的建立以及中断通信链路的恢复;粗跟踪和精跟踪的相互配合,可以确保通信双方处于通信状态,达到期望的信号跟踪性能.本文详细阐述用于量子导航定位系统的空间量子卫星通信的捕获阶段和粗跟踪的相关技术,重点分析捕获阶段中的初始指向技术、扫描技术、捕获阶段的精度及其性能,以及粗跟踪阶段的精度及其性能指标等关键技术.     

Dark Matter searches with GLAST

The Gamma-ray Large Area Space Telescope (GLAST), scheduled to be launched in fall 2007, is the next generation satellite for high-energy gamma-ray astronomy. The Large Area Telescope (LAT), GLAST main instrument, with a wide field of view (>2 sr), a large effective area (>8000 cm² at 1 GeV) and 20 MeV–300 GeV energy range, will provide excellent high energy gamma-ray observations for Dark Matter searches. In this paper we examine the potential of the LAT to detect gamma-rays coming from WIMPS annihilation in the context of supersymmetry. As an example, two search regions are investigated: the galactic center and the galactic satellites.     

基于恒星的电离层成像仪在轨几何定标

三轴稳定的地球静止轨道卫星在轨运行期间温度会有周期性变化.其上装载的远紫外电离层成像仪与卫星之间的热应力变化造成机械传递,导致仪器指向与装星时的初始位置发生偏差.恒星在惯性坐标系中的位置保持不变,可以将其作为电离层成像仪在轨几何定标的定标源.本文建立了基于恒星的电离层成像仪在轨几何定标模型,通过拍摄所筛选恒星图像,得出仪器在轨指向相对于初始值的偏离程度,从而提高电离层成像仪的成像几何精度.通过模拟试验,验证了运用此技术进行在轨几何定标的可行性.研究结果可为电离层成像仪常态化自动在轨几何定标奠定基础.      

X-ray observations from the space shuttle

The flight of the University of Birmingham X-ray Telescope, which took place between 29th July and 6 August 1985 is reviewed. Despite the competing demands of twelve other investigations on-board, it was found possible to plan an observing programme for the XRT which enabled a good (43%) utilisation of the total operating time to be achieved, and then to carry out this programme with high efficiency. An important element here was the inclusion within the XRT of a pointing mount, which enabled it to point with a degree of independence of the Orbiter vehicle. The background of spurious events in the detector, due mainly to energetic particles, was found to be low and well-behaved, except for occasional events which are not easy to distinguish from X-ray bursts. The spectral intensity of unrejected background varies from about 2.10⁻³/cm²sec keV at 8 keV to 5.10⁻⁴/cm² sec keV at 25 keV.     

一类反馈型非线性系统的跟踪控制

为了完成对一类反馈型非线性系统的控制,研究了该类非线性系统。首先,根据LaSalle不变性原理论证了一类自治系统收敛的引理。然后,引入误差函数,通过误差函数的Lyapunov函数寻找使得误差函数渐近稳定的控制器,再根据引理得出系统状态所跟踪的轨迹全部收敛,从而使得系统状态均有界,系统的输出趋于输入;论述了控制器使系统状态稳定的条件,给出了闭环系统稳定性的证明。最后,给出了一个固定翼飞机纵向运动飞行控制系统的算例,并且按照所提的方法设计了控制器,在MATLAB的Simulink模块下进行了仿真验证。结果表明,对于阶跃信号和正弦信号,所提出的控制方法能够使得飞机俯仰角快速收敛跟踪指令。      

UVSTAR, a spectrographic telescope for the shuttle Hitchhiker-M bridge

UVSTAR is an EUV spectral imager intended as a facility instrument devoted to solar system astronomy and to astronomy. It covers the wavelength range of 500 to 1250 Å, with sufficient spectral resolution to separate atomic emission lines and to form spectrally resolved images of extended plasma sources. Targets include the Io plasma torus at Jupiter, hot stars, planetary nebulae and extragalactic sources. UVSTAR will make useful measurements of emissions from the Earth's atmosphere as well. UVSTAR consists of a pair of telescopes and concave-grating spectrographs that cover the overlapping spectral ranges of 500–900 Å and 850–1250 Å. The telescopes use two 30 cm diameter off-axis paraboloids having a focal length of 1.4 m. An image of the target is formed at the entrance slits of two concave grating spectrographs. The gratings provide dispersion and re-image the slits at the detectors, intensified CCDs. The readout format of the detectors can be chosen by computer, and three slit widths are selectable to adapt the instrument to specific tasks. The spectrograph package has internal gimbals which allow rotation of ±3° about each of two axes. Dedicated finding and tracking telescopes will acquire and track the target after rough pointing is achieved by orienting the Orbiter. Responsibilities for the implementation and utilization of UVSTAR are shared by groups the U.S. and Italy. UVSTAR is scheduled for flight in early 1994.