A continuum model for the orbit evolution of self-propelled ‘smart dust’ swarms

A continuity equation is developed to model the evolution of a swarm of self-propelled ‘smart dust’ devices in heliocentric orbit driven by solar radiation pressure. These devices are assumed to be MEMs-scale (micro-electromechanical systems) with a large area-to-mass ratio. For large numbers of devices it will be assumed that a continuum approximation can be used to model their orbit evolution. The families of closed-form solutions to the resulting swarm continuity equation then represent the evolution of the number density of devices as a function of both position and time from a set of initial data. Forcing terms are also considered which model swarm sources and sinks (device deposition and device failure). The closed-form solutions presented for the swarm number density provide insights into the behaviour of swarms of self-propelled ‘smart dust’ devices an can form the basis of more complex mission design methodologies.     

微机数据流磁带机驱动接口和软件的研究

对于数据采集处理微机系统来说,采集预处理后的数据往往需要按预定的格式转换,再到功能更强的计算机上作进一步的处理,因此可装卸的大容量外存设备就显得日益重要。然而装备在PC机上的这类设备相应的驱动软件只支持固定的磁带文件格式,加之软硬件资料的缺乏,给这类设备的信息交换和高效使用带来了困难。本文针对微机上广泛使用的数据流磁带机,在硬件接口分析的基础上,全面描述我们新近开发的驱动软件包里的基本I/O过程,用户软件可方便地调用以实现对任意数据格式磁带进行读写。     

Auroral pulsations—Television image and VLF hiss correlation

The association between VLF hiss and auroral-light intensity has been studied for pulsating auroras by coordinated observations with a broad band VLF receiver and a low light level TV system viewing the N₂⁺ ING emissions. Power spectral analyses of the VLF hiss and auroral-light intensity fluctuations display a common peak at 1.3 ± 0.3 Hz. Cross-spectral analysis shows that the times of the peaks in the auroral-light intensity fluctuations differ from those of the VLF hiss by times ranging between zero and 0.2 s. This result is shown to be compatible with a cyclotron resonance interaction in the vicinity of the equatorial plane. The periodicity of the intensity fluctuations can be accounted for by assuming the process is driven by echoing VLF hiss, which may be single-phase or three-phase.     

Research on Receiver Anti-RFI of Delingha 13.7 m Telescope

In astronomical observations, the radio frequency interference (RFI) will cause pseudo spectra and reduce the reliability and validity of observational data. The RFI mitigation, which includes many technical innovations of devices and the method studies of data processing, aims at reducing the influence of RFI on the radio astronomical observation. Various efforts were made to improve the anti-RFI capability of the multi-beam receiver (Superconducting Spectroscopic Array Receiver, SSAR) of the Delingha 13.7 m telescope. The interference transmission path was analyzed. The concepts of the device RFI direct coupling coefficient and the device RFI system coupling coefficient were proposed. The proportions of interference introduced in the receiver system by the different devices were quantified, and the interference-susceptible devices in the system were located. After the anti-RFI treatment of the interference-susceptible devices, the anti-RFI capability of the receiver system is improved by 30 dB in average, and the astronomical observation efficiency of the telescope is increased by more than 10%.     

The D-CIXS X-ray mapping spectrometer on SMART-1

The D-CIXS Compact X-ray Spectrometer will provide high quality spectroscopic mapping of the Moon, the primary science target of the ESA SMART-1 mission. D-CIXS consists of a high throughput spectrometer, which will perform spatially localised X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy. It will also carry a solar monitor, to provide the direct calibration needed to produce a global map of absolute lunar elemental abundances, the first time this has been done. Thus it will achieve ground breaking science within a resource envelope far smaller than previously thought possible for this type of instrument, by exploiting two new technologies, swept charge devices and micro-structure collimators. The new technology does not require cold running, with its associated overheads to the spacecraft. At the same time it will demonstrate a radically novel approach to building a type of instrument essential for the BepiColombo mission and potential future planetary science targets.     

