{"title":"Optimal Multi-impulse Linear Rendezvous via Reinforcement Learning","authors":"Longwei Xu, Gang Zhang, Shi Qiu, Xibin Cao","doi":"10.34133/space.0047","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.34133/space.0047","url":null,"abstract":"A reinforcement learning-based approach is proposed to design the multi-impulse rendezvous trajectories in linear relative motions. For the relative motion in elliptical orbits, the relative state propagation is obtained directly from the state transition matrix. This rendezvous problem is constructed as a Markov decision process that reflects the fuel consumption, the transfer time, the relative state, and the dynamical model. An actor–critic algorithm is used to train policy for generating rendezvous maneuvers. The results of the numerical optimization (e.g., differential evolution) are adopted as the expert data set to accelerate the training process. By deploying a policy network, the multi-impulse rendezvous trajectories can be obtained on board. Moreover, the proposed approach is also applied to generate a feasible solution for many impulses (e.g., 20 impulses), which can be used as an initial value for further optimization. The numerical examples with random initial states show that the proposed method is much faster and has slightly worse performance indexes when compared with the evolutionary algorithm.","PeriodicalId":136587,"journal":{"name":"Space: Science & Technology","volume":"71 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"127159529","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Adapting a Mars ISRU System to the Changing Mars Environment","authors":"D. Rapp, E. Hinterman","doi":"10.34133/space.0041","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.34133/space.0041","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":136587,"journal":{"name":"Space: Science & Technology","volume":"1 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"129706381","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"On the Analytical Models of Protoplanetary Formation in Extrasolar Systems","authors":"A. Krot","doi":"10.34133/2022/9862389","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.34133/2022/9862389","url":null,"abstract":"In this work, we consider a statistical theory for a cosmogonical body formation (so-called spheroidal body) to develop the analytical models of protoplanetary formation in extrasolar systems. Within the framework of this theory, the models and evolution equations of the statistical mechanics have been proposed, while the well-known problem of gravitational condensation of infinite distributed cosmic substances has been solved. This paper derives the general equation of distribution of the specific angular momentum of forming protoplanets since the specific angular momentums (for particles or planetesimals) are averaged during a conglomeration process (under a planetary embryo formation). As a result, a new law for planetary distances (which generalizes Schmidt’s law) is derived theoretically. This paper develops also an alternative thermal emission of particles model of the formation of protoplanets in extrasolar systems. Within the framework of this model, the equation for the thermal distribution function of the specific angular momentums of particles moving in elliptical orbits in the gravitational field is derived. According to this thermal escape model, only 0.8% of the total number of particles in the solar system composing the protoplanetary cloud has angular momentum 15.6 times higher than the angular momentum of the remaining 99% of particles. This conclusion agrees completely with the known fact of a nonuniform distribution of the angular momentums in our solar system noted by ter Haar. As pointed out here, the exponential laws of planetary distances occur in some extrasolar systems.","PeriodicalId":136587,"journal":{"name":"Space: Science & Technology","volume":"18 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-11-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"128503447","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
David J. K. Smith, C. Pouwels, M. Heemskerk, Benedetta M. Cattani, Esther Konijnenberg, R. Heemskerk, Sebasthian Ogalde
{"title":"Overview of the CHILL-ICE 2021 Science Experiments and Research Campaign","authors":"David J. K. Smith, C. Pouwels, M. Heemskerk, Benedetta M. Cattani, Esther Konijnenberg, R. Heemskerk, Sebasthian Ogalde","doi":"10.34133/2022/9760968","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.34133/2022/9760968","url":null,"abstract":"The main objective of the CHILL-ICE (Construction of a Habitat Inside a Lunar-analogue Lava tube—Iceland; a campaign by ICEE Space and EuroMoonMars) prototype mission was to deploy an inflatable habitat and its systems inside a lunar analogue lava tube. This took place during an 8-hour extra vehicular activity (EVA) with three analogue astronauts as part of a three-day mission. CHILL-ICE 2021 was carried out in July/August 2021 and consisted of two missions and was accomplished through successful collaboration of nonprofit research organizations, agencies, companies, and universities across 16 nations. The pilot campaign successfully reached its main objective: the testing of emergency equipment designed to help astronauts survive when first arriving to a new celestial body and to perform experiments similar to those that would be carried out off-planet. This article is a review of the scientific research experiments carried out during and after the mission: SpotNet, an artificial intelligence (AI) astronaut detection vision system; training for studies of the geological surroundings examined during EVAs; astronaut vigilance experiments carried out before, during, and after the mission; and Lunar Zebro, a legged rover intended to assist the crew in traversing and exploring harsh terrain.","PeriodicalId":136587,"journal":{"name":"Space: Science & Technology","volume":"13 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-11-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"127918558","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Jinghang Ding, Gengxin Xie, Linli Guo, Xin Xiong, Ya Han, Xi Wang
