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At least 937 records · Page 52

OpenSatKit Enables Quick Startup for CubeSat Missions

The software required to develop, integrate, and operate a spacecraft is substantial regardless of whether its a large or small satellite. Even getting started can be a monumental task. To solve this problem, NASAs Core Flight System (cFS), NASA's 42 spacecraft dynamics simulator, and Ball Aerospaces COSMOS ground system have been integrated together into a kit called OpenSatKit that provides a complete and open source software solution for starting a new satellite mission. Users can have a working system with flight software, dynamics simulation, and a ground command and control system up and running within hours.Every satellite mission requires three primary categories of software to function. The first is Flight Software (FSW) which provides the onboard control of the satellites and its payload(s). NASA's cFS provides a great platform for developing this software. Second, while developing a satellite on earth, it is necessary to simulate the satellites orbit, attitude, and actuators, to ensure that the systems that control these aspects will work correctly in the real environment. NASAs 42 simulator provides these functionalities. Finally, the ground has to be able to communicate with the satellite, monitor its performance and health, and display its data. Additionally, test scripts have to be written to verify the system on the ground. Ball Aerospace's COSMOS command and control system provides this functionality. Once the OpenSatKit is up and running, the next step is to customize the platform and get it running on the end target. Starting from a fully working system makes porting the cFS from Linux to a users platform much easier. An example Raspberry Pi target is included in the kit so users can gain experience working with a low cost hardware target. All users can benefit from OpenSatKit but the greatest impact and benefits will be to SmallSat missions with constrained budgets and small software teams. This paper describes OpenSatKits system design, the steps necessary to run the system to target the Raspberry Pi, and future plans. OpenSatKit is a free fully functional spacecraft software system that we hope will greatly benefit the SmallSat community.

Software↗

The 2L1S/1L2S Degeneracy for Two Microlensing Planet Candidates Discovered by the KMTNet Survey in 2017

We report two microlensing planet candidates discovered by the Korea Microlensing Telescope Network (KMTNet) survey in 2017. However, both events have the 2L1S/1L2S degeneracy, which is an obstacle to claiming the discovery of the planets with certainty unless the degeneracy can be resolved. For KMT-2017-BLG-0962, the degeneracy cannot be resolved. If the 2L1S solution is correct, KMT-2017-BLG-0962 might be produced by a super Jupiter-mass planet orbiting a mid-M-dwarf host star. For KMT-2017-BLG-1119, the light-curve modeling favors the 2L1S solution but higher-resolution observations of the baseline object tend to support the 1L2S interpretation rather than the planetary interpretation. This degeneracy might be resolved by a future measurement of the lens-source relative proper motion. This study shows that the problem of resolving 2L1S/1L2S degeneracy exists over a much wider range of conditions than those considered by the theoretical study of Gaudi (1998).

I.-G. Shin↗

JUNO navigation for Jupiter orbit insertion

Juno arrived at Jupiter on 05 July 2016 UTC, achieving orbit with the execution of the Jupiter Orbit Insertion (JOI) maneuver. Thanks to a dynamically wellbehaved spacecraft, the delivery of Juno to JOI was done largely with only a maneuver to setup and Earth gravity assist (EGA), an EGA, an EGA clean-up maneuver, and a JOI targeting maneuver. During the last several weeks of the approach to JOI, the dominant uncertainties in the predicted trajectory were from the Jupiter barycenter ephemeris. In this paper, we discuss the maneuver and orbit determination (OD) strategy for successfully arriving at JOI, the the challenges of calculating a correction to the Jupiter barycenter ephemeris using only radiometric data types, and how the ephemeris estimates during approach to JOI compare to a post-JOI trajectory reconstruction.

