Operative Scheme for the Short-range Complex Forecasting of Wind

We describe our scheme of the operative wind (and possible gusts) forecasts with the lead time up to 3 days and evaluate its success. It uses joint statistical processing of the results of several best operative forecasting hydrodynamic weather forecasting schemes. This approach allowed us to reduce the error with respect to original schemes. The operative forecast and its evaluation for the period of 2014–2016 is implemented for ~ 2800 cities of Russia, Belarus, and Central Asia. The update results are represented at the official site of the Hydrometeorological Center of Russia every day at 8:30 (a.m. and p.m.), Moscow time.     

Study of space debris burning in Earth’s atmosphere via television meteor monitoring

The observations on ground-based facilities miss multitudes of small fragments of space debris. However, the intrusion of fine particles into the atmosphere and their subsequent burning can be observed along with the usual meteor phenomena. Since the solar system meteoric body velocities at the entry into the atmosphere are over 11.2 km/s, and the velocity of the space debris objects does not exceed 11.2 km/s, the selection of meteors by velocity is a reliable criterion for separating these bodies. The paper describes a method of selecting the space debris fragments using a technique of television meteor monitoring. The technique was adapted on the material of real television observations on the FAVOR wide-field monitoring camera with high temporal resolution, conducted in 2006 in the Arkhyz station of the Institute for Precision Instrumentation (North Caucasus).     

Complex forecast of surface meteorological parameters

The statistical scheme using the results of the best foreign global schemes and the COSMO-RU7 regional scheme is proposed for forecasting surface temperature for five days and the amount of precipitation for three days. Presented are the estimates of prognostic values of the surface air temperature and amount of precipitation for the period of July 2010–June 2013. The joint statistical taking account of different types of systematic errors in the complex forecasting scheme enables excelling all initial schemes in quality. A scheme of the complex forecast is operationally used and its results are daily updated on the website of the Hydrometcenter of Russia at 09:15. The forecasts of extreme temperature, dew-point temperature, and wind speed near the surface are also presented on the website.     

The calculation of meteor motion parameters based on the single station TV observations

Recently, television observations of meteors have steadily replaced photographic observations. Television recording with short exposures is a close analog of a photographic survey with a rotary shutter in the form of a system of set time marks on the meteor track. Each meteoric event is a series of recordings of separate phases of the motion of a meteor. This allows for the use of the geometric method for the determination of the motion parameters of meteors. In this work, a critique is given regarding the concept proposed by K.P. Stanyukovich in 1932–1939, and a mathematical justification of the geometric method of the analysis of the television images of meteors is given.     

Meteor Hazard for Interplanetary Flights in the Ecliptic Plane

Solar System Research - To increase the safety of interplanetary missions, it is necessary to have estimates of the meteor hazard along the flight trajectory. Meteoroid particles of known meteor...     

Non-Rocket Launch from Mars

Solar System Research - In this paper, we examine a method for launching payloads from Mars, which is an alternative to a rocket launch. The idea is based on the elevator concept using a tether,...     

Determining the influx rate of meteoric material to the Earth based on measurements with a patrol TV camera from a single station

We propose a technique for reducing the number of meteors observed at a single ground-based station to estimate the influx rate of meteoric material to the Earth (MAI—meteor activity index). We derive a formula that allows the meteor activity to be objectively estimated from the results of meteor detection by assuming that each meteor belongs to a stream with a uniform spatial particle distribution. As an example, we give meteor activity estimates obtained from the results of meteor detection by a patrol TV camera located at a single station.     

Operative Scheme for the Short-range Complex Forecasting of Surface Air Temperature and Humidity

The statistical scheme is proposed for the forecast of surface air temperature and humidity using operative weather forecasts with 3–5-day lead time from the best forecasting hydrodynamic models as well as the archives of forecasts of these models and observational data from 2800 weather stations of Russia, Eastern Europe, and Central Asia. The output of the scheme includes the forecasts of air temperature for the standard observation moments with the period of 6 hours and extreme temperatures with the lead times of 12–120 hours. The accuracy of temperature and humidity forecasts for the period from July 2014 till June 2017 is much higher than that for the forecasts of original hydrodynamic models. The skill scores for extreme temperature forecasts based on the proposed method are compared with the similar results of the Weather Element Computation (WEC) forecasting scheme and forecasts by weathermen.     

The Use of Photometric Structural Analysis and Digitized Positional Observation Data to Study Small Celestial Bodies

Astronomy Reports - The problems of the study of small celestial bodies are an important component of modern space research. This applies both to the study of physicochemical and evolutionary...     

Creation of light-emitting diode optical beacons for spacecraft

A successful development of the semiconductor light-emitting diode (LED) technology made it possible to design efficient high-power light emission sources with small weight-and-size parameters. The technical characteristics of these LEDs allow one to use them as optical beacons on spacecraft. The application of LED optical beacons jointly with other equipment is intended to improve navigation support of space programs.