低轨航天器天基测控方法研究

我国的航天器测控主要依赖地基测控系统实施,随着民用和军用需求的不断增加,太空运行的低轨航天器数量越来越多.仅依赖地基测控系统满足这些航天器的测控需求越来越困难,费用也越来越高.探索新的、有效且经济的测控模式势在必行.天基测控技术是航天器测控发展的方向,研究和应用天基测控技术具有重要的实用价值,可以解决困扰我国航天领域多年的测控资源紧张问题.在分析美国NASA数据与中继卫星系统相关技术的基础上,提出了我国低轨航天器天地基测控模式,讨论了该模式的运行原理,设计了该模式的仿真系统,分析了应用该模式需解决的关键技术问题,通过基于设计的仿真系统对提出的测控模式进行了验证.验证结果表明了提出的天地基测控模式可行,可以满足低轨航天器的测控需求.      

日本技术试验卫星-Ⅷ在轨运行浅析

简要介绍日本技术试验卫星-Ⅷ的概况,分析了技术试验卫星-Ⅷ的系统设计特点和在轨初始运行情况及故障,并简述了该卫星今后的运行计划。     

2020中美阿火星探测任务分析

2020年为火星探测大年,各国相继赶在发射窗口发射自己的火星探测器,截至目前成功赶上发射窗口的国家,按时间先后分别为阿联酋、中国和美国。给出了2020年火星探测发射和到达窗口的“猪排”能量图,从有效载荷、发射窗口、运载火箭、地火转移轨道、火星俘获及着陆、通信等方面,对3个国家发射的探测器进行了对比分析,给出2020年三国火星探测各环节的关键参数,并提取出共同点及不同的特殊之处。     

一种低轨星座高精度相位保持方法

针对大型低轨星座在轨运行的高精度构型保持问题,提出了一种基于极限环的高精度相位保持方法。首先,推导了实际轨道与参考轨道的平相位角偏差与半长轴偏差的关系；然后,建立了基于极限环的相位保持周期以及半长轴改变量计算方法；最后,基于推导的半长轴偏差与相位偏差的关系,提出了一种相位保持实施方法。考虑地球非球形和大气阻力的数值仿真表明：本文提出的相位保持方法能够在卫星定轨数据精度不高、数据采样间隔较大的情况下,实现低轨星座系统的高精度相位保持。     

地球同步轨道卫星混合推进转移轨道特性分析

以地球同步轨道卫星转移轨道设计为背景，针对全化学推进燃料消耗大和全电推进转移时间长的问题，开展了化学 电混合推进转移轨道优化设计与特性分析。首先，讨论了轨道倾角和近地点幅角变化对混合推进转移轨道的影响。研究表明，在混合推进优化设计中需要将轨道倾角作为优化变量之一。然后，以近地点半径、远地点半径、轨道倾角为优化变量生成搜索网格，得到过渡轨道集。针对每条过渡轨道，构建化学推进转移段和电推进转移段。其中化学推进段采用单圈兰伯特转移解算，电推进段采用混合法优化。最后，以燃料消耗和转移时间为指标，在搜索域内开展解算分析，研究了混合推进轨道在整个搜索域内的变化趋势。该方法可以提供具有不同燃料消耗和转移时间的混合推进转移解集，拓宽了解空间，可供轨道设计人员根据任务约束灵活选用。     

First laser measurements to space debris in Poland

The Borowiec Satellite Laser Ranging station (BORL 7811, Borowiec) being a part of the Space Research Centre of the Polish Academy of Sciences (SRC PAS) went through modernization in 2014–2015. One of the main tasks of the modernization was the installation of a high-energy laser module dedicated to space debris tracking. Surelite III by Continuum is a Nd:YAG pulse laser with 10?Hz repetition rate, a pulse width of 3–5?ns and a pulse energy of 450?mJ for green (532?nm). This new laser unit was integrated with the SLR system at Borowiec performing standard satellite tracking. In 2016 BORL 7811 participated actively to the observational campaigns related to the space debris targets from LEO region managed by the Space Debris Study Group (SDSG) of the International Laser Ranging Service (ILRS).Currently, Borowiec station regularly tracks 36 space debris from the LEO regime, including typical rocket bodies (Russian/Chinese) and cooperative targets like the inactive TOPEX/Poseidon, ENVISAT, OICETS and others. In this paper the first results of space debris laser measurements obtained by the Borowiec station in period August 2016 – January 2017 are presented. The results gained by the SRC PAS Borowiec station confirm the rotation of the defunct TOPEX/Poseidon satellite which spins with a period of approximately 10?s. The novelty of this work is the presentation of the sample results of the Chinese CZ-2C R/B target (NORAD catalogue number 31114) which is equipped (probably) with retroreflectors. Laser measurements to space debris is a very desirable topic for the next years, especially in the context of the Space Surveillance and Tracking (SST) activity. Some targets are very easy to track like defunct ENVISAT or TOPEX/Poseidon. On the other hand, there is a big population of different LEO targets with different orbital and physical parameters, which are challenging for laser ranging like small irregular debris and rocket boosters.     

