15,612 research outputs found

    Orbit determination and control for the European Student Moon Orbiter

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    This paper presents the preliminary navigation and orbit determination analyses for the European Student Moon Orbiter. The severe constraint on the total mission Delta nu and the all-day piggy-back launch requirement imposed by the limited available budget, led to the choice of using a low-energy transfer, more specifically a Weak Stability Boundary one, with a capture into an elliptic orbit around the Moon. A particular navigation strategy was devised to ensure capture and fulfil the requirement for the uncontrolled orbit stability at the Moon. This paper presents a simulation of the orbit determination process, based on an extended Kalman filter, and the navigation strategy applied to the baseline transfer of the 2011-2012 window. The navigation strategy optimally allocates multiple Trajectory Correction Manoeuvres to target a so-called capture corridor. The capture corridor is defined, at each point along the transfer, by back-propagating the set of perturbed states at the Moon that provides an acceptable lifetime of the lunar orbit. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

    Moon Phases, Mood and Stock Market Returns: International Evidence

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    We employ recent data from 59 international emerging and mature stock markets to provide new evidence of a lunar cycle (full and new moon) effect on their stock market returns. Using a TGARCH model, we further examine the linkages between efficient-market theory, calendar-related effects and investors' mood resulted from moon phases. The empirical results show significant full moon effects in 6 markets, and significant new moon effects in 8 markets. In line with the theory, we report significant positive effect of new moon on stock market returns in 5 cases (UK, Switzerland, Bangladesh, Chile and Cyprus), while a negative effect of full moon is reported for the case of Jordan only. In addition, we find that lunar effects are strongly influenced by the calendar anomalies (Monday effect and January effect); several markets -mostly emerging markets- show evidence of full/new moon effects as well as Monday/January effects (Bangladesh, Brazil, Chile, Tunisia, Belgium, Cyprus). Further, we prove that the lunar phases are stronger outside America. These findings are recommended to investors, financial managers and analysts dealing with international stock indices

    On the survivability and detectability of terrestrial meteorites on the moon

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    Materials blasted into space from the surface of early Earth may preserve a unique record of our planet's early surface environment. Armstrong et al. (2002) pointed out that such materials, in the form of terrestrial meteorites, may exist on the Moon and be of considerable astrobiological interest if biomarkers from early Earth are preserved within them. Here, we report results obtained via the AUTODYN hydrocode to calculate the peak pressures within terrestrial meteorites on the lunar surface to assess their likelihood of surviving the impact. Our results confirm the order-of-magnitude estimates of Armstrong et al. (2002) that substantial survivability is to be expected, especially in the case of relatively low velocity (ca. 2.5 km/s) or oblique (≤45°) impacts, or both. We outline possible mechanisms for locating such materials on the Moon and conclude that searching for them would be a scientifically valuable activity for future lunar exploration

    A Novel Micromechanical - Analogical Model for Low Temperature Creep Properties of Asphalt Binder and Mixture

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    The ENTPE transformation is commonly used to predict the low temperature properties of asphalt binders from the corresponding mixtures experimental data and vice-versa. Nevertheless, the transformation parameter, α, associated to the ENTPE equation, cannot be directly obtained without relying on both binder and mixture testing. This paper presents a comprehensive investigation to link the ENTPE transformation to the mixture microstructure. This is accomplished by three-point bending tests on asphalt binders and mixtures, digital image processing and statistical evaluation of mixture microstructure, together with a newly proposed micromechanical-analogical model, called MCF (Moon-Cannone Falchetto), used for deriving an explicit expression of α. The values of α obtained from asphalt binder and mixture laboratory measurement are compared to the values predicted by the new formulation. The results indicate that reasonable predictions of low temperature creep stiffness of asphalt binder can be obtained when the new expression of α is used in the ENTPE transformation.The accepted manuscript in pdf format is listed with the files at the bottom of this page. The presentation of the authors' names and (or) special characters in the title of the manuscript may differ slightly between what is listed on this page and what is listed in the pdf file of the accepted manuscript; that in the pdf file of the accepted manuscript is what was submitted by the author
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