Ground Compatibility Tests for Gravity Measurement of SELENE: Accuracies of Two- and Four-Way Doppler and Range Measurements

The Japanese lunar mission Selenological and Engineering Explorer (SELENE) was launched in September 2007 and continued its mission until June 2009, when the main orbiter impacted with the surface of the Moon. SELENE consisted of three satellites: Main, Rstar, and Vstar. Rstar’s tasks were to forward up-link signals from the Usuada Deep Space Center (UDSC) to Main, and to down-link returning signals from Main to UDSC. We refer to this tracking sub-system as a four-way Doppler measurement. In contrast, conventional tracking systems between Rstar and UDSC as well as between Main and ground stations are referred to as two-way Doppler and range measurements. Using Main and Rstar, we successfully observed the gravity field over the farside of the Moon. Because four-way Doppler measurements via a relay sub-satellite were a fundamental experiment in space for Japanese space agencies, compatibility of radiometric instruments onboard Main and Rstar to UDSC were carefully examined at the UDSC using components manufactured for flight models. These tests not only proved the feasibility of the four-way Doppler measurements but also provided biases and variations of the four-way Doppler and two-way Doppler and range measurements that were later taken into account during the processing of tracking data and the analysis of the lunar global gravity field.     

Surface Composition of Vesta: Issues and Integrated Approach

The instruments on the Dawn spacecraft are exceptionally well suited to characterize and map the surface composition of Vesta in an integrated manner. These include a framing camera with multispectral capabilities, a high spectral resolution near-infrared imaging spectrometer, and a gamma-ray and neutron spectrometer. Three examples of issues addressed at Vesta are: (1) What is the composition of Vesta??s interior and differentiation state as exposed by the Great South Crater? (2) How has space weathering affected Vesta, both globally and at a local scale? and (3) Are volatiles or hydrated material present on Vesta??s surface? We predict that Dawn finds many surprises, such as an olivine-bearing mantle exposed near the south-pole, a weakly or un-weathered surface that has been relatively recently resurfaced, and a very thin layer of surficial volatiles derived from interaction with the solar wind.     

Deriving the Absolute Reflectance of Lunar Surface Using SELENE (Kaguya) Multiband Imager Data

The absolute reflectance of the Moon has long been debated because it has been suggested (Hillier et al. in Icarus 151:205–225, 1999) that there is a large discrepancy between the absolute reflectance of the Moon derived from Earth-based telescopic data and that derived from remote-sensing data which are calibrated using laboratory-measured reflectance spectra of Apollo 16 bulk soil 62231. Here we derive the absolute reflectance of the lunar surface using spectral data newly acquired by SELENE (Kaguya) Multiband Imager and Spectral Profiler. The results indicate that the reflectance of the Apollo 16 standard site, which has been widely used as an optical standard in previous Earth-based telescopic and remote-sensing observations derived by Multiband Imager, is 47% at 415 nm and 67% to 76% at 750 to 1550 nm of the value for the Apollo 16 mature soil measured in an Earth-based laboratory. The data also suggest that roughly 60% of the difference is caused by the difference in soil composition and/or maturity between the 62231 sampling site and the Apollo 16 standard site and that the remaining 40% difference can be explained by the difference between the compaction states of the laboratory and the actual lunar surface. Consideration of the compaction states of the surface soil demonstrates its importance for understanding the spectral characteristics of the lunar surface. We also explain and evaluate data analysis procedures to derive reflectance from Multiband Imager data.     

Physical assessment of coastal vulnerability under enhanced land subsidence in Semarang,Indonesia, using multi-sensor satellite data

Research has been conducted in Semarang, Indonesia, to assess coastal vulnerability under enhanced land subsidence using multi-sensor satellite data, including the Advanced Land Observing Satellite (ALOS) Phased Array type L-band SAR (PALSAR), Landsat TM, IKONOS, and TOPEX/Poseidon. A coastal vulnerability index (CVI) was constructed to estimate the level of vulnerability of a coastline approximately 48.68?km in length using seven physical variables, namely, land subsidence, relative sea level change, coastal geomorphology, coastal slope, shoreline change, mean tidal range, and significant wave height. A comparison was also performed between a CVI calculated using seven parameters and a CVI using six parameters, the latter of which excludes the land subsidence parameter, to determine the effects of land subsidence during the coastal vulnerability assessment. This study showed that the accuracy of coastal vulnerability was increased 40% by adding the land subsidence factor (i.e., CVI 6 parameters?=?53%, CVI 7 parameters?=?93%). Moreover, Kappa coefficient indicated very good agreement (0.90) for CVI 7 parameters and fair agreement (0.3) for CVI 6 parameters. The results indicate that the area of very high vulnerability increased by 7% when land subsidence was added. Hence, using the CVI calculation including land subsidence parameters, the very high vulnerability area is determined to be 20% of the total coastline or 9.7?km of the total 48.7?km of coastline. This study proved that land subsidence has significant influence on coastal vulnerability in Semarang.     

