Galileo probe battery system

NASA's pair of Galileo spacecraft arrived at Jupiter on 7 December 1995. The Probe descended into the upper Jovian atmosphere, performing its planned sequence of scientific measurements of the properties of that medium for about an hour. This Probe has been the most ambitious planetary entry vehicle to date. It evolved over several years of planning and construction, its launch was postponed many times, for a variety of reasons; and it required more than 6 years of travel after launch to reach the planet. Its electrical power was provided by a primary Li-SO₂ battery, supplemented with two thermal batteries (CaCrO₄-Ca) used for firing pyrotechnic initiators during the atmospheric entry. These power sources were designed to be robust, to assure they would perform their intended function after surviving several years in space. This paper discusses the final production, qualification, and the systems testing of these batteries prior to and following launch. Their excellent performance at Jupiter confirmed their life enhancement design features     

Structure of cress root statocytes in microgravity (Bion-10 mission).

Experiments on primary roots of Lepidium sativum L. have been performed on board the Bion-10 satellite. The experimental set-up was extremely miniaturized and completely automatic. The results demonstrate the effectiveness of the instrumentation. The spatial orientation, growth, root cap differentiation and statocyte structure of roots grown under microgravity (MG) have been compared with control roots grown on the ground (GC) and in a 1G-reference centrifuge in space (RC). Root length and cap shape did not differ between MG and control samples. Under MG, the mean distance of the statoliths from the distal cell wall of the statocytes increased significantly, the mean distance of the mitochondria decreased and the nucleus did not change its position in comparison to both controls. The number and the shape of the amyloplasts (statoliths) were not influenced by the space flight factors, but their size as well as their relative area in the cell decreased. The number of starch grains per statolith as well as their size and shape changed under MG. In MG and RC samples the number of lipid bodies in the statocytes was higher and the relative area larger than in GC samples. The relative area occupied by vacuoles was greater in RC statocytes than in GC and MG statocytes. These results partly confirm and, in addition, extend the data from earlier experiments in space.     

An optimized GPS carrier phase ambiguity search method focusing onspeed and reliability

An optimized ambiguity search method is described in this paper focusing on speed and reliability. The method has incorporated several existing fast ambiguity search concepts and the ambiguity search speed can be further improved. In addition to the improvement of the ambiguity search speed, special attention has been paid to the improvement of the reliability of the ambiguity search process. Several theoretical and practical aspects involved in an ambiguity search algorithm are also addressed which have not been explored in previous literatures     

Photometric calibration and first results obtained with the UFT experiment on board the astron satellite

The UV telescope of 30 cm diameter equipped with a three channel scanner spectrometer aboard the highly eccentric orbit space station “ASTRON” is describedAbsolute calibration of the whole device is performed using spectra of standard stars, of which absolute values were obtained by TDI or IUE experiments. Several photometric controls have been made on the stability of the equipment after one year of operation which demonstrate reliability of some first results obtained by the UFT.The sensitivity curve of the spectrophotometric system has been observed with a reproducibility of 2σ = 10% or better.The repeated observation of one star (139 Tau) indicates that the overall performance exhibits the same quality after one year in orbit. The low resolution mode ($\text{Δ λ = 28}\text{A}\text{?}$) leads to a powerful new investigation of faint extended sources.     

Tests of Direct-Sampling Coherent Detection with a Laboratory Analog-to-Digital Converter

Phase accuracy and simplicity advantages of a direct-sampling coherent detection (DCD) system were demonstrated by computer simulation in earlier correspondence. This correspondence reviews the DCD approach and reports the results of experiments involving digitized samples of analog signals taken by a high-quality, off-the-shelf A/Dconverter. IF signals near 10, 20, and 30 MHz were sampled at 5 MHzresulting in rms DCD phase errors generally below 0.50 compared witherrors less than 0.20 computed in the earlier simulations.     

