Parametric excitation induced by solar pressure torque on the roll-yaw attitude motion of a gravity-gradient stabilized spacecraft

The parametric excitation of a gravity gradient stabilized spacecraft induced by the periodic solar pressure torque is discussed. The solar pressure torque in the linearized equations of motion appears as linear terms with periodic coefficients. The attitude stability is analyzed numerically through the calculation of the Floquet multiplier. The perturbation method is also applied to identify the instability condition analytically. It is made clear that the periodic solar pressure torque can destabilize the coupled roll and yaw attitude motion of the spacecraft. It is also shown that the conditions of parametric resonance are included in the gravity gradient stability condition. Nonlinear simulations are also carried out to verify the effect of the parametric resonance. The numerical simulation using actual parameters shows that the spacecraft inevitably experiences a large amplitude attitude motion due to the periodic solar pressure torque even if the gravity gradient stability condition is satisfied.     

On the direct observation of cosmic-ray energy losses

During the decay of solar cosmic-ray events cosmic-rays with kinetic energies of about 1 MeV are convected outward with the solar wind. It is shown that, with currently available observations it should be possible to demonstrate directly the energy losses which are occurring. Observations from two spacecraft on the same heliocentric radial line are required. In this paper observations from Venera-4 and Imp-F have been used. A simple and direct demonstration would be provided by the observation of nearly mono-energetic pulses convected between the two spacecraft, but no such pulses were found to be present. A second method depends upon observing the ratio of the integral fluxes at the two spacecraft and comparing this with the value predicted by theory. The relevant theoretical analysis has been given. It is shown that in order to discriminate between energy-loss processes the spacecraft must be well separated. For spacecraft at Earth's orbit and the orbit of Venus the integral-flux ratio predicted with energy loss due to adiabatic deceleration is a factor of three higher than that predicted with no energy loss. Comparisons of integral-flux ratios for two events observed on spacecraft separated by approximately 0.1 AU gave inconclusive results. In view of the importance of energy-loss processes in the propagation of cosmic rays it is suggested that others with access to relevant data might continue this investigation.     

The High Altitude Observatory Coronagraph/Polarimeter on the Solar Maximum Mission

The High Altitude Observatory Coronagraph/Polarimeter, to be flown on the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Solar Maximum Mission satellite, is designed to produce images of the solar corona in seven wavelength bands in the visible spectral range. The spectral bands have been chosen to specifically exclude or include chromospheric spectral lines, so as to allow discrimination between ejecta at high (coronal) and low (chromospheric) temperatures, respectively. In addition, the instrument features spectral filters designed to permit an accurate color separation of the F and K coronal components, and a narrow band (5.5 Å) filter to observe the radiance and polarization of the Fe xiv 5303 Å line. The effective system resolution is better than 10 arc sec and the instrument images a selected quadrant (or smaller field) on an SEC vidicon detector. The total height range that may be recorded encompasses 1.6 to more than 6.0R (from Sun center). The instrument is pointed independently of the SMM spacecraft, and its functions are controlled through the use of a program resident within the onboard spacecraft computer. Major experimental goals include: (a) Observation of the role of the corona in the flare process and of the ejecta from the flare site and the overlying corona; (b) the study of the direction of magnetic fields in stable coronal forms, and, perhaps, ejecta; and (c) examination of the evolution of the solar corona near the period of solar maximum activity.The National Center for Atmospheric Research is sponsored by the National Science Foundation.     

