空间多层打孔隔热材料热分析数值方法研究

分析了空间多层打孔隔热材料中导热和辐射换热的复合传热问题,建立了关于反射屏的能量方程。结合有限差分法,提出了空间多层打孔隔热材料反射屏瞬态温度计算的模型以及内部辐射数值分析模型,空间环境作为整个模拟中的一个屏,使模型的边界条件方便处理。将该模型的预测结果与文献中相似工况下的预测值和实验值进行比较,说明了该模型在工程中应用的可行性。另一算例的计算结果说明了空间多层打孔隔热材料的瞬态温度、漏热热流变化特点以及反射屏温度分布特点。该模型为多层打孔隔热材料热结构性能研究以及优化设计提供了理论基础。     

地球同步轨道长寿命卫星热控涂层太阳吸收率性能退化研究

文章介绍了15年地球同步轨道环境对卫星表面太阳吸收率性能影响的试验模拟研究,研究结果为长寿命卫星热设计及热控涂层选择和研制提供可靠依据;介绍自行研制的空间低能综合环境试验设备、太阳吸收率原位测试系统和空间低能综合环境模拟试验方法,并对航天器常用的S781白漆、SR107ZK白漆、F46镀银和OSR二次表面镜热控材料进行空间低能综合环境模拟试验,获得了这些热控涂层在地球同步轨道15年期间太阳吸收率性能退化模拟数据,与已有的飞行试验数据进行对比研究,取得满意的结果。     

纳米粒子对星用胶粘剂空间环境性能影响的试验研究

对中国卫星上大量应用的几种胶粘剂进行了地球同步轨道环境模拟试验,同时试验了添加纳米SiO2粉体后的影响。研究表明,纳米材料的加入对胶粘剂空间排气性降低、抑制电子辐照、冷热交变循环损伤等有明显作用。研究结果为中国长寿命卫星胶接结构、材料的寿命可靠性提供了相关依据,展现了纳米材料空间应用的前景。     

飞船舱段应急分离过程的动力学分析和计算

在上升段大气层外当出现紧急情况时航天飞船的逃逸及随后的舱段应急分离过程是复杂的多个舱段的相对运动过程。针对这个过程,建立了舱段的相对轨迹运动和相对姿态运动的数学模型,包括动力学方程、运动学方程和几何关系方程,定义了对象组合体,强调了主体和客体的关系;并且按工程实际情况划分了飞行阶段。在数学模型以及对象定义和阶段划分的基础上建立了一个大规模的软件来进行全面的分析和仿真,并给出了典型工况下的结果示例。     

空间站充气式下载系统的概念研究

空间站充气式下载系统 (IDS)是在俄罗斯充气式再入与降落技术 (IRDT)基础上发展起来的一种新概念航天回收技术。详细介绍了IDS基本概念和工作原理 ,通过与传统降落伞回收方式的比较 ,总结了该技术的特点。讨论了该技术对结构、轨道、气动力、气动热、热防护层等关键子系统的设计需求。归纳了国外研究现状及发展趋势 ,分析了航天和军事领域的应用前景。     

Obstacle avoidance handling and mixed integer predictive control for space robots

This paper presents a novel obstacle avoidance constraint and a mixed integer predictive control (MIPC) method for space robots avoiding obstacles and satisfying physical limits during performing tasks. Firstly, a novel kind of obstacle avoidance constraint of space robots, which needs the assumption that the manipulator links and the obstacles can be represented by convex bodies, is proposed by limiting the relative velocity between two closest points which are on the manipulator and the obstacle, respectively. Furthermore, the logical variables are introduced into the obstacle avoidance constraint, which have realized the constraint form is automatically changed to satisfy different obstacle avoidance requirements in different distance intervals between the space robot and the obstacle. Afterwards, the obstacle avoidance constraint and other system physical limits, such as joint angle ranges, the amplitude boundaries of joint velocities and joint torques, are described as inequality constraints of a quadratic programming (QP) problem by using the model predictive control (MPC) method. To guarantee the feasibility of the obtained multi-constraint QP problem, the constraints are treated as soft constraints and assigned levels of priority based on the propositional logic theory, which can realize that the constraints with lower priorities are always firstly violated to recover the feasibility of the QP problem. Since the logical variables have been introduced, the optimization problem including obstacle avoidance and system physical limits as prioritized inequality constraints is termed as MIPC method of space robots, and its computational complexity as well as possible strategies for reducing calculation amount are analyzed. Simulations of the space robot unfolding its manipulator and tracking the end-effector’s desired trajectories with the existence of obstacles and physical limits are presented to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed obstacle avoidance strategy and MIPC control method of space robots.     

