Master Timing of CAS Ground Stations

The characteristics of a master time and master-time dissemination subsystem for a collision avoidance system acceptable to the Air Transport Association of America are investigated. Selection of a time scale, a ground-station timing standard, and a synchronization technique are discussed. The conclusions are that a uniform time scale is ideal for the application, that a minimum of four cesium-beam standards are needed at each ground station, and that portable-clock synchronization is the only synchronization technique feasible at the present time. Considerations that suggest use of a nonuniform time scale are noted, and means of minimizing the adverse effects of the offsets necessitated by such an approach are described. Both single-master and weighted-average implementations of the time scale are discussed.     

Linear Quadratic Differential Games Guidance Law for Dual Controlled Missiles

A novel guidance law designed specifically for a missile having forward and aft control systems is presented. For the derivation a linear quadratic differential games formulation of the end-game interception scenario is used. Conditions for achieving perfect intercept are given and new game spaces are presented. It is also shown that increasing the direct lift associated with the canard control allows intercepting targets with higher maneuvering capability, while for the tail control the effect is opposite.     

Buckling and post-buckling behavior of shallow supported cylindrical panels

The problem of the post-buckling behavior of the supported cylindrical panel under uniform axial compression is solved. The cylindrical supported panel is considered as a beam on the Winkler elastic foundation, the stiffness coefficient of which is calculated at the known value of buckling load. The criteria for post-buckling estimation are introduced, namely, vanishing of the determinant of the resolving system of equations and going to infinity of the deflection and strain energy in the implementation of post buckling. A good agreement of the post-buckling load obtained in this work with the experimental results is shown.     

Search for the OH (X(2)Pi) Meinel band emission in meteors as a tracer of mineral water in comets: detection of N(2)(+) (A-X)

We report the discovery of the N(2)(+) A-X Meinel band in the 780-840 nm meteor emission from two Leonid meteoroids that were ejected less than 1000 years ago by comet 55P/Tempel-Tuttle. Our analysis indicates that the N(2)(+) molecule is at least an order of magnitude less abundant than expected, possibly as a result of charge transfer reactions with meteoric metal atoms. This new band was found while searching for rovibrational transitions in the X(2)Pi electronic ground state of OH (the OH Meinel band), a potential tracer of water bound to minerals in cometary matter. The electronic A-X transition of OH has been identified in other Leonid meteors. We did not detect this OH Meinel band, which implies that the excited A state is not populated by thermal excitation but by a mechanism that directly produces OH in low vibrational levels of the excited A(2)Sigma state. Ultraviolet dissociation of atmospheric or meteoric water vapor is such a mechanism, as is the possible combustion of meteoric organics.     

ALTEA: anomalous long term effects in astronauts. A probe on the influence of cosmic radiation and microgravity on the central nervous system during long flights.

The ALTEA project participates to the quest for increasing the safety of manned space flights. It addresses the problems related to possible functional damage to neural cells and circuits due to particle radiation in space environment. Specifically it aims at studying the functionality of the astronauts' Central Nervous Systems (CNS) during long space flights and relating it to the peculiar environments in space, with a particular focus on the particle flux impinging in the head. The project is a large international and multidisciplinary collaboration. Competences in particle physics, neurophysiology, psychophysiology, electronics, space environment, data analyses will work together to construct the fully integrated vision electrophysiology and particle analyser system which is the core device of the project: an helmet-shaped multi-sensor device that will measure concurrently the dynamics of the functional status of the visual system and passage of each particle through the brain within a pre-determined energy window. ALTEA is scheduled to fly in the International Space Station in late 2002. One part of the multi-sensor device, one of the advanced silicon telescopes, will be launched in the ISS in early 2002 and serve as test for the final device and as discriminating dosimeter for the particle fluences within the ISS.     