抚仙湖一米红外太阳望远镜Hα窄带滤光器扫描轮廓的检测与修正

抚仙湖1 m红外太阳望远镜的重要终端之一是多通道高分辨成像系统,主要由两路宽带和一路窄带成像系统组成。目前窄带成像系统的工作谱线为Hα。主要介绍了窄带成像系统扫描轮廓的检测和修正。主要检测内容包括扫描轮廓的中心波长位置、扫描轮廓对称性、前置滤光片对扫描轮廓的影响、滤光器工作温度稳定性等问题。检测结果显示:扫描轮廓在656.281-0.15 nm到656.281+0.4 nm的范围内与理论轮廓较好地吻合,而在656.281-0.15 nm到656.281-0.4 nm的范围内明显衰减。同时轮廓中心波长位置(即强度最低点的波长位置)相对于滤光器显示的"0 nm"偏带点蓝移了0.013 nm。针对上述检测结果,将滤光器的工作温度提高了约0.3℃。在温度调整之后,扫描轮廓的整体特征不变,轮廓中心波长位置与"0 nm"偏带点偏差小于0.004 nm,同时红蓝翼对称偏带点的强度差异小于10%(对应1.8 km/s的多普勒速度测量误差)。目前可以明确,扫描轮廓的蓝翼衰减是由前置滤光片造成,对于常用工作范围(656.281±0.1 nm),可以忽略前置滤光片的影响。滤光器工作温度比较稳定,1个月内温度变化幅度的标准方差约0.001 7℃。目前,该滤光器仍存在的问题是扫描轮廓在"0 nm"偏带点略有突起,幅度在6%~8%。建议在以后的使用过程中,需要定期定量地对滤光器的扫描轮廓以及前置滤光片的透过率曲线进行检测。     

Orbital dynamics and equilibrium points around an asteroid with gravitational orbit–attitude coupling perturbation

The strongly perturbed dynamical environment near asteroids has been a great challenge for the mission design. Besides the non-spherical gravity, solar radiation pressure, and solar tide, the orbital motion actually suffers from another perturbation caused by the gravitational orbit–attitude coupling of the spacecraft. This gravitational orbit–attitude coupling perturbation (GOACP) has its origin in the fact that the gravity acting on a non-spherical extended body, the real case of the spacecraft, is actually different from that acting on a point mass, the approximation of the spacecraft in the orbital dynamics. We intend to take into account GOACP besides the non-spherical gravity to improve the previous close-proximity orbital dynamics. GOACP depends on the spacecraft attitude, which is assumed to be controlled ideally with respect to the asteroid in this study. Then, we focus on the orbital motion perturbed by the non-spherical gravity and GOACP with the given attitude. This new orbital model can be called the attitude-restricted orbital dynamics, where restricted means that the orbital motion is studied as a restricted problem at a given attitude. In the present paper, equilibrium points of the attitude-restricted orbital dynamics in the second degree and order gravity field of a uniformly rotating asteroid are investigated. Two kinds of equilibria are obtained: on and off the asteroid equatorial principal axis. These equilibria are different from and more diverse than those in the classical orbital dynamics without GOACP. In the case of a large spacecraft, the off-axis equilibrium points can exist at an arbitrary longitude in the equatorial plane. These results are useful for close-proximity operations, such as the asteroid body-fixed hovering.     

Ellipsoidal Harmonic expansions of the gravitational potential: Theory and application

Small bodies of the solar system are now the targets of space exploration. Many of these bodies have elongated, non-spherical shapes, and the usual spherical harmonic expansions of their gravity fields are not well suited for the modelling of spacecraft orbits around these bodies. An elegant remedy is to use ellipsoidal harmonic expansions instead of the usual spherical ones. In this paper, we present their mathematical theory as well as a real application: the simulation of a landing on the surface of a kilometer-sized comet. We show that with an ellipsoidal harmonic expansion up to degree 5, the error on the landing position is at the meter level, while the corresponding error for the spherical harmonic expansion can reach tens of meters.This revised version was published online in October 2005 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Dynamical zodiacal cloud models constrained by high resolution spectroscopy of the zodiacal light

