scholarly journals Safety-Aware Optimal Attitude Pointing for Low-Thrust Satellites

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (7) ◽  
pp. 3002
Author(s):  
Helen Henninger ◽  
James Biggs ◽  
Karl von Ellenrieder
Keyword(s):  
Reinforcement Learning ◽  
Group Representation ◽  
Learning Algorithm ◽  
The Sun ◽  
Low Thrust ◽  
Geosynchronous Satellite ◽  
The Earth ◽  
Attitude Maneuver ◽  
Angular Velocities ◽  
Free Parameters

In geostationary orbit, long eclipses and the seasonal variations in the direction and intensity of the solar input can cause damage to sensitive equipment during attitude maneuvers, which may inadvertently point the equipment towards the Sun. The requirement that transmitting and receiving antennae remain pointed towards the Earth creates further restrictions to pointing directions. The aim of the study is to construct a novel geometric and reinforcement-learning-based method to determine attitude guidance maneuvers that maintain the equipment in safe and operational orientations throughout an attitude maneuver. The attitude trajectory is computed numerically using the geometric framing of Pontryagin’s maximum principle applied to the vehicle kinematics using the global matrix Lie group representation on SO(3), and the angular velocities are shaped using free parameters. The values of these free parameters are determined by a reinforcement learning algorithm to avoid the forbidden areas while maintaining the pointing in operational areas (modeled as subsets of the two-sphere of all possible pointing directions of a particular axis). The method is applied to a model geosynchronous satellite and demonstrated in a simulation.

scholarly journals Everything Is A Circle: A New Universal Orbital Model

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
AslıPınar Tan
Keyword(s):  
Solar System ◽  
Dimensional Space ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Ecliptic Plane ◽  
The Sun ◽  
The Moon ◽  
Circular Orbits ◽  
Orbital Parameters ◽  
The Earth ◽  
Angular Velocities

Based on measured astronomical position data of heavenly objects in the Solar System and other planetary systems, all bodies in space seem to move in some kind of elliptical motion with respect to each other. According to Kepler’s 1st Law, “orbit of a planet with respect to the Sun is an ellipse, with the Sun at one of the two foci.” Orbit of the Moon with respect to Earth is also distinctly elliptical, but this ellipse has a varying eccentricity as the Moon comes closer to and goes farther away from the Earth in a harmonic style along a full cycle of this ellipse. In this paper, our research results are summarized, where it is first mathematically shown that the “distance between points around any two different circles in three dimensional space” is equivalent to the “distance of points around a vector ellipse to another fixed or moving point, as in two dimensional space”. What is done is equivalent to showing that bodies moving on two different circular orbits in space vector wise behave as if moving on an elliptical path with respect to each other, and virtually seeing each other as positioned at an instantaneously stationary point in space on their relative ecliptic plane, whether they are moving with the same angular velocity, or different but fixed angular velocities, or even with different and changing angular velocities with respect to their own centers of revolution. This mathematical revelation has the potential to lead to far reaching discoveries in physics, enabling more insight into forces of nature, with a formulation of a new fundamental model regarding the motions of bodies in the Universe, including the Sun, Planets, and Satellites in the Solar System and elsewhere, as well as at particle and subatomic level. Based on the demonstrated mathematical analysis, as they exhibit almost fixed elliptic orbits relative to one another over time, the assertion is made that the Sun, the Earth, and the Moon must each be revolving in their individual circular orbits of revolution in space. With this expectation, individual orbital parameters of the Sun, the Earth, and the Moon are calculated based on observed Earth to Sun and Earth to Moon distance data, also using analytical methods developed as part of this research to an approximation. This calculation and analysis process have revealed additional results aligned with observation, and this also supports our assertion that the Sun, the Earth, and the Moon must actually be revolving in individual circular orbits.

Seti Space Missions

1997 ◽  
Vol 161 ◽  
pp. 761-776 ◽  
Author(s):  
Claudio Maccone
Keyword(s):  
Electromagnetic Waves ◽  
Space Missions ◽  
Gravitational Lens ◽  
The Sun ◽  
Space Antenna ◽  
Focal Distance ◽  
Large Space ◽  
The Earth ◽  
Space Antennas ◽  
New Space

AbstractSETI from space is currently envisaged in three ways: i) by large space antennas orbiting the Earth that could be used for both VLBI and SETI (VSOP and RadioAstron missions), ii) by a radiotelescope inside the Saha far side Moon crater and an Earth-link antenna on the Mare Smythii near side plain. Such SETIMOON mission would require no astronaut work since a Tether, deployed in Moon orbit until the two antennas landed softly, would also be the cable connecting them. Alternatively, a data relay satellite orbiting the Earth-Moon Lagrangian pointL2would avoid the Earthlink antenna, iii) by a large space antenna put at the foci of the Sun gravitational lens: 1) for electromagnetic waves, the minimal focal distance is 550 Astronomical Units (AU) or 14 times beyond Pluto. One could use the huge radio magnifications of sources aligned to the Sun and spacecraft; 2) for gravitational waves and neutrinos, the focus lies between 22.45 and 29.59 AU (Uranus and Neptune orbits), with a flight time of less than 30 years. Two new space missions, of SETI interest if ET’s use neutrinos for communications, are proposed.

