Acta Astronautica最新文献

{"title":"Experimental study on abnormal spark discharge characteristics of a Hall thruster","authors":"Qiaohui Yu ,&nbsp;Hong Li ,&nbsp;Zezhong Peng ,&nbsp;Chao Zhong ,&nbsp;Yongjie Ding ,&nbsp;Liqiu Wei ,&nbsp;Daren Yu","doi":"10.1016/j.actaastro.2025.06.033","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.actaastro.2025.06.033","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Abnormal spark discharge could cause a Hall thruster to malfunction, and numerous experiments have pinpointed the cause as exfoliation of channel wall deposits. Due to the high randomness and uncertainty of natural abnormal spark discharge, a device was designed to actively trigger abnormal spark discharge to imitate the process by which artificial flakes similar to the exfoliated deposit enter the discharge channel. Then, discharge experiments were conducted by releasing flakes made of graphite with a volume of 2 × 2 × 0.5 <span><math><mrow><msup><mi>mm</mi><mn>3</mn></msup></mrow></math></span> from the top of the discharge channel. During the experiment, the changes in discharge current, discharge voltage, shell-to-ground potential, ion current density, and cathode-to-ground potential were monitored, and transient spark images were captured at the moment of abnormal discharge. It was found that the current pulse peak has 2–3, 3–4, or 18–22 times the normal discharge current types, and the larger the current pulse peak, the shorter the pulse duration. It was also found that the brightness of the spark corresponds to the amplitude of the current disturbance. By comparing and analyzing both the monitored discharge parameter curves and captured spark images, it was concluded that natural abnormal spark discharge is the result of interaction between the exfoliated deposit and electrons rather than ions.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":44971,"journal":{"name":"Acta Astronautica","volume":"235 ","pages":"Pages 653-659"},"PeriodicalIF":3.1,"publicationDate":"2025-06-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144366155","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"物理与天体物理","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Design and ignition characteristics of kerosene/oxygen pre-detonator and kerosene/air hot-jet schemes under rotating detonation engine","authors":"Xiafei Li ,&nbsp;Jianzhong Li ,&nbsp;Wu Jin ,&nbsp;Qiongyao Qin ,&nbsp;Qian Yao ,&nbsp;Li Yuan","doi":"10.1016/j.actaastro.2025.06.035","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.actaastro.2025.06.035","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The Rotating Detonation Engine (RDE) exhibits significant advantages including a simple configuration, high specific impulse, compact size, and elevated heat release rate. However, initiating detonation with liquid aviation kerosene remains challenging due to its relatively high ignition energy requirements. This study presents the design of a kerosene/oxygen pre-detonator, incorporating a dual-stage axial cyclone, an ignition cavity, and a deflagration-to-detonation transition (DDT) chamber. Experimental investigations were conducted to characterize the detonation combustion behavior of the pre-detonator. Due to the effects of fuel atomization and detonation transition dynamics, the pre-detonator demonstrated optimal performance within an equivalence ratio range of 0.6–0.7, achieving a detonation wave pressure of up to 6.5 MPa and a wave velocity around 1700 m/s. As the outlet pressure decreased, the required DDT length increased and the wave energy declined; nonetheless, detonation waves with pressures near 2.0 MPa were still achieved. Building on the pre-detonator configuration, a turbulent flow annulus was introduced to enable successful initiation using a kerosene/air mixture. Under this configuration, detonation wave pressures of approximately 1.0 MPa were realized. In low-pressure outlet environments, the kerosene/air ignition system operated in a Hot-jet mode. Both the pre-detonator and Hot-jet modes were employed to initiate the RDE. Results demonstrate that both ignition strategies can successfully initiate rotating detonation waves. The pre-detonator method facilitates rapid initiation through high-energy detonation wave impact, decoupling, and transition, leading to the formation of a stable rotating detonation wave. In contrast, the Hot-jet method relies on the gradual accumulation of compression waves to establish stable detonation. Compared to the Hot-jet approach, the pre-detonator significantly reduces the time required for detonation establishment. However, once the RDE reaches steady-state operation, the detonation characteristics converge regardless of the ignition method.