Equatorial Ionospheric Anomaly (EIA) and comparison with IRI model during descending phase of solar activity (2005–2009)

The ionospheric variability at equatorial and low latitude region is known to be extreme as compared to mid latitude region. In this study the ionospheric total electron content (TEC), is derived by analyzing dual frequency Global Positioning System (GPS) data recorded at two stations separated by 325 km near the Indian equatorial anomaly region, Varanasi (Geog latitude 25°, 16^/ N, longitude 82°, 59^/ E, Geomagnetic latitude 16°, 08^/ N) and Kanpur (Geog latitude 26°, 18^/ N, longitude 80°, 12^/ E, Geomagnetic latitude 17°, 18^/ N). Specifically, we studied monthly, seasonal and annual variations as well as solar and geomagnetic effects on the equatorial ionospheric anomaly (EIA) during the descending phase of solar activity from 2005 to 2009. It is found that the maximum TEC (EIA) near equatorial anomaly crest yield their maximum values during the equinox months and their minimum values during the summer. Using monthly averaged peak magnitude of TEC, a clear semi-annual variation is seen with two maxima occurring in both spring and autumn. Results also showed the presence of winter anomaly or seasonal anomaly in the EIA crest throughout the period 2005–2009 only except during the deep solar minimum year 2007–2008. The correlation analysis indicate that the variation of EIA crest is more affected by solar activity compared to geomagnetic activity with maximum dependence on the solar EUV flux, which is attributed to direct link of EUV flux on the formation of ionosphere and main agent of the ionization. The statistical mean occurrence of EIA crest in TEC during the year from 2005 to 2009 is found to around 12:54 LT hour and at 21.12° N geographic latitude. The crest of EIA shifts towards lower latitudes and the rate of shift of the crest latitude during this period is found to be 0.87° N/per year. The comparison between IRI models with observation during this period has been made and comparison is poor with increasing solar activity with maximum difference during the year 2005.     

基于非湍流脉动动能方程的高超声速转捩预测

通过求解基于稳定性理论的非湍流脉动动能输运方程,预测了来流Ma为5.91的裙锥绕流流动的层流-湍流转捩点,并采用SST(Shear-Stress Transport)湍流模型结合代数间歇因子模型对转捩流场进行了数值模拟.结果表明非湍流脉动动能输运方程模型可以很好地捕捉逆压梯度对转捩前期边界层内的不稳定波动频率的影响.等温壁面条件下计算得到的转捩位置与静风洞实验结果基本一致.壁面冷却促进第2模态不稳定波动的增长,使转捩提前发生.代数间歇因子模型模拟高马赫数流动的转捩区长度较短,温度峰值偏低.     

Biased PNG law for impact with angular constraint

A new homing guidance law is proposed to impact a target with a desired attitude angle. It is a variation of the conventional proportional navigation guidance (PNG) law which includes a supplementary time-varying bias. The proposed guidance law does not require a time-to-go estimation and has a simpler form. Analytic conditions for fulfilling the guidance goal are also provided. Simulation results demonstrate that the proposed guidance law has wider launch envelopes than the previous one and shows a good performance even against a maneuvering target     

Design of a practical tracking algorithm with radar measurements

The extended Kalman filter (EKF) has been widely used as a nonlinear filtering method for radar tracking problems. However, it has been found that if cross-range measurement errors of the target position are large, the performance of the conventional EKF degrades considerably due to nonnegligible nonlinear effects. A new filtering algorithm for improving the tracking performance with radar measurements is developed based on the fact that correct evaluation of the measurement error covariance is possible in the Cartesian coordinate system. The proposed algorithm may be viewed as a modification of the EKF in which the variance of the range measurement errors is evaluated in an adaptive manner. The filter structure facilitates the incorporation of the sequential measurement processing scheme, and this makes the resulting algorithm favorable to both estimation accuracy and computational efficiency. Computer simulation results show that the proposed method offers superior performance in comparison to previous methods. Moreover, our developed algorithm provides some useful insight into the radar tracking problem     