Progress in the Study of Galaxies: Structures,Collective Phenomena and Methods

The review contains the important achievements in dynamics of the galactic disks. Among them there are I. New structures discovered recently: • giant vortices (including giant anticyclone in the Solar vicinity); • slow bar; • inner oscillating structure within spiral arms similar that of enveloped soliton; • chaotic streamlines in the velocity field of the gaseous disk of a real galaxy. II. New collective phenomina discovered recently: • new overreflection instability initiating ‘mini-spiral’ in the innermost central parsec of Galaxy; • large-scale convection caused by nonlinear interaction of density wave with disk gas; • non-kolmogorovian spectrum of weak turbulence corresponding to the observed one in the • Solar vicinity. III. New methods worked out recently: • reconstruction of full three-dimensional vector field of gas velocity from the observed line-of- • sight velocity field; • observational test for verification of the wave-nature of the spiral arms; • observational test to distinguish two types of vertical motions: warp and z-motions in the • density wave; • derivation of correct system of two-dimensional dynamical equations from the initial three- • dimensional one. This revised version was published online in June 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

The Coma of Comet 9P/Tempel 1

As comet 9P/Tempel 1 approaches the Sun in 2004–2005, a temporary atmosphere, or “coma,” will form, composed of molecules and dust expelled from the nucleus as its component icy volatiles sublimate. Driven mainly by water ice sublimation at surface temperatures T > 200 K, this coma is a gravitationally unbound atmosphere in free adiabatic expansion. Near the nucleus (≤ 10² km), it is in collisional equilibrium, at larger distances (≥10⁴ km) it is in free molecular flow. Ultimately the coma components are swept into the comet’s plasma and dust tails or simply dissipate into interplanetary space. Clues to the nature of the cometary nucleus are contained in the chemistry and physics of the coma, as well as with its variability with time, orbital position, and heliocentric distance. The DI instrument payload includes CCD cameras with broadband filters covering the optical spectrum, allowing for sensitive measurement of dust in the comet’s coma, and a number of narrowband filters for studying the spatial distribution of several gas species. DI also carries the first near-infrared spectrometer to a comet flyby since the VEGA mission to Halley in 1986. This spectrograph will allow detection of gas emission lines from the coma in unprecedented detail. Here we discuss the current state of understanding of the 9P/Tempel 1 coma, our expectations for the measurements DI will obtain, and the predicted hazards that the coma presents for the spacecraft. An erratum to this article is available at .     

THE CLUSTER ION SPECTROMETRY (CIS) EXPERIMENT

The Cluster Ion Spectrometry (CIS) experiment is a comprehensive ionic plasma spectrometry package on-board the four Cluster spacecraft capable of obtaining full three-dimensional ion distributions with good time resolution (one spacecraft spin) with mass per charge composition determination. The requirements to cover the scientific objectives cannot be met with a single instrument. The CIS package therefore consists of two different instruments, a Hot Ion Analyser (HIA) and a time-of-flight ion COmposition and DIstribution Function analyser (CODIF), plus a sophisticated dual-processor-based instrument-control and Data-Processing System (DPS), which permits extensive on-board data-processing. Both analysers use symmetric optics resulting in continuous, uniform, and well-characterised phase space coverage. CODIF measures the distributions of the major ions (H⁺, He⁺, He⁺⁺, and O⁺) with energies from ~0 to 40 keV/e with medium (22.5°) angular resolution and two different sensitivities. HIA does not offer mass resolution but, also having two different sensitivities, increases the dynamic range, and has an angular resolution capability (5.6° × 5.6°) adequate for ion-beam and solar-wind measurements.     

Orbit Determination Accuracies Using Satellite-to-Satellite Tracking

The results are reported of the ATS-6/GEOS-3 and the ATS-6 NIMBUS-6 satellite-to-satellite orbit determination experiments. NASA intends to use the tracking data relay satellite system for operational orbit determination of NASA satellites. Hence, in the near future, satellite-to-satellite tracking data will be routinely processed to obtain orbits. The satellite-to-satellite tracking system used in the ATS-6/NIMBUS-6 and ATS-6/GEOS-3 experiments performed with a resolution of 1 to 2 m in range and less than 1 mm/s in range rate for a 10-s averaging. A Bayesian least squares estimation technique utilizing independent ranging to the synchronous relay satellite was determined to be the most effective procedure for estimating orbits from satellite-to-satellite tracking data. The use of this technique yields estimates of user satellite orbits which are comparable in accuracy to what is usually obtained from ground based systems.