In-orbit assessment of laser retro-reflector efficiency onboard high orbiting satellites

The navigation and geodetic satellites that orbit the Earth at altitudes of approximately 20,000 km are tracked routinely by many of the Satellite Laser Ranging (SLR) stations of the International Laser Ranging Service (ILRS). In order to meet increasing demands on SLR stations for daytime and nighttime observations, any new mission needs to ensure a strong return signal so that the target is easily acquirable. The ILRS has therefore set a minimum effective cross-section of 100 million square metres for the on-board laser retro-reflector arrays (LRAs) and further recommends the use of ‘uncoated’ cubes in the arrays. Given the large number of GNSS satellites that are currently supported by SLR, it is informative to make an assessment of the relative efficiencies of the various LRAs employed. This paper uses the laser ranging observations themselves to deduce and then compare the efficiencies of the LRAs on the COMPASS-M1 navigation satellite, two satellites from the GPS and three from the GLONASS constellations, the two GIOVE test satellites from the upcoming Galileo constellation, the two Etalon geodetic spheres and the geosynchronous communications test satellite, ETS-8. All the LRAs on this set of satellites employ back-coated retro-reflector cubes, except those on the COMPASS-M1 and ETS-8 vehicles which are uncoated. A measure of return signal strength, and thus of LRA-efficiency, is calculated using the laser-range full-rate data archive from 2007 to 2010, scaled to remove the effects of variations in satellite range, atmospheric attenuation and retro-reflector target total surface area. Observations from five SLR stations are used in this study; they are Herstmonceux (UK), Yarragadee (Australia), Monument Peak and McDonald (USA) and Wettzell (Germany). Careful consideration is given to the treatment of the observations from each station in order to take account of local working practices and system upgrades. The results show that the uncoated retro-reflector cubes offer significant improvements in efficiency.     

基于双框架控制力矩陀螺的航天器动量管理

为减小维持大型航天器的姿态稳定和降低能量消耗的动量管理中的扰动力矩对姿态稳定的干扰,设计了周期性抑制滤波器。姿态控制的执行机构采用双框架控制力矩陀螺群（DGCMGs）,应用KENNEL操纵率,使航天器执行机构的角动量在本体系的x轴分量和偏航角可达稳定,同时角动量在本体系的z轴分量和滚转角可在较小的范围内振荡。数值仿真结果验证了方案的可行性。     

Determination of station positions and velocities from laser ranging observations to Ajisai,Starlette and Stella satellites

The positions and velocities of the four Satellite Laser Ranging (SLR) stations: Yarragadee (7090), Greenbelt (7105), Graz (7839) and Herstmonceux (7840) from 5-year (2001–2005) SLR data of low orbiting satellites (LEO): Ajisai, Starlette and Stella were determined. The orbits of these satellites were computed from the data provided by 20 SLR stations. All orbital computations were performed by means of NASA Goddard’s GEODYN-II program. The geocentric coordinates were transformed to the topocentric North–South, East–West and Vertical components in reference to ITRF2005. The influence of the number of normal points per orbital arc and the empirical acceleration coefficients on the quality of station coordinates was studied. To get standard deviation of the coordinates determination lower than 1 cm, the number of the normal points per site had to be greater than 50. The computed positions and velocities were compared to those derived from LAGEOS-1/LAGEOS-2 data. Three parameters were used for this comparison: station coordinates stability, differences from ITRF2005 positions and velocities. The stability of coordinates of LEO satellites is significantly worse (17.8 mm) than those of LAGEOS (7.6 mm), the better results are for Ajisai (15.4 mm) than for Starlette/Stella (20.4 mm). The difference in positions between the computed values and ITRF2005 were little bit worse for Starlette/Stella (6.6 mm) than for LAGEOS (4.6 mm), the results for Ajisai were five times worse (29.7 mm) probably due to center of mass correction of this satellite. The station velocities with some exceptions were on the same level (≈1 mm/year) for all satellites. The results presented in this work show that results from Starlette/Stella are better than those from Ajisai for station coordinates determination. We can applied the data from LEO satellites, especially Starlette and Stella for determination of the SLR station coordinates but with two times lower accuracy than when using LAGEOS data.     

脉冲激光测距误差标定及不确定度分析CSCD

以脉冲激光测距机的测距误差标定为背景,通过对测距误差解析表达式的推导,给出了系统各不确定度分量对测距误差的影响,计算了信号延迟时间、探测器和激光二极管响应时间、晶振频率、大气折射率等不确定度分量。通过对某已标定激光测距机实验验证表明:该装置在500m^20 000m测距范围内,测量重复性引入的相对标准不确定度最大值为0.67m,满足该类激光测距机测量不确定度5m(k=2)的校准测试需求。因此,利用该解析表达式可以实现对脉冲激光测距误差的有效评估,这对于脉冲激光测距测试系统、脉冲激光测距机的设计具有重要的指导意义。     

中国深空网首次△DOR联合测轨试验分析

通过分析中国深空网首次△DOR（Delta Differential One way Ranging,双差分单向测距）联合测轨试验的干涉测量事后数据,重点从观测量随机精度、闭合时延等方面讨论了国内深空网与国内VLBI（Very Long Baseline Interferometry,甚长基线干涉测量）观测网、国内深空网与国际深空网的联合干涉处理情况,并与ESOC（European Space Operation Center,欧洲空间操作中心）数据处理结果进行了比对.试验结果表明：我国深空网已具备独立或联合开展深空探测器导航测轨的系统支持能力;深空站系统具备高速率数据接收、采集、记录、传输能力,采集数据处理精度优于1 ns;深空网干涉测量信号处理中心具备多体制信号的干涉处理分析能力,其分析精度与ESOC处理精度差异在0.1 ns量级.     

基于离心加速度信息的单站无源测距定位方法

针对只测向（B0）方法具有收敛速度慢、定位误差大等缺点，提出了一种利用角度及其变化率、离心加速度等信息进行单站无源测距定位的新方法。对该方法的单次测距误差进行了分析，经多次测量定位计算机仿真结果表明，该方法比只测角定位方法、角度及其变化率定位方法具有更高的定位精度和更快的收敛速度，并且具有更广的应用范围。     

Progress of Double Star Program

The Double Star Programme (DSP) is the first joint space mission between China and ESA. The mission, which is made of two spacecraft, is designed to investigate the magnetospheric global processes and their response to the interplanetary disturbances in conjunction with the Cluster mission. The first spacecraft, TC-1 (Tan Ce means "Explorer"), was launched on 30 December 2003, and the second one, TC-2, on 25 July 2004 on board two Chinese Long March 2C. Due to the importance of and success of DSP, both CNSA and ESA approved the extension of DSP. This paper presents DSP mission and some important scientific results made based on the data of DSP.     

导航星座的自主导航技术--卫星自主时间同步

基于星载原子时钟频率稳定性的Allan方差表达,建立系统状态方程,并以星间双向测量伪距差作为基本观测量,组成系统测量方程,从而可以设计适用于导航星座卫星时间同步的Kalman滤波算法。系统仿真结果表明：通过对星间双向测量数据的滤波处理,能够实现星座卫星时间精密同步。     

空间微波交会雷达总体构想

结合我国载人航天工程未来发展的需要,分析了国外微波交会雷达技术的发展方向,提出了我国微波交会雷达的总体实施方案构想。