Optimal crater landmark selection based on optical navigation performance factors for planetary landing

Planetary craters are natural navigation landmarks that widely exist and are easily observed. Optical navigation based on crater landmarks has become an important autonomous navigation method for planetary landing. Due to the increase in observed crater landmarks and the limitation of onboard computation, the selection of good crater landmarks has gradually become a research hotspot in the field of landmark-based optical navigation. This paper designs a fast crater landmark selection method, which not only considers the configuration observability of crater subsets but also focuses on the influence on navigation performance arising from the measurement uncertainty and the matching confidence of craters, which is different from other landmark selection methods. The factor of measurement uncertainty, which is anisotropic, correlated and nonidentically distributed, is quantified and integrated into selection based on crater pairing detection and localization error evaluation. In addition, the concept of the crater matching confidence factor is introduced, which reflects the possibility of 2D projection measurements corresponding to 3D positions. Combined with the configuration observability factor, the crater landmark selection indicator is formed. Finally, the effectiveness of the proposed method is verified by Monte Carlo simulations.     

The day-to-day variability in the mesosphere and lower thermosphere in low latitudes: A study using MF radar

This study presents the analysis of planetary waves (PWs) using daily mean wind velocities for four years (August 2013 to July 2017) of continuous measurements using MF radar over the low latitude Indian region Kolhapur (16.8° N; 74.2° E). The MF radar at Kolhapur was upgraded in 2013. These are the first results of PWs after the upgradation of MF radar. The seasonal and intra-seasonal variabilities of East-West (EW) traveling PWs in the MLT region have been studied. In the present work, the data was analyzed to study the waves with various periodicities (e.g. 3–4, 5–8, 15–17, and 30–60 days). The 3.5 day [Ultra-Fast Kelvin (UFK)] wave shows semiannual variability with burst like wave activity observed during the summer months and December solstice. In addition, it is observed to be stronger in the spring equinoctial period. A strong semiannual oscillation (SAO) has been observed in a 6.5-day wave with peaks near the equinoxes. Similar to SAO over the low latitude MLT region, the wave activity is stronger in April/May than in September/October. The 6.5-day waves are observed to be stronger when the background mean wind is westward. From the analysis, it has been seen that the period before and after the equinoctial period is favorable for the 6.5-day wave propagation. The 16-day wave has no significant seasonal dependence; instead, the waves spread to almost all seasons. The Madden-Julian Oscillations (MJOs) have been observed to be propagating with an average wind speed of ～ 5 m/s when the background mean wind is eastward. The occurrence of MJO is observed during the summer and winter months. These results are the first of their kind in two aspects: first, they show the PWs with enhanced altitude coverage covering up to 110 km, and second, they show the PWs not contaminated due to equatorial electro jet influence.     

基于深度强化学习的复杂地形适应机器人设计与实验

针对行星表面轻量化自主探测任务，基于仿生思想设计了一种仿海胆结构的十二足球形机器人，其具备自主改变构型以贴合复杂地形的能力，可实现无倾覆、高容错的全向运动；基于数据驱动方法，对该机器人设计了一种数据高效的无模型强化学习运动策略，可实现无先验知识的从0到1步态训练以及步态的实物样机快速部署。通过在平面地形和非结构化地形中对其进行仿真实验，验证了经过训练的机器人具备自主运动、适应非结构地形等能力；通过与常用基准策略进行对比，证实了本文提出的运动策略具有训练高效、鲁棒性好的优势；最后通过开发原理样机，开展实物实验验证了仿真环境中所生成的步态在真实物理环境中的动力学可行性。     

Four-body cislunar quasi-periodic orbits and their application to ballistic lunar transfer design

Examining the properties of quasi-periodic orbits provides insight into the Sun-perturbed environment in cislunar space. In this investigation, quasi-periodic trajectories and their properties are explored in the Sun-Earth-Moon four-body problem. Computation and the stability characteristics of families of invariant tori are detailed. Furthermore, this investigation offers a framework for construction of ballistic lunar transfer trajectories in the four-body problem. The framework leverages manifold trajectories to supply a set of initial conditions for construction of periapsis Poincaré maps. Periapsis maps reduce the dimensionality of the space and illuminate solutions of interest as a basis to produce feasible families of transfers. Through a continuation process, families of ballistic transfers and families of transfers that include powered lunar flybys are constructed. Ultimately, these solutions supply an initial guess for transition to the Sun-Earth-Moon ephemeris model.     

Autonomous mission reconstruction during the ascending flight of launch vehicles under typical propulsion system failures

In recent years, Chinese Long March(LM) launchers have experienced several launch failures, most of which occurred in their propulsion systems, and this paper studies Autonomous Mission Reconstruction(AMRC) technology to alleviate losses due to these failures. The status of the techniques related to AMRC, including trajectory and mission planning, guidance methods,and fault tolerant technologies, are reviewed, and their features are compared, which reflect the challenges faced by AMRC technology...     

Response of quasi-10-day waves in the MLT region to the sudden stratospheric warming in March 2020

We present an analysis of the response of quasi-10-day waves (Q10DWs) to the sudden stratospheric warming (SSW) event which occurred on March 23, 2020. The Q10DWs are observed in the mesosphere and lower thermosphere (MLT) region by three meteor radars, which are located at middle latitudes along the 120°E meridian from Mohe (MH, 53.5°N, 122.3°E), Beijing (BJ, 40.3°N, 116.2°E), to Wuhan (WH, 30.5°N, 114.6°E). The Q10DWs reveal similar temporal and altitudinal variations during the SSW in the MLT region at the three stations. The activities of Q10DWs are also captured in the temperature measurements from the Sounding of the Atmosphere using Broadband Emission Radiometry (SABER) on the Thermosphere Ionosphere Mesosphere Energetics and Dynamics satellite in the MLT region. Further analysis of the Q10DW phases indicates that the Q10DWs might be in situ generated due to mesospheric instabilities at higher latitudes around MH and then propagate southward to lower latitudes at BJ and WH. The atmospheric instabilities are not directly responsible for the excitations of Q10DWs at lower latitudes, while the observed equatorward propagation of the Q10DWs is important. Our result provides the observational evidence for latitudinal couplings in the MLT region after the SSW onset, which is achieved by southward propagating planetary waves in the MLT region.