The relationship between plasma effects and cosmic radiation studied with TriTel-LMP measurements during the ESEO mission

The main point of the paper is to use the simultaneous measurements of the energetic particle flux by TriTel and those of electron density by a Langmuir probe to study the question of to what extent solar electromagnetic and corpuscular radiation (galactic cosmic rays, particle precipitation from the radiation belts) are responsible for the ionization of the atmosphere. The electron density measured by the Langmuir probe is the sum of the ionization produced by the solar electromagnetic radiation and that due to the corpuscular radiation. The ionization produced by the solar electromagnetic radiation may be computed. The flux of energetic particles in an energy range may be determined by taking the difference between the threshold energy of the TriTel telescopes and the energy corresponding to the local cut-off rigidity. As the ESEO satellite will have a quasi-polar and circular orbit, the cut-off rigidity will change from low to high latitudes, thus enabling the assignment of different energy bands for the telescopes. Thus, it will be possible to determine which energy bands of particle produce ionization at different latitudes.     

The possibilities of polar meteorology,environmental remote sensing,communications and space weather applications from Artificial Lagrange Orbit

The ability to observe meteorological events in the polar regions of the Earth from satellite celebrated an anniversary, with the launch of TIROS-I in a pseudo-polar orbit on 1 April 1960. Yet, after 50 years, polar orbiting satellites are still the best view of the polar regions of the Earth. The luxuries of geostationary satellite orbit including rapid scan operations, feature tracking, and atmospheric motion vectors (or cloud drift winds), are enjoyed only by the middle and tropical latitudes or perhaps only cover the deep polar regions in the case of satellite derived winds from polar orbit. The prospect of a solar sailing satellite system in an Artificial Lagrange Orbit (ALO, also known as “pole sitters”) offers the opportunity for polar environmental remote sensing, communications, forecasting and space weather monitoring. While there are other orbital possibilities to achieve this goal, an ALO satellite system offers one of the best analogs to the geostationary satellite system for routine polar latitude observations.     

Science operations planning expertise: A neglected component of mission design

In this paper, Science Operations Planning Expertise (SOPE) is defined as the expertise that is held by people who have the two following qualities. First they have both theoretical and practical experience in operations planning, in general, and in space science operations planning in particular. Second, they can be used, on request and at least, to provide with advice the teams that design and implement science operations systems in order to optimise the performance and productivity of the mission. However, the relevance and use of such SOPE early on during the Mission Design Phase (MDP) is not sufficiently recognised. As a result, science operations planning is often neglected or poorly assessed during the mission definition phases. This can result in mission architectures that are not optimum in terms of cost and scientific returns, particularly for missions that require a significant amount of science operations planning. Consequently, science operations planning difficulties and cost underestimations are often realised only when it is too late to design and implement the most appropriate solutions. In addition, higher costs can potentially reduce both the number of new missions and the chances of existing ones to be extended. Moreover, the quality, and subsequently efficiency, of SOPE can vary greatly. This is why we also believe that the best possible type of SOPE requires a structure similar to the ones of existing bodies of expertise dedicated to the data processing such as the International Planetary Data Alliance (IPDA), the Space Physics Archive Search and Extract (SPASE) or the Planetary Data System (PDS). Indeed, this is the only way of efficiently identifying science operations planning issues and their solutions as well as of keeping track of them in order to apply them to new missions. Therefore, this paper advocates for the need to allocate resources in order to both optimise the use of SOPE early on during the MDP and to perform, at least, a feasibility study of such a more structured SOPE.     

Ionization effect of solar protons in the Earth atmosphere – Case study of the 20 January 2005 SEP event

The cosmic ray ground level enhancement on January 20, 2005 is among the largest recorded events in the history of cosmic ray measurements. The solar protons of MeV energies cause an excess of ionization in the atmosphere, specifically over polar caps following major solar disturbances. The ionization effect in the Earth atmosphere is obtained for various latitudes on the basis of solar proton energy spectra, reconstructed from GOES 11 measurements and subsequent full Monte Carlo simulation of cosmic ray induced atmospheric cascade. The estimation of ionization rates is based on a numerical model for cosmic ray induced ionization. The evolution of atmospheric cascade is performed with the CORSIKA 6.52 code using FLUKA 2006b and QGSJET II hadron interaction models. The atmospheric ion rate ionization is explicitly obtained for 40°N, 60°N and 80°N latitudes. The time evolution of obtained ion rates is presented. It is demonstrated that ionization effect is negative for 40°N and small for 60°N, because of accompanying Forbush decrease. The ionization effect is significant only in sub-polar and polar atmosphere during the major ground level enhancement of 20 January 2005.     