Takahashi, Yu↗

Residual Temperature Bias Effects in Stratospheric Species Distributions from LIMS

The Nimbus 7 Limb Infrared Monitor of theStratosphere (LIMS) instrument operated from 25 Octo-ber 1978 through 28 May 1979. Its version 6 (V6) profileswere processed and archived in 2002. We present severaldiagnostic examples of the quality of the V6 stratospheric species distributions based on their level 3 zonal Fourier co-efficient products. In particular, we show that there are smalldifferences in the ascending (A) minus descending (D) or-bital temperature–pressure orT(p) profiles (theirA−Dval-ues) that affect (A−D) species values. SystematicA−Dbi-ases inT(p) can arise from small radiance biases and/or fromviewing anomalies along orbits. There can also be (A−D)differences inT(p) due to not resolving and correcting forall of the atmospheric temperature gradient along LIMS tan-gent view-paths. An error inT(p) affects species retrievalsthrough (1) the Planck blackbody function in forward calcu-lations of limb radiance that are part of the iterative retrievalalgorithm of LIMS, and (2) the registration of the measuredLIMS species radiance profiles in pressure altitude, mainlyfor the lower stratosphere. There are clearA−Ddifferencesfor ozone, H2O, and HNO3but not for NO2. Percentage differences are larger in the lower stratosphere for ozone andH2O because those species are optically thick. We evaluateV6 ozone profile biases in the upper stratosphere with the aid of comparisons against a monthly climatology of UV–ozone soundings from rocketsondes. We also provide resultsof time series analyses of V6 ozone, H2O, and potential vor-ticity for the middle stratosphere to show that their average(A+D) V6 level 3 products provide a clear picture of the evolution of those tracers during Northern Hemisphere win-ter. We recommend that researchers use the average V6 level3 product for their science studies of stratospheric ozone andH2O, while keeping in mind that there are uncorrected non-local thermodynamic equilibrium effects in daytime ozone inthe lower mesosphere and in daytime H2O in the uppermoststratosphere. We also point out that the present-day Soundingof the Atmosphere using Broadband Emission Radiometry(SABER) experiment provides measurements and retrievalsof temperature and ozone that are nearly free of anomalousdiurnal variations and of effects from gradients at low and middle latitudes.

Ellis Remsberg↗

TOPEX Microwave Radiometer Thermal Control: Post-System-Test Modifications and On-Orbit Performance

The Topex Microwave Radiometer has had an excellent thermal performance since launch. The instrument, however, went through a hardware modification right before launch to correct for athermal design inadequacy that was uncovered during the spacecraft thermal vacuum test. This paper reports on how the initially obscure problem was tracked down, and how the thermal models were revised, validated, and utilized to investigate the solution options and guide the hardware modification decisions. Details related to test data interpretation, analytical uncertainties, and model-prediction vs. test-data correlation, are documented. Instrument/spacecraft interface issues, where the problem originated and where in general pitfalls abound, are dealt with specifically. Finally, on-orbit thermal performance data are presented, which exhibit good agreement with flight predictions, and lessons learned are discussed.

Lin, Edward I.↗

Errors induced in the measurement and azimuth directions of morphological features imaged on oblique Lunar Orbiter photographs

Many quantitative lunar studies, e.g., the morphology and dimensions of craters, crater density and distribution, have been performed using oblique Lunar Orbiter photographs. If the inherent change in scale and azimuth direction of features imaged on these photographs are not corrected, the measurement can be in considerable error and the resulting statistical inferences may be invalid. The magnitude of this error is dependent upon: the depression angle of the camera, the flight height of the spacecraft, the focal length of the camera, and the position and orientation of the object on the ground. The errors introduced by using unrectified oblique photographs as though they were vertical photographs are examined for several Lunar Orbiter high resolution NASA LRC Enhancement photographic prints taken at various depression angles.

