• Journal of Astronomy and Space Sciences
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.259-268
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• 2006

The use of GPS receiver at outer space becomes common in low earth orbit. Recently most of satellites use GPS receiver as navigation solution for finding satellite position. However, the accuracy of navigation solution acquiring directly from GPS receiver is not enough in satellite application such as map generation. Post-processing concepts such as Precise Orbit Determination (POD) are recently applied to satellite data processing to improve satellite position accuracy. The POD uses raw measurement data instead of navigation solution of GPS receiver. The performance of raw measurement data depends on raw measurement data accuracy and tracking loop algorithm of GPS receiver. In this paper, a method for evaluating performance of raw measurement data is suggested. Test environment and procedure of the low earth orbit satellite acquiring for navigation solution of GPS receiver and navigation solution of POD are described. In addition, accuracy on navigation solution of GPS receiver, raw measurement data, and navigation solution of POD are analyzed. The proposed method can be applicable to general low earth orbit satellite.

• Journal of Astronomy and Space Sciences
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.491-504
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• 2008

CSSA (Coarse Sun Sensor Assembly) is the essential sensor for satellite attitude control. CSSA measures the direction of the sun's rays and determines whether the satellite is in the ellipse. The paper shows the development process and test results of Path-finder & Qualified Model CSSA as the preceding development in order to develop the CSSA for low earth orbit satellite. We needs the definite and precision procedure and lots of experience. This paper shows that we can improve those through the development of Path-finder and Qualified Model CSSA. Therefore, we can obtain the results to meet the functional requirement.

• Journal of Astronomy and Space Sciences
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.207-214
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• 2002

One of the way to derive design parameters of the fuel feeding system in satellite propulsion system is to analyze unsteady flow of liquid propellant (hydrazine). During steady thruster firing the flow rate is constant: if a thruster valve is abruptly shut down among a set of thrusters, pressure spikes much higher than the initial tank pressure occur. This renders the fuel flow unsteady, and the fluid pressure and flow rate to oscillate. If the pressure spikes are high enough, there are possibilities that propellant explosively decomposes, thruster valves we damaged, and adiabatic detonation of the hydrazine propellant is potentially incurred. Reflected shockwaves could also affect the calibration and operation of the pressure transducers. These necessitate the analysis of unsteady flow in the propulsion system design, and pressure behavior inside the propellant line obtained through some governing parameter variation is presented in this work.

• Journal of Astronomy and Space Sciences
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.127-134
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• 2006

Variation of the Local Time of Ascending Node (LTAN) has been analysed according to initial inclinations when the altitude of Sun-synchronous satellite is continuously decreased due to the atmospheric drag. Orbit predictions of 3 years have been performed with the satellite of 500 km altitude when the initial LTAN were set to 06:00, 09:00, 12:00, 15:00, and 18:00. Different profiles of the inclination and LTAN have been obtained according to the satellite altitude decay and initial LTAN value. Using the profiles of the inclination and LTAN, initial orbital elements can be derived for minimizing the LTAN variations during the mission life time of the sun-synchronous satellite without any on-board thrusters for orbit maneuvers.

• Journal of Astronomy and Space Sciences
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.547-554
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• 2009

The Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) aboard the Aqua satellite, which is one of the Earth Observing System satellites managed by National Aeronautics and Space Administration, provides global measurements of the water vapor in the atmosphere using infrared (IR) channels. In this paper, we restored precipitable water vapor (PWV) over a permanent GPS station in Incheon using the IR measurements of AIRS and compared the result with GPS-based PWV estimates. As a result, AIRS PWV had similar trends with GPS PWV; the bias of AIRS PWV against GPS PWV is 0.3 cm and root mean square error (RMSE) 0.7 cm. In addition, the correlation coefficient between AIRS PWV and GPS PWV was 0.89. Thus we conclude that the AIRS PWV reflects local characteristics of the water vapor content.

• Journal of Astronomy and Space Sciences
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• v.38 no.3
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• pp.185-192
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• 2021

This technical paper deals the practical transformation algorithms between several lunar reference frames which will be used for Korea pathfinder lunar orbiter (KPLO) flight operation. Despite of various lunar reference frame definitions already exist, use of a common transformation algorithm while establishing lunar reference frame is very important for all members related to KPLO mission. This is because use of slight different parameters during frame transformation may result significant misleading while reprocessing data based on KPLO flight dynamics. Therefore, details of practical transformation algorithms for the KPLO mission specific lunar reference frames is presented with step by step implementation procedures. Examples of transformation results are also presented to support KPLO flight dynamics data user community which is expected to give practical guidelines while post processing the data as their needs. With this technical paper, common understandings of reference frames that will be used throughout not only the KPLO flight operation but also science data reprocessing can be established. It is expected to eliminate, or at least minimize, unnecessary confusion among all of the KPLO mission members including: Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI), National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as well as other organizations participating in KPLO payload development and operation, or further lunar science community world-wide who are interested in KPLO science data post processing.

