Product Device Analysis for Radar Applications

By applying the theory of two-dimensional Fourier transforms to the response of a product device, results are developed that may be applied to tracking radar range gates, phase detectors, and angle-error detectors. These responses are general in that noises that are present can be nonstationary with arbitrary power spectrum while the radar signal, a pulse stream, can have any envelope shape.     

Technique of physical modeling of lightning strike effects on aircraft

This paper considers the issue of direct and indirect effects of lightning strikes on aircraft. It is proposed to study electromagnetic fields and interferences that affect aircraft instruments based on the theory of large-scale experiment.     

Multi-Spectral Imager on the Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous Mission

A multispectral imager has been developed for a rendezvous mission with the near-Earth asteroid, 433 Eros. The Multi-Spectral Imager (MSI) on the Near-Earth Asteroid Rendezvous (NEAR) spacecraft uses a five-element refractive optical telescope, has a field of view of 2.93 × 2.25°, a focal length of 167.35 mm, and has a spatial resolution of 16.1 × 9.5 m at a range of 100 km. The spectral sensitivity of the instrument spans visible to near infrared wavelengths, and was designed to provide insight into the nature and fundamental properties of asteroids and comets. Seven narrow band spectral filters were chosen to provide multicolor imaging and to make comparative studies with previous observations of S asteroids and measurements of the characteristic absorption in Fe minerals near 1 µm. An eighth filter with a much wider spectral passband will be used for optical navigation and for imaging faint objects, down to visual magnitude of +10.5. The camera has a fixed 1 Hz frame rate and the signal intensities are digitized to 12 bits. The detector, a Thomson-CSF TH7866A Charge-Coupled Device, permits electronic shuttering which effectively varies the dynamic range over an additional three orders of magnitude. Communication with the NEAR spacecraft occurs via a MIL-STD-1553 bus interface, and a high speed serial interface permits rapid transmission of images to the spacecraft solid state recorder. Onboard image processing consists of a multi-tiered data compression scheme. The instrument was extensively tested and calibrated prior to launch; some inflight calibrations have already been completed. This paper presents a detailed overview of the Multi-Spectral Imager and its objectives, design, construction, testing and calibration.     

A detailed FLUKA-2005 Monte-Carlo simulation for the ATIC detector

We have performed a detailed Monte-Carlo (MC) simulation for the Advanced Thin Ionization Calorimeter (ATIC) detector using the MC code FLUKA-2005 which is capable of simulating particles up to 10 PeV. The ATIC detector has completed two successful balloon flights from McMurdo, Antarctica lasting a total of more than 35 days. ATIC is designed as a multiple, long duration balloon flight, investigation of the cosmic ray spectra from below 50 GeV to near 100 TeV total energy; using a fully active Bismuth Germanate (BGO) calorimeter. It is equipped with a large mosaic of silicon detector pixels capable of charge identification, and, for particle tracking, three projective layers of x–y scintillator hodoscopes, located above, in the middle and below a 0.75 nuclear interaction length graphite target. Our simulations are part of an analysis package of both nuclear (A) and energy dependences for different nuclei interacting in the ATIC detector. The MC simulates the response of different components of the detector such as the Si-matrix, the scintillator hodoscopes and the BGO calorimeter to various nuclei. We present comparisons of the FLUKA-2005 MC calculations with GEANT calculations and with the ATIC CERN data.     

Gamma-ray detector on board lunar mission Chang’E-1

Gamma-ray spectrometer (GRS) is included in the payload of Chinese first lunar mission Chang’E-1 that will be launched in 2007. Specific objectives of the GRS are to map abundance of O, Si, Fe, Ti, U, Th, K, and perhaps, Mg, Al, and Ca to depths of about 20 cm. There are remarkable advantages for GRS application to remote sensing elemental materials over the entire lunar surface: large effective area and good ability for background rejection. We will describe the design of GRS and present its performance in this paper. Moreover, the GRS calibration will also be introduced.     

Simulation of launch and re-entry acceleration profiles for testing of shuttle and unmanned microgravity research payloads

Microgravity experiments designed for execution in Get-Away Special canisters, Hitchhiker modules, and Reusable Re-entry Satellites will be subjected to launch and re-entry accelerations. Crew-dependent provisions for preventing acceleration damage to equipment or products will not be available for these payloads during flight; therefore, the effects of launch and re-entry accelerations on all aspects of such payloads must be evaluated prior to flight. A procedure was developed for conveniently simulating the launch and re-entry acceleration profiles of the Space Shuttle (3.3 and 1.7 × g maximum, respectively) and of two versions of NASA's proposed materials research Re-usable Re-entry Satellite (8 × g maximum in one case and 4 × g in the other). By using the 7 m centrifuge of the Gravitational Plant Physiology Laboratory in Philadelphia it was found possible to simulate the time dependence of these 5 different acceleration episodes for payload masses up to 59 kg. A commercial low-cost payload device, the “Materials Dispersion Apparatus” of Instrumentation Technology Associates was tested for (1) integrity of mechanical function, (2) retention of fluid in its compartments, and (3) integrity of products under simulated re-entry g-loads. In particular, the sharp rise from 1 g to maximum g-loading that occurs during re-entry in various unmanned vehicles was successfully simulated, conditions were established for reliable functioning of the MDA, and crystals of 5 proteins suspended in compartments filled with mother liquor were subjected to this acceleration load.     

Black hole accretion and X-ray spectra of QSOS

Changes in Eddington accretion ratios are thought to result in X-ray spectral index changes in Galactic binary black hole systems. Objects with higher Eddington ratios have softer X-ray spectra. Can we apply this result to much more massive black hole systems such as QSOs? If so, X-ray observations will give us valuable insight into the physics of QSOs. Among QSOs, X-ray spectral index is part of a large set of correlated optical and UV observational properties, especially optical Fe II and [O III] strengths in the Hβ region. To investigate whether this set of correlations is related to Eddington ratio, we use as probes, BALQSOs that have been suggested to be youthful super-accretors. We conducted infrared spectroscopy of the Hβ rest wavelength region for a sample of BALQSOs and compared line measurements with those for high and low redshift non-BAL QSOs. Hβ line widths and bolometric luminosity are used to calculate QSO black hole masses and Eddington ratios. Our results support the hypothesis that optical Fe II and [O III] line strengths are Eddington ratio indicators in QSO central engines. A possible explanation is that strong Fe II and weak [O III] indicate abundant cold gas that could fuel near Eddington accretion.     

Analysis and improvement of ionospheric thin shell model used in SBAS for China region

The most frequently used mapping function for converting slant total electron content (STEC) to vertical total electron content (VTEC) uses a simplified ionospheric single layer model in satellite based augmentation system (SBAS). Aiming at ionospheric single layer model altitude variation, we analyzed the statistical characteristic of mapping function in systemic approach particular for the region of China, and then experimental mapping function was proposed. The experimental mapping function is used in SBAS ionospheric correction and the precision of vertical correction is compared with standard mapping function. The results show that conversion factor errors depend on latitude, time and elevation, experimental mapping function is helpful to the vertical TEC estimation and may improve the precision of SBAS ionospheric refraction correction especially for the low latitude region of China.