CREAM: 70 days of flight from 2 launches in Antarctica

The Cosmic-Ray Energetics And Mass balloon-borne experiment has been launched twice in Antarctica, first in December 2004 and again in December 2005. It circumnavigated the South Pole three times during the first flight, which set a flight duration record of 42 days. A cumulative duration of 70 days within 13 months was achieved when the second flight completed 28 days during two circumnavigations of the Pole on 13 January 2006. Both the science instrument and support systems functioned extremely well, and a total 117 GB of data including 67 million science events were collected during these two flights. Preliminary analysis indicates that the data extend well above 100 TeV and follow reasonable power laws. The payload recovered from the first flight has been refurbished for the third flight in 2007, whereas the payload from the second flight is being refurbished to be ready for the fourth flight in 2008. Each flight will extend the reach of precise cosmic-ray composition measurements to energies not previously possible.     

Temperature effects in the ATIC BGO calorimeter

The Advanced Thin Ionization Calorimeter (ATIC) Balloon Experiment had a successful test flight and a science flight in 2000–01 and 2002–03 and an unsuccessful launch in 2005–06 from McMurdo, Antarctica, returning 16 and 19 days of flight data. ATIC is designed to measure the spectra of cosmic rays (protons to iron). The instrument is composed of a Silicon matrix detector followed by a carbon target interleaved with scintillator tracking layers and a segmented BGO calorimeter composed of 320 individual crystals totaling 18 radiation lengths to determine the particle energy. BGO (Bismuth Germanate) is an inorganic scintillation crystal and its light output depends not only on the energy deposited by particles but also on the temperature of the crystal. The temperature of balloon instruments during flight is not constant due to sun angle variations as well as differences in albedo from the ground. The change in output for a given energy deposit in the crystals in response to temperature variations was determined.     

不确定性的自适应跟踪补偿控制及在航空发动机的应用

针对多变量系统存在不确定性导致的控制性能下降问题,提出了一种基于最优控制律的增广模型参考自适应控制器补偿设计方法。通过采用最优LQR控制律实现系统性能的优化设计从而建立基本控制器,以反馈控制结构为框架,对该最优LQR基本控制器实现增广设计,以改善系统的动态跟踪和抗干扰特性,以双转子航空发动机为对象实现控制器的仿真验证。结果表明:通过增广自适应控制实现了原LQR基本控制器对系统不确定性的跟踪补偿,有效地实现了控制指令跟踪,达到了期望响应性能,控制误差小于0.25%,超调量小于0.5%,且调节时间小于1.5s,符合发动机控制系统技术要求;同时,改善了原基本控制系统在不确定性时的不稳定控制效果,保证了系统一致渐近稳定。     

预混气不稳定性对螺旋爆轰结构的影响研究

为了明确预混气的不稳定性对螺旋爆轰内部结构的影响,在内径63.5mm的爆轰管道内进行了C_2H_2+2.5O_2+85%Ar,2H_2+O_2+50%Ar,C_2H_2+2.5O_2+70%Ar,C_2H_2+5N_2O和CH_4+2O_2的爆轰实验,得到壁面烟膜和端面烟熏玻璃记录的三波点轨迹。分析了预混气单头、双头、多头螺旋的差别及原因,发现预混气越不稳定,端面结构越难形成规则图形。稳定预混气向内部延伸模式较规律,不稳定预混气向内部延伸规律由于横波间相互干渉较难寻找。对多头胞格进行数字化处理,获得了壁面的三波点轨迹间距和端面的胞格尺寸数据以及方差。发现端面胞格的尺寸与壁面数据发展趋势一致,但是低于壁面数据,其中,C_2H_2+2.5O_2+85%Ar,2H_2+O_2+50%Ar,C_2H_2+2.5O_2+70%Ar和C_2H_2+5N_2O壁面横波间距分别由45.7,72.7,47.1和24.9减小为10.2,17.4,13.2和12.1,端面胞格由19.6,19.9,8.5和18.2减小为6.8,7.1,4.1和5.0。胞格离散度与轨迹间距离散度一致,但是胞格离散度更高,其原因在于壁面处的活化分子因为碰撞到壁面而减少。     

An LS-TLS-based sequential identification algorithm: Application toan accelerometer

Total least squares (TLS) parameter estimation is an alternative to least squares (LS) estimation when there are errors in both data matrix and observation vector. Especially, when some of the columns, not all, of the data matrix A are free of error, we call it a mixed LS-TLS problem. Accordingly, a sequential algorithm for solving a mixed LS-TLS problem is proposed here. The proposed algorithm employs an efficient algorithm to locate the minimum eigenpair, instead of singular value decomposition (SVD) which is computationally exacting. The proposed algorithm is applied to an accelerometer model to identify error parameters which are very important in inertial navigation systems (INS)     