On algebraic compilers and planetary fly-by orbits

This paper reports on two major technology events of great significance in the field of Astronautics which were conceived and developed at the MIT Instrumentation Laboratory during the decade of the fifties. It is a personal memoir by the author on two important topics which should be a part of the written history of our field.Part one details the conception and development by Dr J. Halcombe Laning, Jr of “George”, the world's first algebraic compiler for use on Project Whirlwind—MIT's first experimental all-digital computer. This was indeed challenging since Whirlwind at that time had but 1024 sixteen-bit words. Dr Laning began work in the summer of 1952 and the first version of the George compiler was finished in March of 1953.In the early fifties many people were debating the feasibility of a system for translating algebraic formulae into computer programs which would allow the engineer to avoid the all too painstaking and error-prone task of writing programs using basic computer code. But Hal Laning was the first to do it.In part two of this paper, the author explores the early concepts of energy exchange between a spacecraft and a planet during a close encounter of these two celestial objects. The fact that this energy transfer could be exploited for useful purposes in the development of interplanetary orbits was first documented in an MIT Instrumentation Laboratory report published in April of 1958. The topic has been the subject of recent papers at several IAF congresses, but they failed to recognize the early work at MIT. As a part of this important history, the author describes his own work to develop a round-trip orbit to Mars using the planet Venus for a gravity assist to shorten the flight time from three years to one and a quarter years. The first orbit of this type was obtained by the author on 26 January 1961. To the author's knowledge, no one has even suggested that practical three-dimensional multiple fly-by orbits had been constructed at an earlier date.     

Noise subspace techniques in non-gaussian noise using cumulants

We consider noise subspace methods for narrowband direction-of-arrival or harmonic retrieval in colored linear non-gaussian noise of unknown covariance and unknown distribution. The non-gaussian noise covariance is estimated via higher order cumulants and combined with correlation information to solve a generalized eigenvalue problem. The estimated eigenvectors are used in a variety of noise subspace methods such as multiple signal classification (MUSIC), MVDR and eigenvector. The noise covariance estimates are obtained in the presence of the harmonic signals, obviating the need for noise-only training records. The covariance estimates may be obtained nonparametrically via cumulant projections, or parametrically using autoregressive moving average (ARMA) models. An information theoretic criterion using higher order cumulants is presented which may be used to simultaneously estimate the ARMA model order and parameters. Third- and fourth-order cumulants are employed for asymmetric and symmetric probability density function (pdf) cases, respectively. Simulation results show considerable improvement over conventional methods with no prewhitening. The effects of prewhitening are particularly evident in the dominant eigenvalues, as revealed by singular value decomposition (SVD) analysis     

1E 1740.7-2942 revisited: Confirmation of its identification with the core of a double sided radio jet structure

After more than two years of successful in-orbit operations, the γ-ray coded aperture SIGMA telescope has accumulated 800 hours of live-time observations of the Galactic Center region, including the remarkable hard source identified with the X-ray source 1E 1740.7–2942. The long-term behavior of the soft γ-ray emission of 1E 1740.7–2942, as determined from the SIGMA survey, supplemented with previously available soft γ-ray data, leads to its identification with a singular radio source, which consists of a double sided radio jet emanating from a compact variable core whose variability is correlated with that of the soft γ-ray source. The compact radio core, which lies well inside the improved soft γ-ray (40–150 keV) error circle (27″ radius) derived from the high-resolution SIGMA survey, is also inside the ROSAT and TTM error circle derived respectively in the soft and hard X-ray bands.     

Image understanding research for automatic target recognition

Automatic target recognition (ATR) is an important capability for defense applications. Many aspects of image understanding (IU) research are traditionally used to solve ATR problems. The authors discuss ATR applications and problems in developing real-world ATR systems and present the status of technology for these systems. They identify several IU problems that need to be resolved in order to enhance the effectiveness of ATR-based weapon systems. They conclude that technological gains in developing robust ATR systems will lead to significant advances in many other areas of applications of image understanding     

Microwave spectrum analysis as solar energy release diagnostics

The possibilities of using spectrographic observations of microwave radio emission as a solar flare plasma diagnostic are discussed. The spectral fine structure of the emission is interpreted in the context of plasma emission mechanisms. The balance equations for particles and plasma turbulence together with the transfer equations for electromagnetic waves in a plasma are solved for a model containing a diverging magnetic loop. As a result of the analysis of the blip-type spectral feature, the structure of energy release region and the unperturbed plasma concentration in the preflare loop are evaluated. The number of accelerated electrons and the intensity of the plasma turbulence in the source region are estimated using the properties of the weak continuum emission following the blip. Based on the degree of circular polarization of both the narrow band and the continuum emission, estimates for the external magnetic field strength and the angular width of the radiating plasma turbulence have been obtained.