Space-radiation-induced photon luminescence of the Moon

We report on the results of a continuing study of the photon luminescence of the Moon induced by Galactic Cosmic Rays (GCRs) and space radiation from the Sun, using the Monte Carlo program FLUKA. Understanding the space radiation environment is critical to future exploration of the Moon, and this includes photons. The model of the lunar surface is taken to be the chemical composition of soils found at various landing sites during the Apollo and Luna programs, averaged over all such sites to define a generic regolith for the present analysis. This surface model then becomes the target that is bombarded by Galactic Cosmic Rays (GCRs) and Solar Energetic Particles (SEPs) or Solar Particle Events (SPEs) above 1 keV in FLUKA to determine the photon fluence albedo produced by the Moon’s surface when there is no sunlight and Earthshine. The result is to be distinguished from the gamma-ray spectrum produced by the radioactive decay of radiogenic constituents lying in the surface and interior of the Moon. From the photon fluence we derive the spectrum which can be utilized to examine existing lunar spectral data and to aid future orbiting instrumentation in the measurement of various components of the space-radiation-induced photon luminescence present on the Moon.     

The Juno Radiation Monitoring (RM) Investigation

The Radiation Monitoring Investigation of the Juno Mission will actively retrieve and analyze the noise signatures from penetrating radiation in the images of Juno’s star cameras and science instruments at Jupiter. The investigation’s objective is to profile Jupiter’s \(>10\mbox{-MeV}\) electron environment in regions of the Jovian magnetosphere which today are still largely unexplored. This paper discusses the primary instruments on Juno which contribute to the investigation’s data suite, the measurements of camera noise from penetrating particles, spectral sensitivities and measurement ranges of the instruments, calibrations performed prior to Juno’s first science orbit, and how the measurements may be used to infer the external relativistic electron environment.     

水平起降两级入轨系统的质量估算方法及应用

针对近地轨道运输任务,考虑不同飞行阶段的推阻特性差异和不同发动机模态的比冲变化,提出了适用于水平起降两级入轨（TSTO,Two Stage To Orbit）天地往返运输系统的质量估算方法.以8 t有效载荷为任务需求,对比研究了涡轮基组合循环动力-可重复使用火箭（TBCC-RR,Turbine Based Combined Cycle-Reusable Rocket）、火箭基组合循环动力-可重复使用火箭（RBCC-RR,Rocket Based Combined Cycle-Reusable Rocket）和可重复使用火箭-可重复使用火箭（RR-RR,Reusable Rocket-Reusable Rocket）方案,分析了级间分离点、一级飞行器推阻比和一级飞行器结构质量分数等参数对设计结果的影响.研究结果表明,级间分离点设计对TSTO总体方案影响很大,若使用RBCC型飞行器作为第1级,建议在超燃冲压模态后即进行两级分离;TBCC-RR方案比RBCC-RR方案起飞总质量更小,但RBCC-RR方案一级飞行器结构质量更小;减小TSTO系统起飞总质量的最有效途径是减小飞行器的结构质量分数,其次是提高飞行器的推阻比.      

再入飞行器表面磁流体发电装置数值模拟

提出了钝锥型再入飞行器上的表面磁流体发电装置方案,采用低磁雷诺数近似下的磁流体力学模型对其进行了流动与静电场耦合的数值模拟,由此建立了表面磁流体发电装置中的物理图像.数值模拟结果表明,在典型再入条件(飞行高度46 km,速度7 km/s)下,所提出表面磁流体发电装置方案能够实现兆瓦级(电功率1.28MW)能量输出,电能提取导致再入飞行器阻力增大13.7%,对飞行器壁面总热流值的影响并不显著,但发电区域及其下游壁面的热流密度分布发生明显变化,该区域内热流密度峰值发生于电极的前、后缘.     

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.