空间计量中长度单位和距离测量

长度单位定义是建立在光直线传播、光速在真空中为常数,以及光速各向同性的理论基础上,二维球面上的直线,在三维空间中是弯曲的测地线;三维空间的直线,在四维时空中也是弯曲的测地线。长度单位的定义是否适用四维时空呢？SI秒和SI米的定义适用于全域时空,但使用它们必需明确原时和坐标时的区别。爱因斯坦的狭义相对论以及光速不变原理只适用于惯性系,不适用于非惯性系。本文以转盘上的非惯性坐标系为例,利用广义相对论的坐标变换和时空度规运算,揭示了非惯性坐标系上的时空弯曲和光的非直线传播现象。计算了非惯性坐标系上Sagnac效应对卫星和地面站双向测距的影响,初步研究表明空间测量范围从局域推广到全域的话,诸如引力红移、相对速度效应、Sagnac效应等将会成为空间长度测量不确定度的影响因素,因此空间计量理论必须建立在广义相对论基础之上,用四维时空观念理解空间距离测量问题。     

一种改进的多点融合非均匀校正技术

针对空间宽幅相机在进行非均匀性校正过程中相机镜头与积分球输出口的相对位置发生变换后非均匀性校正精度下降的原因进行了分析,提出了一种改进的融合多点位置的非均匀校正新方法,即为了消除积分球的角均匀性和面均匀性的不足,采用获取多个位置的大量定标图像,融合求取平均值的方法得到校正系数来削弱这种影响,并进行试验验证分析。结果表明,多点融合的校正方法在积分球输出口光强不均匀、又无法固定相机与积分球相对位置的前提下,减少了积分球光强的不均匀性对系数可靠性的影响,相对辐射定标的非均匀校正精度得到大幅提高。     

柔性机械臂辅助空间站舱段对接阻抗控制

空间机械臂辅助舱段对接过程中存在测量与控制误差,易导致对接机构间存在较大接触力,传统FMA (Force MomentAccommodation)控制方法在测量接触力时无法消除大负载惯性力对测量的影响,且测量仪器的引入会进一步降低空间柔性机械臂的刚度。为此,文章提出了柔性机械臂辅助大负载空间舱段对接的阻抗控制方法,采用拉格朗日法推导了空间机械臂的关节输入力矩方程作为前馈输入,建立了含动力学前馈的空间机械臂阻抗控制程序,并以在商业软件ADAMS中建立的空间柔性机械臂与对接舱段组成的系统动力学模型作为控制对象,对系统进行ADAMS灢Matlab联合仿真。仿真结果表明,按照此控制方法,系统可克服外力干扰使目标解析点按照期望的方式运动;同时,通过测量机械臂关节运动参数即可实现对外力的准确感知,而不需额外添加力传感器,既消除了大负载惯性力对测量的影响,也不会导致柔性机械臂刚度的降低。     

空间交会对接技术

本文综述空间交会对接技术目前发展概况,着重讨论自主交会对接控制技术,敏感器和对接面结构型式。     

空间微重力资源

本文简要地阐述了空间微重力资源对人类的深远影响;介绍了该领域的发展进程和研究方向;指出了我国在微重力工作方面的成绩和前景。     

空间天气模式集成可视化演示软件设计

空间天气模式集成是空间天气预报业务化的基础, 空间天气模式集成可视化演示软件系统是其中重要的研究内容之一. 空间天气模式种类繁多, 要素多样, 模型复杂, 且各模式可视化形式及方法具有差异性. 本文综合当前中国空间天气模式的特点, 构建了一套空间天气模式集成可视化演示系统. 该系统兼容性好、可扩展性高, 能够集成当前中国空间天气中大多数模式. 讨论了空间数据管理方法, 基于Visual C++ 软件平台和OpenGL可视化软件模块,以动态加载方式初步实现了多个空间天气模式的可视化集成.