我国小行星探测目标分析与电推进轨道设计

近几年,世界各航天大国陆续实施了小行星探测计划.近地小行星也是我国下一步深空探测的重要目标,国内航天相关单位正在积极开展近地小行星探测的前期任务论证与规划工作.以此为背景,研究了电推进方式探测近地小行星的目标选择与轨道设计问题.首先分析了近地小行星探测的科学和技术目标,结合我国技术水平的发展现状,给出了6颗适合作为探测目标的近地小行星.搜索了2016年至2020年之间探测每颗可能目标的发射窗口.为了增加探测任务的科学回报,特别关注了多目标、多任务的近地小行星探测,推荐了一次探测多个有价值目标的可行多任务探测方案：Earth出发-Nereus飞越-Apophis飞越-1999JU3交会.基于脉冲估算结果设计电推进轨道,将中途多任务探测作为内点约束整体优化小推力转移轨道,采用间接法求解燃料最优控制问题得到了小推力的最优轨迹.最后给出了推荐方案的详细飞行程序.     

深空1号——开发新技术和探测小行星

笔者在《科技潮》1999年第4期介绍过探测彗星的"星尘号"探测器,在该刊第5期介绍过探测小行星的"近地小行星交会"探测器,现在再向读者们讲讲另一艘探测小行星的"深空1号"探测器,以使您们对发生于世纪之交的这股小天体探测热,有更完整的了解。"深空1号"(Deep space Ⅰ)是NASA 为到来的新世纪的千年庆典推出的一种低价位探测器的第一艘,主要任务是考察新开发的推进器动力和导航系统方面的新技术应用情况,同时也担负部分探测小天体的任务。     

太阳系的配角隐藏着太阳系历史秘密的卫星和小行星

我们居住的太阳系,不仅有太阳和行星,还有行星所携带的卫星,以及冥王星等矮行星、小行星和彗星等其他重要成员。日本的小行星探测器“隼鸟”号经过大约7年的太空之旅,采集到了小行星的物质样品并返回地球。这项探测任务的重要性在于,通过探测小行星有可能找到关于太阳系起源的线索。本文专门介绍通常被太阳和行星这样的主角掩盖了其重要性的、作为太阳系次要角色的卫星和小行星。     

探测“受伤的”小“爱神”——美国1996年发射的NEAR探测器情况简介

也许您还记得1994年发生的彗星撞击木星的惊人事件;也许1998年上演的《天地大碰撞》影片还刻在您的脑海中:一颗彗星撞击到地球,引起排山倒海的巨浪,摧毁了高楼大厦,吞食了都市和乡村……您可能会问:天地真的会大碰撞吗?地球真的会被毁灭吗?当此世纪之交,各航天大国掀起一股小天体(小行星和彗星)空间探测热,其目的是要彻底揭开这些有可能引起麻烦的小天体之谜,更好地把握我们人类自己的命运。这股小天体空间探测热投入最多的是美国。在此世界之末,美国已发射了3艘空间探测器,即1996年发射的"近地小行星交会探测器"(NEAR)、1998年发射的"深空1号"(Deep Space 1)和今年2月发射的"星尘"(STARDUST)号。有关"星尘"号的情况,已在今年4月的《科技潮》杂志上介绍过(见该刊1999年第4期),这次专讲"近地小行星交会探测器",至于"深空1号"则将在以后介绍。     

地球生命来自太空陨石

最近，火星探测的热潮激起了大家对探索生命起源的兴趣，科学家在火星上也发现了类似于地球的陨石坑。不少科学家推测，生命可能起源于这些陨石坑。于是，人们又把生命起源的目光投向那些可能撞击地球和火星的彗星和小行星。现在，一种时髦的理论认为，是来自太空的携带有水和其他有机分子的彗星和小行星撞击地球后，才使地球产生了生命。     

小行星防御，并非杞人忧天

<正>2023年中国航天大会（CSC2023）于4月23～26日在安徽省合肥市召开，空间碎片移除与小行星防御论坛作为本次大会的分论坛也于4月25日召开，再次唤起了各界对于小行星防御问题的关注。一般而言，轨道在离太阳1.3AU(1AU等于地球和太阳之间的平均距离，约1.5亿公里)范围内，离地球轨道距离小于0.3AU的小行星统一被称为近地小行星，     

小行星采样返回任务的选址方法进展与启发

针对小行星采样返回任务，回顾不同小行星采样选址任务中的选址方法，阐述日本的隼鸟二号和美国的奥西里斯号采样返回任务中从初选采样区中选出最终采样区L08-E1和夜莺区的流程、采样选址涉及的工程和科学价值因素的分析方法与采样选址结果，并介绍了其他小行星附着任务的选址过程；对不同小行星采样返回任务的选址方法进行了对比分析与归纳，阐释了隼鸟二号和奥西里斯号采样选址所用到的载荷、选址方法以及得到的选址结果，并对选址方法进行对比分析，可作为今后小行星采样返回任务中采样选址方法的参考。结合我国小行星探测任务规划，展望了今后小行星采样返回任务中的选址方案。     

