Acta AstronauticaPub Date : 2025-07-19DOI: 10.1016/j.actaastro.2025.07.040
Antton Sanjuan , Daniel Sommermann , Werner Köhler , Henri Bataller , Fabrizio Croccolo , Aliaksandr Mialdun , Valentina Shevtsova , M. Mounir Bou-Ali
{"title":"Analysis of the mass transport properties of the binary polymeric mixture in microgravity conditions during the DCMIX4 campaign onboard the ISS. Comparison with gravity-based experiments","authors":"Antton Sanjuan , Daniel Sommermann , Werner Köhler , Henri Bataller , Fabrizio Croccolo , Aliaksandr Mialdun , Valentina Shevtsova , M. Mounir Bou-Ali","doi":"10.1016/j.actaastro.2025.07.040","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.actaastro.2025.07.040","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>We present the results of thermodiffusion experiments conducted under microgravity conditions during the DCMIX4 mission performed onboard the International Space Station (ISS). The space data are compared to previously obtained ground-based measurements. The investigated binary mixture, composed of polystyrene (4730 g/mol) dissolved in the pure solvent toluene, was analysed at four different operating temperatures: 20-25-30-35 °C. A complete procedure was developed, detailing each step from data acquisition to the determination of the fluid transport properties (Soret, molecular diffusion, and thermodiffusion coefficients) using various analytical solutions. Experimental results for the Soret coefficient (steady-state species separation analysis) indicate a linear decrease with increasing temperature, which is in excellent agreement with the Soret coefficients obtained under ground-based thermodiffusion experiments. In contrast, the molecular diffusion coefficient (unsteady-state study) exhibits an increasing trend with temperature, presenting larger deviations from gravity-based results. These variations are attributed to inaccuracies in phase reconstruction because of limitations in the employed phase-stepping technique.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":44971,"journal":{"name":"Acta Astronautica","volume":"236 ","pages":"Pages 627-635"},"PeriodicalIF":3.1,"publicationDate":"2025-07-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144664897","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}
Acta AstronauticaPub Date : 2025-07-19DOI: 10.1016/j.actaastro.2025.07.021
Moritz Vogel, Nils Bartels, Maximilian Feiling, Jürgen Kästel, Stefan Scharring, Wolfgang Riede, Thomas Dekorsy
{"title":"Flat retroreflective arrays and foils for satellite laser ranging","authors":"Moritz Vogel, Nils Bartels, Maximilian Feiling, Jürgen Kästel, Stefan Scharring, Wolfgang Riede, Thomas Dekorsy","doi":"10.1016/j.actaastro.2025.07.021","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.actaastro.2025.07.021","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Retroreflective structures play an important role in laser-based space applications, serving as navigation aids for spacecraft docking and enabling precise orbit determination through satellite laser ranging. These structures must deliver a high return signal over long distances while being durable, and capable of operating in the challenging conditions of space for extended periods. Flat retroreflective structures such as retroreflective foils would be beneficial to ensure a seamless integration with various satellites, particularly CubeSats. This study analyzes the far-field diffraction patterns of various commercially available retroreflective foils, which are crucial for calculating the optical cross-section. While the retroreflected signal from these foils is notably weaker than that of conventional corner-cube retroreflectors of equivalent area, it remains several orders of magnitude stronger than that of a diffusely reflecting surface. Beyond conventional retroreflective foils, which rely on arrays of microprisms, we explore the potential of flat retroreflective structures based on metasurfaces. These nanostructures offer intriguing possibilities, such as wavelength-dependent retroreflection, and may be engineered for compatibility with space environment. In the future, such advanced designs could enable innovative applications like satellite identification or attitude determination. Moreover, we theoretically analyze how the changing attitude of the satellite affects the return signal of potentially coherently retroreflecting arrays.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":44971,"journal":{"name":"Acta Astronautica","volume":"236 ","pages":"Pages 746-754"},"PeriodicalIF":3.1,"publicationDate":"2025-07-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144664896","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}
Acta AstronauticaPub Date : 2025-07-18DOI: 10.1016/j.actaastro.2025.06.063
B. Legros , L. Léger , A. Kourta , A. Chpoun , M. Sellam , V. Gilard