Rendez vous with Saturn's rings

1984 ◽  
Vol 75 ◽  
pp. 743-759 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kerry T. Nock
Keyword(s):  
Solar Energy ◽  
Electric Propulsion ◽  
Power Source ◽  
Propulsion System ◽  
Low Thrust ◽  
Ring Plane ◽  
The Earth ◽  
Total Impulse ◽  
Saturn's Rings

ABSTRACTA mission to rendezvous with the rings of Saturn is studied with regard to science rationale and instrumentation and engineering feasibility and design. Future detailedin situexploration of the rings of Saturn will require spacecraft systems with enormous propulsive capability. NASA is currently studying the critical technologies for just such a system, called Nuclear Electric Propulsion (NEP). Electric propulsion is the only technology which can effectively provide the required total impulse for this demanding mission. Furthermore, the power source must be nuclear because the solar energy reaching Saturn is only 1% of that at the Earth. An important aspect of this mission is the ability of the low thrust propulsion system to continuously boost the spacecraft above the ring plane as it spirals in toward Saturn, thus enabling scientific measurements of ring particles from only a few kilometers.

Spots on the Sun and Life on the Earth

2019 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 73-77
Author(s):  
Valentina V. Ukraintseva ◽  
Keyword(s):  
The Sun ◽  
The Earth

Much Ado about (Practically) Nothing

2010 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Fisher
Keyword(s):  
Energy Source ◽  
Atomic Nucleus ◽  
The Sun ◽  
Scientific Journals ◽  
Rare Gases ◽  
Important Work ◽  
The Earth ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Life On Mars ◽  
The Universe

There are eight columns in the Periodic Table. The eighth column is comprised of the rare gases, so-called because they are the rarest elements on earth. They are also called the inert or noble gases because, like nobility, they do no work. They are colorless, odorless, invisible gases which do not react with anything, and were thought to be unimportant until the early 1960s. Starting in that era, David Fisher has spent roughly fifty years doing research on these gases, publishing nearly a hundred papers in the scientific journals, applying them to problems in geophysics and cosmochemistry, and learning how other scientists have utilized them to change our ideas about the universe, the sun, and our own planet. Much Ado about (Practically) Nothing will cover this spectrum of ideas, interspersed with the author's own work which will serve to introduce each gas and the important work others have done with them. The rare gases have participated in a wide range of scientific advances-even revolutions-but no book has ever recorded the entire story. Fisher will range from the intricacies of the atomic nucleus and the tiniest of elementary particles, the neutrino, to the energy source of the stars; from the age of the earth to its future energies; from life on Mars to cancer here on earth. A whole panoply that has never before been told as an entity.

Dombey and Son

2008 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charles Dickens ◽  
Dennis Walder
Keyword(s):  
Family Relationships ◽  
The Sun ◽  
The Novel ◽  
The Earth ◽  
The Future ◽  
Original Illustrations ◽  
The One

Dombey and Son ... Those three words conveyed the one idea of Mr. Dombey's life. The earth was made for Dombey and Son to trade in, and the sun and moon were made to give them light.' The hopes of Mr Dombey for the future of his shipping firm are centred on his delicate son Paul, and Florence, his devoted daughter, is unloved and neglected. When the firm faces ruin, and Dombey's second marriage ends in disaster, only Florence has the strength and humanity to save her father from desolate solitude. This new edition contains Dickens's prefaces, his working plans, and all the original illustrations by ‘Phiz’. The text is that of the definitive Clarendon edition. It has been supplemented by a wide-ranging Introduction, highlighting Dickens's engagement with his times, and the touching exploration of family relationships which give the novel added depth and relevance.

scholarly journals Computational Design of Modular Robots Based on Genetic Algorithm and Reinforcement Learning

Symmetry ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 471
Author(s):  
Jai Hoon Park ◽  
Kang Hoon Lee
Keyword(s):  
Genetic Algorithm ◽  
Reinforcement Learning ◽  
Design Space ◽  
Learning Algorithm ◽  
Computational Design ◽  
Computational Method ◽  
Learning Ability ◽  
Modular Robots ◽  
Control Mechanisms ◽  
Candidate Structure

Designing novel robots that can cope with a specific task is a challenging problem because of the enormous design space that involves both morphological structures and control mechanisms. To this end, we present a computational method for automating the design of modular robots. Our method employs a genetic algorithm to evolve robotic structures as an outer optimization, and it applies a reinforcement learning algorithm to each candidate structure to train its behavior and evaluate its potential learning ability as an inner optimization. The size of the design space is reduced significantly by evolving only the robotic structure and by performing behavioral optimization using a separate training algorithm compared to that when both the structure and behavior are evolved simultaneously. Mutual dependence between evolution and learning is achieved by regarding the mean cumulative rewards of a candidate structure in the reinforcement learning as its fitness in the genetic algorithm. Therefore, our method searches for prospective robotic structures that can potentially lead to near-optimal behaviors if trained sufficiently. We demonstrate the usefulness of our method through several effective design results that were automatically generated in the process of experimenting with actual modular robotics kit.

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