Scanning Spaceborne Synthetic Aperture Radar with Integrated Radiometer

Spaceborne synthetic aperture radar systems are severely constrained to a narrow swath by ambiguity limitations. Here a vertically scanned-beam synthetic aperture system (SCANSAR) is proposed as a solution to this problem. The potential length of synthetic aperture must be shared between beam positions, so the along-track resolution is poorer; a direct tradeoff exists between resolution and swath width. The length of the real aperture is independently traded against the number of scanning positions. Design curves and equations are presented for spaceborne SCANSARs for altitudes between 400 and 1400 km and inner angles of incidence between 20° and 40°. When the real antenna is approximately square, it may also be used for a microwave radiometer. The combined radiometer and synthetic-aperture (RADISAR) should be useful for those applications where the poorer resolution of the radiometer is useful for some purposes, but the finer resolution of the radar is needed for others.     

Space Station Power System

A Space Station Task Force was established by NASA in May 1982 to provide focus and direction for space station planning activities. The Task Force also provides Congress and the Administration with sufficient information to allow them to make an informed decision on whether the United States should proceed with a space station as the next major national initiative in space. This paper presents the status of planning activities to date, with major emphasis on the power system, and discusses technology options, power requirements, and schedule.     

X-ray and optical variability at the hour timescale for 1E 0630+178 (GEMINGA) and its proposed optical couterpart

Einstein and EXOSAT data on the soft X-ray source IE 0630+178, the proposed counterpart of the -ray source GEMINGA, are analyzed for variability on the time scale of one to three hours. The EXOSAT September 1983 data, with an uninterrupted strech of over 10 hours offer the most interesting case. In parallel, a similar analysis is presented for the first time, for the optical data of the m_V21 proposed counterpart. About 30 CCD exposures, of 15 min. each, taken over two consecutive nights at the 3.6 m CFH telescope, yield evidence of variability, when compared to the data of similar nearby objects in the field.Visiting astronomer at the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope, operated by the National Concil of Research, Canada, the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, France, and the University of Hawaii.     

Effectiveness of Airborne Integral Relay Operations

"Integral relay" is a relay concept in which all the aircraft in a control sector that are under the control of an Army flight operations center (FOC) are electronically capable of functioning as relays for communication with aircraft out of direct contact with the FOC. This paper deals with the effectiveness of integral relay operations based on the assumption of random spatial distribution of aircraft. It describes the development of a control sector line-of-sight (LOS) model and of a methodology for effectiveness analysis, and the application of the methodology to one numerical example. It is shown that the LOS conditions in the control sector may be represented by two LOS characteristics which are functions of both aircraft clearance and the terrain and FOC characteristics. Probabilities of direct and indirect (via relay) LOS between the FOC and randomly located aircraft are derived for operations without and with integral relay. The effectiveness, expressed as an increase in LOS probability, is a function of aircraft density and the above two LOS characteristics and is representative of the control sector as a whole. Numerical results are obtained by probability analysis and statistical sampling.     

Early Data from Aura and Continuity from Uars and Toms

Aura, the last of the large EOS observatories, was launched on July~15, 2004. Aura is designed to make comprehensive stratospheric and tropospheric composition measurements from its four instruments, HIRDLS, MLS, OMI and TES. These four instruments work in synergy to provide data on ozone trends, air quality and climate change. The instruments observe in the nadir and limb and provide the best horizontal and vertical resolution ever achieved from space. After over one year in orbit the instruments are nearly operational and providing data to the scientific community. We summarize the mission, instruments, and initial results and give examples of how Aura will provide continuity to earlier chemistry missions.     

Understanding Interplanetary Coronal Mass Ejection Signatures

While interplanetary coronal mass ejections (ICMEs) are understood to be the heliospheric counterparts of CMEs, with signatures undeniably linked to the CME process, the variability of these signatures and questions about mapping to observed CME features raise issues that remain on the cutting edge of ICME research. These issues are discussed in the context of traditional understanding, and recent results using innovative analysis techniques are reviewed.     

Investigation of the Influence of Magnetic Anomalies on Ion Distributions at Mars

Using data from the Mars Express Ion Mass Analyzer (IMA) we investigate the distribution of ion beams of planetary origin and search for an influence from Mars crustal magnetic anomalies. We have concentrated on ion beams observed inside the induced magnetosphere boundary (magnetic pile-up boundary). Some north-south asymmetry is seen in the data, but no longitudinal structure resembling that of the crustal anomalies. Comparing the occurrence rate of ion beams with magnetic field strength at 400 km altitude below the spacecraft (using statistical Mars Global Surveyor results) shows a decrease of the occurrence rate for modest (< 40 nT) magnetic fields. Higher magnetic field regions (above 40 nT at 400 km) are sampled so seldom that the statistics are poor but the data is consistent with some ion outflow events being closely associated with the stronger anomalies. This ion flow does not significantly affect the overall distribution of ion beams around Mars.     

Novel quaternion Kalman filter

This paper presents a novel Kalman filter (KF) for estimating the attitude-quaternion as well as gyro random drifts from vector measurements. Employing a special manipulation on the measurement equation results in a linear pseudo-measurement equation whose error is state-dependent. Because the quaternion kinematics equation is linear, the combination of the two yields a linear KF that eliminates the usual linearization procedure and is less sensitive to initial estimation errors. General accurate expressions for the covariance matrices of the system state-dependent noises are developed. In addition, an analysis shows how to compute these covariance matrices efficiently. An adaptive version of the filter is also developed to handle modeling errors of the dynamic system noise statistics. Monte-Carlo simulations are carried out that demonstrate the efficiency of both versions of the filter. In the particular case of high initial estimation errors, a typical extended Kalman filter (EKF) fails to converge whereas the proposed filter succeeds.     

Pursuer identification and time-to-go estimation using passive measurements from an evader

We present an algorithm for identifying the parameters of a proportional navigation guidance missile (pursuer) pursuing an airborne target (evader) using angle-only measurements from the latter. This is done for the purpose of classifying the missile so that appropriate counter-measures can be taken. Mathematical models are constructed for a pursuer with a changing velocity, i.e., a direction change and a speed change. Assuming the pursuer is launched from the ground with fixed thrust, its motion can be described by a four-dimensional parameter vector consisting of its proportional navigation constant and three parameters related to thrusting. Consequently, the problem can be solved as a parameter estimation problem, rather than state estimation and we provide an estimator based on maximum likelihood (ML) to solve it. The parameter estimates obtained can be mapped into the time-to-go until intercept estimation results are presented for different scenarios together with the Cramer-Rao lower bound (CRLB), which quantifies the best achievable estimation accuracy. The accuracy of the time-to-go estimate is also obtained. Simulation results demonstrate that the proposed estimator is efficient by meeting the CRLB.