{"title":"Experimental and numerical investigation of transverse secondary injection in dual-bell nozzles for enhanced operating mode switch control","authors":"B. Legros , L. Léger , A. Kourta , A. Chpoun , M. Sellam , V. Gilard","doi":"10.1016/j.actaastro.2025.06.063","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.actaastro.2025.06.063","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The present paper extends previous research on dual-bell nozzle flow control using transverse secondary injection under altitude-varying conditions by investigating the dual-bell nozzle flow in a steady-state simulations campaign. The flow predicted numerically for a dual-bell nozzle without operating secondary injection presented every key flow feature, but the separation location was not well predicted, especially in the vicinity of the transition nozzle pressure ratio. The discrepancy diminished by increasing the turbulence model’s structure parameter, a parameter limiting the turbulent shear stress in the boundary layer. The calibrated turbulence model was used for further simulations, where a secondary injection was operated in the extension section of the dual-bell nozzle. The simulations reproduced the increase in transition nozzle pressure ratio with an increase in secondary mass flow rate ratio observed experimentally. The numerical Schlieren images were in good agreement with the experiment, except in the vicinity of the transition nozzle pressure ratio; and the numerical wall pressure distribution indicated that the secondary injection effect limitation observed experimentally was attributed to the absence of interaction between the separation front and the inflexion point.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":44971,"journal":{"name":"Acta Astronautica","volume":"236 ","pages":"Pages 667-683"},"PeriodicalIF":3.1,"publicationDate":"2025-07-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144664901","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}
Acta AstronauticaPub Date : 2025-07-18DOI: 10.1016/j.actaastro.2025.07.012
Ryan Kinzie , Sergey V. Drakunov , Riccardo Bevilacqua , Dongeun Seo
{"title":"Modified Kalman–Bucy filter for attitude and pose quasi-optimal estimation","authors":"Ryan Kinzie , Sergey V. Drakunov , Riccardo Bevilacqua , Dongeun Seo","doi":"10.1016/j.actaastro.2025.07.012","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.actaastro.2025.07.012","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This work presents two versions of a novel modified formulation of the Kalman–Bucy filter where sensor measurements appear in the covariance matrix dynamics. The first formulation presented in this paper is an attitude quaternion-based formulation which quasi-optimally estimates the relative attitude between two frames. The second formulation builds on the attitude quaternion-based filter by extending the results to dual quaternions, which allows the filter to quasi-optimally estimate the pose between two frames. The utility of this filter is attributed to the fact the filter will quasi-optimally estimate the attitude or pose between two rigid bodies provided the measurements of any two quantities as long as the quantities are measured in both frames. Additionally, both formulations remain in quaternion and dual quaternion space which retains the computational efficiency of quaternion and dual quaternion algebra. Lastly, simulations were run in MATLAB which demonstrate the utility of both formulations.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":44971,"journal":{"name":"Acta Astronautica","volume":"236 ","pages":"Pages 701-708"},"PeriodicalIF":3.1,"publicationDate":"2025-07-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144664937","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}
Acta AstronauticaPub Date : 2025-07-18DOI: 10.1016/j.actaastro.2025.07.029
Chiara Giuseppina De Marco, Silvia Colabianchi, Francesco Costantino
{"title":"ISM2: Interpretive structural modelling methodology in the context of in-space manufacturing for a strategic space project guideline","authors":"Chiara Giuseppina De Marco, Silvia Colabianchi, Francesco Costantino","doi":"10.1016/j.actaastro.2025.07.029","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.actaastro.2025.07.029","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>In-space manufacturing (ISM) presents unique challenges due to its complexity, resource constraints, and the need for strategic planning. A structured guideline is essential for ensuring the success of ISM projects. This study presents the ISM<sup>2</sup> as the instantiation of the interpretive structural modeling methodology for in-space manufacturing, to provide a strategic framework for ISM by identifying and prioritizing key determinants for successful implementation. The study first conducted a content-centric literature review and engaged a focus group of academic researchers and industry experts to identify 20 critical determinants of ISM. It then applied interpretive structural modeling (ISM) to determine the optimal sequence of these determinants. An interpretive model and a logic knowledge base matrix were also used to develop a structured guideline for ISM projects, based on their driving and dependence power. The proposed guideline enhances the understanding of ISM determinants, enabling stakeholders to develop strategic roadmaps to implement in-space manufacturing projects effectively.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":44971,"journal":{"name":"Acta Astronautica","volume":"236 ","pages":"Pages 636-655"},"PeriodicalIF":3.1,"publicationDate":"2025-07-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144664899","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}
