SNR periodical variation of Chang'E-3 spacecraft orbiting the Moon

Chang'E-3 spacecraft was orbiting the Moon from December 6–14, 2013, and very long baseline interferometry(VLBI) observations were performed to improve the accuracy of its orbit determination. In the process of recording VLBI raw data, 2 bits quantization was implemented.Interesting phenomenon was that signal-to-noise ratio(SNR) of each VLBI station experienced periodical change and had large variation on amplitude while in the Moon's orbit, whereas SNR kept in a stable level after Chang'E-3 landed on the Moon. Influence of varying elevation angle on SNR was analyzed and compensation of 2 bits quantization harmonics to SNR calculation was investigated. Most importantly, telescope system noise temperature increase caused by the Moon was computed along the time of Chang'E-3 orbiting the Moon, and well matched SNR changing trend in terms of correlation coefficients.     

Libration point orbit rendezvous using PWPF modulated terminal sliding mode control

The near-range rendezvous problem of two libration point orbit spacecraft in the Earth–Moon system is studied using the terminal sliding mode control which enables a time-fixed process with the flight time prescribed a priori. The underlying dynamics are the full nonlinear equations of motion for a complete Solar System model. For practical purposes, two means of pulse-width pulse-frequency (PWPF) modulation are employed to realize the theoretical continuous control with a series of thrust pulses. Extensive simulations with major errors taken into account show that the sliding mode controller can successfully guide the chaser to a given staging node with the final position and velocity errors, on average, lower than 20 m and 1 mm/s, respectively. Compared with the glideslope guidance previously studied, the proposed approach outperforms the former by saving approximately 50–60% of total delta-v.     

地月系低能转移轨道设计

分析了不同转移轨道间的性能指标,以黄道面与白道面交线作为庞加莱截面实现不同系统轨道的拼接,利用其中耗能最小的日地系稳定流形和地月系的不稳定流形设计了一条低能耗转移轨道.最后对不同轨 道进行了能量分析和对比,优化了国内提出的低能探月轨道.仿真结果表明,文中方法比直接通过霍曼转移节约21.1%的能量,对探月工程的轨道设计具...     

Exploring links between crater floor mineralogy and layered lunar crust

Floors of similar sized craters, representing material from similar depth horizons, have been studied to explore their suitability as mineralogy indicators at various depths within the lunar crust. Clementine UV–vis multispectral data was used to generate mineral abundance maps of crater floors and surroundings using a modified version of algorithm given by Pieters et al. (2001) [Pieters, C.M., Head, J.W., Gaddis, L., Jolliff, B. and Duke, M. Rock types of the south pole aitken basin and extent of basaltic volcanism, JGR (106) E11, 28001–28022, 2001.]. Substantial processing of the crater floor material due to variety of geological processes is evident in the generated maps, making straight forward interpretations difficult. However, systematic compositional trends in fresh craters on the floors of target craters seem to indicate the feasibility of such an effort.     

Does the lunar surface still offer value as a site for astronomical observatories?

Current thinking about the Moon as a destination has revitalized interest in lunar astronomical observatories. Once seen by a large scientific community as a highly enabling site, the dramatic improvement in capabilities for free-space observatories prompts reevaluation of this interest. Whereas the lunar surface offers huge performance advantages for astronomy over terrestrial sites, free-space locales such as Earth orbit or Lagrange points offer performance that is superior to what could be achieved on the Moon. While astronomy from the Moon may be cost-effective once infrastructure is there, it is in many respects no longer clearly enabling compared with free space.     

Scientific objectives and specification of the SELENE Multiband Imager

The Lunar Imager/SpectroMeter (LISM) is an instrument being developed for onboarding the SELENE satellite that will be launched in 2007. The LISM consists of the three subsystems: Terrain Camera (TC), Multiband Imager (MI), and Spectral Profiler (SP).     

Journey to the Moon: Recent results,science, future robotic and human exploration

The upcoming fleet of lunar missions, and the announcement of new lunar exploration initiatives, show an exciting “Journey to the Moon”, covering recent results, science, future robotic and human exploration. We review some of the questions, findings and perspectives given in the papers included in this issue of Advances in Space Research.     

Regolith effects in planetary X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy: Laboratory studies at 1.7–6.4 keV

Laboratory measurements are presented to study the effects of the physical properties of regolith on planetary soft X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy. Two laboratory setups are used to independently measure these regolith effects using lunar regolith analog samples with three different particle-size ranges. Discussion is given on the data analysis. Some of the data may be valid only for qualitative conclusions. Analytical modelling is used to separate the effects expected for a plane-parallel and homogeneous medium from those of measured regolith analogs. The surface roughness and porosity of the regolith are observed to induce an enhancement of the higher-energy part of the spectrum as a function of the incidence angle. The enhancement is larger for rougher surfaces. A brief discussion is given on the relevance of this study for future planetary missions carrying soft X-ray spectrometers.     

Origin and stability of lunar polar volatiles

Temperature regime at the LCROSS impact site is studied. All detected species in the Cabeus crater as well as CH₄ and CO clathrate hydrates except H₂, CO, and CH₄ are stable against evaporation at the LCROSS impact site. CO and CH₄ can be chemisorbed at the surface of the regolith particles and exist in the form of clathrate hydrates in the lunar cold traps. Flux rates of delivery of volatile species by asteroids, micrometeoroids, O-rich, C-rich, and low-speed comets into the permanently shadowed regions are estimated. Significant amounts of H₂O, CO, H₂, H₂S, SO₂, and CO₂ can be impact-produced during collisions between asteroids and O-rich comets with the Moon while CH₃OH, NH₃ and complex organic species survive during low-speed comet impacts as products of disequilibrium processes. C-rich comets are main sources of CH₄, and C₂H₄.