Heteroclinic and Homoclinic Connections between the Sun-Earth Triangular Points and Quasi-Satellite Orbits for Solar Observations

Investigation of new orbit geometries exhibits a very attractive behavior for a spacecraft to monitor space weather coming from the Sun. Several orbit transfer mechanisms are analyzed as potential alternatives to monitor solar activity such as a sub-solar orbit or quasi-satellite orbit and short and long heteroclinic and homoclinic connections between the triangular points L4 and L5 and the collinear point L3 of the CRTBP （circular restricted three-body problem） in the Sun-Earth system. These trajectories could serve as channels through where material can be transported from L5 to L3 by performing small maneuvers at the departure of the Trojan orbit. The size of these maneuvers at L5 is between 299 m/s and 730 m/s depending on the transfer time of the trajectory and does not need any deterministic maneuvers at L3. Our results suggest that material may also be transported from the Trojan orbits to quasi-satellite orbits or even displaced quasi-satellite orbits.

Design and analysis of an advanced thermal management system for the solar close observations and proximity experiments spacecraft

In this paper,the mission and the thermal environment of the Solar Close Observations and Proximity Experiments(SCOPE)spacecraft are analyzed,and an advanced thermal management system(ATMS)is designed for it.The relationship and functions of the integrated database,the intelligent thermal control system and the efficient liquid cooling system in the ATMS are elaborated upon.For the complex thermal field regulation system and extreme space thermal environment,a modular simulation and thermal field planning method are proposed,and the feasibility of the planning algorithm is verified by numerical simulation.A solar array liquid cooling system is developed,and the system simulation results indicate that the temperatures of the solar arrays meet the requirements as the spacecraft flies by perihelion and aphelion.The advanced thermal management study supports the development of the SCOPE program and provides a reference for the thermal management in other deep-space exploration programs.

Solar adaptive optics systems for the New Vacuum Solar Telescope at the Fuxian Lake Solar Observatory

Adaptive optics(AO)is essential for high-quality ground-based observations with large telescopes because it counters the impact of wavefront aberrations caused by atmospheric turbulence.The new vacuum solar telescope(NVST)is one of the most important high-resolution solar observation instruments in the world.Three sets of solar adaptive optics systems have been developed and installed on this telescope:conventional adaptive optics,ground layer adaptive optics,and multi-conjugate adaptive optics.These have been in operation from 2018 to 2023.This paper details the development and application of solar adaptive optics on the NVST and discusses the newest instrumentation.

Development of Solar Spectroradiometer for Meteorological Observation

A newgeneration of solar spectroradiometer has been developed by CUST/JRSI to improve solarirradiance observation data under hyperspectral resolution. It is based on the grating spectroradiometer with a back-thinned CCD linear image sensor and is operated in a hermetically sealed enclosure. The solar spectroradiometer is designed to measure the solar spectral irradiance from300 nm to 1100 nm wavelength range with the spectral resolution of 2 nm( the full width at half maximum). The optical bench is optimized to minimize stray light. The Peltier device is used to stabilize the temperature of CCD sensor to 25℃,while the change of temperature of CCD sensor is controlled to ±1℃ by the dedicated Peltier driver and control circuit.

Solar Multi-Spectral Radiometric Observations of Atmospheric Optical Thickness over Passarlapudi Gas Well Blow-Out Site in India

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Gnomon shadow lengths recorded in the Zhoubi Suanjing:the earliest meridian observations in China?

The Zhoubi Suanjing, one of the most important ancient Chinese books on mathematical astronomy, was compiled about 100 BC in the Western Han dynasty （BC 206 - AD 23）. We study the gnomon shadow lengths for the 24 solar terms as recorded in the book. Special attention is paid to the so-called law of ‘cun qian li’, which says the shadow length of a gnomon of 8 chi （about 1.96 m） high will increase （or decrease） 1 cun （1/10chi） for every 10001i （roughly 400kin） the gnomon moves northward （or south- ward）. From these data, one can derive the time and location of the observations. The resuits, however, do not fit historical facts. We suggest that compilers of the Zhoubi Suanjing must have modified the original data according to the law of ‘cun qian li’. Through reversing the situation, we recovered the original data, our analysis of which reveals the best possible observation time as 564 BC and the location of observation as 35.78° N latitude. We conclude that this must be the earliest records of solar meridian observations in China. In the meantime, we give the errors of solar altitudes for the 24 solar terms. The average deviation is 5.22°, and the mean absolute deviation is 5.52°, signifying the accuracy of astronomical calculations from that time.

Full-disk synoptic observations of the chromosphere using Hα telescope at the Kodaikanal Observatory

This paper reports on the installation and observations of a new solar telescope installed on 2014 October 7 at the Kodaikanal Observatory. The telescope is a refractive type equipped with a tunable Lyot Hα filter. A CCD camera with size 2k ×2k acquires images of the Sun and has a pixel size of 1.21″ pixel^-1 and a full field-of-view of 41＇. The telescope is equipped with a guiding system which keeps the image of the Sun within a few pixels throughout the observations. The FWHM of the Lyot filter is 0.4A and the filter is motorized, capable of scanning the Hα line profile at a smaller step size of 0.01 A. Partial-disk imaging covering about 10＇ is also possible with the help of a relay lens kept in front of the CCD camera. In this paper, we report the detailed specifications of the telescope, filter unit, the installation, observations and the procedures we have followed to calibrate and align the data. We also present preliminary results with this new full-disk telescope.

Design and verification of the HXI collimator on the ASO-S mission

A space-borne hard X-ray collimator,comprising 91 pairs of grids,has been developed for the Hard X-ray Imager(HXI).The HXI is one of the three scientific instruments onboard the first Chinese solar mission:the Advanced Space-based Solar Observatory(ASO-S).The HXI collimator(HXI-C)is a spatial modulation X-ray telescope designed to observe hard X-rays emitted by energetic electrons in solar flares.This paper presents the detailed design of the HXI-C for the qualification model that will be inherited by the flight model.Series tests on the HXI-C qualification model are reported to verify the ability of the HXI-C to survive the launch and to operate normally in on-orbit environments.Furthermore,results of the X-ray beam test for the HXI-C are presented to indirectly identify the working performance of the HXI-C.

Concept of the Solar Ring mission: Preliminary design and mission profile

The Solar Ring mission, a concept to monitor the Sun and inner heliosphere from multiple perspectives, has been funded for prephase study by the Strategic Priority Program of Chinese Academy of Sciences in space sciences. The Solar Ring is comprised of 6 spacecraft, grouped in three pairs, moving around the Sun in an elliptical orbit in the ecliptic plane. The mission costs,including launch fee, deep-space maneuvers, and deployment time of the ring, are highly relevant to the working orbit, deepspace transfer, and phase angle within a group. The preliminary mission profile is analyzed and designed in this paper. The launch way, two spacecraft with one rocket, is adopted. The deployment time, phasing maneuvers, and C_(3) of launch energy are evaluated for the elliptical orbits with the perihelion between 0.7 and 0.9 AU using the rockets of Long March(LM) 3A and 3B.Numerical simulations show two candidate trajectories: fast deployment within 4 years by LM-3B, medium deployment more than 6 years by cheaper rocket of LM-3A. In order to obtain both fast deployment and low launch cost, another orbit profile is proposed by shortening the phase angle within a group. The suggested working orbits and the corresponding costs of launch,deployment time, and phasing maneuvers will strongly support the science objectives.