Baoquan Li

The Lyman-alpha Imager onboard Solar Polar Orbit Telescope

Solar Polar ORbit Telescope (SPORT) was originally proposed in 2004 by the National Space Science Center, Chinese Academy of Sciences, which is currently being under background engineering study phase in China. SPORT will carry a suite of remote-sensing and in-situ instruments to observe coronal mass ejections (CMEs), solar high-latitude magnetism, and the fast solar wind from a polar orbit around the Sun. The Lyman-alpha Imager (LMI) is one of the key remotesensing instruments onboard SPORT with 45arcmin FOV, 2000mm effective focal length and 1.4arcsec/pixel spatial resolution . The size of LMI is φ150×1000mm, and the weight is less than10kg, including the 7kg telescope tube and 3kg electronic box. There are three 121.6nm filters used in the LMI optical path, so the 98% spectral purity image of 121.6nm can be achieved. The 121.6nm solar Lyman-alpha line is produced in the chromosphere and very sensitive to plasma temperature, plasma velocity and magnetism variation in the chromosphere. Solar Lyman-alpha disk image is an ideal tracker for corona magnetism variation.

Inter-satellites x-ray communication system

An inter-satellite X-ray communication system is presented in this paper. X-ray has a strong penetrating power without almost attenuation for transmission in outer space when the energy of X-ray photons is more than 10KeV and the atmospheric pressure is lower than 10-1 Pa, so it is convincing of x-ray communication in inter-satellite communication and deep space exploration. Additionally, using X-ray photons as information carriers can be used in some communication applications that laser communication and radio frequency (RF) communication are not available, such as ionization blackout area communication. The inter-satellites X-ray communication system, including the grid modulated X-ray source, the high-sensitivity X-ray detector and the transmitting and receiving antenna, is described explicitly. As the X-ray transmitter, a vacuum-sealed miniature modulated X-ray source has been fabricated via the single-step brazing process in a vacuum furnace. Pulse modulation of X-rays, by means of controlling the voltage value of the grid electrode, is realized. Three focusing electrodes, meanwhile, are used to make the electron beam converge and finally 150μm focusing spot diameter is obtained. The X-ray detector based on silicon avalanche photodiodes (APDs) is chosen as the communication receiver on account of its high temporal resolution and non-vacuum operating environment. Furthermore, considering x-ray emission characteristic and communication distance of X-rays, the multilayer nested rotary parabolic optics is picked out as transmitting and receiving antenna. And as a new concept of the space communication, there will be more important scientific significance and application prospects, called “Next-Generation Communications”.

A sCMOS camera and its tests for focal plane metrology and PSF centroiding experiment

In this paper, the feasibility of a sCMOS camera for astrometric exoplanet detection space mission was evaluated and the evaluation methods were also studied. A 2k x 2k single-chip sCMOS camera was installed on the metrology testbed for the space mission. The pixel size of the detector is 11μm, corresponding to 1.86 arcsec on the focal plane. The sCMOS camera runs with a electronic rolling shutter. We tested the performance of the camera in detail, including the gain, linearity, readout noise, dark current, pixel response non-uniformity, etc.. The data acquisition performance for the pseudo-star and the interference fringes are also studied.

A focal plane metrology system and PSF centroiding experiment

In this paper, we present an overview of a detector array equipment metrology testbed and a micro-pixel centroiding experiment currently under development at the National Space Science Center, Chinese Academy of Sciences. We discuss on-going development efforts aimed at calibrating the intra-/inter-pixel quantum efficiency and pixel positions for scientific grade CMOS detector, and review significant progress in achieving higher precision differential centroiding for pseudo star images in large area back-illuminated CMOS detector. Without calibration of pixel positions and intrapixel response, we have demonstrated that the standard deviation of differential centroiding is below 2.0e-3 pixels.

Preliminary results of centroiding experiment for the STEP mission

Search for Terrestrial Exo-Planet (STEP)[1] was originally proposed in 2013 by the National Space Science Center, Chinese Academy of Sciences, which is currently being under background engineering study phase in China. The STEP mission is a space astrometry telescope working at visible light wavelengths. The STEP aims at the nearby terrestrial planets detection through micro-arcsecond-level astrometry. Determination of the separation between star images on a detector with high precision is very important for astrometric exoplanets detection through the observation of star wobbles due to planets. The requirement of centroiding accuracy for STEP is 1e-5 pixel. A centroiding experiment have been carried out on a metrology testbed in open laboratory. In this paper, we present the preliminary results of determining the separations between star images. Without calibration of pixel positions and intra-pixel response, we have demonstrated that the standard deviation of differential centroiding is below 7.4e-3 pixel by the algorithm of linear corrected photon weighted means(LCPWM)[2,3]. For comparison, the photon weighted means(PWM) and Gauss fitting are also used in the data reduction. These results pave the way for the geometrical calibration and the intra-pixel quantum efficiency(QE) calibration of detector array equipment for micro-pixel accuracy centroiding.

A study on a micro-stepping drive system for space pointing platform

Along with the continuous development of the research in the space exploration field, the precision rotation control system is widely utilized in a lot of payloads of the satellites. It is stepping motor cooperating with reduction gear wheel to accomplish the precision rotation in some pointing platforms of the camera used in the satellite. By contrast with that, the approach of this paper could precisely control the rotation angle of the stepping motor without using reduction gear wheel. Therefore, the size and the height of the instrument would be reduced base on simplifying the structural design. Moreover, it reduces the cost to some extent. In this paper, it is adopted that the digital signal processor (DSP) controller and bipolar constant current motor drive circuit UC3717 to make a high performance, high subdivision, miniature control system come true, which is used to drive two-phase hybrid stepping motor. The methods are applied by the driver system that sine cosine micro stepping and constant current chopper drive with a fixed chopper period. The driver system also supplies the functions that involve subdivision selection, clockwise rotation or counter clockwise rotation control, and over current or over voltage or under voltage or overload protection, and so on. The description in this paper also includes the total schematic design, the approach to get current table in different subdivision levels, the current control method in hybrid stepping motor, the way to reduce electro- magnetic interference (EMI) of the hybrid stepping motor. And the total schematic design contains the DSP controller, the communication interface of the driver system, the design of power driving circuit, the interface circuit between the electrical sources, the constant current chopper drive circuit for the two-phase hybrid stepping motor. At last, it is verified by some experimental investigations that the control system not only has miniature size, simplified system design, improved high frequency torque frequency characteristic and low frequency stability, but also has enhanced adaptability and self-protection capability, improved accuracy of position control and reliability of the driver. And the driver system is capable of dividing a full step into 256 micro steps. because it is 1.8°that the angle of the full step of the two-phase hybrid stepping motor in the full step mode, therefore, it results in 51,200 steps per revolution (0.007º/step). So it could fulfill the demand of the precision rotation control system used in some payloads of the satellites.

Space solar EUV and x-ray imaging camera

The space solar EUV and X ray imaging camera is the core of the solar EUV and X ray imaging telescope, which is designed to monitor and predict solar activities, such as CMEs, flare and coronal hole. This paper presents a comprehensive description of the camera, from the detector selection to the electronics system design, and gives some experiment results. The camera adopts a back illuminated X ray sensible CCD as detector and the support electronics is based on it. The electronics system should be designed according to the CCD structure. This article gives an illustration of the three modules and a software in electronics system, and offers possible solutions to some common problems in CCD camera designing. There are detailed descriptions about drivers and signal amplifing and processing Module.