德令哈13.7m望远镜接收机抗射频干扰研究

在天文观测中,射频干扰会造成假谱,降低数据的可靠性和有效性.射频干扰消减旨在减少干扰信号对射电天文观测的影响,包含器件方面的技术革新和数据处理领域的方法研究.针对德令哈13.7 m望远镜接收机中频部分引入的射频干扰,通过优化中频器件的抗射频干扰能力,提高了接收机的整体抗射频干扰能力,以主动消除方法来减少射频干扰耦合到接收机内部.分析了接收机干扰的传输路径,提出了器件射频干扰的直接耦合系数和器件射频干扰的系统耦合系数的概念,为定位干扰敏感器件并量化干扰引入比重提供了基础.经过抗射频干扰优化后,接收机抗干扰能力改善30 dB左右,望远镜的天文观测效率提高10%以上.     

Impulse response analysis of 5577Å emissions

A method of time series analysis termed impulse response estimation is described. The method is applied to simultaneous ground based photometry measurements of the N₂⁺ ING band at 4278Å and the 5577Å line emission in order to estimate the response in 5577Å to a discrete impulse in excitation rate.From these impulse response estimates the contribution from indirect excitation processes to the O(¹S) state is estimated to be of the order of 80% and the lifetime of the associated intermediate species to be approximately 0.1 s. Effective lifetimes for the O(¹S) excited state are obtained in the range 0.49–0.86 s with a distribution showing a sharp cut-off at 0.8 s and a mean of 0.71 s.     

The Fresnel space imager as a disk evolution watcher

The Fresnel Diffractive Imaging Arrays form high resolution images by diffraction with low radiometric efficiencies. They are extremely good devices to make high resolution imaging and integral field spectroscopy of bright sources. Thirty meter arrays will provide a spatial resolution of 0.8 mas at Lyman-?? that will open a completely new field of research: the study of matter distribution around disks and their gravitational drives. In this contribution, the potentials of the 3.6 m precursors (or probes) for astrophysical disks and jets research, are described. Main emphasis is made on young planetary disks.     

Outflows from evolved stars with OASIS, NAOMI and GLAS

I discuss the potential of integral-field spectroscopy (IFS) with adaptive optics in the study of the outflows from evolved stars of different masses.With IFS, detailed 3-D spatio-kinematical models of the outflows can be built, providing excellent observational datasets to be confronted with the existing dynamical theories. In addition, if multi-epoch observations are able to resolve the apparent expansion of the nebulae in the plane of the sky, then their dynamics can be further constrained, and other basic quantities like the distance via the expansion parallax, can be determined. The kind of results that can be obtained are illustrated by recent HST and VLT observations of the ring nebula around the symbiotic nova He 2-147.Given the present capabilities of the OASIS integral-field spectrograph of the Isaac Newton Group of Telescopes (ING), classical novae ejecta are the most appealing targets for such kind of studies, provided that its AO system NAOMI is complemented with the forthcoming laser guide star system GLAS.IFS+AO is also a powerful technique to detect faint ionized nebulae around bright stars, like for instance the outflows from luminous blue variables.     

Radio frequency self-interference from a data processing centre at a radio telescope site

Apart from externally generated Radio Frequency Interference (RFI), the occurrence of self-interference is a major concern at any modern radio telescope site. Antenna servo motor controllers, data acquisition processors, and fast computing capabilities operate very close to extremely sensitive and wideband radio astronomical receivers. In this paper, we present a set of measurements of the RFI level generated by a cluster of computers that will be installed at the site of the Sardinia Radio Telescope (SRT). The measured levels are compared to Recommendation ITU-R RA.769-2, which gives the threshold levels for interference detrimental to radio astronomy observations. Our analysis shows that, with proper shielding of the noisiest devices, it will be possible to preserve the present excellent RFI conditions of the SRT site.     