GRACE accelerometer calibration by high precision non-gravitational force modeling

The precise modeling and knowledge of non-gravitational forces acting on satellites is of big interest to many scientific tasks and missions. Since 2002, the twin GRACE satellites have measured these forces in a low Earth orbit with highly precise accelerometers, for about 15?years. Besides the significance for the GRACE mission, these measurement data allow the evaluation of modeling approaches and the improvement of force models. Unfortunately, before any scientific usage, the accelerometer measurements need to be calibrated, namely scale factor and bias have to be regularly estimated.In this study we demonstrate an accelerometer calibration approach, solely based on high precision non-gravitational force modeling without any use of empirically or stochastically estimated parameters, using our in-house developed satellite simulation tool XHPS. The aim of this work is twofold, first we use the accelerometer data and the residuals resulting from the calibration to quantitatively analyze and validate different non-gravitational force model approaches. In a second step, we compare the calibration results to three different calibration methods from different authors, based on gravity field recovery, GPS-based precise orbit determination, and based on modeled accelerations.We consider atmospheric drag forces and winds, as well as radiation forces due to solar radiation pressure, albedo, Earth infrared and thermal radiation (TRP) of the satellite itself. For TRP, we investigate different transient temperature calculation approaches for the satellite surfaces with absorbed power from the aforementioned radiation sources. A detailed finite element model of the satellite is utilized for every force, considering orientation, material properties and shadowing conditions for each element.For cross-track and radial direction, which are mainly affected by the radiative forces, our calibration residuals are quite small when drag is not super dominant (1–3?$\text{nm}/{\text{s}}^2$ for total accelerations around $\pm$50?$\text{nm}/{\text{s}}^2$). For these directions the calibration seems to perform better than the other compared methods, where some bigger differences were found. For the drag dominated along-track direction it is vice versa, here our method is not sensitive enough because the difference between modeled and measured drag is bigger (e.g. residuals around 10?$\text{nm}/{\text{s}}^2$ for total accelerations around $\pm$70?$\text{nm}/{\text{s}}^2$ for low solar activity). In along-track direction the orbit determination based methods are more sensitive and produce more reliable results. Results for the complete GRACE mission time span from 2003 to 2017 are shown, covering different seasonal environmental conditions.     

On the Mean Frequency Measurement System Using Correlation Detection

This paper is concerned with the problem of measuring the mean frequency of the power spectrum of a zero-mean, stationary, narrowband Gaussian random signal in the presence of additive Gaussian noise. Signal-to-noise ratios at the output of the mean frequency measurement system using correlation detection are analyzed in terms of input signal-to-noise ratio, input signal and noise bandwidths, and integration time. The results obtained are verified experimentally, and a comparison with a conventional zero-crossing detector is also made.     

Hypergravity suppresses bone resorption in ovariectomized rats

The effects of gravity on bone metabolism are unclear, and little has been reported about the effects of hypergravity on the mature skeleton. Since low gravity has been shown to decrease bone volume, we hypothesized that hypergravity increases bone volume. To clarify this hypothesis, adult female rats were ovariectomized and exposed to hypergravity (2.9G) using a centrifugation system. The rats were killed 28 days after the start of loading, and the distal femoral metaphysis of the rats was studied. Bone architecture was assessed by micro-computed tomography (micro-CT) and bone mineral density was measured using peripheral quantitative CT (pQCT). Hypergravity increased the trabecular bone volume of ovariectomized rats. Histomorphometric analyses revealed that hypergravity suppressed both bone formation and resorption and increased bone volume in ovariectomized rats.     

A simulation study for anticipated accuracy of lunar gravity field model by SELENE tracking data

Results of numerical simulations are presented to examine the global gravity field recovery capability of the Japanese lunar exploration project SELENE (SELenological and ENgineering Explorer) which will be launched in 2007. New characteristics of the SELENE lunar gravimetry include 4-way satellite-to-satellite Doppler tracking of main orbiter and differential VLBI tracking of two small free-flier satellites. It is shown that the proposed satellite constellation will provide the first truly global satellite tracking data coverage. The expected results from these data are; (1) drastic reduction in far-side gravity error, (2) estimation of many gravity coefficients by the observation, not by a priori information, and (3) one order of magnitude improvement over existing gravity models for low-degree field.     

带压燃烧场2D温度分布的激光吸收光谱测量初步研究

以实现冲压发动机等高压燃烧流场诊断为目标,采用可调谐半导体激光吸收光谱技术对带压的燃烧流场温度诊断进行初步研究。使用一种光谱适应的CT重构二维温度方法,以误差平方和和零均值归一化互相关作为评价指标分析CT-TDLAS的重构精度。搭建带压燃烧腔温度分布测量的实验系统,使用压力传感器和CCD相机记录带压点火燃烧过程变化;使用1335-1375nm的宽波段可调节半导体激光器对燃烧腔内带压点火燃烧过程进行了时间分辨的二维温度重建。实验结果表明：CT-TDLAS具有较高的重构精度;燃烧过程的压力变化趋势,火焰变化趋势及时间分辨二维温度分布变化趋势,三者保持一致;在带压条件下,CT-TDLAS可以实现高分辨率的时间分辨温度测量,反应定量的温度分布变化信息,为带压及进一步的高温高压燃烧流场的诊断提供帮助。     

Studying the Lunar Ionosphere with SELENE Radio Science Experiment

Radio occultation observations of the electron density near the lunar surface were conducted during the SELENE (Kaguya) mission using the Vstar and Rstar sub-satellites. Previous radio occultation measurements conducted in the Soviet lunar missions have indicated the existence of an ionosphere with peak densities of several hundreds of electrons per cubic centimeters above the dayside lunar surface. These densities are difficult to explain theoretically when the removal of plasma by the solar wind is considered, and thus the generation mechanism of the lunar ionosphere is a major issue, with even the validity of previous observations still under debate. The most serious error source in the measurement is the fluctuation of the terrestrial ionosphere which also exists along the ray path. To cope with this difficulty, about 400 observations were conducted using Vstar to enable statistical analysis of the weak signal of the lunar ionosphere. Another method is to utilize Vstar and Rstar with the second one being used to measure the terrestrial ionosphere contribution. The observations will establish the morphology of the lunar ionosphere and will reveal its relationship with various conditions to provide possible clues to the mechanism.