A study of GPS ionospheric scintillations observed at Shenzhen

Ionospheric scintillation variations are studied using GPS measurements at the low latitude station of Shenzhen (22.59°N, 113.97°E), situated under the northern crest of the equatorial anomaly region, from the Chinese Meridian Project. The results are presented for data collected during the current phase of rising solar activity (low to high solar activity) from December 2010 to April 2014. The results show that GPS scintillation events were largely a nighttime phenomenon during the whole observation period. Scintillation events mainly occurred along the inner edge of the northern crest of the equatorial anomaly in China. The occurrence of scintillations in different sectors of the sky was also investigated, and the results revealed that it is more likely for the scintillations to be observed in the west sector of the sky above Shenzhen. During the present period of study, a total number of 512 total electron content (TEC) depletions and 460 lock loss events were observed. In addition, both of these events are likely to increase during periods of high solar activity, especially because the strong scintillations are often simultaneously accompanied by TEC depletions and lock losses by GPS receivers.     

Switching and performance variations of on-orbit BDS satellite clocks

The information of the satellite clock switching and performance variations on-orbit of Chinese BeiDou-2 Navigation System (BDS) is not available for the public. In order to detect the BDS satellite clock switching and performances variation, we analyzed the precise clock offset products with a total duration of 5?years every BDS satellite equipped four atomic clocks from four different manufactures from January 2013 to October 2017. Three important contributions are concluded as follows. (1) It is found that the average time of on-orbit operation for BDS satellite clocks is about 1–2?years. There have been 22 times of clock switching for BDS satellites, of which the C05 and C08 satellites have been switched to the fourth (last) atomic clock. (2) There are frequent phase adjustments for BDS on-orbit satellite clocks, and the frequency series is relatively stable. Furthermore, there are semi-annual sinusoid cycles in the frequency drift series of C06 and C09 satellites. (3) The performances of MEO satellite clocks perform better than the IGSO and GEO satellite clocks. The average ten-thousand frequency stability of BDS satellite clocks is about 1E-13, which is worse than that of GPS and Galileo but better than that of GLONASS.     

液体运载火箭舱段防结露吹除流量控制技术研究

常温推进剂液体火箭在炎热季节加注后往往容易产生结露现象,结露后形成的积水严重影响舱内仪器设备及电缆的使用安全。给出防结露吹除用量精确计算方法,通过对吹除入口压力、舱内达到压力、入口及出口面积等方面影响因素进行分析,得出吹除用量与上述因素的关联关系,提出火箭吹除量化控制措施,达到了稳定的控制效果。     

Improving regional ionospheric TEC mapping based on RBF interpolation

Radial basis function (RBF) interpolation with multi-quadric is developed to perform ionospheric total electron content (TEC) mapping for the Chinese region between 15°N ~ 40°N and 100°E ~ 125°E. TEC measurements from the Centre for Orbit Determination in Europe (CODE) covering the solar maximum year 2011 are used to investigate the performance of the proposed RBF interpolation method. The differences between the RBF interpolated TEC and the CODE TEC are within 0.5 TECU and the root mean square error (RMSE) is very small when 49 data points are used. The maximum difference is ~5 TECU and the error is less than 1 TECU with 25 samples. Our study suggests that a random distribution of measurement points gives smaller RMSEs than a homogenous distribution when the number of sample points is low. The study indicates that RBF interpolation offers a powerful and reliable tool for ionospheric TEC mapping.     

In-orbit operation and performance of the CubeSat Soft X-ray polarimeter PolarLight

PolarLight is a compact soft X-ray polarimeter onboard a CubeSat, which was launched into a low-Earth orbit on October 29, 2018. In March 2019, PolarLight started full operation, and since then, regular observations with the Crab nebula, Sco X-1, and background regions have been conducted. Here we report the operation, calibration, and performance of PolarLight in the orbit. Based on these, we discuss how one can run a low-cost, shared CubeSat for space astronomy, and how CubeSats can play a role in modern space astronomy for technical demonstration, science observations, and student training.     