Some results of ionospheric investigations by means of coherent radiowaves emitted by satellites

In this paper we discuss theoretical expressions, determining the difference of Doppler shifts of various coherent radiowave frequencies emitted by a radiator moving in the ionosphere or interplanetary medium. The rotating Doppler effect (Faraday effect) caused by the Doppler shifts ±H of the ordinary and extraordinary waves is also considered. In a three-dimensional inhomogeneous ionosphere, stationary in time (N/t = 0), is determined in the general case, by an equation with three variables. The equation for proper depends only on the local value of the electron concentration N _c around the radiator and on integral values, determining, by means of additional calculations, the angle of refraction or its components, the horizontal gradients of electron concentration N/x and N/y, and in some cases, the integral electron concentration ₀ ^zcN dz. We describe the analysis of the measurements, made with the satellites Cosmos I, II and partially XI, assuming that N/t = N/y = 0, with a two variables equation. The expected errors are considered. The results coincide well for different points (Moscow, The Crimea, Sverdlovsk) and thus agree with the measurements of _H and with height-frequency ionospheric characteristics. The curve giving electron concentration versus height N (z) in the outer ionosphere (above the maximum of F2), shows a new maximum higher than the main maximum of the ionosphere N _MF2 at 120–140 km. At this maximum the value of N (z) is (0.9–0.95) N _MF2. The new data on the large-scale horizontal inhomogeneities of the ionosphere, exceed the previous ones by about a factor 10. By means of the irregular variations of the spectrum W() of the inhomogenous formation is determined. Three unknown constant maxima with values 16 to 18 km, 28 to 32 km and 100 to 120 km are found. The spectrum W () mainly characterizes the local properties of the ionosphere along the orbit of the satellite.     

Cosmic ray hit frequencies in critical sites in the central nervous system.

One outstanding question to be addressed in assessing the risk of exposure to space travelers from galactic cosmic rays (GCR) outside the geomagnetosphere is to ascertain the effects of single heavy-ion hits on cells in critical regions of the central nervous system (CNS). As a first step toward this end, it is important to determine how many "hits" might be received by a neural cell in several critical CNS areas during an extended mission outside the confines of the earth's magnetic field. Critical sites in the CNS: the macula, and an interior brain point (typical of the genu, thalamus, hippocampus and nucleus basalis of Meynert) were chosen for the calculation of hit frequencies from galactic cosmic rays for a mission to Mars during solar minimum (i.e., at maximum cosmic-ray intensity). The shielding at a given position inside the body was obtained using the Computerized Anatomical Man (CAM) model, and a radiation transport code which includes nuclear fragmentation was used to calculate yearly fluences at the point of interest. Since the final Mars spacecraft shielding configuration has not yet been determined, we considered the minimum amount of aluminum required for pressure vessel-wall requirements in the living quarters of a spacecraft, and a typical duty area as a pressure vessel plus necessary equipment. The conclusions are: (1) variation of the position of the "target site" within the head plays only a small role in varying hit frequencies; (2) the average number of hits depends linearly on the cross section of the critical portion of the cell assumed in the calculation; (3) for a three-year mission to Mars at solar minimum (i.e., assuming the 1977 spectrum of galactic cosmic rays), 2% or 13% of the "critical sites" of cells in the CNS would be directly hit at least once by iron ions, depending on whether 60 micrometers2 or 471 micrometers2 is assumed as the critical cross sectional area; and (4) roughly 6 million out of some 43 million hippocampal cells and 55 thousand out of 1.8 million thalamus cell nuclei would be directly hit by iron ions at least once on such a mission for space travelers inside a simple pressure vessel. Also, roughly 20 million out of 43 million hippocampal cells and 230 thousand out of 1.8 million thalamus cell nuclei would be directly hit by one or more particles with z > or = 15 on such a mission.     

East–West Station-Keeping maneuver strategy for COMS satellite using iterative process

The first Korean multi-mission geostationary satellite, Communication, Ocean, and Meteorological Satellite (COMS) will be launched in 2010. The missions of this satellite will be Ka-band communications, ocean color monitoring, and meteorological imaging. The satellite was designed with only one solar array on the south panel. This novel configuration will keep imaging instruments on the north side from heating up. Asymmetry of the spacecraft configuration requires twice-a-day thruster-based Wheel Off-Loading (WOL) operations to keep the satellite attitude for imaging and communication. Thruster firings during the WOL operations cause the satellite orbit to change two times a day. Weekly East–West Station-Keeping (EWSK) and North–South Station-Keeping (NSSK) maneuver operations are planned for the COMS satellite in order to maintain the satellite in ±0.05° box at 128.2°E longitude.