Modeling satellite drag coefficients with response surfaces

Satellite drag coefficients are a major source of uncertainty in predicting the drag force on satellites in low Earth orbit. Among other things, accurately predicting the orbit requires detailed knowledge of the satellite drag coefficient. Computational methods are an important tool in computing the drag coefficient but are too intensive for real-time and predictive applications. Therefore, analytic or empirical models that can accurately predict drag coefficients are desired. This work uses response surfaces to model drag coefficients. The response surface methodology is validated by developing a response surface model for the drag coefficient of a sphere where the closed-form solution is known. The response surface model performs well in predicting the drag coefficient of a sphere with a root mean square percentage error less than 0.3% over the entire parameter space. For more complex geometries, such as the GRACE satellite, the Hubble Space Telescope, and the International Space Station, the model errors are only slightly larger at about 0.9%, 0.6%, and 1.0%, respectively.     

The emerging China–EU space partnership: A geotechnological balancer

Through a techno-nationalist lens, this paper will assess the growing China–European Union (EU) space partnership, and its implications for international space cooperation and competition. Techno-nationalism (jishu minzuzhuyi), the idea that technological strength is an effective determinant of national power in a harshly competitive world,³ informs both Chinese and US perceptions of China's space development. Using this lens elevates all space activities—manned, unmanned, military and scientific—to the strategic level. It is our contention that because of the increasing China–EU space partnership, the USA must re-evaluate its approach to China—away from the containment approach, which has thus far predominated, toward an approach which would offer the USA the opportunity to influence and, thereby, decrease the importance of the emerging partnership.     

Influence of estimation errors on wayfinding-decisions in unknown street networks – analyzing the least-angle strategy

The least-angle strategy is a common wayfinding method that can be applied in unknown environments if the target direction is known. The strategy is based on the navigator's heuristic to select the street segment at an intersection which is most in line with the target direction. To use this strategy, the navigator needs to know the angles between the target direction and the street segments leading out from the intersection. If the direct view to the target is blocked and the target vector cannot be perceived, the target direction that is needed for the decision process is based on the agent's believed position and orientation (estimated through path integration). The agent's believed position and target direction are distorted by human errors in estimation of distances and directions, mainly affecting the path integration process. In this paper we examine how human estimation errors of distance and rotation influence the decision behavior in the wayfinding process in an unknown street environment. To demonstrate the geometrical consequences for a specific test case, we use a simulated software agent which navigates in a simulated street environment.     

Canada's early space policy development 1958–1974

In the absence of a mature body of literature on the origins and evolution of the Canadian space program, recent official publications have arbitrarily chosen 1974, the year that Canada's civilian space policy was ratified in the House of Commons, as the popular date of origin. However, this start date ignores several significant policy documents that influenced Canada's space program development prior to that year. This article examines policy that shaped Canada's space program during the ‘golden age’ of space exploration (1958–1974), and will demonstrate that the true origins of the Canadian space program date back much earlier that the current perception.     

Non-Gaussian clutter characterization applied to OTHR using a mixture of two Rayleigh probability density functions

A practical technique for characterizing non-Gaussian radar clutter is specified and demonstrated using Over The Horizon Radar (OTHR) data, as an example. The technique employs maximum likelihood to fit the probability density of the clutter amplitude returns to a mixture of two Rayleigh probability densities instead of the single Rayleigh density typically used for Gaussian clutter. This model for non-Gaussian clutter is fully specified for any set of clutter amplitudes by a log likelihood, two Rayleigh parameters, and a mixing coefficient. A 3D plot of these values yields an easily-visualized clutter characterization, as is illustrated using OTHR data. This technique is a demonstration of clutter characterization using OTHR data, but the method can be applied to characterize other types of clutter data.     

Geomagnetic Jerks: Rapid Core Field Variations and Core Dynamics

The secular variation of the core field is generally characterized by smooth variations, sometimes interrupted by abrupt changes, named geomagnetic jerks. The origin of these events, observed and investigated for over three decades, is still not fully understood. Many fundamental features of geomagnetic jerks have been the subject of debate, including their origin internal or external to the Earth, their occurrence dates, their duration and their global or regional character. Specific tools have been developed to detect them in geomagnetic field or secular variation time series. Recently, their investigation has been advanced by the availability of a decade of high-quality satellite measurements. Moreover, advances in the modelling of the core field and its variations have brought new perspectives on the fluid motion at the top of the core, and opened new avenues in our search for the origin of geomagnetic jerks. Correlations have been proposed between geomagnetic jerks and some other geophysical observables, indicating the substantial interest in this topic in our scientific community. This paper summarizes the recent advances in our understanding and interpretation of geomagnetic jerks.     