Probabilistic resident space object detection using archival THEMIS fluxgate magnetometer data

Recent progress in the detection of small space objects, at geosynchronous altitudes, through ground-based optical and radar measurements is demonstrated as a viable method. However, in general, these methods are limited to detection of objects greater than 10?cm. This paper examines the use of magnetometers to detect plausible flyby encounters with charged space objects using a matched filter signal existence binary hypothesis test approach. Relevant data-set processing and reduction of archival fluxgate magnetometer data from the NASA THEMIS mission is discussed in detail. Using the proposed methodology and a false alarm rate of 10%, 285 plausible detections with probability of detection greater than 80% are claimed and several are reviewed in detail.     

Precision orbit determination performance for CryoSat-2

In this paper we discuss our efforts to perform precision orbit determination (POD) of CryoSat-2 which depends on Doppler and satellite laser ranging tracking data. A dynamic orbit model is set-up and the residuals between the model and the tracking data is evaluated. The average r.m.s. of the 10?s averaged Doppler tracking pass residuals is approximately 0.39?mm/s; and the average of the laser tracking pass residuals becomes 1.42?cm. There are a number of other tests to verify the quality of the orbit solution, we compare our computed orbits against three independent external trajectories provided by the CNES. The CNES products are part of the CryoSat-2 products distributed by ESA. The radial differences of our solution relative to the CNES precision orbits shows an average r.m.s. of 1.25?cm between Jun-2010 and Apr-2017. The SIRAL altimeter crossover difference statistics demonstrate that the quality of our orbit solution is comparable to that of the POE solution computed by the CNES. In this paper we will discuss three important changes in our POD activities that have brought the orbit performance to this level. The improvements concern the way we implement temporal gravity accelerations observed by GRACE; the implementation of ITRF2014 coordinates and velocities for the DORIS beacons and the SLR tracking sites. We also discuss an adjustment of the SLR retroreflector position within the satellite reference frame. An unexpected result is that we find a systematic difference between the median of the 10 s Doppler tracking residuals which displays a statistically significant pattern in the South Atlantic Anomaly (SSA) area where the median of the velocity residuals varies in the range of ?0.15 to +0.15?mm/s.     

Analysis of BDS-3 distributed autonomous navigation based on BeiDou system simulation platform

Satellite autonomous navigation is an important function of the BeiDou-3 navigation System (BDS-3). Satellite autonomous navigation means that the navigation satellite uses long-term forecast ephemeris and Inter-Satellite Link (ISL) measurements to determinate its own spatial position and time reference without the support of the ground Operation and Control System (OCS) for a long time to ensure that the navigation system can normally maintain the time and space reference. This paper aims to analyze the feasibility of distributed autonomous navigation algorithms. For the first time, a ground parallel autonomous navigation test system (GPANTS) is built. The performance of distributed autonomous navigation is then analyzed using the two-way ISL ranging of BDS-3 satellites. First, the BDS simulation platform and the GPANTS are introduced. Then, the basic principles of distributed satellite autonomous orbit determination and time synchronization based on ISL measurements are summarized. Preliminary evaluation of the performance of the BDS-3 constellation autonomous navigation service under ideal conditions through simulation data. Then the performance of autonomous navigation for 22 BeiDou-3 satellites using ISL measurements is evaluated. The results show that when satellites operate autonomously for 50 days without the support of any ground station, the User Range Error (URE) of autonomous orbit determination is better than 3 m, and the time synchronization accuracy is better than 4 ns.     

Local orbital debris flux study in the geostationary ring

A local orbital debris flux analysis is performed in the geostationary (GEO) ring to investigate how frequently near-miss events occur for each longitude slot in the GEO ring. The current resident space object (RSO) environment at GEO is evaluated, and publicly-available two-line element (TLE) data are utilized in tandem with a geostationary torus configuration to simulate near-miss events incurred by the trackable RSO population at GEO. Methodology for determining near-miss events with this formulation is introduced, and the results of the analysis for a one-year time frame are provided to illustrate the need for active GEO remediation.