Analysis of the solar sail deformation based on the point cloud method

The deformation of the solar-sail membrane is an important factor for causing inaccuracies in the solar-sail missions. This paper describes the solar sail under deformation by using a new modelling technique based on point cloud and triangular mesh generation. Two types of deformation, stemming from wrinkling and billowing, are modelled. The changes in the solar radiation pressure force and the moment caused by deformation are calculated and compared to the ideal non-deformed case. The heliocentric spiral trajectory and the orbital angular momentum reversal trajectory are taken as examples to quantify the influence of the deformation from an orbit point of view. Additionally, point cloud simplification, based on the normal vector and bounding box, is utilized to simplify the original deformed-sail model. It involves a reasonable reduction and renewal of the points in the model considering the variation of surface curvature. The simplification and its modelling accuracy are numerically investigated as well as computational efficiency.     

Robust Design of Supercritical Wing Aerodynamic Optimization Considering Fuselage Interfering

Robust optimization approach for aerodynamic design has been developed and applied to supercritical wing aerodynamic design. The aerodynamic robust optimization design system consists of genetic optimization algorithm, improved back propagation (BP) neural network and deformation grid technology. In this article, the BP neural network has been improved in two major aspects to enhance the training speed and precision. Uniformity sampling is adopted to generate samples which will be used to establish surrogate model. The testing results show that the prediction precision of the improved BP neural network is reliable. On the assumption that the law of Mach number obeys normal distribution, supercritical wing configuration considering fuselage interfering of a certain aerobus has been taken as a typical example, and five design sections and twist angles have been optimized. The results show that the optimized wing, which considers robust design, has better aerodynamic characteristics. What's more, the intensity of shock wave has been reduced.     

Trajectory Planning Algorithm Based on Quaternion for 6-DOF Aircraft Wing Automatic Position and Pose Adjustment Method

 A 6-degree of freedom (6-DOF) aircraft wing position and pose automatic adjustment method is presented to improve ARJ21 wing-fuselage connection precision and efficiency. Wing position and pose are adjusted by three pillars which are driven by six high-precision servo motors. During the adjustment process, wing is tracked and positioned by laser tracker. Wing initial posi-tion and pose are calibrated by using the measurement coordinates of assembly reference points. Wing target position and pose are calculated according to wing initial, fuselage position and pose, and relative position and pose requirements between wing and fuselage for the connection. Combining Newton-Euler method with quaternion position and pose analyzing method, the inverse kinematics of servo motors, together with the adjustment system dynamics is obtained. Wing quintic polynomial trajec-tory planning algorithm based on quaternion is proposed; the initial, target position and pose need to be solved and the inter-mediate moving path is uncertain. Simulation results show that the adjustment method has good dynamic characteristics and satisfies engineering requirements. Preliminary engineering application indicates that ARJ21 wing adjustment efficiency and precision are improved by using the proposed method.     

Nonlinear dynamics and station-keeping control of a rotating tethered satellite system in halo orbits

The dynamics of a rotating tethered satellite system （TSS） in the vicinity of libration points are highly nonlinear and inherently unstable. In order to fulfill the station-keep control of the rotating TSS along halo orbits, a nonlinear output tracking control scheme based on the θ- D technique is proposed. Compared with the popular time-variant linear quadratic regulator （LQR） controller, this approach overcomes some limitations such as on-line computations of the algebraic Riccati equation. Besides, the obtained nonlinear suboptimal controller is in a closed form and easy to implement. Numerical simulations show that the TTS trajectories track the periodic reference orbit with low energy consumption in the presence of both tether and initial injection errors. The axis of rotation can keep pointing to an inertial specific object to fulfill an observation mission. In addition, the thrusts required by the controller are in an acceptable range and can be implemented through some low-thrust propulsion devices.     

某型机进气道利用真空夹具加工的方法

真空夹具是飞机制造工艺中的一项特殊的工艺装备。它是利用真空吸附力来夹紧工件,特点是吸力均匀,单位面积上的压力不超过一个大气压。十分适用于加工大而薄、刚性差的飞机部分零件,如进气道、机翼壁板、中翼大梁、蜂窝块等。