{"title":"Karst Cave as Terrestrial Simulation Platform to Test and Design Human Base in Lunar Lava Tube","authors":"Jinghang Ding, Gengxin Xie, Linli Guo, Xin Xiong, Ya Han, Xi Wang","doi":"10.34133/2022/9875780","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.34133/2022/9875780","url":null,"abstract":"Developing efficient approaches to building a suitable environment for humans on the moon play a key role in future long-term sustainable lunar exploration activities, which has motivated many countries to propose diverse plans to build a lunar base. The lava tubes discovered by the Kaguya mission offer huge potential sites to host such bases. Through computation and analysis, we show that lunar lava tubes offer stable structures, suitable temperatures, low radiation doses, and low meteorite impact rates. We summarize previous research results and put forward the conditions to find and use a suitable lunar lava tube for human habitation on the moon. The establishment of extraterrestrial bases still faces many technical bottlenecks; many countries have begun to use the earth’s environment for extraterrestrial exploration and simulation missions. In this regard, we proposed the idea of using the Earth’s karst caves to simulate extraterrestrial lava tubes, selected caves in Chongqing as the simulation site, and demonstrated the feasibility from both structural and environmental aspects. Finally, we proposed a karst cave simulation platform with three main research directions: cave sealing technology, efficient daylight system, and internal circulation research of artificial ecosystems containing natural soil and rock. We hope to promote the development of related research on extraterrestrial bases through simulation experiments.","PeriodicalId":136587,"journal":{"name":"Space: Science & Technology","volume":"38 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-11-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"134406268","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Ethan Waisberg, Joshua Ong, P. Paladugu, Sharif Amit Kamran, Nasif Zaman, Andrew Lee, A. Tavakkoli
{"title":"Challenges of Artificial Intelligence in Space Medicine","authors":"Ethan Waisberg, Joshua Ong, P. Paladugu, Sharif Amit Kamran, Nasif Zaman, Andrew Lee, A. Tavakkoli","doi":"10.34133/2022/9852872","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.34133/2022/9852872","url":null,"abstract":"The human body undergoes many changes during long-duration spaceflight including musculoskeletal, visual, and behavioral changes. Several of these microgravity-induced effects serve as potential barriers to future exploration missions. The advent of artificial intelligence (AI) in medicine has progressed rapidly and has many promising applications for maintaining and monitoring astronaut health during spaceflight. However, the austere environment and unique nature of spaceflight present with challenges in successfully training and deploying successful systems for upholding astronaut health and mission performance. In this article, the dynamic barriers facing AI development in space medicine are explored. These diverse challenges range from limited astronaut data for algorithm training to ethical/legal considerations in deploying automated diagnostic systems in the setting of the medically limited space environment. How to address these challenges is then discussed and future directions for this emerging field of research.","PeriodicalId":136587,"journal":{"name":"Space: Science & Technology","volume":"173 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-10-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"115002519","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Angle-Only Target Tracking Method for Optical Imaging Micro-/Nanosatellite Based on APSO-SSUKF","authors":"Bing Hua, Guang Yang, Yunhua Wu, Zhiming Chen","doi":"10.34133/2022/9898147","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.34133/2022/9898147","url":null,"abstract":"To ensure the safety of the space station and improve the accuracy of the estimated trajectory tracking of noncooperative target, an optical imaging micro-/nanosatellite based on APSO-SSUKF (adaptive particle swarm optimization-spherical simplex unscented Kalman filter) is proposed to track low-orbit target using angle-only measurement. First, the algorithm considers the effect of J2 perturbation, uses the angle-only data as the observation vector, and uses spherical simplex unscented Kalman filter (SSUKF) to reduce the cost of calculation of the UKF in space noncooperative target tracking. Secondly, it is proposed to use the actual and theoretical covariance of the innovation sequence for real-time estimation of measurement noise, designing the adaptive particle swarm optimization (APSO) algorithm for real-time tracking of the process noise in the SSUKF