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":44971,"journal":{"name":"Acta Astronautica","volume":"235 ","pages":"Pages 421-434"},"PeriodicalIF":3.1,"publicationDate":"2025-06-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144306835","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"物理与天体物理","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"History of the space industry in Asia: A concert in three movements","authors":"Maximilien Berthet ,&nbsp;Ghaida Aloumi ,&nbsp;Alex Cresniov ,&nbsp;Ankit Khanal ,&nbsp;Sara Al-Eissaee ,&nbsp;David L.X. Ho ,&nbsp;Ivan Lee ,&nbsp;S. Anand Narayanan ,&nbsp;Stefano Pascali","doi":"10.1016/j.actaastro.2025.06.019","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.actaastro.2025.06.019","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The space industry in Asia can be viewed as a musical concert. The region comprises a diverse patchwork of nations, each contributing different instruments to the regional space development orchestra. Its history consists of three successive movements. In the first, 1957–1991, Asia's space industry developed in the shadow of Cold War superpowers, with the US and former USSR setting the tone for the global space exploration symphony. In the second, 1991–2010, Asia's own giants started to emerge into the limelight, under initiatives by governments and large corporations. In the third, 2010-present, Asia is an integral part of the new space movement, its activities experiencing a fast crescendo in multiple areas of the region driven in part by private initiatives. This three-part article represents the culmination of a one-year research effort by the Asia Team of the IAF/IAA/IISL Advisory Committee on History Activities (ACHA). Cross-cutting trends and research questions are identified as a starting point for further investigation, to help preserve and increase awareness of the history of international space cooperation globally.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":44971,"journal":{"name":"Acta Astronautica","volume":"235 ","pages":"Pages 435-451"},"PeriodicalIF":3.1,"publicationDate":"2025-06-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144304618","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"物理与天体物理","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Fostering multi-stakeholder collaboration for space sustainability through an incentive-based mechanism","authors":"Emmanuelle David ,&nbsp;Adrien Saada ,&nbsp;Anja Nakarada Pecujlic ,&nbsp;Maruska Strah ,&nbsp;Xiao-Shan Yap ,&nbsp;Danielle Wood ,&nbsp;Jean-Paul Kneib","doi":"10.1016/j.actaastro.2025.06.029","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.actaastro.2025.06.029","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The proliferation of debris in the space environment, congesting the Low Earth Orbit (LEO), constitutes a major challenge to the safety and sustainability of space missions and operations. Policy makers at the national, regional and international levels are developing and implementing frameworks to address the concerns of space debris. The processes require increased coordination and collaboration and are likely to take a number of years before entering into force.</div><div>However, as the sense of urgency calls for immediate innovative, multi stakeholder solutions with a global scope, private actors from the space industry can fill the current void by undertaking initiatives which would foster voluntary and inclusive action for the long-term sustainability of outer space. The Space Sustainability Rating (SSR) presents a compelling example, with the aim of incentivising space operators to design and implement sustainable space missions and operations while enabling other key stakeholders from the space ecosystem to become part of this collaborative effort.</div><div>In particular, the SSR provides a new way to support space debris mitigation through a two-pronged approach: (i) It provides a rating system useable by satellite manufacturers and operators informed by transparent and comprehensive assessment to get a clear picture of where a specific mission stands on sustainability and against best practices. (ii) It hosts an action-focused platform in which all actors from the space sector can engage, including throughout the value chain. In other terms, the SSR can serve as an action arm for the implementation of the current and future guidelines for space sustainability.</div><div>This work depicts how space actors, with a focus on satellite operators, are using the SSR. By showcasing an example of rating process and lessons learned with EnduroSat's Platform-1, it analyses its effectiveness to incentivise space actors to implement sustainable behaviours and lists the benefits they can derive from using the rating system. Furthermore, the experience of satellite operators from the other side is also described. The potential future developments to strengthen the incentive-based mechanism of the SSR are explored, and ultimately how its promotion among stakeholders, and potential spill-over, can lead to a wider adoption of the rating system (for operators, stakeholders from the space ecosystem and policy-makers).