Acta AstronauticaPub Date : 2025-07-18DOI: 10.1016/j.actaastro.2025.07.038
Les Johnson , Mojtaba Akhavan-Tafti , Rohan Sood , Adam Szabo , Herbert D. Thomas
{"title":"Space Weather Investigation Frontier (SWIFT) mission concept: Continuous, distributed observations of heliospheric structures from the vantage points of Sun-Earth L1 and sub-L1","authors":"Les Johnson , Mojtaba Akhavan-Tafti , Rohan Sood , Adam Szabo , Herbert D. Thomas","doi":"10.1016/j.actaastro.2025.07.038","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.actaastro.2025.07.038","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Continuous, in-situ, multi-point observations along the Sun-Earth line at and inside the Lagrange point L1 (sub-L1) will enable a better understanding of the three-dimensional structure and temporal evolution of heliospheric structures that drive terrestrial space weather. The proposed SWIFT (Space Weather Investigation Frontier) mission will use a new solar sail propulsion system developed by NASA to enable a suite of science instruments onboard a smallsat to maintain observations along the Sun-Earth line, sub-L1, for extended periods. Three identically instrumented small spacecraft at L1 will fly in concert with the sailcraft at sub-L1 in an optimized tetrahedron constellation, covering scales between 10 and 100s of Earth radii. This viewing geometry will enable scientists to distinguish between local and global processes driving space weather by revealing the spatial characteristics, temporal evolution, and geo-effectiveness of small-to meso-scale solar wind structures and substructures of macro-scale structures, such as interplanetary coronal mass ejections (ICMEs) and stream interaction regions (SIRs). In addition, real time measurements of earth-bound heliospheric structures from sub-L1 will improve our current forecasting lead-times by up to 35 percent. This paper will provide an overview of the proposed SWIFT science and mission concept.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":44971,"journal":{"name":"Acta Astronautica","volume":"236 ","pages":"Pages 684-691"},"PeriodicalIF":3.1,"publicationDate":"2025-07-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144664898","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}
Acta AstronauticaPub Date : 2025-07-17DOI: 10.1016/j.actaastro.2025.07.015
Qiaohui Yu , Hong Li , Zezhong Peng , Chao Zhong , Yongjie Ding , Liqiu Wei , Daren Yu
{"title":"Corrigendum to “Experimental study on abnormal spark discharge characteristics of a Hall thruster” [Acta Astronaut. 235 (2025) 653–659]","authors":"Qiaohui Yu , Hong Li , Zezhong Peng , Chao Zhong , Yongjie Ding , Liqiu Wei , Daren Yu","doi":"10.1016/j.actaastro.2025.07.015","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.actaastro.2025.07.015","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":44971,"journal":{"name":"Acta Astronautica","volume":"236 ","pages":"Pages 560-561"},"PeriodicalIF":3.1,"publicationDate":"2025-07-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144657001","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}
Acta AstronauticaPub Date : 2025-07-17DOI: 10.1016/j.actaastro.2025.07.001
Zheng Chen, Shuxin Shen, Hutao Cui, Yang Tian
{"title":"Robust adaptive guidance for autonomous asteroid landing via search-based meta-reinforcement learning","authors":"Zheng Chen, Shuxin Shen, Hutao Cui, Yang Tian","doi":"10.1016/j.actaastro.2025.07.001","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.actaastro.2025.07.001","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Future asteroid missions require safe landings despite limited prior knowledge and significant uncertainties, posing a critical challenge to current autonomous guidance strategies. This paper introduces a novel robust adaptive guidance framework that integrates meta-reinforcement learning with Monte Carlo Tree Search (MCTS) to enable both rapid learning and efficient adaptation to diverse asteroids. The framework leverages a recurrent network within its meta-reinforcement learning architecture to perceive and respond to dynamic system parameters, ensuring adaptability across varied mission scenarios. The network is trained via an MCTS-based optimization algorithm, where the tree search enhances policy exploration and effectively handles the high-latency rewards of the landing task. Moreover, we introduce an enhanced MCTS by incorporating double progressive widening modifications to refine the deployed action policies. Numerical simulations demonstrate the proposed framework’s superior performance and robustness in achieving reliable landing guidance across a wide range of environmental uncertainties.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":44971,"journal":{"name":"Acta Astronautica","volume":"236 ","pages":"Pages 723-734"},"PeriodicalIF":3.1,"publicationDate":"2025-07-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144664902","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}