A reappraisal of the habitability of planets around M dwarf stars

Stable, hydrogen-burning, M dwarf stars make up about 75% of all stars in the Galaxy. They are extremely long-lived, and because they are much smaller in mass than the Sun (between 0.5 and 0.08 M(Sun)), their temperature and stellar luminosity are low and peaked in the red. We have re-examined what is known at present about the potential for a terrestrial planet forming within, or migrating into, the classic liquid-surface-water habitable zone close to an M dwarf star. Observations of protoplanetary disks suggest that planet-building materials are common around M dwarfs, but N-body simulations differ in their estimations of the likelihood of potentially habitable, wet planets that reside within their habitable zones, which are only about one-fifth to 1/50th of the width of that for a G star. Particularly in light of the claimed detection of the planets with masses as small as 5.5 and 7.5 M(Earth) orbiting M stars, there seems no reason to exclude the possibility of terrestrial planets. Tidally locked synchronous rotation within the narrow habitable zone does not necessarily lead to atmospheric collapse, and active stellar flaring may not be as much of an evolutionarily disadvantageous factor as has previously been supposed. We conclude that M dwarf stars may indeed be viable hosts for planets on which the origin and evolution of life can occur. A number of planetary processes such as cessation of geothermal activity or thermal and nonthermal atmospheric loss processes may limit the duration of planetary habitability to periods far shorter than the extreme lifetime of the M dwarf star. Nevertheless, it makes sense to include M dwarf stars in programs that seek to find habitable worlds and evidence of life. This paper presents the summary conclusions of an interdisciplinary workshop (http://mstars.seti.org) sponsored by the NASA Astrobiology Institute and convened at the SETI Institute.     

Exposure of Arabidopsis thaliana to hypobaric environments: implications for low-pressure bioregenerative life support systems for human exploration missions and terraforming on Mars

Understanding how hypobaria can affect net photosynthetic (P (net)) and net evapotranspiration rates of plants is important for the Mars Exploration Program because low-pressured environments may be used to reduce the equivalent system mass of near-term plant biology experiments on landers or future bioregenerative advanced life support systems. Furthermore, introductions of plants to the surface of a partially terraformed Mars will be constrained by the limits of sustainable growth and reproduction of plants to hypobaric conditions. To explore the effects of hypobaria on plant physiology, a low-pressure growth chamber (LPGC) was constructed that maintained hypobaric environments capable of supporting short-term plant physiological studies. Experiments were conducted on Arabidopsis thaliana maintained in the LPGC with total atmospheric pressures set at 101 (Earth sea-level control), 75, 50, 25 or 10 kPa. Plants were grown in a separate incubator at 101 kPa for 6 weeks, transferred to the LPGC, and acclimated to low-pressure atmospheres for either 1 or 16 h. After 1 or 16 h of acclimation, CO(2) levels were allowed to drawdown from 0.1 kPa to CO(2) compensation points to assess P (net) rates under different hypobaric conditions. Results showed that P (net) increased as the pressures decreased from 101 to 10 kPa when CO(2) partial pressure (pp) values were below 0.04 kPa (i.e., when ppCO2 was considered limiting). In contrast, when ppCO(2) was in the nonlimiting range from 0.10 to 0.07 kPa, the P (net) rates were insensitive to decreasing pressures. Thus, if CO(2 )concentrations can be kept elevated in hypobaric plant growth modules or on the surface of a partially terraformed Mars, P (net) rates may be relatively unaffected by hypobaria. Results support the conclusions that (i) hypobaric plant growth modules might be operated around 10 kPa without undue inhibition of photosynthesis and (ii) terraforming efforts on Mars might require a surface pressure of at least 10 kPa (100 mb) for normal growth of deployed plant species.     

Resistance of bacterial endospores to outer space for planetary protection purposes--experiment PROTECT of the EXPOSE-E mission

Spore-forming bacteria are of particular concern in the context of planetary protection because their tough endospores may withstand certain sterilization procedures as well as the harsh environments of outer space or planetary surfaces. To test their hardiness on a hypothetical mission to Mars, spores of Bacillus subtilis 168 and Bacillus pumilus SAFR-032 were exposed for 1.5 years to selected parameters of space in the experiment PROTECT during the EXPOSE-E mission on board the International Space Station. Mounted as dry layers on spacecraft-qualified aluminum coupons, the "trip to Mars" spores experienced space vacuum, cosmic and extraterrestrial solar radiation, and temperature fluctuations, whereas the "stay on Mars" spores were subjected to a simulated martian environment that included atmospheric pressure and composition, and UV and cosmic radiation. The survival of spores from both assays was determined after retrieval. It was clearly shown that solar extraterrestrial UV radiation (λ≥110?nm) as well as the martian UV spectrum (λ≥200?nm) was the most deleterious factor applied; in some samples only a few survivors were recovered from spores exposed in monolayers. Spores in multilayers survived better by several orders of magnitude. All other environmental parameters encountered by the "trip to Mars" or "stay on Mars" spores did little harm to the spores, which showed about 50% survival or more. The data demonstrate the high chance of survival of spores on a Mars mission, if protected against solar irradiation. These results will have implications for planetary protection considerations.