that improves the accuracy of the filter in angle-only tracking. Finally, the tracking simulation of low-orbit satellite is carried out by using optical imaging micro-/nanosatellite, and the result shows that, compared with UKF, SSUKF, and PSO-SSUKF, APSO-SSUKF reduces the root mean square of the error in predicting the position in space target tracking by 45.44%, 35.26%, and 20.94%, and APSO-SSUKF reduces the root mean square of the error in velocity by 45.58%, 33.53%, and 16.33%, respectively; in the angle-tracking target, APSO-SSUKF improves the convergence and estimated accuracy of the algorithm in tracking.","PeriodicalId":136587,"journal":{"name":"Space: Science & Technology","volume":"152 3","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-10-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"114091616","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Lulu Jiang, H. Jia, X. Xu, W. Rong, Wei Jiang, Qi Wang, Gang Chen, X. Xue
{"title":"Numerical Study on Aerodynamic Performance of Mars Parachute Models with Geometric Porosities","authors":"Lulu Jiang, H. Jia, X. Xu, W. Rong, Wei Jiang, Qi Wang, Gang Chen, X. Xue","doi":"10.34133/2022/9851982","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.34133/2022/9851982","url":null,"abstract":"The supersonic flows around rigid parachute-like two-body configurations are numerically simulated at Mach number of 1.978 by solving three-dimensional compressible Navier-Stokes equations, where the two-body model consists of a capsule and a canopy, and a geometric structure (i.e., gap) is located on the canopy surface. The objective of this study is to investigate the effects of gaps with different porosities and positions on the aerodynamic performance of supersonic parachute. The complicated periodic aerodynamic interactions between the capsule wake and canopy shock occur around these two-body models. From the formation of canopy shock and drag coefficient variation, the cycled flow structures can be divided into three types:(1) narrow wake period, (2) open wake period, and (3) middle wake period. In addition, it was found that the geometric gaps have no obvious influences on the flow modes. However, compared with models with different gap positions, the two-body model with an upper gap (gap is close to the canopy vent, UG model) has a smaller drag coefficient fluctuation and better lateral stability. On the other side, the increase of porosity has a more significant impact on UG models.","PeriodicalId":136587,"journal":{"name":"Space: Science & Technology","volume":"24 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-10-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"123888705","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Advances in Space Robots","authors":"Zhihong Jiang, Jinguo Liu, Yiwei Liu, Hui Li","doi":"10.34133/2022/9764036","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.34133/2022/9764036","url":null,"abstract":"Space robots are a type of specialized robots that assist and replace humans in conducting scientific experiments, external vehicular activities, space exploration, and other activities in space. Space robots are gradually changing traditional modes of space transportation, on-orbit construction, on-orbit maintenance, and planetary exploration. It is one of the important enabling means for future unmanned and manned space missions. The development of space robots presents the design, fabrication, and control challenges, as such devices will operate in space where the environment differs greatly from Earth. The field of space robots calls for collaborative efforts between physicists, chemists, biologists, computer scientists, engineers, and other specialists to work towards this common objective. This special issue intends to gather advanced research focusing on all domains linked to space robots, including the challenges we have overcome to address the particularity of the space environment and the achievements of space robots. After rounds of review and revision, articles in the following topics have been selected to compile this special issue:","PeriodicalId":136587,"journal":{"name":"Space: Science & Technology","volume":"164 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-10-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"129319543","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Terrestrial Analogue Research to Support Human Performance on Mars: A Review and Bibliographic Analysis","authors":"A. Terhorst, Jason A. Dowling","doi":"10.34133/2022/9841785","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.34133/2022/9841785","url":null,"abstract":"Terrestrial analogues can provide essential scientific information and technology validation to assist future crewed missions to the Martian surface. This paper analyses the recent literature since 2010 in this area, highlighting key topics, authors, and research groups. It reviews analogue locations, missions, the scientific impact from research activities. The findings indicate that permanent analogue sites enable reproducible science and objective comparison between studies. A standard, open registry of analogue facilities, and associated peer-reviewed research may lead to accelerated and better targeted analogue research.","PeriodicalId":136587,"journal":{"name":"Space: Science & Technology","volume":"37 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-10-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"129895379","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}