Spread-F occurrence during geomagnetic storms near the southern crest of the EIA in Argentina

This work presents, for the first time, the analysis of the occurrence of ionospheric irregularities during geomagnetic storms at Tucumán, Argentina, a low latitude station in the Southern American longitudinal sector (26.9°S, 294.6°E; magnetic latitude 15.5°S) near the southern crest of the equatorial ionization anomaly (EIA). Three geomagnetic storms occurred on May 27, 2017 (a month of low occurrence rates of spread-F), October 12, 2016 (a month of transition from low to high occurrence rates of spread-F) and November 7, 2017 (a month of high occurrence rates of spread-F) are analyzed using Global Positioning System (GPS) receivers and ionosondes. The rate of change of total electron content (TEC) Index (ROTI), GPS Ionospheric L-band scintillation, the virtual height of the F-layer bottom side (h'F) and the critical frequency of the F2 layer (foF2) are considered. Furthermore, each ionogram is manually examined for the presence of spread-F signatures.The results show that, for the three events studied, geomagnetic activity creates favorable conditions for the initiation of ionospheric irregularities, manifested by ionogram spread-F and TEC fluctuation. Post-midnight irregularities may have occurred due to the presence of eastward disturbance dynamo electric fields (DDEF). For the May storm, an eastward over-shielding prompt penetration electric field, (PPEF) is also acting. A possibility is that the PPEF is added to the DDEF and produces the uplifting of the F region that helps trigger the irregularities. Finally, during October and November, strong GPS L band scintillation is observed associated with strong range spread-F (SSF), that is, irregularities extending from the bottom-side to the topside of the F region.     

Analysis of the orbit lifetime of CubeSats in low Earth orbits including periodic variation in drag due to attitude motion

It is estimated that more than 22,300 human-made objects are in orbit around the Earth, with a total mass above 8,400,000 kg. Around 89% of these objects are non-operational and without control, which makes them to be considered orbital debris. These numbers consider only objects with dimensions larger than 10 cm. Besides those numbers, there are also about 2000 operational satellites in orbit nowadays. The space debris represents a hazard to operational satellites and to the space operations. A major concern is that this number is growing, due to new launches and particles generated by collisions. Another important point is that the development of CubeSats has increased exponentially in the last years, increasing the number of objects in space, mainly in the Low Earth Orbits (LEO). Due to the short operational time, CubeSats boost the debris population. One of the requirements for space debris mitigation in LEO is the limitation of the orbital lifetime of the satellites, which needs to be lower than 25 years. However, there are space debris with longer estimated decay time. In LEÓs, the influence of the atmospheric drag is the main orbital perturbation, and is used in maneuvers to increment the losses in the satellite orbital energy, to locate satellites in constellations and to accelerate the decay.The goal of the present research is to study the influence of aerodynamic rotational maneuver in the CubeSat?s orbital lifetime. The rotational axis is orthogonal to the orbital plane of the CubeSat, which generates variations in the ballistic coefficient along the trajectory. The maneuver is proposed to accelerate the decay and to mitigate orbital debris generated by non-operational CubeSats. The panel method is selected to determine the drag coefficient as a function of the flow incident angle and the spinning rate. The pressure distribution is integrated from the satellite faces at hypersonic rarefied flow to calculate the drag coefficient. The mathematical model considers the gravitational potential of the Earth and the deceleration due to drag. To analyze the effects of the rotation during the decay, multiple trajectories were propagated, comparing the results obtained assuming a constant drag coefficient with trajectories where the drag coefficient changes periodically. The initial perigees selected were lower than 400 km of altitude with eccentricities ranging from 0.00 to 0.02. Six values for the angular velocity were applied in the maneuver. The technique of rotating the spacecraft is an interesting solution to increase the orbit decay of a CubeSat without implementing additional de-orbit devices. Significant changes in the decay time are presented due to the increase of the mean drag coefficient calculated by the panel method, when the maneuver is applied, reducing the orbital lifetime, however the results are independent of the angular velocity of the satellite.     

On the detection of anomalous seismo-ionospheric behavior in the presence of space weather stimuli for large earthquakes

Anomalous behavior of ionospheric total electron content (TEC) prior to earthquake has been observed in many studies. Evidence of such seismo-ionospheric coupling effects suggests that it is plausible to rely on TEC signatures for early earthquake warning. However, the detection of pre-earthquake TEC anomalies (PETA) has not been adopted in practice due to two pertinent issues. Firstly, the effects of space weather activity can affect TEC levels and cause anomalous behavior in the TEC. Usually arbitrary thresholds are set for space weather indices to eliminate TEC anomaly due to space weather effects. Secondly, the choice regarding moving time-window length used to characterise background variation of TEC within the statistical envelope approach has an effect on detection of PETA. While the rule-of-thumb in selecting the moving window length is to have a time window capable of capturing background variability and short-term fluctuations, the length of the time window used in the literature varies with little justification. In this study, a critical examination is conducted on the statistical envelope approach and in particular, to eliminate the effect of space weather activity without the use of arbitrary space indices to detect PETA. A two-part PETA identification procedure is proposed, consisting of wavelet analyses isolating non-earthquake TEC contributions, followed by the statistical envelope method using a moving window length standardized based on observed periodicities and statistical implications is suggested. The approach is tested on a database of 30 large earthquakes (M?≥?7.0). The proposed procedure shows that PETA can be detected prior to earthquakes at higher confidence levels without the need to separately check for space weather activity. More importantly, the procedure was able to detect PETA for studies where it was previously reported that PETA could not be detected or detected convincingly.