一种冷热交变环境下太阳帆应力保持方法

针对冷热交变环境导致太阳帆内部应力剧烈变化的问题,基于形状记忆合金(SMA)弹簧提出了太阳帆的张拉方案和薄膜应力保持恒定的方法,该方法利用形状记忆合金在高低温下的刚度非线性特性,有效补偿薄膜和支撑杆之间的间隙变化,以使薄膜内部应力基本保持恒定。针对六边形构型太阳帆开展了数值仿真,首先建立了太阳帆的热分析模型和力学分析模型,获取了高低温工况下的温度场。然后通过热致变形分析得到薄膜与支撑杆在高低温工况下的间隙变化,据此确定形状记忆合金弹簧的参数。最后对太阳帆在高低温工况下的薄膜内部应力进行了验证。     

Characteristics of GOCE orbits based on Satellite Laser Ranging

The Gravity field and steady-state Ocean Circulation Explorer (GOCE) was the first European Space Agency’s (ESA) Earth Explorer core mission. Through its extremely low, about 260?km above the Earth, circular, sun-synchronous orbit, the satellite gained high spatial resolution and accuracy gravity gradient, and ocean circulation data. Global Positioning System (GPS) receivers, mounted on the spacecraft, allowed the determination of reduced-dynamic and kinematic GOCE orbits, whereas Laser Retroreflector Array (LRA) dedicated to Satellite Laser Ranging (SLR) allowed an independent validation of GPS-derived orbits. In this paper, residuals between different GPS-based orbit types and SLR observations are used to investigate the sensitivity and the influence of solar, geomagnetic, and ionospheric activities on the quality of kinematic and reduced-dynamic GOCE orbits. We also analyze the quality of data provided by individual SLR sites, by detecting time biases using ascending and descending sun-synchronous GOCE orbit passes, and the residual analysis of the measurement characteristics, i.e., the dependency of SLR residuals as a function of nadir and horizontal angles. Results show a substantial vulnerability of kinematic orbit solutions to the solar F10.7 index and the ionospheric activity measured by the variations of the Total Electron Content (TEC) values. The sensitivity of kinematic orbits to the three-hour-range KP index is rather minor. The reduced-dynamic orbits are almost insensitive to indices describing ionospheric, solar, and geomagnetic activities. The investigation of individual SLR sites shows that some of them are affected by time bias errors, whereas other demonstrate systematics, such as a dependency between observation residuals and the satellite nadir angle or the horizontal azimuth angle from the SLR station to the direction of the satellite.     

Symplectic integration of space debris motion considering several Earth’s shadowing models

In this work, we present a symplectic integration scheme to numerically compute space debris motion. Such an integrator is particularly suitable to obtain reliable trajectories of objects lying on high orbits, especially geostationary ones. Indeed, it has already been demonstrated that such objects could stay there for hundreds of years. Our model takes into account the Earth’s gravitational potential, luni-solar and planetary gravitational perturbations and direct solar radiation pressure. Based on the analysis of the energy conservation and on a comparison with a high order non-symplectic integrator, we show that our algorithm allows us to use large time steps and keep accurate results. We also propose an innovative method to model Earth’s shadow crossings by means of a smooth shadow function. In the particular framework of symplectic integration, such a function needs to be included analytically in the equations of motion in order to prevent numerical drifts of the energy. For the sake of completeness, both cylindrical shadows and penumbra transitions models are considered. We show that both models are not equivalent and that big discrepancies actually appear between associated orbits, especially for high area-to-mass ratios.     

Variation of F-region critical frequency (foF2) over equatorial and low-latitude region of the Indian zone during 19th and 20th solar cycle

The effect of solar cycle and seasons on the daytime and nighttime F-layer ionization has been investigated over the equatorial and low-latitude region during 19th (1954–1964) and 20th (1965–1976) solar cycle. The F-layer critical frequency (foF2) data observed from the three Indian Ionosonde stations has been used for the present study. The dependence of foF2 on solar cycle has been examined by performing regression analysis between the foF2 values and R₁₂ (twelve month running average sunspot number). The result shows that the magnitude of the cycle, seasons and the location of station has considerable effects on foF2. There is a significant nonlinear relationship between the foF2 values and R₁₂ during 19th solar cycle as compared to 20th solar cycle. Further, the nighttime saturation effect is prominently seen during the 19th solar cycle and summer season. It is also observed that the most profound saturation effect appears at the equatorial ionization anomaly crest region. Seasonally, it is seen that all the stations exhibits semiannual anomaly. The phenomenon of winter anomaly decays as we move higher along the latitude and is prominently seen during the intense solar activity.     