• Journal of Astronomy and Space Sciences
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.141-156
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• 2009

Through the photometric observations of the near-contact binary, XZ CMi, new BV light curves were secured and seven times of minimum light were determined. An intensive period study with all published timings, including ours, confirms that the period of XZ CMi has varied in a cyclic period variation superposed on a secular period decrease over last 70 years. Assuming the cyclic change of period to occur by a light-time effect due to a third-body, the light-time orbit with a semi-amplitude of 0.0056d, a period of 29y and an eccentricity of 0.71 was calculated. The observed secular period decrease of $-5.26{\times}10^{-11}d/P$ was interpreted as a result of simultaneous occurrence of both a period decrease of $-8.20{\times}10^{-11}d/P$ by angular momentum loss (AML) due to a magnetic braking stellar wind and a period increase of $2.94{\times}10^{-11}d/P$ by a mass transfer from the less massive secondary to the primary components in the system. In this line the decreasing rate of period due to AML is about 3 times larger than the increasing one by a mass transfer in their absolute values. The latter implies a mass transfer of $\dot{M}_s=3.21{\times}10^{-8}M_{\odot}y^{-1}$ from the less massive secondary to the primary. The BV light curves with the latest Wilson-Devinney binary code were analyzed for two separate models of 8200K and 7000K as the photospheric temperature of the primary component. Both models confirm that XZ CMi is truly a near-contact binary with a less massive secondary completely filling Roche lobe and a primary inside the inner Roche lobe and there is a third-light corresponding to about 15-17% of the total system light. However, the third-light source can not be the same as the third-body suggested from the period study. At the present, however, we can not determine which one between two models is better fitted to the observations because of a negligible difference of $\sum(O-C)^2$ between them. The diversity of mass ratios, with which previous investigators were in disagreement, still remains to be one of unsolved problems in XZ CMi system. Spectroscopic observations for a radial velocity curve and high-resolution spectra as well as a high-precision photometry are needed to resolve some of remaining problems.

• Journal of Astronomy and Space Sciences
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.351-360
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• 2004

An orbit propagation software for the Mars orbiting spacecraft has been developed and verified in preparations for the future Korean Mars missions. Dynamic model for Mars orbiting spacecraft has been studied, and Mars centered coordinate systems are utilized to express spacecraft state vectors. Coordinate corrections to the Mars centered coordinate system have been made to adjust the effects caused by Mars precession and nutation. After spacecraft enters Sphere of Influence (SOI) of the Mars, the spacecraft experiences various perturbation effects as it approaches to Mars. Every possible perturbation effect is considered during integrations of spacecraft state vectors. The Mars50c gravity field model and the Mars-GRAM 2001 model are used to compute perturbation effects due to Mars gravity field and Mars atmospheric drag, respectively. To compute exact locations of other planets, JPL's DE405 ephemerides are used. Phobos and Deimos's ephemeris are computed using analytical method because their informations are not released with DE405. Mars Global Surveyor's mapping orbital data are used to verify the developed propagator performances. After one Martian day propagation (12 orbital periods), the results show about maximum ${\pm}5$ meter errors, in every position state components(radial, cross-track and along-track), when compared to these from the Astrogator propagation in the Satellite Tool Kit. This result shows high reliability of the developed software which can be used to design near Mars missions for Korea, in future.

• Journal of Astronomy and Space Sciences
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.329-352
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• 2005

Long term observations of full-disk Lyman-o irradiance have been made by the instruments on various satellites. In addition, several sounding rockets dating back to the 1950s and up through the present have measured the $Lyman-{\alpha}$ irradiance. Previous full disk $Lyman-{\alpha}$ images of the sun have been very interesting and useful scientifically, but have been only five-minute 'snapshots' obtained on sounding rocket flights. All of these observations to date have been snapshots, with no time resolution to observe changes in the chromospheric structure as a result of the evolving magnetic field, and its effect on the Lyman-o intensity. The $Lyman-{\alpha}$ Imaging Solar Telescope(LIST) can provide a unique opportunity for the study of the sun in the $Lyman-{\alpha}$ region with the high time and spatial resolution for the first time. Up to the 2nd year development, the preliminary design of the optics, mechanical structure and electronics system has been completed. Also the mechanical structure analysis, thermal analysis were performed and the material for the structure was chosen as a result of these analyses. And the test plan and the verification matrix were decided. The operation systems, technical and scientific operation, were studied and finally decided. Those are the technical operation, mechanical working modes for the observation and safety, the scientific operation and the process of the acquired data. The basic techniques acquired through the development of satellite based solar telescope are essential for the construction of space environment forecast system in the future. The techniques which we developed through this study, like mechanical, optical and data processing techniques, could be applied extensively not only to the process of the future production of flight models of this kind, but also to the related industries. Also, we can utilize the scientific achievements which are obtained throughout the project And these can be utilized to build a high resolution photometric detectors for military and commercial purposes. It is also believed that we will be able to apply several acquired techniques for the development of the Korean satellite projects in the future.

• Journal of Astronomy and Space Sciences
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.337-344
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• 2006

KVN simulation, which is focused on evaluating the impacts of KVN to geodetic VLBI network, was performed. The KVN is under construction with three radio telescopes VLBI system for radio astronomy and space geodesy. To distinguish the impacts of KVN on global and local scale networks, we designed two different sizes of VLBI networks, namely, KVN-Asia and KVN-Pacific. While the former consisted of Far East Asia region VLBI stations, the latter consisted of pacific region VLBT stations. The primary purpose of our simulation is quantitative evaluation of KVN impacts before and after the participation of KVN in the previous two virtual networks. We selected two different sets of parameters to be estimated in the simulation as indices of evaluating estimation precision: station coordinates and EOPs. The station coordinates are evaluating index for KVN-Asia and the EOPs are another evaluating index for KVN-Pacific. From the simulation results of comparisons between evaluating indexes, 50% and 20% of maximum improvements for KVN-Asia and KVN-Pacific were anticipated respectively. We expect that the space geodetic use of KVN will be focused on the several promising research fields which are proposed through the simulation results.