</div></div>","PeriodicalId":44971,"journal":{"name":"Acta Astronautica","volume":"235 ","pages":"Pages 778-786"},"PeriodicalIF":3.1,"publicationDate":"2025-06-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144304874","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"物理与天体物理","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Improving molten regolith electrolysis with zirconia-based hollow anode technology","authors":"Kevin Yu ,&nbsp;William West ,&nbsp;Jamesa Stokes ,&nbsp;Bryan Harder ,&nbsp;Lorlyn Reidy ,&nbsp;Jesus Dominguez ,&nbsp;Katherine T. Faber","doi":"10.1016/j.actaastro.2025.06.028","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.actaastro.2025.06.028","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Molten regolith electrolysis is a promising in-situ resource utilization technology that targets O₂ and metals production through the direct electrolysis of molten lunar regolith. However, there are still challenges associated with molten regolith electrolysis, such as bubble detachment and O₂ separation and collection at the anode. A hollow anode, comprised of an oxygen-conducting yttria-stabilized zirconia shell and a platinum current collector, is designed here to address these challenges. Experimental results from an inverted hollow anode reactor successfully demonstrate that molten regolith electrolysis can be performed through a solid electrolyte. The elemental composition of both the cathodic products (primarily Fe and Si) and solidified lunar regolith simulant are reported as a function of electrolysis duration. These observations are supported by a thermochemical model built using FactSage to provide compositions of the cathodic products and solidified regolith simulant with increasing O₂ removal. Finally, the behavior of yttria-stabilized zirconia in the hollow anode application is characterized, and provides guidance for the design and operation of a yttria-stabilized zirconia hollow anode to enable integration into a full-scale molten regolith electrolysis reactor.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":44971,"journal":{"name":"Acta Astronautica","volume":"235 ","pages":"Pages 723-735"},"PeriodicalIF":3.1,"publicationDate":"2025-06-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144304560","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"物理与天体物理","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"AltiCube+: A low-cost long fixed-baseline radar altimeter solution based on cubesats on-orbit assembly","authors":"Jian Guo ,&nbsp;Peter Hoogeboom ,&nbsp;Paco Lopez Dekker ,&nbsp;Jasper Bouwmeester ,&nbsp;Gabriele Meoni ,&nbsp;Jose Nieto ,&nbsp;Juan Fayos ,&nbsp;Eric Bertels ,&nbsp;Camille Pirat","doi":"10.1016/j.actaastro.2025.05.055","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.actaastro.2025.05.055","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Radar interferometry can be used to obtain sub-kilometre resolution over a swath at the expense of additional transmit power and a sufficiently long baseline to accommodate at least two antennas. This paper reports an innovative concept called AltiCube+, a low-cost long fixed-baseline interferometric radar altimeter based on CubeSats on-orbit assembly. The AltiCube+ concept consists of multiple 16U CubeSats. After an early operation and commissioning phase, these CubeSats will perform autonomous rendezvous and docking with each other via deployable booms to establish a long fixed-baseline, and then deploy antennas for an interferometric altimeter configuration. The uniqueness of AltiCube+ is on the potential scientific opportunities brought by two left and right looking interferometric altimeters with around 6 m baseline (total system length is more than 8 m) and the sustainability due to its significantly low cost and short development lifecycle. If budget allows, multiple AltiCube+ systems with same or different altimetry capabilities can form a constellation to dramatically reduce the revisit time and, therefore, provide much better spatiotemporal coverage.