借助月球引力发射地球静止卫星研究

提出了借助月球引力从高纬度地区发射地球静止卫星的方法.利用圆锥曲线拼接法对地球静止卫星的发射问题作初步分析,然后采用精确数学模型进行精确分析.研究表明,当发射场纬度大于28时,采用借助月球引力的发射方法可以节省能量.发射场的纬度越高,节省得越多.     

月球导航星座轨道的地球GNSS可见性评估

随着月球探索进入一个新的时代,为确保未来月球任务的实时高精度定位,大幅提高登月航天器的自主性,且减少对地球基站的依赖,选取合适的轨道构建月球导航星座,并且实现月球导航星座与地球GNSS的通信链路同步尤为重要。为评估月球导航星座轨道中卫星接收GNSS信号的性能,首先对椭圆形月球冻结轨道(ELFO)、近直线晕轨道(NRHO)、顺行圆形轨道(PCO)和低月球轨道(LLO)4种轨道进行仿真。然后基于天线方向图等指标仿真了GNSS卫星信号,并依据主旁瓣波束宽度和载噪比等仿真结果评估了4种不同轨道卫星对GNSS的可见性。结果表明,NRHO和ELFO对GNSS星座有较好的可视效果,最高可见时间占比达99.57%,保障了绝大部分时间内能够稳定接收GNSS信号,有助于实现月球导航星座轨道卫星的轨道和时钟校正,并保证轨道的定位性能。     

中继卫星(TDRS)支持环月探测器的研究

给出了基于轨道根数的跟踪与数据中继卫星(TDRS)对月球探测器的可视算法,分析和比较了地面站和TDRS对月球探测器的测控跟踪能力.结果表明,与依靠地面站相比,使用TDRS后,在不考虑月球遮挡情况下,对环月探测器的测控覆盖率可由50%提高到99%.存在最大月球遮挡时也能达到60%,大大提高了对环月探测器的测控能力.最后讨论了TDRS跟踪环月探测器对TDRS卫星平台的要求,提出了地面站与TDRS相结合的测控方案.在当前TDRS天线运动范围受限情况下,仍能实现对月球探测器的大范围测控覆盖率.      

Formation of polymer micro-agglomerations in ultralow-binder-content composite based on lunar soil simulant

We report results from an experiment on high-pressure compaction of lunar soil simulant (LSS) mixed with 2–5?wt% polymer binder. The LSS grains can be strongly held together, forming an inorganic-organic monolith (IOM) with the flexural strength around 30–40?MPa. The compaction pressure, the number of loadings, the binder content, and the compaction duration are important factors. The LSS-based IOM remains strong from ?200?°C to 130?°C, and is quite gas permeable.     

Synthesis and characterization of geopolymer from lunar regolith simulant based on natural volcanic scoria

In this study, a new GVS（Ground Volcanic Scoria） lunar regolith simulant was produced. The similarity between GVS and lunar soil was proved by comparison with Apollo lunar soil samples and other commercial lunar soil simulants. Then, GVS lunar regolith simulant was investigated as the source material for preparing geopolymer to produce building material for lunar colony construction. To study the possibility of preparing geopolymer from GVS lunar regolith simulant and the optimum activator formu...     

Plasma electron temperature variability in lunar surface potential and in electric field under average solar wind conditions

The Moon is immersed in plasma environment. The most interesting challenge of the lunar plasma– field environment is that it is alternatively dominated by the extended but variable outer atmosphere of the Earth – the magnetosphere – and by the extended but highly variable solar atmosphere – the solar wind. Understanding the plasma environment and its interaction with the lunar surface will be beneficial to both manned and robotic surface exploration activities and to scientific investigations. Presented is a preliminary map of variations of lunar surface electric potential over the day side and night side using probe equations and a discussion on dust dynamics in this E-field structure using the data from Electron Reflectometer in Lunar Prospector spacecraft during 1998–1999. On the day side, potential is around 5 V and on the night side it reaches up to −82 V. On the night side region, only highly energetic electrons can overcome this large negative potential. The variation at electron temperature (T_e) strongly reflects in the surface potential. The potential reaches to a value of −82 V for T_e = 58 eV. Surface charging causes the electrostatic transport of charged dust grains. Dust grain size of 0.1 μm shows a levitation height of 4.92 m on lunar day side, 748 m on terminator region and 3.7 km on the night side. The radius of maximum sized grain to be lofted, R_max, peaks at the terminator region (R_max = 0.83 μm). At the transition region dust levitation is almost absent. This region is most suited for exploration activities as the region is free from hazards caused by lunar dust.     

