The Mercury Electron Analyzers for the Bepi Colombo mission

Bepi Colombo is a joint mission between ESA and JAXA that is scheduled for launch in 2014 and arrival at Mercury in 2020. A comprehensive set of particle sensors will be flown onboard the two probes that form Bepi Colombo. These sensors will allow a detailed investigation of the structure and dynamics of the charged particle environment at Mercury. Onboard the Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter (MMO) the Mercury Electron Analyzers (MEA) sensors constitute the experiment dedicated to fast electron measurements between 3 and 25,500 eV. They consist of two top-hat electrostatic analyzers for angle-energy analysis followed by microchannel plate multipliers and collecting anodes. A notable and new feature of MEA is that the transmission factor of each analyzer can be varied in-flight electronically by a factor reaching up to 100, thus allowing to largely increasing the dynamical range of the experiment. This capability is of importance at Mercury where large changes of electron fluxes are expected from the solar wind to the various regions of the Mercury magnetosphere. While the first models are being delivered to JAXA, an engineering model has been tested and proven to fulfill the expectations about geometrical factor reduction and energy-angular transmission characteristics. Taking advantage of the spacecraft rotation with a 4 s period, MEA will provide fast three-dimensional distribution functions of magnetospheric electrons, from energies of the solar wind and exospheric populations (a few eVs) up to the plasma sheet energy range (some tens of keV). The use of two sensors viewing perpendicular planes allows reaching a ¼ spin period time resolution, i.e., 1 s, to obtain a full 3D distribution.     

Radiation measured during ISS-Expedition 13 with different dosimeters

Radiation in low Earth orbit (LEO) is mainly composed of galactic cosmic rays (GCR), solar energetic particles and particles in SAA (South Atlantic Anomaly). The biological impact of space radiation to astronauts depends strongly on the particles’ linear energy transfer (LET) and is dominated by high LET radiation. It is important to measure the LET spectrum for the space radiation field and to investigate the influence of radiation on astronauts. At present, the preferred active dosimeters sensitive to all LET are the tissue equivalent proportional counter (TEPC) and the silicon detectors in various configurations; the preferred passive dosimeters are CR-39 plastic nuclear track detectors (PNTDs) sensitive to high LET and thermoluminescence dosimeters (TLDs) as well as optically stimulated luminescence dosimeters (OSLDs) sensitive to low LET. The TEPC, CR-39 PNTDs, TLDs and OSLDs were used to investigate the radiation field for the ISS mission Expedition 13 (ISS-12S) in LEO. LET spectra and radiation quantities (fluence, absorbed dose, dose equivalent and quality factor) were measured for the space mission with different dosimeters. This paper introduces the role of high LET radiation in radiobiology, the operational principles for the different dosimeters, the LET spectrum method using CR-39 detectors, the method to combine the results measured with TLDs/OSLDs and CR-39 PNTDs, and presents the LET spectra and the radiation quantities measured and combined.     

Simulations of MATROSHKA experiment outside the ISS using PHITS

The radiation environment at the altitude of the International Space Station (ISS) is substantially different than anything typically encountered on Earth in both the character of the radiation field and the significantly higher dose rates. Concerns about the biological effects on humans of this highly complex natural radiation field are increasing due to higher amount of astronauts performing long-duration missions onboard the ISS and especially if looking into planned future manned missions to Mars. In order to begin the process of predicting the dose levels seen by the organs of an astronaut, being the prerequisite for radiation risk calculations, it is necessary to understand the character of the radiation environment both in- and outside of the ISS as well as the relevant contributions from the radiation field to the organ doses.     

Analysis of the space radiation doses obtained simultaneously at two different locations outside the ISS