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":44971,"journal":{"name":"Acta Astronautica","volume":"235 ","pages":"Pages 584-595"},"PeriodicalIF":3.1,"publicationDate":"2025-06-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144304620","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"物理与天体物理","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The sputtering-deposition balance in the beam and backflow regions of electric propulsion plume","authors":"Jiayun Qi ,&nbsp;Xu Wu ,&nbsp;Tianlang Yi ,&nbsp;Junxue Ren ,&nbsp;Yibai Wang ,&nbsp;Zun Zhang ,&nbsp;Guangchuan Zhang ,&nbsp;Weizong Wang ,&nbsp;Haibin Tang","doi":"10.1016/j.actaastro.2025.06.021","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.actaastro.2025.06.021","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This paper investigates the sputtering and deposition effects in the backflow and beam regions under the influence of plasma flow in a Krypton propellant Hall thruster. Quartz crystal microbalance measurements were used to study deposition and sputtering in both the beam and backflow regions. The experimental results show that the plasma density in the backflow region is approximately on the order of 10¹⁴m⁻³, with a spatial potential ranging from 9.7 V to 13.8 V. The backflow region is predominantly characterized by low-energy ions generated by the charge-exchange effect. Additionally, the ion energy in the backflow region is more sensitive to the anode voltage. The results indicate that the backflow region is mainly dominated by the deposition of contaminants, while the beam region exhibits a combined effect of high-energy ion sputtering and the deposition of erosion products. The deposition rate in the backflow region increases with the propellant flow rate, showing consistency with the plasma density. The deposited products include B, C, N, and some metals, with deposition rates and spatial distributions of the primary products derived from frequency calibration. The sputtering mass fraction within the divergence half-angle accounts for 87.7 % of the total sputtering, and the sputtering effect is influenced by both the anode voltage and propellant flow rate. Higher anode voltage helps reduce the sputtering range of high-energy beams. It was found that the actual deposition amount is at least 4.7 times greater than the measured deposition. The new model considers the deposition of products from the thruster and secondary sputtering, allowing for a qualitative analysis of the actual deposition values based on the ion energy and the results from the energy dispersive spectrometer.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":44971,"journal":{"name":"Acta Astronautica","volume":"235 ","pages":"Pages 512-524"},"PeriodicalIF":3.1,"publicationDate":"2025-06-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144304623","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"物理与天体物理","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Shape optimization and experiments of a paraboloidal membrane reflector using an improved element-free Galerkin method","authors":"Feijie Wang ,&nbsp;Jingli Du ,&nbsp;Zhiwei Ren ,&nbsp;Hong Bao ,&nbsp;Chao Xie","doi":"10.1016/j.actaastro.2025.06.004","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.actaastro.2025.06.004","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This study aims to enable surface accuracy analysis and shape optimization of parabolic membranes for accurate geometric representation. Based on the nonlinear strain-displacement relationship, a mathematical model of the membrane reflector in curvilinear coordinates was developed using the meshless method. Within the element-free Galerkin framework, the moving least squares method was employed to generate shape functions, and the Cartesian transformation method was adopted to enhance the integration strategy, effectively eliminating redundant stiffness matrix calculations. Geometric nonlinearities were addressed through an incremental Newton-Raphson iteration scheme. The proposed optimization model successfully determined the optimal initial focal length of the reflector and the corresponding skirt geometry. Finally, electrostatic testing experiments were conducted on both clamped-edge membrane reflectors and skirted membrane reflectors using thermoformed curved membranes and the designed ECDMA prototype, demonstrating the effectiveness of the proposed analysis and optimization methods.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":44971,"journal":{"name":"Acta Astronautica","volume":"235 ","pages":"Pages 596-615"},"PeriodicalIF":3.1,"publicationDate":"2025-06-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144304888","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"物理与天体物理","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Space tourism marketing management considerations: locating in tourism spectrums, measuring motivated consumer innovativeness via moderating role of perceived risks, and challenging in environment","authors":"Yi-Wei (Eva) Chang (Eva)","doi":"10.1016/j.actaastro.2025.06.013","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.actaastro.2025.06.013","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The emerging space tourism has entered the pilot run phase. For the marketing management, there are still many considerations beyond