Determination of station positions and velocities from laser ranging observations to Ajisai,Starlette and Stella satellites

The positions and velocities of the four Satellite Laser Ranging (SLR) stations: Yarragadee (7090), Greenbelt (7105), Graz (7839) and Herstmonceux (7840) from 5-year (2001–2005) SLR data of low orbiting satellites (LEO): Ajisai, Starlette and Stella were determined. The orbits of these satellites were computed from the data provided by 20 SLR stations. All orbital computations were performed by means of NASA Goddard’s GEODYN-II program. The geocentric coordinates were transformed to the topocentric North–South, East–West and Vertical components in reference to ITRF2005. The influence of the number of normal points per orbital arc and the empirical acceleration coefficients on the quality of station coordinates was studied. To get standard deviation of the coordinates determination lower than 1 cm, the number of the normal points per site had to be greater than 50. The computed positions and velocities were compared to those derived from LAGEOS-1/LAGEOS-2 data. Three parameters were used for this comparison: station coordinates stability, differences from ITRF2005 positions and velocities. The stability of coordinates of LEO satellites is significantly worse (17.8 mm) than those of LAGEOS (7.6 mm), the better results are for Ajisai (15.4 mm) than for Starlette/Stella (20.4 mm). The difference in positions between the computed values and ITRF2005 were little bit worse for Starlette/Stella (6.6 mm) than for LAGEOS (4.6 mm), the results for Ajisai were five times worse (29.7 mm) probably due to center of mass correction of this satellite. The station velocities with some exceptions were on the same level (≈1 mm/year) for all satellites. The results presented in this work show that results from Starlette/Stella are better than those from Ajisai for station coordinates determination. We can applied the data from LEO satellites, especially Starlette and Stella for determination of the SLR station coordinates but with two times lower accuracy than when using LAGEOS data.     

Satellite and ground detection of very dense smoke clouds produced on the islands of the Paraná river delta that affected a large region in Central Argentina

Intense fires were produced on the Paraná river delta islands, Argentina, during most part of 2008, by a combination of an exceptionally dry period and the farmers’ use of a fire land-cleaning technique. In April 2008, those fires significantly affected the nearby regions and their inhabitants, from Rosario city to Buenos Aires mega-city. In this work we present satellite as well as ground Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD) at 550 nm data obtained during the propagation of pollution clouds to the central zone of Argentina. The highest value (1.18) was registered at Buenos Aires by atmospheric remote sensing, using the satellite instrument MODIS/Terra on April 18th 2008 at 10:35 local time (= UT − 3 h). On the same day, ground air quality detectors also measured in this city the highest Total Suspended Particle (TSP) value of the month, 2.02 mg/m³. The AOD(550) daily variation at Rosario Astronomical Observatory, which is located near the Paraná riverside, was derived by combining solar ultraviolet erythemal irradiance data (measured with a YES biometre) with model calculations. On April 25th 2008, from 12:00 to 15:30 local time, a rather high and constant AOD(550) value was registered, with a mean value of (0.90 ± 0.21). Cities located on the side of the Rosario–Buenos Aires highway (San Nicolás, Baradero and San Pedro) were also affected, showing a mean AOD(550) between the Rosario and Buenos Aires values. The particulate matter was collected with gridded samplers placed on the Paraná river islands as well as at the Rosario Observatory. They were analysed with a Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) and mainly showed a biological origin. Even if normally large particles travel small distances from the source, organic aerosol in the range of 40–100 μm and complex asymmetric structures were registered several kilometres away from the aerosol sources on the islands. Another event of intense UV index attenuation (98.6%) occurred on September 18th 2008, due to very dense smoke clouds that extended over the Rosario area for several hours. The clouds were driven away from the fires by East–northeast and East–southeast winds. The minimum value of this index measured around noon allows to derive a maximum AOD(550)_max = (3.65 ± 0.90) at 12:45 local time. Soot clouds extended over the Paraná river, transporting Burned Biomass Debris (BBD) that deposited on Rosario. In particular, burned leaves and small branches with dimensions of 1–20 cm were collected. The mean (BBD) particles deposited on the ground from 7:00 to 19:00 local time were (0.92 ± 0.20) BBD/(m² h).     

低轨卫星通信系统地面核心网设计与仿真

文章针对无星际链路的低轨卫星通信系统，利用OPNET软件设计了低轨卫星通信系统在透明转发模式下的核心网构成，并进行了性能仿真。首先介绍核心网的构成、功能和拓扑，在此基础上实现了呼叫处理和切换的仿真，统计了呼叫时延、切换时延等性能指标，分析了仿真结果，为低轨道卫星通信系统的设计奠定了一定的参考价值。     

卫星结构中的非金属材料

介绍了各种复合材料、胶粘剂、高分子材料和工业陶瓷等非金属材料的性能及其在卫星结构中的应用情况。强调了非金属材料在提高卫星性能、减轻卫星结构质量，以及增大卫星有效栽荷方面的作用。最后指出了卫星结构材料高性能、多功能、复合化、智能化、低成本以及高环境相容性的发展趋势。     

Fade duration statistics for Ku-band satellite links

Fade duration database was built to enhance the study of propagation characterises in the Equatorial region. The data was measured via a beacon receiver Ku-band whereby the antenna was directed to a SUPERBIRD-C2 satellite at 12.255 GHz. The performance of the measured data has been compared with ITU-R model, Kormanyos et al. and Paulson–Gibbins. The results show that the Paulson–Gibbins fits well with measured data with a low RMS error of 0.2 dB. The number of statistics available for the equatorial is small and the periods of measurement are short compared to those for temperate regions.     

圆轨道星座全球覆盖的充分必要条件

对采用圆轨道的星座，目前的研究基本上局限于实际应用方面，很少进行理论方面的研究，本文首次提出并证明了达到全球连续多重覆盖的充要条件。这对进行星座设计具有积极的指导意义。     

基于实测星载原子钟数据的脉冲星守时方法

利用脉冲星估计星载原子钟钟差是实现卫星自主守时的途径之一。为充分分析基于脉冲星的自主守时系统性能，利用实测的星载原子钟钟差数据和中子星内部组成探测器(neutron star interior composition explorer, NICER)的PSR B1937+21脉冲星的观测数据，对比分析了星载原子钟和脉冲星的误差特性。设计了脉冲星守时系统框架和星载原子钟钟差估计方法。以实测的星载原子钟钟差数据为基础，计算分析了脉冲星守时系统的性能。计算结果表明，若脉冲星的脉冲到达时间（time of arrival, TOA）解算精度为1 μs/30 d，则原子钟钟差估计精度可达到优于1 μs的水平，初步验证了脉冲星守时系统的可行性。     

基于粗糙集理论的卫星故障诊断方法

卫星结构和控制的复杂性、独特性和诱发故障的多源性导致其故障诊断的困难。卫星的一种故障模式与许多症状变量有关,目前的故障诊断推理因未充分考虑症状变量的冗余变量而比较复杂。提出了基于粗糙集理论的故障症状约简新方法,用卫星故障实例研究了新方法的应用,结果表明该约简方法对消除卫星故障症状信息冗余、简化和优化故障诊断推理非常有效。     

卫星遥感影像外方位元素的误差传播研究

高分辨率卫星遥感影像的几何定位精度与影像外方位元素精度密切相关.文章针对单景影像直接对地定位和立体影像前方交会定位两种典型情况,对影像各外方位元素在目标几何定位中的误差传播规律进行分析比较,相关结论可供卫星姿控及相机载荷设计方参考.