Line blanketing by iron group elements in non-LTE model atmospheres of hot stars

We report on our recent progress in modeling non-LTE atmospheres of O-stars including blanketing by lines from the iron group elements. The numerical method to account for the huge number of atomic levels and line transitions is presented. Results of exploratory model calculations examining the effects on the temperature structure, the hydrogen and helium line profiles and UV/EUV fluxes are discussed.     

The interstellar heliopause probe technology reference study

The interstellar heliopause probe (IHP) is one of ESA’s technology reference studies (TRS). The TRS aim to focus the development of strategically important technologies of relevance to future science missions by studying technologically demanding and scientifically interesting missions that are currently not part of the science mission programme.

Equipped with a highly integrated payload suite (HIPS), the IHP will perform in situ exploration of the heliopause and the heliospheric interface. The HIPS, which is a standard element in all TRSs, miniaturize payloads through resource reduction by using miniaturized components and sensors, and by sharing common structures and payload functionality.

To achieve the scientific requirements of the mission, the spacecraft is to leave the heliosphere as close to the heliosphere nose as possible and reach a distance of 200 AU from the Sun within 25 years. This is possible by using a trajectory with two solar flybys and a solar sail with characteristic acceleration of 1.1 mm/s², which corresponds to a 245 × 245 m² solar sail and a sail thickness of 1–2 μm. The trajectory facilitates a modest sail design that could potentially be developed in a reasonable timeframe.

In this paper, an update to the results of studies being performed on this mission will be given and the current mission baseline and spacecraft design will be described. Furthermore, alternative solar sail systems and enabling technologies will be discussed.     

一种攻击大机动目标的组合导引律

在分析经典导引律和现代导引律内在联系的基础上,利用有限可获的制导信息,提出了一种新的组合导引律,由比例项和前置角项组成,力图综合经典导引律和现代导引律的优点,结构简单,易于工程实现,并在基于目标大机动规避的假设下给出了机理解释;通过仿真验证,此方法具有末段弹道平直的优点。     

机翼翼尖减阻装置的应用和发展

利用机翼翼尖装置减少机翼诱导阻力是飞机减阻研究的重要组成部分。本文综合介绍了机翼翼尖装置的减阻技术研究的新发展，着重讨论了“翼尖帆片”、“小翼”以及“剪切翼尖”三种典型的翼尖装置的减阻原理、特性和设计技术的研究以及应用情况。研究结果指出，在接近设计条件下，上述翼尖装置与“翼尖延伸”相比，在减少诱导阻力方面将会起到更大的作用。对不同的翼尖装置的比较和分析结果表明，复杂的“翼尖帆片”将比“小翼”和“剪     

Structural dynamic responses of a stripped solar sail subjected to solar radiation pressure

The stripped solar sail whose membrane is divided into separate narrow membrane strips is believed to have the best structural efficiency. In this paper, the stripped solar sail structure is regarded as an assembly made by connecting a number of boom-strip components in sequence. Considering the coupling effects between booms and membrane strips, an exact and semi-analytical method to calculate structural dynamic responses of the stripped solar sail subjected to solar radiation pressure is established. The case study of a 100 m stripped solar sail shows that the stripped architecture helps to reduce the static deflections and amplitudes of the steady-state dynamic response. Larger prestress of the membrane strips will decrease stiffness of the sail and increase amplitudes of the steady-state dynamic response. Increasing thickness of the boom will benefit to stability of the sail and reduce the resonant amplitudes. This proposed semi-analytical method provides an efficient analysis tool for structure design and attitude control of the stripped solar sail.     

Integrated guidance and control for solar sail station-keeping with optical degradation

Current control approaches for solar sail station-keeping on libration point orbits have not considered the degradation of the sail’s optical properties. However, significant optical degradation could lead to poor station-keeping performance or even complete failure. This paper presents an integrated guidance and control strategy to address this problem by updating the reference orbit based on in situ estimation. An exponential optical degradation model is incorporated into the solar radiation acceleration model, and an on-line reference orbit update approach is incorporated into the station-keeping, coupled with an active disturbance rejection controller. The reflection coefficient is estimated on-line and the reference orbit is updated discretely when the optical properties have degraded by a prescribed amount. This strategy provides discrete updates to the reference orbits such that the perturbation due to the optical degradation is maintained within a small range. These smaller perturbations can be dealt with by the controller’s robustness and station-keeping can be sustained for long durations even in the presence of large optical degradation.     

Collisional profiles of ionized calcium perturbed by helium

The spectra of many cool DZ white dwarfs show extremely broad resonance lines of ionized calcium and magnesium in the optical and ultraviolet region. When the line center is strongly saturated, these wings may become a significant source of additional opacity in cool white dwarf atmospheres. The omission of this opacity results in systematic errors in the predicted flux distribution and hence in the effective temperatures and element abundances. In a continuation of Homeier et al. (2007) and Allard et al. (2012), where we presented absorption spectra of Na–He in cool white dwarfs, we extend this work to the Ca⁺–He system.     

LiHe spectra from brown dwarfs to helium clusters

The detection of Li I lines is the most decisive spectral indicator of substellarity for young brown dwarfs with masses below about 0.06 solar mass. Due to the weakness of the Li resonance lines, it is important to be able to model precisely both their core widths and their wing profiles. This allows an adequate prediction of the mass at which Li lines reappear in the spectra of brown dwarfs for a given age, or reversely an accurate determination of the age of a cluster. We report improved line profiles and the dependence of line width on temperature suitable for modeling substellar atmospheres that were determined from new LiHe molecular potential energies. Over a limited range of density and temperature, comparison with laboratory measurements was used to validate the potential energies which support the spectral line profile theory.     

Stark broadening data for spectral lines of rare-earth elements: Nb III

The electron-impact widths for 15 doubly charged Nb ion lines have been theoretically determined by using the modified semiempirical method. Using the obtained results, we considered the influence of the electron-impact mechanism on line shapes in spectra of chemically peculiar stars and white dwarfs.     

利用频谱分析确定空间目标太阳翼定向模式

分析对比了空间目标与可控飞行器轨道确定的不同,论述了太阳翼定向模式的不同对轨道运动特性的影响。通过地面站的测距与测角数据,推算出测量数据的地心距频谱。假定一种太阳翼定向模式,利用测量数据进行轨道确定,利用定轨数据计算地心距频谱并与测量数据的频谱比对,由此可确定太阳翼定向模式。利用数值仿真对近地太阳同步轨道和地球静止轨道两种情况进行了验证,仿真结果表明该思路和方法是有效的。