Space weather and related ionizing radiation has been recognized as one of the main health concerns for the International Space Station (ISS) crew. The estimation of the radiation effect on humans outside the ISS requires at first order accurate knowledge of their accumulated absorbed dose rates, which depend on the global space radiation distribution, solar cycle and local variations generated by the 3D mass distribution surrounding the ISS. The R3DE (Radiation Risks Radiometer-Dosimeter for the EXPOSE-E platform) on the European Technological Exposure Facility (EuTEF) worked successfully outside of the European Columbus module between February 2008 and September 2009. A very similar instrument named R3DR for the EXPOSE-R platform worked outside the Russian Zvezda module of the ISS between March 2009 and August 2010. Both are Liulin-type detectors, Bulgarian-built miniature spectrometer-dosimeters. The acquired approximately 5 million deposited energy spectra from which the flux and absorbed dose rate were calculated with 10 s resolution behind less than 0.41 g cm⁻² shielding. This paper analyses the spectra collected in 2009 by the R3DE/R instruments and the long-term variations in the different radiation environments of Galactic Cosmic Rays (GCR), inner radiation belt trapped protons in the region of the South Atlantic Anomaly (SAA) and relativistic electrons from the Outer Radiation Belt (ORB). The R3DE instrument, heavily shielded by the surrounding structures, measured smaller primary fluxes and dose rates from energetic protons from the SAA and relativistic electrons from the ORB but higher values from GCRs because of the contribution from secondary particles. The main conclusion from this investigation is that the dose rates from different radiation sources around the International Space Station (ISS) have a large special and temporal dynamic range. The collected data can be interpreted as possible doses obtained by the cosmonauts and astronauts during Extra Vehicular Activities (EVA) because the R3DE/R instruments shielding is very similar to the Russian and American space suits average shielding (,  and ). Fast, active measurements are required to assess accurately the dose accumulated by astronauts during EVA.     

导航卫星高精度太阳光压摄动分析建模及验证

为提高导航卫星精密定轨与轨道预报精度,提出了一种导航卫星太阳光压摄动的分析建模方法.相较于其他摄动因素模型完善且精度较高,光压摄动由于太阳活动导致太阳能量误差、卫星姿态控制误差和表面材料老化等问题,是最难以精确建模的摄动源,也是动力学模型最大的误差源.基于此,提出了一种基于卫星的姿态控制规律,通过分析法建立卫星太阳光压摄动模型,给出了光压摄动加速度在星体坐标系中的模型,并以GPSBlock IIR为例进行了验证.计算结果表明,该仿真分析法所建立的摄动模型与T30模型、ECOM模型精度接近,达到了光压建模研究的初步计算要求.     

天基可见光传感器卫星监视地球同步带目标的轨道设计

在分析地球同步轨道目标光学特性和位置特性的基础上, 确定了天基可见光(Space-Based Visible, SBV)传感器监视整个地球同步带目标的搜索栅栏位置以及搜索策略, 导出搜索栅栏与观测时间和观测次数之间的关系. 根据航天任务需求和SBV传感器特性, 确定了监视轨道的类型和参数约束条件, 给出了约束条件下监视轨道的选取范围, 并对其轨道观测效能进行仿真分析. 仿真结果表明, 通过适当选取监视轨道参数, 监视轨道对地球同步带的覆盖率均可达到90%以上. 如果SBV传感器视场达到4°×4°以上或搜索栅栏宽度大于40°, 其覆盖率高达95%以上.      

高稳晶振在空间辐照条件下的频率特性变化

在空间恶劣环境下要求星载高稳晶振正常有效地工作,需要对其在空间辐照环境下的频率特性变化进行研究,利用地面辐照设备模拟空间辐照环境,通过不断增加辐照剂量,研究晶振相位噪声、短期频率稳定度、谐杂波以及输出功率等特性。     

激发跃迁速率对热力学非平衡氮气紫外辐射的影响

基于氮气的碰撞-辐射（CR）模型,计算了速度为6.2 km/s、初始压力为133 Pa的高超声速流动激波中N₂和N₂+分子电子能级的分布情况,分析了不同激发跃迁速率模型对电子能级分布及辐射光谱模拟的影响。针对流动中热力学非平衡区域和平衡区域,在300~440 nm的辐射光谱开展了逐线法的数值模拟,并与激波管实验测量光谱进行了对比。结果表明,目前的激发跃迁速率均存在偏差,综合Park模型的爱因斯坦系数和Johnston模型的碰撞激发速率可以得到与实验结果最为接近的辐射光谱。      

红外抑制器两种缩比模型的对比实验

介绍了红外抑制器两种缩比模型的对比实验。大小两种模型几何相似比为２，燃气流量比为４，在模拟真实涡轮轴发动机排气条件下，证明其降温能力和红外抑制效果是相同的。文中对红外抑制器对比试验控制参数，混合管壁面温度及红外辐射强度都列表进行比较，从而说明这种红外抑制器模型，如果放大尺寸比例应用于涡轮辆发动机上，也会收到同样的效果。