MARCO POLO: near earth object sample return mission

MARCO POLO is a joint European–Japanese sample return mission to a Near-Earth Object. This Euro-Asian mission will go to a primitive Near-Earth Object (NEO), which we anticipate will contain primitive materials without any known meteorite analogue, scientifically characterize it at multiple scales, and bring samples back to Earth for detailed scientific investigation. Small bodies, as primitive leftover building blocks of the Solar System formation process, offer important clues to the chemical mixture from which the planets formed some 4.6 billion years ago. Current exobiological scenarios for the origin of Life invoke an exogenous delivery of organic matter to the early Earth: it has been proposed that primitive bodies could have brought these complex organic molecules capable of triggering the pre-biotic synthesis of biochemical compounds. Moreover, collisions of NEOs with the Earth pose a finite hazard to life. For all these reasons, the exploration of such objects is particularly interesting and urgent. The scientific objectives of MARCO POLO will therefore contribute to a better understanding of the origin and evolution of the Solar System, the Earth, and possibly Life itself. Moreover, MARCO POLO provides important information on the volatile-rich (e.g. water) nature of primitive NEOs, which may be particularly important for future space resource utilization as well as providing critical information for the security of Earth. MARCO POLO is a proposal offering several options, leading to great flexibility in the actual implementation. The baseline mission scenario is based on a launch with a Soyuz-type launcher and consists of a Mother Spacecraft (MSC) carrying a possible Lander named SIFNOS, small hoppers, sampling devices, a re-entry capsule and scientific payloads. The MSC leaves Earth orbit, cruises toward the target with ion engines, rendezvous with the target, conducts a global characterization of the target to select a sampling site, and delivers small hoppers (MINERVA type, JAXA) and SIFNOS. The latter, if added, will perform a soft landing, anchor to the target surface, and make various in situ measurements of surface/subsurface materials near the sampling site. Two surface samples will be collected by the MSC using “touch and go” manoeuvres. Two complementary sample collection devices will be used in this phase: one developed by ESA and another provided by JAXA, mounted on a retractable extension arm. After the completion of the sampling and ascent of the MSC, the arm will be retracted to transfer the sample containers into the MSC. The MSC will then make its journey back to Earth and release the re-entry capsule into the Earth’s atmosphere.     

Assessing the Clock of Gaia: Design and Implementation of A Clock Framework Simulator

A powerful and highly configurable simulator of generic clock frameworks is presented and evaluated. This software tool was initially designed to test the reliability of clock data for the Gaia space mission. However, our application has been developed as much parameterized as possible in order to easily adapt it to any other space mission. The main goals of our software tool are to simulate the real performance of an atomic master clock, including the typical noises present in this kind of devices, and to check the reliability of the generation and distribution of clock sub-products. The latter, which are generated by other devices such as frequency multipliers and dividers, are also implemented in the simulator, as well as the corresponding transmission lines. In our simulator the clock outputs obtained from the several nodes of the framework can be displayed with the appropriate graphical tools, therefore easing the task of validating several design issues. Also, the parameters of the master clock and of all the framework devices, as well as the whole clock framework structure are entered using XML files, which can also be graphically verified. Finally, the accuracy and stability of the atomic clock which is expected to fly on-board of Gaia is assessed. We also discuss in depth the several issues regarding the time data products that Gaia will require and we characterize the most important elements.     

The effect of the prompt particle environment at L2 on optical CCDs for astronomy and astrophysics

The increasing number of probes carrying large focal planes consisting of many charge-coupled devices (CCDs), planned to be sent to the L2 Lagrangian point, 1.5 million kilometres from Earth in the next 15 years, implies that a detailed study of the effects of the prompt particle environment at L2 on CCDs is required. The focus of this study will be on CCDs for optical astronomy, astrometry and photometric applications. This study will be of particular interest to GAIA the European Space Agency's (ESA) cornerstone optical astronomy mission to further explore and map sections of our galaxy in greater detail. The results will also have implications for future X-ray astronomy missions like the X-ray Evolving Universe Spectroscopy Mission (XEUS). Both the above missions will require large area focal planes incorporating many CCD detectors.The sources of the instrument background are both solar and galactic and if a probe is launched around the peak in the next solar cycle (2010), the possible false detection rate or the amount of data that could be lost during a mission must be determined. This paper presents measured data for a spacecraft in a geostationary orbit, specifically Geosynchronous Operational Environmental Satellites (GOES) data, and makes predictions of the flux and energy of the particle environment at L2. The solar and galactic cosmic ray background was determined by using the Cosmic Ray Effects on Micro-Electronics or CREME96 code. A comparison was then made between the GOES data and the output from the CREME96 code in order to make predictions about the L2 environment.     