近地小行星的组成分布

科学家对近地小行星所作的新的光谱测量显示,正如人们可能预料的,近地小行星的总体组成与降落到地球上的最常见的陨石——普通球粒状陨石相似。但是它们的组成分布却是出乎意料的。大约2／3的近地小行星,包括那些最有可能撞击地球的小行星,与被称为LL球粒状陨石的一组陨石相符,后者仅占降落到地球上的全部陨石的大约8％。这可以说明它们起源于小行星带的内边缘,那里主要是由Flora母体分裂产生的小行星家族。对此现象的一个可能的解释是,从主小行星带到地球轨道附近的物质运输,可能取决于其大小。     

别过来,近地小行星

科幻馆里最近新设了一个项目，名字叫“别过来，近地小行星”。从小就对宇宙非常好奇的奇奇，马上和小伙伴们一起去玩了。     

射电类星体辐射压的研究

收集了20个射电宁静类星体(radio quiet quasars,RQQs)和97个射电噪类星体(radio loud quasars,RLQs)的红移、5 100的单色光度、Hβ发射线宽度、射电噪度、5 GHz射电光学流量密度、热光度.分别计算了考虑辐射压影响和没有考虑辐射压影响的黑洞质量和爱丁顿比,利用总的5GHz射电光学流量密度计算了射电光度.分析了它们之间的相关性,得到如下结论:RQQs考虑辐射压的黑洞质量与射电噪度、5 GHz射电光度、热光度的相关性比RLQs考虑辐射压的黑洞质量和射电噪度、5 GHz射电光度、热光度的相关性弱;考虑辐射压后,RQQs的黑洞质量和红移的相关性比RLQs的强,RQQs的黑洞质量Mma108 M☉,而且它的吸积未超爱丁顿吸积;由于辐射压对宽线云有影响,且大多数人认为RQQs可能来自吸积盘,表明宽线区和吸积盘可能有关联;考虑辐射压的RQQs和RLQs的黑洞质量与射电噪度、5 GHz射电光度、热光度的相关性比没有考虑辐射压黑洞质量与射电噪度、5GHz射电光度、热光度的相关性好;考虑辐射压后,RQQs和RLQs的黑洞质量—射电噪度分布、黑洞质量—Ηβ发射线宽度分布、射电噪度—爱丁顿比分布的不同说明辐射压对RQQs和RLQs的不同会产生影响.     

用天文方法校勘史料举隅

在当代学科交叉的背景下，既有校勘方法已不能满足历史工作者们对史料更高准确程度的要求．由于天文学可以精确逆推的特性，相关史料的校勘引入天文方法已是势在必行．通过三个具体校勘实例，以示史料校勘可以通过天文方法解决一些难题．     

利用古代天象记载研究地球自转长期变化的原理和方法

概括介绍利用三代某些天象的观测记载,研究地球自转速率长期变化的意义、基本原理和方法,这是目前研究近20多个世纪间地于自转长期变化的惟一有效的方法,并介绍目前已得到的初步结果和研究中的有关问题。     

An Archaean heavy bombardment from a destabilized extension of the asteroid belt

The barrage of comets and asteroids that produced many young lunar basins (craters over 300 kilometres in diameter) has frequently been called the Late Heavy Bombardment (LHB). Many assume the LHB ended about 3.7 to 3.8 billion years (Gyr) ago with the formation of Orientale basin. Evidence for LHB-sized blasts on Earth, however, extend into the Archaean and early Proterozoic eons, in the form of impact spherule beds: globally distributed ejecta layers created by Chicxulub-sized or larger cratering events4. At least seven spherule beds have been found that formed between 3.23 and 3.47?Gyr ago, four between 2.49 and 2.63?Gyr ago, and one between 1.7 and 2.1?Gyr ago. Here we report that the LHB lasted much longer than previously thought, with most late impactors coming from the E belt, an extended and now largely extinct portion of the asteroid belt between 1.7 and 2.1 astronomical units from Earth. This region was destabilized by late giant planet migration. E-belt survivors now make up the high-inclination Hungaria asteroids. Scaling from the observed Hungaria asteroids, we find that E-belt projectiles made about ten lunar basins between 3.7 and 4.1?Gyr ago. They also produced about 15 terrestrial basins between 2.5 and 3.7?Gyr ago, as well as around 70 and four Chicxulub-sized or larger craters on the Earth and Moon, respectively, between 1.7 and 3.7?Gyr ago. These rates reproduce impact spherule bed and lunar crater constraints.     

