Area-oriented coordinated trajectory planning of dual-arm space robot for capturing a tumbling target

The growing amount of space debris poses a threat to operational spacecraft and the long-term sustainability of activities in outer space. According to the orbital mechanics, an uncontrolled space object will be tumbling, bringing great challenge to capture and remove it. In this paper, a dual-arm coordinated ‘‘Area-Oriented Capture"(AOC) method is proposed to capture a non-cooperative tumbling target. Firstly, the motion equation of the tumbling target is established, based on which, the dynamic properties are analyzed. Then, the ‘‘Area-Oriented Capture"concept is presented to deal with the problem of large pose(position and attitude) deviation and tumbling motion. An area rather than fixed points/devices is taken as the object to be tracked and captured. As long as the manipulators' end-effectors move to a specified range of the objective areas(not fixed points on the target, but areas), the target satellite will be hugged by the two arms.At last, the proposed method and the traditional method(i.e. fixed-point oriented capture method)are compared and analyzed through simulation. The results show that the proposed method has larger pose tolerance and takes shorter time for capturing a tumbling target.     

L׳ADROIT – A spaceborne ultraviolet laser system for space debris clearing

Small (1–10 cm) debris in low Earth orbit (LEO) are extremely dangerous, because they spread the breakup cascade. Pulsed laser active debris removal using laser ablation jets on target is the most cost-effective way to re-enter the small debris. No other solutions address the whole problem of large (~100 cm, 1 t) as well as small debris. Physical removal of small debris (by nets, tethers and so on) is uneconomical because of the energy cost of matching orbits. In this paper, we present a completely new proposal relative to our earlier work. This new approach uses rapid, head-on interaction in 10–40 s rather than 4 minutes, using 20–40 kW bursts of 100 ps, 355 nm UV pulses from a 1.5 m diameter aperture on a space-based station in LEO. The station employs “heat-capacity” laser mode with low duty cycle to create an adaptable, robust, dual-mode system which can lower or raise large derelict objects into less dangerous orbits, as well as clear out the small debris in a 400-km thick LEO band. Time-average laser optical power is less than 15 kW. The combination of short pulses and UV wavelength gives lower required fluence on target as well as higher momentum coupling coefficient. An orbiting system can have short range because of high interaction rate deriving from its velocity through the debris field. This leads to much smaller mirrors and lower average power than the ground-based systems we have considered previously. Our system also permits strong defense of specific assets. Analysis gives an estimated cost less than $1 k each to re-enter most small debris in a few months, and about 280 k$ each to raise or lower 1-ton objects by 40 km. We believe it can do this for 2000 such large objects in about four years. Laser ablation is one of the few interactions in nature that propel a distant object without any significant reaction on the source.     

Tethered towing using open-loop input-shaping and discrete thrust levels

Asteroid retrieval, satellite servicing, and debris removal concepts often rely on a thrusting vehicle to redirect and steer a passive object. One effective way to tow the object is through a tether. This study employs a discretized tether model attached to six degree-of-freedom end bodies. To reduce the risk of a post-burn collision between the end bodies, discrete thrust input shaping profiles are considered including a Posicast input and a bang-off-bang thrust profile. These input shaping techniques attain desirable collision avoidance performance by inducing a tumbling or gravity gradient motion of the tethered formation. Their performance is compared to an earlier frequency notched thruster profile.     