On the mid-latitude ionospheric storm association with intense geomagnetic storms

The bulk association between ionospheric storms and geomagnetic storms has been studied. Hemispheric features of seasonal variation of ionospheric storms in the mid-latitude were also investigated. 188 intense geomagnetic storms (Dst ≤ 100 nT) that occurred during solar cycles 22 and 23 were considered, of which 143 were observed to be identified with an ionospheric storm. Individual ionospheric storms were identified as maximum deviations of the F2 layer peak electron density from quiet time values. Only ionospheric storms that could clearly be associated with the peak of a geomagnetic storm were considered. Data from two mid-latitude ionosonde stations; one in the northern hemisphere (i.e. Moscow) and the other in the southern hemisphere (Grahamstown) were used to study ionospheric conditions at the time of the individual geomagnetic storms. Results show hemispheric and latitudinal differences in the intensity and nature of ionospheric storms association with different types of geomagnetic storms. These results are significant for our present understanding of the mechanisms which drive the changes in electron density during different types of ionospheric storms.     

Changes in sea-level pressure over South Korea associated with high-speed solar wind events

We explore a possibility that the daily sea-level pressure (SLP) over South Korea responds to the high-speed solar wind event. This is of interest in two aspects: first, if there is a statistical association this can be another piece of evidence showing that various meteorological observables indeed respond to variations in the interplanetary environment. Second, this can be a very crucial observational constraint since most models proposed so far are expected to preferentially work in higher latitude regions than the low latitude region studied here. We have examined daily solar wind speed V, daily SLP difference ΔSLP, and daily log(BV²) using the superposed epoch analysis in which the key date is set such that the daily solar wind speed exceeds 800 km s⁻¹. We find that the daily ΔSLP averaged out of 12 events reaches its peak at day +1 and gradually decreases back to its normal level. The amount of positive deviation of ΔSLP is +2.5 hPa. The duration of deviation is a few days. We also find that ΔSLP is well correlated with both the speed of solar wind and log(BV²). The obtained linear correlation coefficients and chance probabilities with one-day lag for two cases are r ? 0.81 with P > 99.9%, and r ? 0.84 with P > 99.9%, respectively. We conclude by briefly discussing future direction to pursue.     

Dependence of the F-region peak electron density (foF2) on solar activity observed in the equatorial ionospheric anomaly region in the Brazilian sector

The long-term (solar cycle) changes in the Sun and how it affects the ionospheric F-region observed at São José dos Campos (23.2° S, 45.9° W), Brazil, a location under the southern crest of the equatorial ionospheric anomaly, have been investigated in this paper. The dependence of the F-region peak electron density (foF2) on solar activity during the descending phase of the 23rd solar cycle for the periods of high, medium, and low solar activity has been studied. The ionospheric F-region peak electron densities observed during high and medium solar activity show seasonal variations with maxima close to the equinox periods, whereas during the low solar activity the maxima during the equinox periods is absent. However, during the low solar activity only change observed is a large decrease from summer to winter months. We have further investigated changes in the different ionospheric F-region parameters (minimum virtual height of the F-region (h′F), virtual height at 0.834foF2 (hpF2), and foF2) during summer to winter months in low solar activity periods, 2006–2007 and 2007–2008. Large changes in the two ionospheric parameters (hpF2 and foF2) are observed during summer to winter months in the two low solar activity periods investigated.     

A deployable mast for solar sails in the range of 100–1000 m

The purpose of this paper is to introduce a new deployable mast design that may provide a means to scale up solar sails to very large dimensions. The paper describes the basic analytical approach for truss beams, compares this new design with the state-of-art truss used in NASA’s solar sail development work, and provides analyses of novel applications enabled by the mast design.