Huygens Probe Aerosol Collector Pyrolyser Experiment

ACP's main objective is the chemical analysis of the aerosols in Titan's atmosphere. For this purpose, it will sample the aerosols during descent and prepare the collected matter (by evaporation, pyrolysis and gas products transfer) for analysis by the Huygens Gas Chromatograph Mass Spectrometer (GCMS). A sampling system is required for sampling the aerosols in the 135'32 km and 22'17 km altitude regions of Titan's atmosphere. A pump unit is used to force the gas flow through a filter. In its sampling position, the filter front face extends a few mm beyond the inlet tube. The oven is a pyrolysis furnace where a heating element can heat the filter and hence the sampled aerosols to 250 °C or 600 °C. The oven contains the filter, which has a thimble-like shape (height 28 mm). For transferring effluent gas and pyrolysis products to GCMS, the carrier gas is a labeled nitrogen ¹⁵N₂, to avoid unwanted secondary reactions with Titan's atmospheric nitrogen. Aeraulic tests under cold temperature conditions were conducted by using a cold gas test system developed by ONERA. The objective of the test was to demonstrate the functional ability of the instrument during the descent of the probe and to understand its thermal behavior, that is to test the performance of all its components, pump unit and mechanisms. In order to validate ACP's scientific performance, pyrolysis tests were conducted at LISA on solid phase material synthesized from experimental simulation. The chromatogram obtained by GCMS analysis shows many organic compounds. Some GC peaks appear clearly from the total mass spectra, with specific ions well identified thanks to the very high sensitivity of the mass spectrometer. The program selected for calibrating the flight model is directly linked to the GCMS calibration plan. In order not to pollute the two flight models with products of solid samples such as tholins, we excluded any direct pyrolysis tests through the ACP oven during the first phase of the calibration. Post probe descent simulation of flight results are planned, using the much representative GCMS and ACP spare models. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Orbits and Integrals in Self-Consistent Systems

We find the forms of the orbits in a self-consistent galactic model generated by a N-body simulation of the collapse of a protogalaxy. The model represents a stationary elliptical galaxy of type E5, which is approximately axisymmetric around its longest axis. The orbits are of three main types, box orbits (including box-like orbits), tube orbits and chaotic orbits. The box or box-like and tube orbits are represented by closed invariant curves on a Poincaré surface of section. The forms of the orbits and of the invariant curves can be explained by a third integral of motion I, that is given by the Giorgilli (1979) computer program. The nonresonant form of the third integral explains the box orbits, while a resonant form of this integral explains both the box orbits and the 1:1 tube orbits. The N-body model gives the distribution of velocities F, which is an exponential of the third integral.     

Quintessence – the Dark Energy in the Universe?

Quintessence – the energy density of a slowly evolving scalar field – may constitute a dynamical form of the homogeneous dark energy in the universe. We review the basic idea and indicate observational tests which may distinguish quintessence from a cosmological constant.     

Kalman filtering with state equality constraints

Kalman filters are commonly used to estimate the states of a dynamic system. However, in the application of Kalman filters there is often known model or signal information that is either ignored or dealt with heuristically. For instance, constraints on state values (which may be based on physical considerations) are often neglected because they do not fit easily into the structure of the Kalman filter. A rigorous analytic method of incorporating state equality constraints in the Kalman filter is developed. The constraints may be time varying. At each time step the unconstrained Kalman filter solution is projected onto the state constraint surface. This significantly improves the prediction accuracy of the filter. The use of this algorithm is demonstrated on a simple nonlinear vehicle tracking problem     

复合材料锥壳0°铺层的自动铺放成型方法研究

研究了一种基于自动铺带技术的复合材料锥壳0°铺层成型方法：根据锥壳构件尺寸将等宽预浸带数控分切成预定尺寸的直角梯形预浸带片，按特定方式铺放到锥壳表面并使每两片拼成一个等腰梯形单元，多个等腰梯单元形构成锥壳的0°铺层；并针对这种成型方法设计了一种实现锥壳0°铺层自动成型的装置。采用该方法及其设备可以实现锥壳0°铺层的自动化制造，提高成型效率、降低废料率、稳定工艺质量，降低装备制造成本。     

Spectral-domain covariance estimation with a priori knowledge

A knowledge-aided spectral-domain approach to estimating the interference covariance matrix used in space-time adaptive processing (STAP) is proposed. Prior knowledge of the range-Doppler clutter scene is used to identify geographic regions with homogeneous scattering statistics. Then, minimum-variance spectral estimation is used to arrive at a spectral-domain clutter estimate. Finally, space-time steering vectors are used to transform the spectral-domain estimate into a data-domain estimate of the clutter covariance matrix. The proposed technique is compared with ideal performance and to the fast maximum likelihood technique using simulated results. An investigation of the performance degradation that can occur due to various inaccurate knowledge assumptions is also presented     

Comet Geology with Deep Impact Remote Sensing

The Deep Impact mission will provide the highest resolution images yet of a comet nucleus. Our knowledge of the makeup and structure of cometary nuclei, and the processes shaping their surfaces, is extremely limited, thus use of the Deep Impact data to show the geological context of the cratering experiment is crucial. This article briefly discusses some of the geological issues of cometary nuclei.     

面向飞机的装配方案索引技术

现代飞机设计多为改型设计,其装配方案具有一定的相似性。因此,在装配工艺规划工作中采用基于实例的推理技术,是有效利用以往设计经验和知识,实现产品快速研制的一种有效途径。本文在飞机产品结构特点和单元分解方法分析的基础上,提出一种对飞机零件进行分类的BP神经网络索引方法,用以支持飞机装配方案的获取。     

防静电白色热控涂层的耐空间环境及工艺性能

研究了防静电白色热控涂层（ACR-1）的耐空间环境性能及工艺性能。在模拟空间环境设施中研究了紫外辐照、电子辐照和质子辐照对涂层太阳吸收率（αs）的影响。结果表明ACR-1在地球静止轨道环境中具有较高的稳定性；经过3000当量太阳小时（ESH）的紫外光辐照后，△αs为0．02；质子辐照效应对涂层仅。的变化影响较大。另外，研究了涂层厚度对αs和其与基材结合力的影响，以及基材表面处理工艺对涂层在-196—150℃冷热交变循环试验中可靠性的影响。