Simulation and control of a 20-kHz spacecraft power system

A detailed computer representation of four Mapham inverters connected in a series-parallel arrangement has been implemented. System performance is illustrated by computer traces for the four Mapham inverters connected to a Litz cable with parallel resistance and DC receiver loads at the receiving end of the transmission cable. Methods of voltage control and load sharing between the inverters are demonstrated. The computer representation is used to design and demonstrate the advantages of a feedforward voltage-control strategy. It is shown that with a computer simulation of this type, the performance and control of spacecraft power systems can be investigated with relative ease and facility     

Remote sensing of the atmospheric from scientific stations “Salyut”

A review of the four-channel teleradiometer “Micron” calibration and data processing techniques has been presented. The sensor validation of the space-borne teleradiometer “Micron” was based on the following: the preflight absolute calibration with the state certificated standard, the secondary onboard standard (miniature filament lamp), the inflight measurements of the Moon's brightness. The procedure of the extinction coefficient determination from the daytime horizon profiles has been developed. The validity of the used techniques was estimated by carring out model calculations. An optimal measuring procedure has been recommended. The proposed simple techniques are used for processing the space measured horizon brightness data. The results have been compared with the earlier published ones.     

Supersonic expansion on non-equilibrium plasmas

In the supersonic expansion of an ionized gas, the dominant factor in describing the atomic processes is the recombination rate constant K_R. Several models describing the recombination process have been reviewed in some detail. It has been found that, depending on the adopted definition, different models will yield different values of K_R for the same electron temperature and number density. A comparison of experimentally and theoretically derived values for K_R has to be done with great care, as in the majority of the experiments K_R is determined from the measured rate of disappearance of free electrons. These measurements give the correct “decay coefficient”, but only in certain circumstances will it reduce to the correct recombination rate. In the light of the important role that K_R plays in any numerical solution of nonequilibrium expansion flow of plasmas, details of experiments on a 15-degree corner expansion flow of ionized argon are given. In these experiments the plasma flow which was generated by driving strong normal shock waves into quiescent argon was studied mainly by optical diagnostics. Using a dual-frequency laser interferometer, the plasma properties around a corner expansion were recorded. The analysis of the interferograms has yielded values for the recombination rate constant as a function of the plasma macroscopic properties. The range of shock Mach number, electron number density, temperature and initial channel pressure and temperature were as follows:

$\text{13 < M, < 19; 10}{}^{16}\text{< n, < 1.5 × 10}{}^{17}\text{cm}{}^{\mathrm{?3}}\text{; 9000°}\text{K}\text{< T < 13,000°}\text{K}\text{; 2.2 < p}{}_1\text{< 10}\text{torr}\text{; T}{}_1\text{? 300°}\text{K}\text{.}$

It was found that the theoretically predicted values for the three-body, electron-ion-electron collisional recombination rate are in good agreement with those measured gasdynamically in a well-defined flow. The measured flow quantities substantiate a previous analysis based on the method of characteristics.     

Dynamic systems as factors determining the structure,transformations and evolution of planets exemplified by the terrestrial planets

A more precise definition of planet is proposed based on the existence of dynamic planetary systems on it. Four basic planetary systems: the intraplanetary, the atmospheric, the magnetospheric and the biospheric one are discussed taking into account interactions of internal and external (cosmic) factors. The formation of distinct phases inside dynamic planetary systems is handled and the dissipative character of these phases is emphasized. The great importance of the formation and role of boundary layers between various phases is shown. Finally the exceptional significance of the action of some boundary layers as barriers is treated in some detail.     

Crystallization of germanium-silicon solid solution from the vapour phase in microgravity conditions

Mass transport has been investigated in the closed system Ge-Si-Br used for preparing germanium-silicon solid solution crystals by chemical transport reaction method in space. It has been shown that the experimental rate of mass transport may be analytically described in proposing a pure diffusion mechanism. In space, growth of needles and whiskers occured without practically formation of a polycrystalline layer characteristic of on-earth experiments.     

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...