The simulated Doppler shifts of the solar Mg I Fraunhofer line produced by scattering on the solar light by asteroidal, cometary, and trans-neptunian dust particles are compared with the shifts obtained by Wisconsin H-Alpha Mapper (WHAM) spectrometer. The simulated spectra are based on the results of integrations of the orbital evolution of particles under the gravitational influence of planets, the Poynting-Robertson drag, radiation pressure, and solar wind drag. Our results demonstrate that the differences in the line centroid position in the solar elongation and in the line width averaged over the elongations for different sizes of particles are usually less than those for different sources of dust. The deviation of the derived spectral parameters for various sources of dust used in the model reached maximum at the elongation (measured eastward from the Sun) between 90° and 120°. For the future zodiacal light Doppler shifts measurements, it is important to pay a particular attention to observing at this elongation range. At the elongations of the fields observed by WHAM, the model-predicted Doppler shifts were close to each other for several scattering functions considered. Therefore the main conclusions of our paper do not depend on a scattering function and mass distribution of particles if they are reasonable. A comparison of the dependencies of the Doppler shifts on solar elongation and the mean width of the Mg I line modeled for different sources of dust with those obtained from the WHAM observations shows that the fraction of cometary particles in zodiacal dust is significant and can be dominant. Cometary particles originating inside Jupiter's orbit and particles originating beyond Jupiter's orbit (including trans-neptunian dust particles) can contribute to zodiacal dust about 1/3 each, with a possible deviation from 1/3 up to 0.1-0.2. The fraction of asteroidal dust is estimated to be ∼0.3-0.5. The mean eccentricities of zodiacal particles located at 1-2 AU from the Sun that better fit the WHAM observations are between 0.2 and 0.5, with a more probable value of about 0.3.     

脉冲星在空间飞行器定位中的应用

利用脉冲星钟模型能高精度地预报脉冲星脉冲到达太阳系质心的时间。基于脉冲星时、空参考架可实现各类空间飞行器的自主导航。讨论了脉冲星钟的模型和脉冲星导航系统的框架结构,描述了脉冲星导航的基本原理和算法。指出脉冲星导航系统对脉冲星脉冲到达探测器时刻的测量精度,是决定空间飞行器位置解算精度的关键因素。脉冲星导航观测采用的原子钟如果足够稳定,则空间飞行器位置的解算方法可以简化。在脉冲星导航系统计时观测精度达到或优于几十微秒量级时,脉冲星视差、相对论效应的影响是不可忽略的。对脉冲星导航系统开发设计中的关键技术和进一步研究的主要问题进行了初步分析和讨论。     

Analysis of UVSP Dopplergrams and magnetograms and their calibration using the orbital velocity of the SMM spacecraft

To infer velocities and longitudinal magnetic fields from Dopplergram and magnetogram signals obtained by the Ultraviolet Spectrometer and Polarimeter on the Solar Maximum Mission, one must know the width of the observed emission line. Although the instrument control system provided for a line-width calibration feature which utilized periodically commanded shifts of the line, it was not always used. However, it is possible to use the time-varying line-of-sight component of the orbital velocity of the spacecraft as a means of calibrating the line width for each pixel in a raster. Such a method based on a least-squares fit of the observed Doppler signal to the line-of-sight component of the spacecraft velocity is described here; it then applied to magnetogram observations. As background, the theoretical expressions for the interpretation of the observed Dopplergram and magnetogram signals for both wide and narrow exit slits are also summarized.     

Attitude stability of a spacecraft on a stationary orbit around an asteroid subjected to gravity gradient torque

Attitude stability of spacecraft subjected to the gravity gradient torque in a central gravity field has been one of the most fundamental problems in space engineering since the beginning of the space age. Over the last two decades, the interest in asteroid missions for scientific exploration and near-Earth object hazard mitigation is increasing. In this paper, the problem of attitude stability is generalized to a rigid spacecraft on a stationary orbit around a uniformly-rotating asteroid. This generalized problem is studied via the linearized equations of motion, in which the harmonic coefficients $C_{20}$ and $C_{22}$ of the gravity field of the asteroid are considered. The necessary conditions of stability of this conservative system are investigated in detail with respect to three important parameters of the asteroid, which include the harmonic coefficients $C_{20}$ and $C_{22}$ , as well as the ratio of the mean radius to the radius of the stationary orbit. We find that, due to the significantly non-spherical shape and the rapid rotation of the asteroid, the attitude stability domain is modified significantly in comparison with the classical stability domain predicted by the Beletskii–DeBra–Delp method on a circular orbit in a central gravity field. Especially, when the spacecraft is located on the intermediate-moment principal axis of the asteroid, the stability domain can be totally different from the classical stability domain. Our results are useful for the design of attitude control system in the future asteroid missions.     

