High energy-density propulsion—reducing the risk to humans in planetary exploration

The potential benefits to humankind of space exploration are tremendous. Space is not only the final frontier but is also the next marketplace. The orbital space above Earth offers tremendous opportunities for both strategic assets and commercial development. The critical obstacle retarding the use of the space around the Earth is the lack of low cost access to orbit. Further out, the next giant leap for mankind will be the human exploration of Mars. Almost certainly within the next 30 years, a human crew will brave the isolation, the radiation, and the lack of gravity to walk on and explore the Red planet. Both of these missions will change the outlook and perspective of every human being on the planet. However, these missions are expensive and extremely difficult. Chemical propulsion has demonstrated an inability to achieve orbit cheaply and is a very high-risk option to accomplish the Mars mission. An alternative solution is to develop a high performance propulsion system. Nuclear propulsion has the potential to be such a system. The question will be whether humanity is willing to take on the challenge.     

EUROPEAN NETWORK FOR THE NUMERICAL SIMULATION OF SPACE PLASMAS

The Cluster mission of the European Space Agency (ESA) will allow, for the first time three-dimensional measurements in key regions of the Earth's magnetosphere to be carried out. The European Numerical Simulation Network (ENSN) aims at providing a theoretical support to the mission. We describe the achievements of the ENSN during its first period of activity 1991–1994, during which the network was funded by the European Union. In particular, the ENSN has set up (i) thematic Working Groups on the prime scientific goals of the mission, (ii) a code development Working Group to develop numerical simulation codes specifically adapted to studying magnetospheric boundaries and the corresponding scale mixing, and (iii) software models of Cluster instruments to test in a numerical simulation what the set of four instruments will measure.     

Scientific Planning and Commanding of the Rosetta Payload

ESA’s Rosetta mission was launched in March 2004 and is on its way to comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, where it is scheduled to arrive in summer 2014. It comprises a payload of 12 scientific instruments and a Lander. All instruments are provided by Principal Investigators, which are responsible for their operations. As for most ESA science missions, the ground segment of the mission consists of a Mission Operations Centre (MOC) and a Science Operations Centre (SOC). While the MOC is responsible for all spacecraft-related aspects and the final uplink of all command timelines to the spacecraft, the scientific operations of the instruments and the collection of the data and ingestion into the Planetary Science Archive are coordinated by the SOC. This paper focuses on the tasks of the SOC and in particular on the methodology and constraints to convert the scientific goals of the Rosetta mission to operational timelines.     

飞机空中加油任务剖面优化设计

介绍了某型飞机执行作战任务途中何时进行空中加油，并按照最大航程截击对飞机各个飞行任务段的飞行性能进行了计算，得出了最佳巡航速度，确定了最优的加油时机和加油量。计算过程中采用了遗传算法，考虑了爬升过程和巡航过程中飞机变质量的难点问题，提高了计算结果的可信度。     

有序递推滤波修正系统误差方法

本文将推广卡尔曼滤波的原理拓展到对测量元素逐个进行滤波的处理。从理论上证明它可以提高状态向量滤波结果的估值精度，而且它可以减少求逆公式的计算量。本文应用该方法导出了轨道测量数据处理的有序递推自校准系统误差的方法及公式。     

A cost driven predictive maintenance policy for structural airframe maintenance

Airframe maintenance is traditionally performed at scheduled maintenance stops.The decision to repair a fuselage panel is based on a fixed crack size threshold,which allows to ensure the aircraft safety until the next scheduled maintenance stop.With progress in sensor technology and data processing techniques,structural health monitoring (SHM) systems are increasingly being considered in the aviation industry.SHM systems track the aircraft health state continuously,lead ing to the possibility of planning maintenance based on an actual state of aircraft rather than on a fixed schedule.This paper builds upon a model-based prognostics framework that the authors developed in their previous work,which couples the Extended Kalman filter (EKF) with a first order perturbation (FOP) method.By using the information given by this prognostics method,a novel cost driven predictive maintenance (CDPM) policy is proposed,which ensures the aircraft safety while minimizing the maintenance cost.The proposed policy is formally derived based on the trade-off between probabilities of occurrence of scheduled and unscheduled maintenance.A numerical case study simulating the maintenance process of an entire fleet of aircrafts is imple mented.Under the condition of assuring the same safety level,the CDPM is compared in terms of cost with two other maintenance policies:scheduled maintenance and threshold based SHM maintenance.The comparison results show CDPM could lead to significant cost savings.     

多航天器协同探测效能影响参数不确定性分析

为解决传统基于蒙特卡洛仿真的探测效能不确定性分析评价方法中时间效率低,参数关系映射单一的问题,提出一种基于神经网络的不确定性分析方法,利用人工神经网络在拟合回归分析上的非线性特性,设计了能够替代复杂系统的神经网络结构,能够通过少量仿真计算结果作为训练样本实现模型的收敛并能有效反映被替代系统的原有特性。选择以一个多航天器的天文观测任务作为典型用例,建立了仿真分析模型,并与蒙特卡洛仿真方法结果进行了对比,验证了此方法的准确性和计算效率。     

基于滑模变结构和扩张状态观测器的电动舵机复合控制方法

为提高电动舵机伺服系统的鲁棒性,同时解决实际工作中电动舵机不确定负载引起的跟踪精度低的问题,提出了一种采用指数趋近率的滑模变结构控制率结合扩张状态观测器对负载扰动进行实时估计的电动舵机的伺服控制方法,给出了控制器设计方法和试验验证。仿真和试验结果表明,与常规的滑模控制器相比,采用扩张状态观测器的变结构控制能有效提高电动舵机的跟踪性能。     

运输机空投货物建模与任务性能影响因素研究

针对当前运输机空投货物模型可拓展性不强的问题,提出了分离体的建模方法。在无需分析货物与飞机整体质心变化的情况下,分别以货物和飞机为对象进行受力分析,推导了货物与飞机之间的相互作用力,建立了更加贴近实际的运输机单件货物空投和连续空投的动力学模型。最后,通过数值仿真,分析了飞行速度和牵引伞牵引比对空投任务性能的影响。结果表明,飞行速度和牵引比越大,飞机在货物干扰作用下的状态变化量越小。     

组合航天器转动惯量在轨两步辨识标定

在轨辨识转动惯量参数是主动航天器与非合作空间目标构成组合体后实现高精度姿态控制的重要前提,文章提出了一种两步在轨辨识组合航天器转动惯量参数的方法。第一步以航天器本体坐标系滚动轴转动惯量为基准将转动惯量矩阵归一化,得到特殊的转动惯量比矩阵,建立与其相关的姿态动力学模型,提出了基于扩展卡尔曼滤波的在轨辨识算法,基于星上陀螺角速率测量信息在100s左右辨识出所有转动惯量比参数,克服了由于模型简单导致转动惯量信息辨识不完整的缺点;第二步基于第一步辨识得到的转动惯量比参数,采用最小二乘算法辨识得到滚动轴转动惯量值,计算量小,消耗能量少。最后给出仿真算例,辨识精度基本在1|之内,验证了方法的有效性。