Siegal, B. S.↗

Topex Microwave Radiometer thermal control - Post-system-test modifications and on-orbit performance

The Topex Microwave Radiometer has had an excellent thermal performance since launch. The instrument, however, went through a hardware modification right before launch to correct for a thermal design inadequacy that was uncovered during the spacecraft thermal vacuum test. This paper reports on how the initially obscure problem was tracked down, and how the thermal models were revised, validated, and utilized to investigate the solution options and guide the hardware modification decisions. Details related to test data interpretation, analytical uncertainties, and model-prediction vs. test-data correlation, are documented. Instrument/spacecraft interface issues, where the problem originated and where in general pitfalls abound, are dealt with specifically. Finally, on-orbit thermal performance data are presented, which exhibit good agreement with flight predictions, and lessons learned are discussed.

Lin, Edward I.↗

Accurate Electron Affinities and Orbital Energies of Anions from a Nonempirically Tuned Range-Separated Density Functional Theory Approach

The treatment of atomic anions with Kohn–Sham density functional theory (DFT) has long been controversial because the highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO) energy, E HOMO , is often calculated to be positive with most approximate density functionals. We assess the accuracy of orbital energies and electron affinities for all three rows of elements in the periodic table (H–Ar) using a variety of theoretical approaches and customized basis sets. Among all of the theoretical methods studied here, we find that a nonempirically tuned range-separated approach (constructed to satisfy DFT-Koopmans’ theorem for the anionic electron system) provides the best accuracy for a variety of basis sets, even for small basis sets where most functionals typically fail. Previous approaches to solve this conundrum of positive E HOMO values have utilized non-self-consistent methods; however, electronic properties, such as electronic couplings/gradients (which require a self-consistent potential and energy), become ill-defined with these approaches. In contrast, the nonempirically tuned range-separated procedure used here yields well-defined electronic couplings/gradients and correct E HOMO values because both the potential and resulting electronic energy are computed self-consistently. Orbital energies and electron affinities are further analyzed in the context of the electronic energy as a function of electronic number (including fractional numbers of electrons) to provide a stringent assessment of self-interaction errors for these complex anion systems.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

Aerosol Correction for Improving OMPS/LP Ozone Retrieval

The Ozone Mapping and Profiler Suite Limb Profiler (OMPS-LP) on board the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (SNPP) satellite was launched on Oct. 28, 2011. Limb profilers measures the radiance scattered from the Earth's atmospheric in limb viewing mode from 290 to 1000 nm and infer ozone profiles from tropopause to 60 km. The recently released OMPS-LP Version 2 data product contains the first publicly released ozone profiles retrievals, and these are now available for the entire OMPS mission, which extends from April, 2012. The Version 2 data product retrievals incorporate several important improvements to the algorithm. One of the primary changes is to turn off the aerosol retrieval module. The aerosol profiles retrieved inside the ozone code was not helping the ozone retrieval and was adding noise and other artifacts. Aerosols including polar stratospheric cloud (PSC) and polar mesospheric clouds (PMC) have a detectable effect on OMPS-LP data. Our results show that ignoring the aerosol contribution would produce an ozone density bias of up to 10 percent in the region of maximum aerosol extinction. Therefore, aerosol correction is needed to improve the quality of the retrieved ozone concentration profile. We provide Aerosol Scattering Index (ASI) for detecting aerosols-PMC-PSC, defined as ln(Im-Ic) normalized at 45km, where Im is the measured radiance and Ic is the calculated radiance assuming no aerosols. Since ASI varies with wavelengths, latitude and altitude, we can start by assuming no aerosol profiles in calculating the ASIs and then use the aerosol profile to see if it significantly reduces the residuals. We also discuss the effect of aerosol size distribution on the ozone profile retrieval process. Finally, we present an aerosol-PMC-PSC correction scheme.