浅谈机队发动机换发计划管理

航空公司机队发动机换发计划管理是发动机工程管理的有机组成部分，换发计划管理需要细致考量影响的因素，并结合实际进行优化调整。     

NRC流程控制及其对高检效率的影响分析

针对目前大修中NRC流程的控制仍以一线工作者为主导的状况，分析了NRC流程控制的设计及其对高检效率的影响，并提出了改善性建议。     

An active debris removal parametric study for LEO environment remediation

Recent analyses on the instability of the orbital debris population in the low Earth orbit (LEO) region and the collision between Iridium 33 and Cosmos 2251 have reignited interest in using active debris removal (ADR) to remediate the environment. There are, however, monumental technical, resource, operational, legal, and political challenges in making economically viable ADR a reality. Before a consensus on the need for ADR can be reached, a careful analysis of its effectiveness must be conducted. The goal is to demonstrate the need and feasibility of using ADR to better preserve the future environment and to explore different operational options to maximize the benefit-to-cost ratio. This paper describes a new sensitivity study on using ADR to stabilize the future LEO debris environment. The NASA long-term orbital debris evolutionary model, LEGEND, is used to quantify the effects of several key parameters, including target selection criteria/constraints and the starting epoch of ADR implementation. Additional analyses on potential ADR targets among the existing satellites and the benefits of collision avoidance maneuvers are also included.     

载人航天器大气环境控制系统性能集成分析

考虑到载人航天器大气环境控制系统设计参数和控制参数众多,文章建立了一种载人航天器大气环境控制系统性能集成仿真分析模型,包括舱体模块、航天员模块、舱压控制模块、温湿度控制模块和二氧化碳净化模块。利用该模型对载人航天器常规工作模式下大气环境控制系统性能进行了计算分析,得到了在不同热负荷水平下载人航天器密封舱空气各个参数随在轨时间的变化趋势,结果表明:氧分压控制、二氧化碳净化和人区温湿度控制之间存在着密切的相互影响关系,不可孤立地进行分析。此外,文章还分析确定了非常规工作模式下热负荷水平允许上限,为载人航天器工作模式的确定提供了依据。研究结果有助于载人航天器大气环境控制系统的设计和流程改进。     

多舱段载人航天器空气环境控制系统性能分析

建立了一种多舱段载人航天器空气环境控制系统性能集成仿真分析模型,包括舱体模块、乘员模块、舱压控制模块、温湿度控制模块和CO2净化模块,并对两舱段载人航天器空气环境控制系统性能进行了计算分析。结果表明,舱间通风传热能力较差,造成组合体温湿度水平超出指标范围,而舱间通风传质能力较强,可实现氧分压水平和CO2分压水平的集中控制。提出了一种控制系统改进方案,在非主控舱段增设控温系统改善组合体空气温度水平,仿真结果表明,控制系统改进后组合体各空气环境参数均满足设计要求。该工作有助于加快载人航天器空气环境控制系统的设计和改进流程。     

ICAN: A novel laser architecture for space debris removal

The development of a fiber based laser architecture will enable novel applications in environments which have hitherto been impossible due to size, efficiency and power of traditional systems. Such a new architecture has been developed by the International Coherent Amplification Network (ICAN) project. Here we present an analysis of utilizing an ICAN laser for the purpose of tracking and de-orbiting hyper-velocity space debris. With an increasing number of new debris from collisions of active, derelict and new payloads in orbit, there is a growing danger of runaway debris impacts. Due to its compactness and efficiency, it is shown that space-based operation would be possible. For different design parameters such as fiber array size, it is shown that the kHz repetition rate and kW average power of ICAN would be sufficient to de-orbit small 1–10 cm debris within a single instance via laser ablation.     

Investigating the soil removal characteristics of flexible tube coring method for lunar exploration

Compared with other technical solutions, sampling the planetary soil and returning it back to Earth may be the most direct method to seek the evidence of extraterrestrial life. To keep sample’s stratification for further analyzing, a novel sampling method called flexible tube coring has been adopted for China future lunar explorations. Given the uncertain physical properties of lunar regolith, proper drilling parameters should be adjusted immediately in piercing process. Otherwise, only a small amount of core could be sampled and overload drilling faults could occur correspondingly. Due to the fact that the removed soil is inevitably connected with the cored soil, soil removal characteristics may have a great influence on both drilling loads and coring results. To comprehend the soil removal characteristics, a non-contact measurement was proposed and verified to acquire the coring and removal results accurately. Herein, further more experiments in one homogenous lunar regolith simulant were conducted, revealing that there exists a sudden core failure during the sampling process and the final coring results are determined by the penetration per revolution index. Due to the core failure, both drilling loads and soil’s removal states are also affected thereby.