Comparing Quiet Sun and Coronal Hole Regions with CDS/SOHO

Spectra from the Coronal Diagnostic Spectrometer on board SOHO are used to compare density and temperature in coronal hole and quiet Sun regions. This revised version was published online in June 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Medium energy neutral atom (MENA) imager for the IMAGE mission

The Medium Energy Neutral Atom (MENA) imager was developed in response to the Imaging from the Magnetopause to the Aurora for Global Exploration (IMAGE) requirement to produce images of energetic neutral atoms (ENAs) in the energy range from 1 to 30 keV. These images will be used to infer characteristics of magnetospheric ion distributions. The MENA imager is a slit camera that images incident ENAs in the polar angle (based on a conventional spherical coordinate system defined by the spacecraft spin axis) and utilizes the spacecraft spin to image in azimuth. The speed of incident ENAs is determined by measuring the time-of-flight (TOF) from the entrance aperture to the detector. A carbon foil in the entrance aperture yields secondary electrons, which are imaged using a position-sensitive Start detector segment. This provides both the one-dimensional (1D) position at which the ENA passed through the aperture and a Start time for the TOF system. Impact of the incident ENA on the 1D position-sensitive Stop detector segment provides both a Stop-timing signal and the location that the ENA impacts the detector. The ENA incident polar angle is derived from the measured Stop and Start positions. Species identification (H vs. O) is based on variation in secondary electron yield with mass for a fixed ENA speed. The MENA imager is designed to produce images with 8°×4° angular resolution over a field of view 140°×360°, over an energy range from 1 keV to 30 keV. Thus, the MENA imager is well suited to conduct measurements relevant to the Earth's ring current, plasma sheet, and (at times) magnetosheath and cusp.     

Sensitivity analyses of satellite propulsion components with their thermal modelling

Performing the sensitivity analyses of the contact conduction and the position of thermostat on the basis of the thermal model established, the study of thermal design is accomplished for the preparation of possible mechanical interface change of the satellite propulsion system depending on the satellite system design. A relatively simple thermal model is taken into consideration for the convenience of the analysis. A variety of the spacecraft bus voltages and the contact resistances are examined as well as the position of thermostat on propulsion components. As a consequence, even though the mechanical interface condition is changed on the same module, the successful thermal design could be achieved if we design the heater to have sufficiently large power with reference to the heritage value of contact resistance. Besides the reasonable performance on the thermal control is assured with the thermostat location errors, if the uncertainty in the position of thermostat is not quite large when assembling tank module.     

Monitoring atomic clocks on board GNSS satellites

A method for monitoring atomic clocks on board Global Navigation Satellites System (GNSS) satellites is described to address the issue of clock related signal integrity in safety–critical applications of GNSS. The carrier-phase time transfer is employed in the clock monitoring method which enables tight tracking of the satellite onboard clocks and thus improves detectability of clock anomalies. Detecting onboard clock anomalies requires the ability to monitor clocks in real time, and a Kalman filter can then be utilized to estimate the phase offsets between the satellite clocks and ground clocks. This study, using the difference between the measured and predicted phase offset as a test statistic, sets a threshold for clock anomalies based on the prediction interval approach. Finally the validity of the monitoring method is examined by processing a set of real GNSS data that includes two recent incidents of clock anomalies in GNSS satellites.     

Space activities in Korea—History, current programs and future plans

Korea has participated in space development only since the 1990s. Despite its short history, Korea has been increasing its technological capabilities with the successful experience of several national projects. The Korean government established a long-term space development plan in 1996, which suggests a clear way forward for space development up to 2015. Space activities in Korea will grow continuously. The direction of future space activities will be decided by the national space development plan. This paper discusses Korea's past and present space activities and future development projects.     

Adaptive control based on a parametric affine model for tail-controlled missiles

An adaptive control against uncertainties in tail-controlled STT (skid-to-turn) missiles is presented. First, we derive an analytic uncertainty model from a parametric affine missile model developed by the authors. Based on this analytic model, an adaptive feedback linearizing control law accompanied by a sliding mode control law is proposed. We provide analyses of stability and output tracking performance of the overall adaptive missile system. The performance and validity of the proposed adaptive control scheme are demonstrated by simulation.     