the technology advancement. This study explores three aspects including its location in the tourism spectrums, consumer innovativeness via moderating role of perceived risks in space tourism, and potential challenging in environment. There are many spectrums in tourisms: lightness-darkness, cost, technology, adventure, comfort, popularity, safety and risk, etc. At this emerging pilot run phase, the space tourism has its high ends, i.e., high cost, high technology and high adventure, as well as its low ends, i.e., relatively low comfort and low popularity. Considering its extremely high cost at the current time, high-end tourists are particularly of interest in this study. For the impact of motivated consumer innovativeness (MCI) on perceived risk and word-of-mouth (WoM) communication about space tourism and its countermeasure considerations, perceived risk is the potential feeling of the tourist customer. A total of 313 valid questionnaires representing a 91.7 % response rate were collected through an online questionnaire survey. This research used multiple regression to examine the influence of MCI on positive WoM and the moderating role perceived risk plays in the relationships. The findings indicate that MCI is associated with improved consumer-positive WoM. The results also show that perceived risk moderates the relationship between MCI and WoM. Besides, potential risks of space tourism on the global environment due to the increases in rocket launch emissions and space debris are also studied as the third aspect.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":44971,"journal":{"name":"Acta Astronautica","volume":"235 ","pages":"Pages 766-777"},"PeriodicalIF":3.1,"publicationDate":"2025-06-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144304624","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"物理与天体物理","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"A CNN-based architecture for relative state and target motion parameters estimation in active debris removal missions","authors":"Giuseppe Napolano,&nbsp;Alessia Nocerino,&nbsp;Giancarmine Fasano,&nbsp;Michele Grassi,&nbsp;Roberto Opromolla","doi":"10.1016/j.actaastro.2025.06.012","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.actaastro.2025.06.012","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This paper presents an original relative navigation architecture for proximity operations towards an uncooperative inactive satellite, employing convolutional neural networks for monocular-based pose estimation. In particular, this latter task is performed following an indirect approach, in which two neural networks of the YOLO family are employed to respectively locate the target satellite in the image and identify a set of key-points corresponding to natural target features. The resulting correspondences between the 3D coordinates of the key-points and their positions in the image are used to solve a Perspective-n-Point problem combining analytical and numerical solvers. In addition, an original strategy is introduced to get estimates of the target angular velocity and of its covariance. Such pose and target angular velocity information are integrated as measurements in the correction step of a Multiplicative Extended Kalman Filter at different frequencies; this approach allows improving rotational state estimation accuracy, especially when dealing with tumbling satellites. A new dataset of 20000 synthetic images of the ENVISAT satellite is generated using the open-source software Blender, accounting for variable conditions in terms of target relative position, attitude, Sun illumination and presence of the Earth in the background, to train the networks. Several testing datasets are generated to validate the proposed methods, simulating monitoring and approach scenarios with spinning and tumbling targets. A parametrical study is also conducted to assess the effect of the size of the key-points’ extraction network and of the suppression of the target detection network on relative navigation accuracy. Results show the capability to estimate the relative state with errors of less than 6 % of the range on relative position and with degree-level accuracy on relative attitude, while relative velocity and target angular velocity are estimated with errors of less than 6 cm/s and 0.1°/s, respectively; the accuracy of target angular velocity estimation is preserved even with tumbling satellites having angular rates up to 1°/s.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":44971,"journal":{"name":"Acta Astronautica","volume":"235 ","pages":"Pages 485-511"},"PeriodicalIF":3.1,"publicationDate":"2025-06-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144321293","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"物理与天体物理","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}