区域观测卫星激光反射器有效反射面积的设计

卫星激光反射器阵列结构决定有效反射面积分布,进而影响激光回波强度。在某些小型卫星应用中,地面台站只需对卫星局部天区过境观测,但激光反射器需数十平方厘米的有效反射面积,且对质量和尺寸有限制,需合理设计激光反射器阵列排布指向以满足大的有效反射面积应用需求。推导了不同指向角反射器有效反射面积计算模型,并以某一局部天区观测的低轨卫星激光反射器为例,给出了有效反射面积的仿真结果,并进行了实验室测试。结果表明,局部天区观测卫星激光反射器的有效反射面积设计与测试结果相符,为区域观测卫星激光反射器应用奠定了基础。

Design of effective reflection area of laser retro-reflectors for satellite regional observation

The structure of laser retro-reflector array dominates the distribution of the effective reflection area and influences the intensity of echo signals. However, for the special purpose of compact experimental satellites the observational activities are only performed in the certain sky region by the ground station. But the laser retro-reflector needs tens of square centimeters of the effective reflection area, and the weight and size are limited. For that the reasonable design of the normal pointing of the cube corners within the retro-reflectors array should be implemented in order to achieve the requirements of large reflection area. The calculation model of the effective reflection area for laser retro-reflector with different normal pointing cube corner was derived and taking laser retro-reflector array designed for one of the regional observational satellites as an example, the simulated calculation and the laboratory test of the effective reflection were given. The results show that the simulations of the effective reflection area of laser retro-reflector for satellite regional observation accord with the testing results. The practicability of the design of laser retro-reflectors for satellite regional observation lays the foundation of its further applications in the future.