NASA Scientific and Technical Aerospace Reports

20040111412 NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, AL, USA
Automated Detection of Solar Loops by the Oriented Connectivity Method
Lee, Jong Kwan; Newman, Timothy S.; Gary, G. Allen; [2004]; 4 pp.; In English; 17th International Conference on Pattern
Recognition, 23-26 Aug. 2004, Cambridge, UK; Copyright; Avail: CASI; A01, Hardcopy
An automated technique to segment solar coronal loops from intensity images of the Sun s corona is introduced. It exploits
physical characteristics of the solar magnetic field to enable robust extraction from noisy images. The technique is a
constructive curve detection approach, constrained by collections of estimates of the magnetic fields orientation. Its
effectiveness is evaluated through experiments on synthetic and real coronal images.
Author
Automatic Control; Coronal Loops; Detection; Solar Corona; Sun
93
SPACE RADIATION
Includes cosmic radiation; and inner and outer Earth radiation belts. For biological effects of radiation on plants and animals see 51 Life
Sciences; on human beings see 52 Aerospace Medicine. For theory see 73 Nuclear Physics.
20040111067 Lavochkin Association, Moscow, Russia
On-Orbit Experiments and Research on Measuring the Spacecraft Charging
Evgeny, Nikolski; Arcady, Sokolov; 8th Spacecraft Charging Technology Conference; March 2004; 99 pp.; In English; See
also 20040111031; No Copyright; Avail: CASI; A05, Hardcopy
Lavochkin Association is one of the leading enterprises in Russia for about forty years, having specialized in the field of
design and manufacturing of tools for orbital injection of payloads and automatic vehicles to further study the solar-earth
relationships, the Moon, small heavenly bodies and planets of the solar system. A long-term experience of the Association in
the field of space engineering also includes the development of anti-charging protection tools for s/c. This protection is
achieved by means of bonding and screening. Originally, two flight experiments on measuring the surface of the s/c charging
have been initiated in 2002 and thereafter continued. The purpose of these experiments is as follows: Receiving the data on
relationship between s/c charging and operational capability of its systems; Obtaining the experimental data about specific
parameters of the charging; Study of the regularities of the charging process.
Author
Spacecraft Charging; Spaceborne Experiments; Protection; Payloads; Celestial Bodies
20040111069 QinetiQ Ltd., Farnborough, UK
The Flumic Electron Environment Model
Rodgers, D. J.; Hunter, K. A.; Wrenn, G. L.; 8th Spacecraft Charging Technology Conference; March 2004; 13 pp.; In
English; See also 20040111031
Contract(s)/Grant(s): ESA-16265/02/NL/FM; No Copyright; Avail: CASI; A03, Hardcopy
Assessments of the vulnerability of spacecraft materials to internal charging need a good electron environment model.
Since the threat from electrostatic discharges is related to the occurrence of flux enhancements, the standard mean flux models
are not appropriate. The requirement is for a model of enhanced flux conditions. These tend to occur mainly during the
declining phase of the solar cycle. FLUMIC (Flux Model for Internal Charging) was written to address this requirement. The
model was originally developed as a simple engineering tool. Although simplicity of use is still the philosophy behind
FLUMIC, it has undergone improvements to its accuracy and scope, mainly through the inclusion of better data sets and more
sophisticated empirical modelling techniques. The latest version, FLUMIC3, has been developed in a new ESA study and
relies heavily on data from the GOES/SEM and STRV-1b/REM instruments. Although the outer belt, including geostationary
orbit, is the region most at risk from internal charging effects, charging currents in the inner belt are not insignificant behind
thin shields. The model now extends to the inner belt so that the current contributions from both inner and outer belts can be
considered for satellites in eccentric orbits. FLUMIC can be used as a tool in its own right but is also incorporated in the
DICTAT internal charging tool. FLUMIC3 will be included in a new version of DICTAT to be released shortly.
Author
Augmentation; Electrostatics; Environment Models; Risk; Spacecraft Charging
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