The vector alignments of asteroid spins by thermal torques

Collisions have been thought to be the dominant process altering asteroid rotations, but recent observations of the Koronis family of asteroids suggest that this may be incorrect. This group of asteroids was formed in a catastrophic collision several billion years ago; in the intervening period their rotational axes should have become nearly random because of subsequent collisions, with spin rates that follow a maxwellian distribution. What is seen, however, is that the observed family members with prograde spins have nearly identical periods (7.5-9.5 h) and obliquities between 42 and 50 degrees, while those with retrograde spins have obliquities between 154 and 169 degrees with periods either <5 h or >13 h. Here we show that these non-random orientations and spin rates can be explained by 'thermal torques' (arising from differential solar heating), which modify the spin states over time. In some cases, the asteroids become trapped in spin-orbit resonances. Our results suggest that thermal torques may be more important than collisions in changing the spin states (and possibly shapes) of asteroids with diameters <40 km.     

Progress of research on anomalies of astronomical time and latitude observations before earthquake

This paper introduces the discovery of the phenomenon that short-term anomalous fluctuations appeared in residuals of astronomical time and latitude observations before earthquakes and the progress of related researches carried out for many years.The relations between the anomalous variations of time and latitude residuals of astronomical time and latitude instruments in different regions and the earthquakes around these instruments as well as the characteristics of residuals’ anomalous variations are analyzed.The significance of the anomalous fluctuations in residuals of astronomical time and latitude caused by the anomalous variations of the local plumb line before earthquake and detecting the vertical variation with astronomical time and latitude observations as well as the importance of carrying out further researches are discoursed.The possibility that the phenomenon will become an effective short-term earthquakes precursor,the current situations and the problems to be solved,are discussed.Also we offer the proposals to develop new roboticized astrometric instruments with high-precision and set up test observation networks in earthquake-prone areas in order to do research in-depth,optimize methods of observing and extracting anomalous information for short-term earthquake prediction,and so on.     

On the measurement for the speed of gravity

Newton’s law of gravity is a theory of instantaneous action at a distance.However,Einstein’s general relativity states that the speed of gravity equals the speed of light,which is finite.Therefore,it is a worthy problem to discuss if Newton’s law of gravity needs modification,when studying and observing the gravitational tidal.In this paper,it is shown that the Newton’s law of gravity is fully applicable in the framework of general relativity.Based on the post-Newtonian approximation,we find that the observable effect for the speed of gravity is irrelevant to the velocity of a moving source,but it is dependent on its acceleration.In general,the effect of the speed of gravity is so weak that today’s any astronomical observations,including the sun tidal observations,can not confirm that the gravitational field travels at the speed of light.     

Efficient disruption of small asteroids by Earth's atmosphere

Accurate modelling of the interaction between the atmosphere and an incoming bolide is a complex task, but crucial to determining the fraction of small asteroids that actually hit the Earth's surface. Most semi-analytical approaches have simplified the problem by considering the impactor as a strengthless liquid-like object ('pancake' models), but recently a more realistic model has been developed that calculates motion, aerodynamic loading and ablation for each separate particle or fragment in a disrupted impactor. Here we report the results of a large number of simulations in which we use both models to develop a statistical picture of atmosphere-bolide interaction for iron and stony objects with initial diameters up to approximately 1 km. We show that the separated-fragments model predicts the total atmospheric disruption of much larger stony bodies than previously thought. In addition, our data set of >1,000 simulated impacts, combined with the known pre-atmospheric flux of asteroids with diameters less than 1 km, elucidates the flux of small bolides at the Earth's surface. We estimate that bodies >220 m in diameter will impact every 170,000 years.     

中国天文气象条件的时变特征

采用全国地面气象站1951～2008年的气象资料年值和月值数据集,系统分析云量、气温、湿度、风速、水汽压和降水量等天文选址气象要素气候态的长年变化、季节变化和日变化特征．根据对全国天文气候的区域划分,挑选出21个地区代表台站．统计比较各气象要素变化特征,总结出各地区天文气象条件的时变特性,进一步论证其地域分布特征,从而为进行地基望远镜建设的全国范围选址调查提供可靠的基础数据.     

基于Matlab的分布式图像序列跟踪系统

在对分布式环境进行深入研究基础上,分析并设计图像序列跟踪系统的系统框架和任务函数。在基于Matlab分布式并行计算环境下组建集群,运行任务函数,实现天文图像序列中运动物体的检测与跟踪功能。从实验结果看,任务函数具有很大的粒度,利用Matlab分布式计算工具箱,将分布式图像序列跟踪算法应用于天文图像序列运动物体的检测与跟踪简单而且有效。     

多颗小行星探测顺序确定及轨迹优化

小行星探测日渐成为深空探测领域的一个研究热点。考虑小行星Kepler轨道以及小推力航天器的特点,从能量和相位的角度推导出多颗小行星探测顺序的确定准则,并利用优化算法对航天器的飞行轨迹进行了全局优化设计。算法在满足约束条件的前提下,使得航天器剩余质量与飞行时间的比值达到最大,并通过数值仿真算例验证了算法的可行性。结果表明:该算法综合利用遗传算法和局部优化算法具有精度高、计算简单的特点,可用于小行星探测的轨迹优化设计问题。