Control of the Onboard Microgravity Environment and Extension of the Service Life of the Long-Term Space Station

The problem of control of the on-board microgravity environment in order to extend the service life of the long-term space station has been discussed. Software developed for the ISS and the results of identifying dynamic models and external impacts based on telemetry data have been presented. Proposals for controlling the onboard microgravity environment for future long-term space stations have been formulated.     

Detection of Molecular Scattering Field from a Polarization Analysis of the Sky Background during Transitive Twilight and Temperature Measurements near the Stratopause

The simplest version of the method of detecting the single molecular scattering field based on the polarization measurements of the twilight sky background by all-sky cameras has been considered. The method can be used during transitive twilight (with solar zenith angles of 94°–98°), when effective single scattering occurs in the upper stratosphere and lower mesosphere. The long-term measurements conducted using this method in the Moscow region and Apatity make it possible to determine the temperature of these atmospheric layers and estimate the contribution and properties of multiple scattering during the transitive twilight.     

Gravity-oriented satellite dynamics subject to gravitational and active damping torques

The dynamics of the rotational motion of a satellite moving in the central Newtonian field of force over a circular orbit under the effect of gravitational and active damping torques, which depend on the satellite angular velocity projections, has been investigated. The paper proposes a method of determining all equilibrium positions (equilibrium orientations) of a satellite in the orbital coordinate system for specified values of damping coefficients and principal central moments of inertia. The conditions of their existence have been obtained. For a zero equilibrium position where the axes of the satellite-centered coordinate system coincide with the axes of the orbital coordinate system, the necessary and sufficient conditions for asymptotic stability are obtained using the Routh–Hurwitz criterion. A detailed analysis of the regions where the conditions of the asymptotic stability of a zero equilibrium position are fulfilled have been obtained depending on three dimensionless parameters of the problem, and the numerical study of the process of attenuation of satellite’s spatial oscillations for various damping coefficients has been carried out. It has been shown that there is a wide range of damping parameters from which, by choosing the necessary values, one can provide the asymptotic stability of satellite’s zero equilibrium position in the orbital coordinate system.     

US and Soviet planetary exploration The next step is Mars, together

Soviet General Secretary Gorbachev has proposed a joint US-Soviet programme to explore the planet Mars. The authors argue that there is considerable advantage to be gained from such a programme for both countries and for all nations on Earth. They trace the history of the US and Soviet space programmes and of cooperation between the two nations, focusing particularly on activities relating to Mars. Robotic Mars exploration is already technically possible and could take place in the 1990s, and a first step towards manned exploration could be the writing of a development and flight plan aiming for the first decade of the 21st century.     

Magnetospheric Science Objectives of the <Emphasis Type="Italic">Juno</Emphasis> Mission

In July 2016, NASA’s Juno mission becomes the first spacecraft to enter polar orbit of Jupiter and venture deep into unexplored polar territories of the magnetosphere. Focusing on these polar regions, we review current understanding of the structure and dynamics of the magnetosphere and summarize the outstanding issues. The Juno mission profile involves (a) a several-week approach from the dawn side of Jupiter’s magnetosphere, with an orbit-insertion maneuver on July 6, 2016; (b) a 107-day capture orbit, also on the dawn flank; and (c) a series of thirty 11-day science orbits with the spacecraft flying over Jupiter’s poles and ducking under the radiation belts. We show how Juno’s view of the magnetosphere evolves over the year of science orbits. The Juno spacecraft carries a range of instruments that take particles and fields measurements, remote sensing observations of auroral emissions at UV, visible, IR and radio wavelengths, and detect microwave emission from Jupiter’s radiation belts. We summarize how these Juno measurements address issues of auroral processes, microphysical plasma physics, ionosphere-magnetosphere and satellite-magnetosphere coupling, sources and sinks of plasma, the radiation belts, and the dynamics of the outer magnetosphere. To reach Jupiter, the Juno spacecraft passed close to the Earth on October 9, 2013, gaining the necessary energy to get to Jupiter. The Earth flyby provided an opportunity to test Juno’s instrumentation as well as take scientific data in the terrestrial magnetosphere, in conjunction with ground-based and Earth-orbiting assets.     

Grain Surface Models and Data for Astrochemistry

The cross-disciplinary field of astrochemistry exists to understand the formation, destruction, and survival of molecules in astrophysical environments. Molecules in space are synthesized via a large variety of gas-phase reactions, and reactions on dust-grain surfaces, where the surface acts as a catalyst. A broad consensus has been reached in the astrochemistry community on how to suitably treat gas-phase processes in models, and also on how to present the necessary reaction data in databases; however, no such consensus has yet been reached for grain-surface processes. A team of \({\sim}25\) experts covering observational, laboratory and theoretical (astro)chemistry met in summer of 2014 at the Lorentz Center in Leiden with the aim to provide solutions for this problem and to review the current state-of-the-art of grain surface models, both in terms of technical implementation into models as well as the most up-to-date information available from experiments and chemical computations. This review builds on the results of this workshop and gives an outlook for future directions.     

The Far Ultra-Violet Imager on the Icon Mission

ICON Far UltraViolet (FUV) imager contributes to the ICON science objectives by providing remote sensing measurements of the daytime and nighttime atmosphere/ionosphere. During sunlit atmospheric conditions, ICON FUV images the limb altitude profile in the shortwave (SW) band at 135.6 nm and the longwave (LW) band at 157 nm perpendicular to the satellite motion to retrieve the atmospheric O/N₂ ratio. In conditions of atmospheric darkness, ICON FUV measures the 135.6 nm recombination emission of \(\mathrm{O}^{+}\) ions used to compute the nighttime ionospheric altitude distribution. ICON Far UltraViolet (FUV) imager is a Czerny–Turner design Spectrographic Imager with two exit slits and corresponding back imager cameras that produce two independent images in separate wavelength bands on two detectors. All observations will be processed as limb altitude profiles. In addition, the ionospheric 135.6 nm data will be processed as longitude and latitude spatial maps to obtain images of ion distributions around regions of equatorial spread F. The ICON FUV optic axis is pointed 20 degrees below local horizontal and has a steering mirror that allows the field of view to be steered up to 30 degrees forward and aft, to keep the local magnetic meridian in the field of view. The detectors are micro channel plate (MCP) intensified FUV tubes with the phosphor fiber-optically coupled to Charge Coupled Devices (CCDs). The dual stack MCP-s amplify the photoelectron signals to overcome the CCD noise and the rapidly scanned frames are co-added to digitally create 12-second integrated images. Digital on-board signal processing is used to compensate for geometric distortion and satellite motion and to achieve data compression. The instrument was originally aligned in visible light by using a special grating and visible cameras. Final alignment, functional and environmental testing and calibration were performed in a large vacuum chamber with a UV source. The test and calibration program showed that ICON FUV meets its design requirements and is ready to be launched on the ICON spacecraft.     

Development of wireless strain-gauge measurement system for structural tests

A wireless sensor system for data acquisition and processing during structural and fatigue tests is considered. A prototype of wireless strain-gauge measurement system is used in fatigue tests of a utility helicopter’s main rotor hub. The setup of the test rig and software are described.     

Trends in research of hydrodynamic damping in rotor supports of gas turbine engines

The paper studies different types of dampers for rotor supports of gas turbine engines (GTE). The advantages of hydrodynamic dampers are shown. Hydrodynamic dampers for GTE rotor supports are studied. A new design and technique of calculation are proposed for an adjustable hydrodynamic damper.