Online generation of quasi-optimal spacecraft rendezvous trajectories

A direct method for rapid generation of combined time-propellant near-optimal trajectories of proximity maneuvers of a chaser spacecraft required to dock a target one, with predetermined thrust history along a master direction, is presented. The predetermined thrust history is generated by applying the Pontryagin maximum principle. The new direct method, already implemented and tested on board real aircraft, is based on three concepts: high-order polynomials as reference functions, preset on–off sequence of a master control, and reduction of the optimization problem to the determination of a small set of parameters. Presetting the master control, the remaining controls act as slaves, guarantying the chaser to move along the desired path. Seeking of the optimum strategy is transformed into a nonlinear programming problem, and then numerically solved through an ad hoc algorithm in accelerated time scale. Examples are reported to prove the rapidness of the approach to generate a sub-optimal docking trajectory.     

S/WAVES: The Radio and Plasma Wave Investigation on the STEREO Mission

This paper introduces and describes the radio and plasma wave investigation on the STEREO Mission: STEREO/WAVES or S/WAVES. The S/WAVES instrument includes a suite of state-of-the-art experiments that provide comprehensive measurements of the three components of the fluctuating electric field from a fraction of a hertz up to 16 MHz, plus a single frequency channel near 30 MHz. The instrument has a direction finding or goniopolarimetry capability to perform 3D localization and tracking of radio emissions associated with streams of energetic electrons and shock waves associated with Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs). The scientific objectives include: (i) remote observation and measurement of radio waves excited by energetic particles throughout the 3D heliosphere that are associated with the CMEs and with solar flare phenomena, and (ii) in-situ measurement of the properties of CMEs and interplanetary shocks, such as their electron density and temperature and the associated plasma waves near 1 Astronomical Unit (AU). Two companion papers provide details on specific aspects of the S/WAVES instrument, namely the electric antenna system (Bale et al., Space Sci. Rev., 2007) and the direction finding technique (Cecconi et al., Space Sci. Rev., 2007).     

The OSIRIS-REx Laser Altimeter (OLA) Investigation and Instrument

Space Science Reviews - The Canadian Space Agency (CSA) has contributed to the Origins Spectral Interpretation Resource Identification Security-Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx) spacecraft the...     

气氧甲烷单喷嘴燃烧室壁面热流的测量和数值模拟

为了研究气氧甲烷燃烧室的壁面热载荷,对一个包含同轴剪切喷嘴的燃烧室开展了热试研究,混合比2.647,室压2MPa。根据沿燃烧室轴向测得的壁面温度数据,利用逆向传热计算的方法获得了壁面热流分布。为了更好地分析实验结果,应用商业CFD软件ANSYS Fluent开展了相应的数值模拟研究,采用涡耗散概念模型模拟湍流燃烧过程。在进行分析之前对网格无关性进行了验证,比较了从数值模拟和实验获得的热流分布,结果表明所采取的模拟方法能够有效预测燃烧室壁面热流分布,最大热流值偏差17%,另外还从燃气温度场和流场结构方面分析了造成这种热流分布的原因。     

Urey: Mars Organic and Oxidant Detector

One of the fundamental challenges facing the scientific community as we enter this new century of Mars research is to understand, in a rigorous manner, the biotic potential both past and present of this outermost terrestrial-like planet in our solar system. Urey: Mars Organic and Oxidant Detector has been selected for the Pasteur payload of the European Space Agency’s (ESA’s) ExoMars rover mission and is considered a fundamental instrument to achieve the mission’s scientific objectives. The instrument is named Urey in recognition of Harold Clayton Urey’s seminal contributions to cosmochemistry, geochemistry, and the study of the origin of life. The overall goal of Urey is to search for organic compounds directly in the regolith of Mars and to assess their origin. Urey will perform a groundbreaking investigation of the Martian environment that will involve searching for organic compounds indicative of life and prebiotic chemistry at a sensitivity many orders of magnitude greater than Viking or other in situ organic detection systems. Urey will perform the first in situ search for key classes of organic molecules using state-of-the-art analytical methods that provide part-per-trillion sensitivity. It will ascertain whether any of these molecules are abiotic or biotic in origin and will evaluate the survival potential of organic compounds in the environment using state-of-the-art chemoresistor oxidant sensors.     

Solar System Ionospheres

This article reviews our understanding of the ionospheres in the solar system. It provides some basic information on the sources and sinks of the ionospheric plasma, its dynamics, the energetics and the coupling to the neutral atmosphere. Ionospheres in the solar system are reviewed and comparative ionospheric topics are discussed.     

Thermal neutrons’ response to the GLEs

Thermal neutrons’ flux near the Earth’s crust is very sensitive regarding different processes and phenomena both in the near-Earth space and in the Earth’s crust by reason of the dual nature of the thermal neutron flux. Its first source is associated with high-energy particles of cosmic rays penetrating into the Earth’s atmosphere and interacting with its elements. The second source originates from the radioactive gases contained in the Earth’s crust. So the contributions of these two sources are specified by the Earth’s crust conditions and its movements, on one hand and variations of high-energy particles flux near the Earth.     

Nitrogen Dioxide Variations Caused by Penetration of Solar Protons into the High-Latitude Atmosphere

The results of spectroscopic measurements of the NO₂ total content during the solar proton event of the GLE (Ground Level Event) type on May 2, 1998, at the Murmansk (" = 64.5°) and Sodankyla (" = 63.7°) stations are presented. The vertical profiles of the nitrogen oxide (NO) distribution in the stratosphere according to the UARS satellite data during another GLE event on July 14, 2000, are also presented. It is shown that the high-energy solar protons penetrating into the atmosphere lead to a considerable increase in the nitrogen oxide concentration and the GLE on May 2, 1998, resulted in an increase of the NO₂ total content according to the ground-based observations at high latitudes. It is worth noting that no decrease of the total ozone content (TOC) was recorded during these proton events according to the ground-based measurements at high latitudes. The corresponding calculations of the nitrogen oxide changes during proton events based on the homogeneous photochemical theory are presented. The interrelation between all the quantities measured, as well as their relation to the calculated values, is considered. It is shown that a considerable increase of nitrogen oxides in the atmosphere does not always result in an ozone concentration depletion. The results presented indicate a need to provide simultaneous ground-based and satellite measurements of nitrogen oxides and ozone at high latitudes.     

Experiment on the <Emphasis Type="Italic">Vernov</Emphasis> satellite: Transient energetic processes in the Earth’s atmosphere and magnetosphere. Part II. First results

We present the first experimental results on the observation of optical transients, gamma-ray bursts, relativistic electrons, and electromagnetic waves obtained during the experiment with the RELEC complex of scientific equipment on the Vernov satellite.