仿猫月球着陆缓冲机构设计与缓冲特性研究

针对现有被动式铝蜂窝月球着陆器缓冲力波动大、无法重复使用的问题,提出一种基于磁流变缓冲器的仿猫月球着陆缓冲机构。首先,开展了不同高度平台的家猫跳落实验,对其跳落着陆姿态与前/后腿触地冲量进行了分析,探究其缓冲吸能机理;实验结果表明猫后腿的缓冲吸能占比更高。其次,结合猫跳落实验与中国嫦娥系列月球着陆器参数,设计了一种新构型仿猫着陆缓冲机构,并将其与嫦娥着陆器进行了仿真分析对比。结果表明,所提出的仿猫月球着陆缓冲机构,其机体最大加速度降低了18.3%,具有更为出色的着陆性能。其前腿缓冲吸能贡献约为40%,后腿的缓冲贡献度约为60%,与家猫高台跳落实验结果基本吻合,验证了仿猫月球着陆缓冲机构设计方案的合理性。     

Drilling load modeling and validation based on the filling rate of auger flute in planetary sampling

Some type of penetration into a subsurface is required in planetary sampling. Drilling and coring, due to its efficient penetrating and cuttings removal characteristics, has been widely applied in previous sampling missions. Given the complicated mechanical properties of a planetary regolith, suitable drilling parameters should be matched with different drilling formations properly. Otherwise, drilling faults caused by overloads could easily happen. Hence, it is necessary to estab-lish a drilling load model, which is able to reveal the relationships among drilling loads, an auger's structural parameters, soil's mechanical properties, and relevant drilling parameters. A concept for the filling rate of auger flute (FRAF) is proposed to describe drilling conditions. If the FRAF index under one group of drilling parameters is less than 1, this means that the auger flute currently removes cuttings smoothly. Otherwise, the auger will be choked with compressed cuttings. In dril-ling operations, the drilling loads on the auger mainly come from the conveyance action, while the drilling loads on the drill bit primarily come from the cutting action. Experiments in one typical lunar regolith simulant indicate that the estimated drilling loads based on the FRAF coincide with the test results quite well. Based on this drilling load model, drilling parameters have been opti-mized.     

Analysis of driving efficiency for LRV wheels using forced-slip method

To investigate and improve the mobility of the Lunar Roving Vehicle (LRV), it is necessary to consider the mechanical properties of the interaction between the wheels and the ground. In this paper, a new solution method, the forced-slip solution method, which uses a semi-empirical approach, was presented. That is, given the wheel’s vertical load and drawbar pull or driving torque as known input values, the unknown slip ratio can be resolved. The alternative method involves predicting the mechanics for a given slip ratio. The proposed method correlates better with actual wheel movements, and by studying a single wheel, this solution method can also be used to resolve the mechanical properties of the front and rear wheels in a four-wheel-drive (4WD) LRV configuration. It can also be used to consider the multi-pass effect of the rear wheels on lunar soil. The calculation results show that the 4WD LRV driving efficiency varies with the position of the center of mass. Thus, the LRV driving efficiency can be optimized by adjusting the position of its center of mass.     

Proposal of application of same beam VLBI measurements in precision orbit determination of lunar orbiter and return capsule and lunar gravity field simulation in Chang’E-3 mission

High accuracy differenced phase delay can be obtained by observing multiple point frequencies of two spacecraft using the same beam Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) technology. Its contribution in lunar spacecraft precision orbit determination has been performed during the Japanese lunar exploration mission SELENE. In consideration that there will be an orbiter and a return capsule flying around the moon during the Chinese lunar exploration future mission Chang’E-3, the contributions of the same beam VLBI in spacecraft precision orbit determination and lunar gravity field solution have been investigated. Our results show that the accuracy of precision orbit determination can be improved more than one order of magnitude after including the same beam VLBI measurements. There are significant improvements in accuracy of low and medium degree coefficients of lunar gravity field model obtained from combination of two way range and Doppler and the same beam VLBI measurements than the one that only uses two way range and Doppler data, and the accuracy of precision orbit determination can reach meter level.