Measuring the economic benefits of an environmental monitoring satellite project: The value of information approach

This paper reports a first application of contingent valuation method to measure the value of information generated by earth science data from an environmental geostationary satellite payload called Geostationary Environmental Monitoring Satellite. The purpose of the space project is to improve the accuracy of air pollution information by enhancing air pollution monitoring and forecasting system coupled with conventional ground level monitoring stations located throughout South Korea.     

Detection limits in the far infrared

The advent of far infrared arrays will change fundamentally the means of analyzing observations in this spectral region. Sources much fainter than traditional confusion limits will be extracted from images by using computer algorithms similar to CLEAN or DAOPHOT. We have conducted numerical experiments to evaluate these techniques and show that they will permit long integrations (10,000 sec at 60 m, 200 sec at 100 m) to achieve nearly photon-background-limited performance and hence very deep detection limits. The dominant noise sources—photon noise, confusion by distant galaxies, and confusion by IR cirrus — scale with nearly the same power of the telescope aperture. As a result, the integration times required to reach confusion limits are nearly aperture-independent.     

The determination of ice composition with instruments on cometary landers

The determination of the composition of materials that make up comets is essential in trying to understand the origin of these primitive objects. The ices especially could be made in several different astrophysical settings including the solar nebula, protosatellite nebulae of the giant planets, and giant molecular clouds that predate the formation of the solar system. Each of these environments makes different ices with different composition. In order to understand the origin of comets, one needs to determine the composition of each of the ice phases. For example, it is of interest to know that comets contain carbon monoxide, CO, but it is much more important to know how much of it is a pure solid phase, is trapped in clathrate hydrates, or is adsorbed on amorphous water ice. In addition, knowledge of the isotopic composition of the constituents will help determine the process that formed the compounds. Finally, it is important to understand the bulk elemental composition of the nucleus. When these data are compared with solar abundances, they put strong constraints on the macro-scale processes that formed the comet. A differential scanning calorimeter (DSC) and an evolved gas analyzer (EGA) will make the necessary association between molecular constituents and their host phases. This combination of instruments takes a small (tens of mg) sample of the comet and slowly heats it in a sealed oven. As the temperature is raised, the DSC precisely measures the heat required, and delivers the gases to the EGA. Changes in the heat required to raise the temperature at a controlled rate are used to identify phase transitions, e.g., crystallization of amorphous ice or melting of hexagonal ice, and the EGA correlates the gases released with the phase transition. The EGA consists of two mass spectrometers run in tandem. The first mass spectrometer is a magnetic-sector ion-momentum analyzer (MAG), and the second is an electrostatic time-of-flight analyzer (TOF). The TOF acts as a detector for the MAG and serves to resolve ambiguities between fragments of similar mass such as CO and N2. Because most of the compounds of interest for the volatile ices are simple, a gas chromatograph is not needed and thus more integration time is available to determine isotopic ratios. A gamma-ray spectrometer (GRS) will determine the elemental abundances of the bulk cometary material by determining the flux of gamma rays produced from the interaction of the cometary material with cosmic ray produced neutrons. Because the gamma rays can penetrate a distance of several tens of centimeters a large volume of material is analyzed. The measured composition is, therefore, much more likely to be representative of the bulk comet than a very small sample that might have lost some of its volatiles. Making these measurements on a lander offers substantial advantages over trying to address similar objectives from an orbiter. For example, an orbiter instrument can determine the presence and isotopic composition of CO in the cometary coma, but only a lander can determine the phase(s) in which the CO is located and separately determine the isotopic composition of each reservoir of CO. The bulk composition of the nucleus might be constrained from separate orbiter analyses of dust and gas in the coma, but the result will be very model dependent, as the ratio of gas to dust in the comet will vary and will not necessarily be equal to the bulk value.