OMPS/LP↗

Redesign of the DFT/MRCI Hamiltonian

The combined density functional theory and multireference configuration interaction (DFT/MRCI) method of Grimme and Waletzke [J. Chem. Phys. 111, 5645 (1999)] is a well-established semi-empirical quantum chemical method for efficiently computing excited-state properties of organic molecules. As it turns out, the method fails to treat bi-chromophores owing to the strong dependence of the parameters on the excitation class. In this work, we present an alternative form of correcting the matrix elements of a MRCI Hamiltonian which is built from a Kohn-Sham set of orbitals. It is based on the idea of constructing individual energy shifts for each of the state functions of a configuration. The new parameterization is spin-invariant and incorporates less empirism compared to the original formulation. By utilizing damping techniques together with an algorithm of selecting important configurations for treating static electron correlation, the high computational efficiency has been preserved. The robustness of the original and redesigned Hamiltonians has been tested on experimentally known vertical excitation energies of organic molecules yielding similar statistics for the two parameterizations. Besides that, our new formulation is free from artificially low-lying doubly excited states, producing qualitatively correct and consistent results for excimers. The way of modifying matrix elements of the MRCI Hamiltonian presented here shall be considered as default choice when investigating photophysical processes of bi-chromophoric systems such as singlet fission or triplet-triplet upconversion.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Interplanetary Navigation

This viewgraph presentation reviews the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) interplanetary navigation. An interplanetary overview including dynamic models of outgassing, small force calibration and trending, solar radiation pressure and trajectory correction maneuvers are also described.

Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO)↗

Lessons Learned from the Aquarius Radiometer Engineering Model

The Aquarius instrument is a combination microwave radiometer and scatterometer operating in the L-band for the measurement of sea surface salinity (SSS) over the open-ocean. "The Aquarius science goals are to observe and model the processes that relate salinity variations to climatic changes in the global cycling of water and to understand how these variations influence the general ocean circulation. By measuring salinity globally and synoptically every month for 3 years, Aquarius will provide an unprecedented new view of the ocean's role in climate." (http://aquarius.asfc.nasa.gov on Jan. 4, 2007). To launch in 2009, Aquarius will provide 8-day global coverage and monthly-averaged salinity maps at approx.120-km spatial resolution. Because the microwave emissivity of the ocean surface is weakly dependent upon salinity, the Aquarius radiometer remain sufficiently stable to provide accurate salinity measurements. An engineering model (EM) of one radiometer receiver was developed and tested for functionality and performance at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. It was tested for long-term stability starting July 27,2006. Two discrepancies where found at the start of testing and a four-month correction process ensued. This paper covers the testing and debugging of the EM radiometer through resolution of the problems. The radiometer is required to have calibration stability of less than or equal to 0.15 K over 7 days. The radiometer is in a three-beam push-broom configuration with each beam being an independent three-state Dicke radiometer (antenna, reference load, and additive noise). Internal noise diodes and reference loads provide periodic and rapid calibration of the receiver. Front-end loss contributions must be corrected as the lossy components are outside the calibration loop. A key design feature for obtaining stability is active thermal control of the front-end lossy components and the RF receiver. The thermal stability is predicted to be about 0.1 C over an orbit and no more than 1 C over a year. The radiometric stability requirement is 0.13 K rms 1 7 days without using temperature corrections. Temperature corrections and post-launch calibration are expected to extend the stability period through the life of the mission.

Piepmeier, Jeffrey↗

First principle calculations of effective exchange integrals: Comparison between SR (BS) and MR computational results