Numerical stabilization of the differential equations of Keplerian motion

A stabilization of the classical equations of two-body motion is offered. It is characterized by the use of the regularizing independent variable (eccentric anomaly) and by the addition of a control-term to the differential equations. This method is related to the KS-theory (Stiefel, 1970) which performed for the first time a stabilization of the Kepler motion. But in contrast to the KS-theory our method does not transform the coordinates of the particle. As far as the theory of stability and the numerical experiments are concerned we restrict ourselves to thepure Kepler motion. But, of course, the stabilizing devices will also improve the accuracy of the computation of perturbed orbits. We list, therefore, also the equations of the perturbed motion.     

Novel photosensors for neutrino detectors and telescopes

The volume and the photosensitive area of next generation detectors of the numerous rarely occurring phenomena will greatly exceed the sizes of the current experiments. These phenomena include cosmic neutrinos, atmospheric neutrinos, long-baseline neutrino beams from accelerators, geo-neutrinos, geo-reactor neutrinos, and hypothetic proton decays. Similar requirements hold for a new type of a large scanning device for homeland security and nuclear proliferation control, and for the future widely accessible medical imaging devices. Photon detectors are the most important component of such detectors. Existing photosensors are based on vacuum tubes and dynode electron multipliers that are essentially hand-made, expensive and nearly impossible to produce in large enough quantities. Silicon detectors are too small for experiments requiring a very large photosensitive area. Our laboratory is developing novel detectors with a large photosensitive area that can be mass-produced, similar to large flat panel TV displays.     

On-chip micro-refrigerators for sub-Kelvin cooling

Thin-film tunnel junctions made of a normal metal, an insulating layer and a superconductor (this structures are also called NIS junctions), are able to cool down the metal electrons by means of the tunneling mechanism. This fact opens the possibility to refrigerate small detectors by means of a local cooling of the chip. Another important application of the NIS junctions is high sensitive thermometry. These NIS coolers, together with their relative thermometers, are fabricated by using micro and nano-electronic techniques. This fact makes them very compact devices, allowing sub-Kelvin cooling with no moving parts. The present status of the art on Peltier refrigeration by NIS junctions will be reviewed in this work.     

Secrets of E2V Technologies CCDs (ex Marconi CCDs)

To complement previously published information on E2V CCDs, we present here some less well-known information about Marconi CCDs. We show details of the performance of deep depletion silicon variants, and discuss other subtleties of performance. We also present an update on L3vision (sub-electron noise) devices, indicating current availability, options, and ongoing development work. Finally, we will give a flavour of the range of custom designs that have been made. Many of these are not commercially available, and may not be familiar to all astronomers or CCD technologists. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

基于科学CCD的低纬子午环的数据采集系统

本文主要介绍基于科学CCD的低纬子午环数据采集系统的硬件构成及软件设计。为了能绝对而又精确地确定天体的位置 ,低纬子午环需要配备多种精密的测量装置 ,如 :GPS与时钟、 9路Reticon线阵、视频CCD、科学CCD、圆感应同步器、光栅线性位移传感器等。为了能有序地控制并采集这些装置的数据 ,我们设计了一个包含 3个PC机的数据采集与控制系统。文中将描述测量装置的功能 ,然后介绍数据采集方法及软件设计     

The Troughton & Simms transit circle of Coimbra Astronomical Observatory from the 1850s: An example of the dissemination of technological developments

Yesterday, as today, technological developments led by large and expensive instrumental projects are later on disseminated to smaller and more affordable devices. In 1847, Airy requested a new transit circle for the Greenwich Observatory. When the first observation was performed, on 4 January 1851, Airy's Greenwich Transit Circle (ATC) was the largest instrument of its class in the world. The construction of the ATC implied solving several technical difficulties, for example, the maintenance of the instrument rigidity and the illumination of the graduated circle and telescope field of view. After the ATC completion Troughton & Simms stand at the 1851 Great London Exhibition included two small transit instruments which were praised for their telescope field of view/eyepiece wires illumination. One of which, was based upon the design implemented beforehand on the ATC. In this paper we will discuss the field and eyepiece wire illumination innovations introduced on the ATC and the Simms transit instruments exhibited in 1851. We will also describe the small Troughton & Simms transit circle currently belonging to Coimbra Astronomical Observatory collection that is, we believe, one of the earliest implementation of this ATC lead development (© 2009 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)