Estimating the spin axis orientation of the Echostar-2 box-wing geosynchronous satellite

For the first time, the spin axis orientation of an inactive box-wing geosynchronous satellite has been estimated from ground-based optical photometric observations of Echostar-2’s specular reflections. Recent photometric light curves obtained of Echostar-2 over four years suggest that unusually bright and brief specular reflections were occurring twice within an observed spin period. These bright and brief specular reflections suggested two satellite surfaces with surface normals separated by approximately 180°. The geometry between the satellite, the Sun, and the observing location at the time of each of the brightest observed reflections, was used to estimate Echostar-2’s equatorial spin axis orientation coordinates. When considering prograde and retrograde rotation, Echostar-2’s spin axis orientation was estimated to have been located within 30° of either equatorial coordinate pole. Echostar-2’s spin axis was observed to have moved approximately 180° in right ascension, within a time span of six months, suggesting a roughly one year spin axis precession period about the satellite’s angular momentum vector.     

电铸镍Wolter I型光学系统制造技术发展综述

摘要： 为满足未来脉冲星导航和空间天文观测任务对X射线望远镜的载荷需求，Wolter I光学系统的研制正逐渐成为新的研究热点，电铸镍方案是当前国内外X射线光学系统镜筒制造的主要技术方案.文章对电铸镍X射线光学系统制造工艺、国内外研制现状、未来应用需求进行了介绍和整理，梳理了电铸镍X射线光学系统研制遇到的关键技术和难点，提出了后续研究发展建议，以促进中国在 X射线脉冲星自主导航、空间探测领域的快速发展.     

一种可伸缩空间机械臂及其应用分析

介绍一种能够完成多关节型空间机械臂所能承担的大部分空间任务 ,而且应用更简便的可伸缩空间机械臂 ,对其空间应用做出了一些设想 ,简单讨论了其应用的一些相关问题 ,肯定了其可行性和实用性。     

航天器回收用静压高度控制器的研制

静压高度控制器是载人飞船启动回收着陆系统的关键部件,也是返回式卫星和其它航天器回收系统启动信号的一种方式,其经受恶劣环境,性能、要求高。静压高度控制器又分为膜盒式和硅压力式,文章主要论述了硅压力静压高度控制器在回收系统中的作用,主要介绍了它的工作原理和组成,研制中解决的电路、结构及可靠性方面的问题,并给出了试验结果和研制结论。     

Astrophysics in 2006

The fastest pulsar and the slowest nova; the oldest galaxies and the youngest stars; the weirdest life forms and the commonest dwarfs; the highest energy particles and the lowest energy photons. These were some of the extremes of Astrophysics 2006. We attempt also to bring you updates on things of which there is currently only one (habitable planets, the Sun, and the Universe) and others of which there are always many, like meteors and molecules, black holes and binaries.     

Emergence of a Habitable Planet

We address the first several hundred million years of Earth’s history. The Moon-forming impact left Earth enveloped in a hot silicate atmosphere that cooled and condensed over ∼1,000 yrs. As it cooled the Earth degassed its volatiles into the atmosphere. It took another ∼2 Myrs for the magma ocean to freeze at the surface. The cooling rate was determined by atmospheric thermal blanketing. Tidal heating by the new Moon was a major energy source to the magma ocean. After the mantle solidified geothermal heat became climatologically insignificant, which allowed the steam atmosphere to condense, and left behind a ∼100 bar, ∼500 K CO₂ atmosphere. Thereafter cooling was governed by how quickly CO₂ was removed from the atmosphere. If subduction were efficient this could have taken as little as 10 million years. In this case the faint young Sun suggests that a lifeless Earth should have been cold and its oceans white with ice. But if carbonate subduction were inefficient the CO₂ would have mostly stayed in the atmosphere, which would have kept the surface near ∼500 K for many tens of millions of years. Hydrous minerals are harder to subduct than carbonates and there is a good chance that the Hadean mantle was dry. Hadean heat flow was locally high enough to ensure that any ice cover would have been thin (<5 m) in places. Moreover hundreds or thousands of asteroid impacts would have been big enough to melt the ice triggering brief impact summers. We suggest that plate tectonics as it works now was inadequate to handle typical Hadean heat flows of 0.2–0.5 W/m². In its place we hypothesize a convecting mantle capped by a ∼100 km deep basaltic mush that was relatively permeable to heat flow. Recycling and distillation of hydrous basalts produced granitic rocks very early, which is consistent with preserved >4 Ga detrital zircons. If carbonates in oceanic crust subducted as quickly as they formed, Earth could have been habitable as early as 10–20 Myrs after the Moon-forming impact.     

区域极点及方差约束下的航天器拦截控制：静态输出反馈情形

本文提出并讨论了具有选通窗约束的航天器拦截控制问题，指出航天器拦截控制的稳暂态性能指标可表现为系统稳态状态方差及闭环区域极点的形式。然后，基于配置控制的思想，本文完整地给出了期望静态反馈控制器的存在条件及其解析表达式，并举例说明所提设计方法的直接性与有效性     

变轨发动机不等量截尾试验可靠度评估

对于可靠度要求极高和任务时间以小时计的变轨发动机来说，目前广泛采用以铌合金为材料并喷涂以抗高温氧化涂层方案的推力室，这一类发动机在方案试验阶段结束后的研制试验中往往只出现截尾试验的结果。给出了不等量截尾试验结果的可靠度评估方案。     

卫星交会的自主导航技术

论述卫星交会自主导航的飞行任务背景和概念 ,综述国内外学者正在进行探索研究的思路 ,以期引起国内学者的的注意、探讨和深入研究。