Acta AstronauticaPub Date : 2025-07-17DOI: 10.1016/j.actaastro.2025.07.034
Seheon Kim , Hansol Lim , Beom-Jun Kim , Taeyeon Kim , Sang-Hwan Park , Jae-Weon Jeong
{"title":"Simulation of a thermoelectric power generation system with multiple heat storage for lunar habitat","authors":"Seheon Kim , Hansol Lim , Beom-Jun Kim , Taeyeon Kim , Sang-Hwan Park , Jae-Weon Jeong","doi":"10.1016/j.actaastro.2025.07.034","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.actaastro.2025.07.034","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The global demand for space research has surged, driven by advancements in technology and the pursuit of extraterrestrial resource utilization. As the development of lunar resources and infrastructure necessitates a sustained human presence, establishing a lunar habitat is imperative for the long-term advancement of space exploration. To ensure continuous power supply to such a habitat, thermoelectric generators (TEGs), which directly transform heat flux into electrical energy, can be utilized, leveraging the extreme temperature gradient on the lunar surface, which ranges from 90 to 390 K. However, although some studies suggest that the transient-state operation may enhance the TEG efficiency, its feasibility under lunar conditions remains unexplored. Therefore, as switching heat storage (HS) induces the transient state by altering the temperature of the working fluid and HS is generally necessary due to the Moon's prolonged nights, this study aims to assess the suitability of a multiple-HS system to generate a thermally transient state in the TEG through HS switching. The results showed that the multiple-HS structure increased power generation by approximately 48.9 % under the lunar environment, pointing temperature altering can enhance the power generation of the TEG-based system on the moon. Additionally, the effects of switching timing of multiple-HS and size of HS were assessed, but its impact is relatively low, +0.3 % for switching timing and −0.5 % for size. The findings should contribute to lunar research, providing insights for the transient characteristics of TEGs.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":44971,"journal":{"name":"Acta Astronautica","volume":"236 ","pages":"Pages 616-626"},"PeriodicalIF":3.1,"publicationDate":"2025-07-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144679752","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}
Acta AstronauticaPub Date : 2025-07-17DOI: 10.1016/j.actaastro.2025.07.035
Rong Chen , Xiaowei Wang , Shuai Yuan , Haipeng Chen , Feiyu Gao , Lingchao Kong
{"title":"A solution of lunar manufacturing and launch base","authors":"Rong Chen , Xiaowei Wang , Shuai Yuan , Haipeng Chen , Feiyu Gao , Lingchao Kong","doi":"10.1016/j.actaastro.2025.07.035","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.actaastro.2025.07.035","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>With the advancement of human space exploration, the moon has become a new frontier, incorporated into the earth's ecosystem. It is also an important gateway and transfer station to deep space exploration, which thus promotes various concepts and plans for lunar exploration and resources utilization. In this paper, a novel solution of unmanned lunar manufacturing and launch base is proposed. In particular, the lunar base consists of five systems, which includes the in-situ resources exploration and collection system, the lunar-based additive manufacturing system, the lunar-based launch and vehicle system, the lunar-based energy system and the lunar-based transportation and operation system. Then the main functions and compositions of these systems are described. The paper also analyzes the key technology clusters involved in constructing a lunar manufacturing and launch base, primarily focusing on in-situ resource exploration and collection technology, in-situ smelting and preparation technology, lunar-based vehicle design and launch technology, energy supply and management technology, as well as transportation and operation technology. In all, this paper will provide a reference for the construction, development and operation of lunar base in the future.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":44971,"journal":{"name":"Acta Astronautica","volume":"236 ","pages":"Pages 897-903"},"PeriodicalIF":3.1,"publicationDate":"2025-07-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144664900","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}