卫星在空间科学和军事侦察方面的应用

卫星应用在开发太空资源方面已取得丰硕成果,文中从卫星空间环境探测、卫星天文观察和卫星侦察监视三个角度论述了卫星在空间科学和军事侦察方面的应用。     

中国空间探索的切入点——"地月日大系统研究"的观念

探讨了地月系统、地日系统,并在此基础上提出了"地月日大系统"的研究思路。将地、月、日三者关联起来,从系统的角度和多时空尺度研究地、月、日三者之间的内在关联和相互影响,从中找出未来空间探索的主题和科学研究的目标,同时还要围绕这一主题和目标,用系统、整体、历史的观点筹划未来空间活动的开展。     

基于SQP方法的常推力月球软着陆轨道优化方法

月球软着陆是未来月球探测中的一项关键技术。针对这项技术，本文给出了一种基于SQP方法的常推力月球软着陆轨道优化方法。该方法通过将常推力月球软着陆轨道离散化，利用离散点处状态连续作为约束条件，把常推力月球软着陆轨道优化问题归结为一个非线性规划问题，对于此问题的求解，其初值均为有物理意义的状态和控制量，从而避免了采用传统优化方法在解决此优化问题时对没有物理意义变量初值的猜测。最后，利用SQP方法求解了此轨道优化问题。仿真计算结果表明这种离散化的方法应用于此轨道优化问题可以避免传统轨道优化方法对初值敏感的问题。     

月球车控制方案初探

通过对月球车资料的调研,介绍了月球车的导航系统以及实现方案,并针对安放摄像机的平衡系统提出使用无平台平衡系统的设想,对原有的平台平衡系统进行改进.     

Strategies of developing advanced lunar power systems

Electric and thermal power have to be available at the base site on the lunar surface before the first lunar crew arrives. Unlimited solar energy is available during the lunar day, but this must be stored for use during the lunar night unless nuclear energy systems are available. State-of-the-art candidate systems are reviewed and the production of solar cells on the moon is discussed. Various options for developing a lunar power plant are proposed. These must be simulated and optimized in a real lifecycle systems scenario to provide operations and cost data essential for choosing a strategy.     

Gas permeability and flow characterization of simulated lunar regolith

Recent discoveries of water ice trapped within lunar topsoil (regolith) have placed a new emphasis on the recovery and utilization of water for future space exploration. Upon heating the lunar ice to sublimation, the resulting water vapor could theoretically transmit through the lunar regolith, to be captured on the surface. As the permeability of lunar regolith is essential to this process, this paper seeks to experimentally determine the permeability and flow characteristics of various gas species through simulated lunar regolith (SLR). Two different types of SLR were compacted and placed into the permeability setup to measure the flow-rate of transmitted gas through the sample. Darcy’s permeability constant was calculated for each sample and gas combination, and flow characteristics were determined from the results. The results show that Darcy’s permeability constant varies with SLR compaction density, and identified no major difference in permeable flow between the several tested gas species. Between the two tested SLR types, JSC-1A was shown to be more permeable than NU-LHT under similar conditions. In addition, a transition zone was identified in the flow when the gas pressure differential across the sample was less than ∼40 kPa.     

Production of high fidelity lunar agglutinate simulant

As space faring nations consider manned and unmanned missions to the Moon, there is a growing need to develop high fidelity lunar regolith simulants that can accurately reproduce the properties and behavior of lunar regolith. Such simulants will be employed to verify the performance of equipment, mechanisms, structures and processes to be used on the lunar surface. One of the significant limitations of current terrestrial-based simulants, such as the popular mare simulant, JSC-1A, is the lack of agglutinates. This paper investigates the production of a lunar mare agglutinate simulant based on JSC-1A. A modified plasma processing technique was used to expose the JSC-1A regolith simulant to high temperatures and transform it to predominantly a glassy phase. Detailed characterization results are presented to confirm that the agglutinate simulant material produced during this investigation reasonably satisfies the primary requirements of an agglutinate simulant such as amorphous/crystalline content, particle size, morphology, vesicular structure, chemistry, and presence of nanophase elemental Fe.     

Study on passive momentum exchange landing gear using two-dimensional analysis

This paper discusses a landing response control system based on the momentum exchange principle for planetary exploration spacecraft. In the past, landing gear systems with cantilever designs that incorporate honeycomb materials to dissipate shock energy through plastic deformation have been used, but once tested before launch, the system cannot be used in a real mission. The sky crane system used for the Mars Science Laboratory by NASA can achieve a safe and precise landing, but it is highly complex. This paper introduces a momentum exchange impact damper (MEID) that absorbs the controlled object׳s momentum with extra masses called damper masses. The MEID is reusable, which makes it easy to ensure the landing gear׳s reliability. In this system, only passive elements such as springs are needed. A single-axis (SA) model has already been used to verify the effectiveness of MEIDs through simulations and experiments measuring the rebound height of the spacecraft. However, the SA model cannot address the rotational motion and tipping of the spacecraft. This paper presents a two-landing-gear-system (TLGS) model in which multiple MEIDs are equipped for two-dimensional analysis. Unlike in the authors׳ previous studies, in this study each MEID is launched when the corresponding landing gear lands and the MEIDs do not contain active actuators. This mechanism can be used to realize advanced control specifications, and it is simply compared with previous mechanisms including actuators, in which all of the MEIDs are launched simultaneously. If each MEID works when the corresponding gear lands, the rebound height of each gear can be minimized, and tipping can be prevented, as demonstrated by the results of our simulations.     

Ares V launch vehicle: An enabling capability for future space science missions

NASA's planned Ares V cargo launch vehicle offers the potential to completely change the paradigm of future space science mission architectures. Future space science telescopes desire increasingly larger telescope collecting aperture. But, current launch vehicle mass and volume constraints are a severe limit. The Ares V greatly relaxes these constraints. For example, while current launch vehicles have the ability to place a 4.5 m diameter payload with a mass of 9400 kg on to a Sun-Earth L2 transfer trajectory, the Ares V is projected to have the ability to place an 8.8 m diameter payload with a mass of approximately 60,000 kg on to the same trajectory, or 180,000 kg into Low Earth Orbit. Also the Ares V could place approximately 3000 kg (13,000 kg with a Centaur upper stage) on to a trajectory with a C3 of 106 km²/s², arriving at Saturn in 6.1 years without the use of gravity assists. This paper summarizes the current planned Ares V payload launch capability.     

月球穿透器与月震仪组网探测研究

提出了一种利用月球穿透器实现多点月震仪的布设,对着陆点选取、分离与下降过程、载荷配置及穿透器系统等进行了分析与设计。穿透器与环绕器分离后完成制动,下降并侵彻月球浅表,开展科学探测,并实现大尺度的月震仪布设。研究可为我国未来月球地震仪组网和月球基地建立提供参考。