Observation of a Complex Solar Wind Reconnection Exhaust from Spacecraft Separated by over 1800 R E

We analyze Wind, ACE, and STEREO (ST-A and ST-B) plasma and magnetic field data in the vicinity of the heliospheric current sheet (HCS) crossed by all spacecraft between 22:15 UT on 31 March and 01:25 UT on 1 April 2007 corresponding to its observation at ST-A and ST-B, which were separated by over 1800 R _E (or over 1200 R _E across the Sun?–?Earth line). Although only Wind and ACE provided good ion flow data in accord with a solar wind magnetic reconnection exhaust at the HCS, the magnetic field bifurcation typical of such exhausts was clearly observed at all spacecraft. They also all observed unambiguous strahl mixing within the exhaust, consistent with the sunward flow deflection observed at Wind and ACE and thus with the formation of closed magnetic field lines within the exhaust with both ends attached to the Sun. The strong dawnward flow deflection in the exhaust is consistent with the exhaust and X-line orientations obtained from minimum variance analysis at each spacecraft so that the X-line is almost along the GSE Z-axis and duskward of all the spacecraft. The observation of strahl mixing in extended and intermittent layers outside the exhaust by ST-A and ST-B is consistent with the formation of electron separatrix layers surrounding the exhaust. This event also provides further evidence that balanced parallel and antiparallel suprathermal electron fluxes are not a necessary condition for identification of closed field lines in the solar wind. In the present case the origin of the imbalance simply is the mixing of strahls of substantially different strengths from a different solar source each side of the HCS. The inferred exhaust orientations and distances of each spacecraft relative to the X-line show that the exhaust was likely nonplanar, following the Parker spiral orientation. Finally, the separatrix layers and exhausts properties at each spacecraft suggest that the magnetic reconnection X-line location and/or reconnection rate were variable in both space and time at such large scales.

     

Studies of granular velocities

The process of measuring granular velocity fields with an instrument having finite spectral and spatial resolution is investigated for the case that (1) a weak Fraunhofer line is used, (2) the velocity is constant with height in the solar atmosphere, (3) the original Doppler shifts are of the same order of magnitude as the intrinsic width of the line (width observed with infinitely high spectral and spatial resolution), (4) continuum brightness and line strength fluctuations are superimposed onto the velocity field.It is shown that using a spectral instrumental profile which is large compared to both the intrinsic line width and the rms Doppler shifts (as in the case of filtergrammes), the shift-induced brightness signal is always a linear function of the shift and corrections for finite spatial resolution can be applied to the measured shifts in the usual straightforward way.If the spectral instrumental profile is not large (as in the case of slit-spectrogrammes), the observed line profile is shown to depend upon the spatial resolution as well. It is altered (broadened, made asymmetric) by (1) spatially unresolved Doppler shifts and higher moments of the Doppler shift amplitude distribution, (2) by local correlation between continuum brightness, line strength, and velocity fluctuation. A value of the Doppler shift which is unaffected by nonlinearities, can be measured at a certain position in the line wing. Knowledge of the intrinsic line width is necessary, however, to determine this position, as well as the order of magnitude of the nonlinearity effects producing asymmetries in the observed line profile. Finally, the conditions are discussed under which a complete deconvolution of a spectrum could be accomplished.On leave from Fraunhofer Institut, Freiburg.     

Synthetic high-resolution near-IR spectra of the Sun for planetary data reductions made from ATMOS/Spacelab-3 and Atlas-3 data

We have constructed synthetic solar spectra for the 2302-4800 cm⁻¹ (2.08-4.34 μm) range, a spectral range where planetary objects mainly emit reflected sunlight, using ATMOS (Atmospheric Trace Molecule Spectroscopy)/Spacelab-3 and Atlas-3 spectra, of which resolution is 0.01 cm⁻¹. We adopted Voigt line profiles for the modeling of line shapes based on an atlas of line identifications compiled by Geller [Geller, M., 1992. Key to Identification of Solar Features. A High-Resolution Atlas of the Infrared Spectrum of the Sun and the Earth Atmosphere from Space. NASA Reference Publ. 1224, vol. III. NASA, Washington, DC, pp. 1-22], who derived solar line positions and intensities from contaminated high-resolution solar spectra obtained by ATMOS/Spacelab-3. Because the ATMOS spectra in these wavelength ranges are compromised by absorption lines of molecules existing in Earth's high-altitude atmosphere and in the compartment of the spacecraft, the direct use of these high-resolution solar spectra has been inconvenient for the data reductions of planetary spectra. We compared the synthetic solar spectra with the ATMOS spectra, and obtained satisfactory fits for the majority of the solar lines with the exception of abnormal lines, which do not fit with Voigt line profiles. From the model fits, we were able to determine Voigt line parameters for the majority of solar lines; and we made a list of the abnormal lines. We also constructed telluric-line-free solar spectra by manually eliminating telluric lines from the ATMOS spectra and filling the gaps with adjacent continua. These synthetic solar spectra will be useful to eliminate solar continua from spectra of planetary objects to extract their own intrinsic spectral features.     