First principle calculations of effective exchange integrals (J) in the Heisenberg model for diradical species were performed by both symmetry-adapted (SA) multi-reference (MR) and broken-symmetry (BS) single reference (SR) methods. Mukherjee-type (Mk) state specific (SS) MR coupled-cluster (CC) calculations by the use of natural orbital (NO) references of ROHF, UHF, UDFT and CASSCF solutions were carried out to elucidate J values for di- and poly-radical species. Spin-unrestricted Hartree Fock (UHF) based coupled-cluster (CC) computations were also performed to these species. Comparison between UHF-NO(UNO)-MkMRCC and BS UHF-CC computational results indicated that spin-contamination of UHF-CC solutions still remains at the SD level. In order to eliminate the spin contamination, approximate spin-projection (AP) scheme was applied for UCC, and the AP procedure indeed corrected the error to yield good agreement with MkMRCC in energy. The CC double with spin-unrestricted Brueckner's orbital (UBD) was furthermore employed for these species, showing that spin-contamination involved in UHF solutions is largely suppressed, and therefore AP scheme for UBCCD removed easily the rest of spin-contamination. We also performed spin-unrestricted pure- and hybrid-density functional theory (UDFT) calculations of diradical and polyradical species. Three different computational schemes for total spin angular momentums were examined for the AP correction of the hybrid (H) UDFT. HUDFT calculations followed by AP, HUDFT(AP), yielded the S-T gaps that were qualitatively in good agreement with those of MkMRCCSD, UHF-CC(AP) and UB-CC(AP). Thus a systematic comparison among MkMRCCSD, UCC(AP) UBD(AP) and UDFT(AP) was performed concerning with the first principle calculations of J values in di- and poly-radical species. It was found that BS (AP) methods reproduce MkMRCCSD results, indicating their applicability to large exchange coupled systems.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

The combined release and radiation effects satellite, a joint NASA/DOD program

The Combined Release and Radiation Effects Satellite (CRRES) program is a two-phase joint USAF/NASA program consisting of a low Earth orbit (LEO) phase and a geosynchronous transfer orbit (GTO) phase. The mission has been carefully planned to help clarify the geospace environment picture and its effects on space hardware, communications, and man. CRRES instruments were selected for synergism, accuracy, and applicability, and will be cross-calibrated for consistency. They will provide data to fill the gaps in geospace modeling data already obtained, and will update and correct existing models. The chemical release experiments and low altitude instruments will clarify the character of the ionosphere in low Earth orbit and the high altitude chemical release experiments will improve knowledge of how trapped particle populations behave out as far as synchronous altitudes. The ionospheric studies will lead to significantly improved Earth-space intercommunications.

Berrier, D. J.↗

A ground track control algorithm for the Topographic Mapping Laser Altimeter (TMLA)

The results of an analysis of an algorithm that will provide autonomous onboard orbit control using orbits determined with Global Positioning System (GPS) data. The algorithm uses the GPS data to (1) compute the ground track error relative to a fixed longitude grid, and (2) determine the altitude adjustment required to correct the longitude error. A program was written on a personal computer (PC) to test the concept for numerous altitudes and values of solar flux using a simplified orbit model including only the J sub 2 zonal harmonic and simple orbit decay computations. The algorithm was then implemented in a precision orbit propagation program having a full range of perturbations. The analysis showed that, even with all perturbations (including actual time histories of solar flux variation), the algorithm could effectively control the spacecraft ground track and yield more than 99 percent Earth coverage in the time required to complete one coverage cycle on the fixed grid (220 to 230 days depending on altitude and overlap allowance).

Blaes, V.↗

Tiros IV Radiation Data Catalog and Users' Manual

The TIROS IV Meteorological Satellite contains a medium resolution scanning radiometer. Two of the channels of this instrument are sensitive to reflected solar radiation and the remaining two respond to emitted thermal radiation from the earth and its atmosphere. The two thermal channels are calibrated in terms of equivalent blackbody temperatures, and the reflected solar radiation channels in terms of effective radiant emittances. The calibration data, along with orbital and attitude data and the radiation data from the satellite, were incorporated in a computer program for an IBM 7090 which was used to produce, in binary form, the "Final Meteorological Radiation Tape" which is the basic repository of all radiation data. After launch, the radiometer displaye d the same degradation of response characteristics as did its predecessors in TIROS II and TIROS III. The onset of degradation results in a departure of the data from the prelaunch laboratory calibration. The cause of degradation has not been determined, and the matter is still being studied at the Goddard Space Flight Center. Before work with the TIROS IV radiation data is attempted, an understanding of the radiometer, its calibration, and the problems encountered in the experiment, especially from response degradation, is essential. The instrumentation design, development work, and the calibrations herein described were performed by the Goddard Space Flight Center Staff, whereas the computer and programming efforts were carried out jointly by the staffs of the National Weather Satellite Center, U. S. Weather Bureau, and the Goddard Space Flight Center. In this Catalog-Manual, the radiometer an d its calibration, data processing, the "Final Meteorological Radiation Tape", the observed degradation patterns, and possible corrections for degradation are discussed. The Catalog-Manual also includes, in two forms, documentation of each orbit of successfully reduced radiation data acquired by TIROS IV. One method of presentation is the Index of Final Meteorological Radiation Tapes and the other is a Subpoint Track, Summary of Available Radiation Data in diagrammatic form.

