Flight Experiment Validation of Altitude Measurement Performance of MOSIR on Tianwen-1 Orbiter

The MOSIR (Mars Orbiter Subsurface Investigation Radar) is one of the scientific payloads carried by the Tianwen-1 orbiter. MOSIR conducted a ground experiment in the desert near Dengkou County, northern China, before the launch of the Tianwen-1 satellite. The MOSIR prototype was suspended from a hot air balloon and flew over a flat region at an altitude of 2500–3300 m. This experiment aimed to verify the system performance and data processing. The data collected in subsurface sounding mode is performed range compression, and the altitude measurement data removes invalid data. After processing, the altitude measurement results of two operating modes are analyzed and compared with that of the Global Position System (GPS), which verifies the accuracy of the altitude measurement.

Reduced ice number concentrations in contrails from low-aromatic biofuel blends

Sustainable aviation fuels can reduce contrail ice numbers and radiative forcing by contrail cirrus. We measured apparent ice emission indices for fuels with varying aromatic content at altitude ranges of 9.1–9.8 and 11.4–11.6 km. Measurement data were collected during the ECLIF II/NDMAX flight experiment in January 2018. The fuels varied in both aromatic quantity and type. Between a sustainable aviation fuel blend and a reference fuel Jet A-1, a maximum reduction in apparent ice emission indices of 40 % was found. We show vertical ice number and extinction distributions for three different fuels and calculate representative contrail optical depths. Optical depths of contrails (0.5–3 min in age) were reduced by 40 % to 52 % for a sustainable aviation fuel compared to the reference fuel. Our measurements suggest that sustainable aviation fuels result in reduced ice particle numbers, extinction coefficients, optical depth and climate impact from contrails.

Reduced ice number concentrations in contrails from low aromatic biofuel blends

Sustainable aviation fuels can reduce contrail ice numbers and radiative forcing by contrail cirrus. We measured apparent ice emission indices for fuels with varying aromatic content at altitude ranges of 9.1–9.8 km and 11.4–11.6 km. Measurement data were collected during the ECLIF II/NDMAX flight experiment in January 2018. The fuels varied in both aromatic quantity and type. Between a sustainable aviation fuel blend and a reference fuel Jet A-1, a maximum reduction in apparent ice emission indices of 40 % was found. We show vertical ice number and extinction distributions for three different fuels and calculate representative contrail optical depths. Optical depths of contrails (0.5–3 minutes in age) were reduced by 40 to 52 % for a sustainable aviation fuel compared to the reference fuel. Our measurements suggest that sustainable aviation fuels result in reduced ice particle numbers, extinction coefficients, optical depth and climate impact from contrails.

A New Strategy for Improving the Accuracy of Aircraft Positioning Using DGPS Technique in Aerial Navigation

In this paper a new mathematical algorithm is proposed to improve the accuracy of DGPS (Differential GPS) positioning using several GNSS (Global Navigation Satellites System) reference stations. The new mathematical algorithm is based on a weighting scheme for the following three criteria: weighting in function of baseline (vector) length, weighting in function of vector length error and weighting in function of the number of tracked GPS (Global Positioning System) satellites for a single baseline. The algorithm of the test method takes into account the linear combination of the weighting coefficients and relates the position errors determined for single baselines. The calculation uses a weighting scheme for three independent baselines denoted as (1A,2A,3A). The proposed research method makes it possible to determine the resultant position errors for ellipsoidal BLh coordinates of the aircraft and significantly improves the accuracy of DGPS positioning. The analysis and evaluation of the new research methodology was checked for data from two flight experiments carried out in Mielec and Dęblin. Based on the calculations performed, it was found that in the flight experiment in Mielec, due to the application of the new research methodology, DGPS positioning accuracy improved from 55 to 94% for all the BLh components. In turn, in the flight experiment in Dęblin, the accuracy of DGPS positioning improved by 63–91%. The study shows that the highest DGPS positioning accuracy is seen when using weighting criterion II, the inverse of the square of the vector length error.

Correction to: Preliminary aerodynamic design of a reusable booster flight experiment

A correction to this paper has been published: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12567-021-00379-z