MESSENGER Observations of Magnetohydrodynamic Waves in the Solar Corona from Faraday Rotation

During the declining phase of the longest solar minimum in a century, the arrival of the MESSENGER spacecraft at superior conjunction allowed the measurement of magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) waves in the solar corona with its 8 GHz radio frequency signal. MHD waves crossing the line of sight were measured via Faraday rotation fluctuations (FRFs) in the plane of polarization (PP) of MESSENGER’s signal. FRFs in previous observations of the solar corona (at greater offset distances) consisted of a turbulent spectrum that decreased in power with increasing frequency and distance from the Sun. Occasionally a spectral line, a distinct peak in the power spectral density spectrum around 4 to 8 mHz, was also observed in these early data sets at offset distances of about 5 to 10 solar radii. The MESSENGER FRF data set shows a spectral line at an offset distance between 1.55 to 1.85 solar radii with a frequency of 0.6±0.2 mHz. Other possible spectral lines may be at 1.2, 1.7, and 4.5 mHz; MHD waves with these same frequencies have been observed in X-ray data traveling along closed coronal loops at lower offset distances. An initial analysis of the MESSENGER spectral line(s) shows behavior similar to turbulent spectra: decreasing power with increasing frequency and distance from the Sun. Here we detail the steps taken to process the MESSENGER change in PP data set for the MHD wave investigation.     

Calibrating the Pointing and Optical Parameters of the STEREO Heliospheric Imagers

The Heliospheric Imager (HI) instruments on the Solar TErrestrial RElations Observatory (STEREO) observe solar plasma as it streams out from the Sun and into the heliosphere. The telescopes point off-limb (from about 4° to 90° elongation) and so the Sun is not in the field of view. Hence, the Sun cannot be used to confirm the instrument pointing. Until now, the pointing of the instruments have been calculated using the nominal preflight instrument offsets from the STEREO spacecraft together with the spacecraft attitude data. This paper develops a new method for deriving the instrument pointing solutions, along with other optical parameters, by comparing the locations of stars identified in each HI image with the known star positions predicted from a star catalogue. The pointing and optical parameters are varied in an autonomous manner to minimise the discrepancy between the predicted and observed positions of the stars. This method is applied to all HI observations from the beginning of the mission to the end of April 2008. For the vast majority of images a good attitude solution has been obtained with a mean-squared deviation between the observed and predicted star positions of one image pixel or less. Updated values have been obtained for the instrument offsets relative to the spacecraft, and for the optical parameters of the HI cameras. With this method the HI images can be considered as “self-calibrating,” with the actual instrument offsets calculated as a byproduct. The updated pointing results and their by-products have been implemented in SolarSoft.     

Constraining the pass-band of future space-based coronagraphs for observations of solar eruptions in the FeXIV 530.3 nm “green line”

Observations of the solar corona in the FeXIV 530.3 nm “green line” have been very important in the past, and are planned for future coronagraphs on-board forthcoming space missions such as PROBA-3 and Aditya. For these instruments, a very important parameter to be optimized is the spectral width of the band-pass filter to be centred over the “green line”. Focusing on solar eruptions, motions occurring along the line of sight will Doppler shift the line profiles producing an emission that will partially fall out of the narrower pass-band, while broader pass-band will provide observations with reduced spectral purity. To address these issues, we performed numerical (MHD) simulation of CME emission in the “green line” and produced synthetic images assuming 4 different widths of the pass-band (Δλ = 20 Å, 10 Å, 5 Å, and 2 Å). It turns out that, as expected, during solar eruptions a significant fraction of “green line” emission will be lost using narrower filters; on the other hand these images will have a higher spectral purity and will contain emission coming from parcels of plasma expanding only along the plane of the sky. This will provide a better definition of single filamentary features and will help isolating single slices of plasma through the eruption, thus reducing the problem of superposition of different features along the line of sight and helping physical interpretation of limb events. For these reasons, we suggest to use narrower band passes (Δλ ≤ 2 Å) for the observations of solar eruptions with future coronagraphs.     