TIROS IV SATELLITE↗

Improvements of On-orbit Characterization of Terra MODIS Short-wave Infrared Spectral Bands Out-of-Band Responses

The short-wave infrared (SWIR) bands (5-7, 26) of Terra MODIS, which are co-located with the mid-wav e infrared (MWIR) bands (20-25) on the short and mid-wave infrared (SMIR) Focal Plane Assembly (FPA),have a known issue related to 5.3 μm out-of-band (OOB) thermal leak and electronic crosstalk that was identified prelaunch. As a result, a crosstalk correction algorithm was designed and implemented in the MODIS Level 1B (L1B) calibration. Shortly after the Terra launch, extensive efforts were under taken to help characterize and mitigate the impact due to the OOB response and crosstalk on the SWIR on-orbit calibration and, consequently, the associated L1Bdata products. In addition, special night time day mode (NTDM) operations have been regularly scheduled to derive the crosstalk correction coefficients. Since MODIS does not have a spectral band centered at 5.3 μm, its band 28 (7.325 μm) was chosen as the surrogate sending band to simulate the OOB radiances at 5.3 μm. This was largely based on the measurements from the MODIS Airborne Simulator (MAS) spectrometer field campaigns in the early months after the Terra launch. In the case of Aqua MODIS, the magnitude of the SWIR crosstalk was much smaller and band 25 (4.52 μm) was found to be more effective as the sending band for the crosstalk correction. In recent years, the Terra MODIS photovoltaic (PV) long-wave infrared (LWIR) bands (27-30)electronic crosstalk has increased considerably, especially after the spacecraft safe-mode event occurred in February2016. This accentuated degradation in the PV LWIR performance has also impacted the performance of the SWIR crosstalk correction and thus its calibration and data quality. In this paper, we examine the use of band 25 as the sending band for the Terra MODIS SWIR crosstalk correction and compare its performance with that based on band 28 as the sending band. Results indicate an improvement of on-orbit gain stability for the SWIR calibration and reduced detector to detector and sub-frame to sub-frame striping in the calibrated L1B imagery, especially during the period when the PV LWIR electronic crosstalk has become more severe. This approach has been implemented in the forward production of Terra MODIS Collection 6 and Collection 6.1,starting from July 2019, and is planned to be used for the future reprocessing of MODIS L1B and to help improve the mission-long reflectance calibration and trending stability of the SWIR bands.

MODIS, Terra, Aqua, MODIS, SWIR, calibration, out-↗

N 5 -Scaling Excited-State-Specific Perturbation Theory

In this paper, we show that by working in a basis similar to that of the natural transition orbitals and using a modified zeroth-order Hamiltonian, the cost of a recently introduced perturbative correction to excited-state mean field theory can be reduced from seventh to fifth order in the system size. The (occupied) 2 (virtual) 3 asymptotic scaling matches that of ground-state second-order Møller-Plesset theory but with a significantly higher prefactor because the bottleneck is iterative: it appears in the Krylov-subspace-based solution of the linear equation that yields the first-order wave function. Here, we discuss the details of the modified zeroth-order Hamiltonian we use to reduce the cost and the automatic code generation process we used to derive and verify the cost scaling of the different terms. Overall, we find that our modifications have little impact on the method's accuracy, which remains competitive with singles and doubles equation-of-motion coupled cluster.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