Imaging spectroscopy of the Venus 1.27-μm O2 airglow with ground-based telescopes

Several ground-based observations of the Venus 1.27-μm O₂ airglow were carried out from 2002 to 2005. Spectral image cubes were taken with the Okayama Astrophysical Observatory/infrared imaging spectrometer (superOASIS), the Gunma Astronomical Observatory/Cassegrain Near-Infrared Camera and NASA’s Infrared Telescope Facility/cryogenic echelle spectrograph (CSHELL). The brightest airglow features were found at around the anti-solar point, which is in agreement with previous studies. We derived the rotational temperature distributions on the nightside hemisphere from observed airglow spectra. The temperature shows a weak positive correlation with the airglow intensity. The result indicates the bright region is heated chemically and/or dynamically, and supports the existing scenario for the Venus O₂ airglow. That is, the airglow is excited by the descending oxygen transported from the dayside.     

THE SPACE APPLICATION ACHIEVEMENTS OF THE CHINESE UNMANNED SPACECRAFT "SZ-3"

During the 3rd mission of Chinese Unmanned Spacecraft the application sys tem of "SZ-3" (Shenzhou, a divine ship) gets a great success, all its goals are achieved. Many areas of science and breakthrough technology, including earth observation, earth environment monitoring, space material, space life science etc., are carried out in the mission. There are 44 payload instruments totally.All the instruments are working well during the orbit flight and a lot of good results are obtained. Many areas, for example the moderate resolution imag ing spectroradiometer, the solar ultraviolet spectral irradiance monitor and the space protein crystallization facility perform better than required and expected.A brief introduction of the experiments and the achievements of the mission is given in this paper.     

An adaptive threshold method for improving astrometry of space debris CCD images

Optical survey is a main technique for observing space debris, and precisely measuring the positions of space debris is of great importance. Due to several factors, e.g. the angle object normal to the observer, the shape as well as the attitude of the object, the variations of observed characteristics for low earth orbital space debris are distinct. When we look at optical CCD images of observed objects, the size and brightness are varying, hence it’s difficult to decide the threshold during centroid measurement and precise astrometry. Traditionally the threshold is given empirically and constantly in data reduction, and obviously it’s not suitable for data reduction of space debris. Here we offer a solution to provide the threshold. Our method assumes that the PSF (point spread function) is Gaussian and estimates the signal flux by a directly two-dimensional Gaussian fit, then a cubic spline interpolation is performed to divide each initial pixel into several sub-pixels, at last the threshold is determined by the estimation of signal flux and the sub-pixels above threshold are separated to estimate the centroid. A trail observation of the fast spinning satellite Ajisai is made and the CCD frames are obtained to test our algorithm. The calibration precision of various threshold is obtained through the comparison between the observed equatorial position and the reference one, the latter are obtained from the precise ephemeris of the satellite. The results indicate that our method reduces the total errors of measurements, it works effectively in improving the centering precision of space debris images.     

Swarm – An Earth Observation Mission investigating Geospace

The Swarm mission was selected as the 5th mission in ESA’s Earth Explorer Programme in 2004. This mission aims at measuring the Earth’s magnetic field with unprecedented accuracy. This will be done by a constellation of three satellites, where two will fly at lower altitude, measuring the gradient of the magnetic field, and one satellite will fly at higher altitude. The measured magnetic field is the sum of many contributions including both magnetic fields and currents in the Earth’s interior and electrical currents in Geospace. In order to separate all these sources electric field and plasma measurements will also be made to complement the primary magnetic field measurements. Together these will allow the deduction of information on a series of solid earth processes responsible for the creation of the fields measured. The completeness of the measurements on each satellite and the constellation aspect, however, implies simultaneous observations of a unique set of important electrodynamical parameters crucial for the understanding of the physical processes in Geospace, which are an important part of the objectives of the International Living With a Star Programme, ILWS. In this paper an overview of the Swarm science objectives, the mission concept, the scientific instrumentation, and the expected contribution to the ILWS programme will be summarized.     

Three-axis attitude determination using incomplete vector observations

Attitude determination refers to determining the orientation of a vehicle relative to its reference coordinate system. This paper presents a new algorithm for three-axis attitude determination using measurement vectors composed of incomplete vector components. The attitude determination performance of the proposed algorithm is compared with those of the TRIAD and QUEST algorithms in a simulation.     

飞航导弹地标被动观测自主导航修正技术

飞航导弹在外界导航系统不可用的情况下,可对航路上已知精确地理位置的典型地标进行测角和测距,从而实现对导弹导航位置误差的修正.飞航导弹为提高其隐蔽性,不能使用雷达或激光等有源测量设备,而采用成像观测又无法得到距离信息.因此为解决飞航导弹航路中隐蔽式导航自主修正的难题,提出了基于气压高度表的被动观测UKF滤波导航修正技术,从而实现飞航导弹在完全隐蔽情况下导航坐标的自主修正.     

面向卫星多目标重复观测任务的分层聚类规划

针对敏捷卫星多目标重复观测任务规划面临的可行任务执行序列集合规模庞大困难,提出了一种任务执行序列时间解耦的分层聚类任务规划方法。该方法以规划过程中的可观测窗口和任务执行窗口为聚类对象,通过单次可观测窗口聚类和多次任务执行窗口聚类将任务集合按任务窗口属性分解为一系列时间解耦的小规模集合,在两次任务执行窗口聚类间使用基于贪婪优化的搜索算法对聚类生成的小规模任务集合分别进行集合内任务规划,最后将各集合的任务规划结果合并后得到所有任务的执行序列。仿真结果表明,该分层聚类方法可有效降低全局优化复杂度,消解不同优先级观测任务的冲突,提高任务规划质量,能够在不降低目标点观测完成率的前提下对有多个观测机会的目标点进行重复观测,且算法稳定性好,能在数秒内得出规划结果,适用于星上自主任务规划。     

地面目标被卫星观测的时间计算方程

根据几何原理,对沿圆轨道运行、星载遥感器以圆锥扫描方式或线扫描方式工作的卫星,给出了确定地面目标能被该卫星观测的时间的方程。     

纳卫星激光反射器光机设计及激光测距分析

针对我国首个大气密度探测纳卫星高精度测轨应用需求,设计了重量约112g、有效反射面积大于1cm2、外形尺寸为Φ96mm×20mm的轻型八棱台结构被动型激光反射器,作为无功耗载荷应用于纳卫星激光精密测轨,解决了纳卫星高精度独立测轨和外部轨道精确标定问题。利用地面激光测距台站开展卫星跟踪和精密测量,提供亚厘米级精度的激光测量数据。根据激光雷达测距方程及地面测距系统参数,分析了纳卫星激光回波信号强度,以及激光观测数据精度。测量结果表明,纳卫星激光反射器设计结果与实测数据相符,测距数据精度达8~9mm,可以满足纳卫星高精度激光测距要求,并支持卫星精密定轨及大气密度探测科学任务。