A typical example of the application of the `Multi-Cloud Model'method to the asymmetric profiles processing

Multi-Cloud Model(MCM) is an effective method for dealing with asymmetric profiles of spectral line formed by active objects on the sun. A typical example is given for the application of the MCM method in this paper. The H _β spectral data of a large post-flare loop (PFL) system which occurred on the solar western limb are obtained with MW-SSHG at the Yunnan Observatory and analysed based on the MCM method. The line-of-sight velocity fields observed in different times are derived and discussed. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

A large proton event associated with solar filament activity

We report observations made from several interplanetary spacecraft, of the large low-energy particle event of 23–27 April, 1979 associated with solar filament activity. We discuss the intensity, spectral and directional evolution of the event as observed in the energy range 35–1600 keV on ISEE-3, located ～ 0.99 AU from the Sun upstream of the Earth. We demonstrate that the shock disturbance propagating through the interplanetary medium and observed at ISEE-3 on 24/25 April strongly controls the particle event. From a comparison of the ISEE-3 observations with those on other spacecraft, in particular on Helios-2, located at 0.41 AU heliocentric distance near the Sun-Earth line, we identify the solar filament erupting on late 22 April near central meridian as the trigger for the propagating shock disturbance. This disturbance which comprises a forward shock and a reverse shock at the orbit of ISEE-3 is found to be the main source of the energetic proton population observed.     

First results from the TGRS high-resolution GRB Spectrometer

The Transient Gamma Ray Spectrometer (TGRS) is a 215 cm³ passivelycooled germanium detector designed primarily to study spectral features of gamma ray bursts. Since shortly after its launch on 1994 Nov. 1 it has been producing high-resolution spectra of GRBs and solar flares. Some of these spectra are presented here.Although it has not yet detected any line features in GRBs-none were expected so early in the mission-several bursts have been seen simultaneously by TGRS, the Konus instruments on the same spacecraft, and the BATSE instrument on Compton GRO. A comparison of the spectra obtained by these various instruments, as presented here, may resolve the question of whether line features actually exist, and if so provide detailed spectroscopy to determine their physical origin.     

A timewise kinematic method for satellite gradiometry: GOCE simulations

We have defined new algorithms for the data processing of a satellite geodesy mission with gradiometer (such as the next European mission GOCE) to extract the information on the gravity field coefficients with a realistic estimate of their accuracy. The large scale data processing can be managed by a multistage decomposition. First the spacecraft position is determined, i.e., a kinematic method is normally used. Second we use a new method to perform the necessary digital calibration of the gradiometer. Third we use a multiarc approach to separately solve for the global gravity field parameters. Fourth we use an approximate resonant decomposition, that is we partition in a new way the harmonic coefficients of the gravity field. Thus the normal system is reduced to blocks of manageable size without neglecting significant correlations. Still the normal system is badly conditioned because of the polar gaps in the spatial distribution of the data. We have shown that the principal components of the uncertainty correspond to harmonic anomalies with very small signal in the region where GOCE is flying; these uncertainties cannot be removed by any data processing method. This allows a complete simulation of the GOCE mission with affordable computer resources. We show that it is possible to solve for the harmonic coefficients up to degree 200–220 with signal to error ratio ≥1, taking into account systematic measurement errors. Errors in the spacecraft orbit, as expected from state of the art satellite navigation, do not degrade the solution. Gradiometer calibration is the main problem. By including a systematic error model, we have shown that the results are sensitive to spurious gradiometer signals at frequencies close to the lower limit of the measurement band. If these spurious effects grow as the inverse of the frequency, then the actual error is larger than the formal error only by a factor ≃2, that is the results are not compromised.