Precise Autonomous Orbit Maintenance of a Low Earth Orbit Satellite
Publication: Journal of Aerospace Engineering
Volume 31, Issue 4
Abstract
In this paper, the problem of precise autonomous orbit maintenance of a satellite using output feedback and quadratic optimal regulators in a low Earth orbit is investigated. Autonomous on-board orbit maintenance refers to automatic control of different operational parameters within their control windows. In this paper, the problem of autonomous absolute orbit control is converted to a relative orbit control problem in which reference orbit includes the orbital elements of a virtual satellite, which is influenced only by the Earth’s gravity field. The paper focuses on increasing the accuracy of orbit control during the satellite mission lifetime. This is accomplished by considering satellite mass reduction due to fuel consumption in the dynamic model. Also, a precise passive control of the eccentricity vector is presented by choosing an appropriate in-orbit location of the along-track maneuvers. Analysis of both the in-plane and out-of-plane relative motion of satellite with respect to reference orbit is presented. Numerical simulations are performed to show validation of the proposed control methods and techniques.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
References
Alfriend, K. T., Vadali, S. R., Gurfil, P., How, J. P., and Breger, L. S. (2010). Spacecraft formation flying: Dynamics, control and navigation, 1st Ed., Elsevier, Oxford, U.K.
Arbinger, C., D’Amico, S., and Eineder, M. (2004). “Precise ground-in-the-loop orbit control for low earth observation satellites.” Proc., 18th Int. Symp. on Space Flight Dynamics, Munich, Germany, 11–15.
Brouwer, D. (1959). “Solution of the problem of artificial satellite theory without drag.” Astron. J., 64(1274), 378–397.
Butcher, J. C. (2008). Numerical methods for ordinary differential equations, 2nd Ed., Wiley, Cambridge, U.K.
D’Amico, S., Arbinger, C., Kirschner, M., and Campagnola, S. (2004). “Generation of an optimum target trajectory for the TerraSAR-X repeat observation satellite.” Proc., 18th Int. Symp. on Space Flight Dynamics, Munich, Germany.
D’Amico, S., Ardaens, J. S., and Larsson, R. (2012). “Spaceborne autonomous formation flying experiment on the Prisma mission.” J. Guid. Control Dyn., 35(3), 834–850.
De Florio, S., and D’Amico, S. (2008). “The precise autonomous orbit keeping experiment on the Prisma mission.” J. Astronaut. Sci., 56(4), 477–494.
De Florio, S., D’Amico, S., and Radice, G. (2013). “Flight results of the precise autonomous orbit keeping experiment on the Prisma mission.” J. Spacecr. Rockets, 50(3), 662–674.
De Florio, S., D’Amico, S., and Radice, G. (2014). “The virtual formation method for precise autonomous absolute orbit control.” J. Guid. Control Dyn., 37(2), 425–438.
Docherty, S. Y., and Macdonald, M. (2012). “Analytical sun-synchronous low-thrust orbit maneuvers.” J. Guid. Control Dyn., 35(2), 681–686.
Duchevet, F., and Lamy, A. (2008). “Demeter: Experience feedback on operations with an autonomous orbit control demonstrator.” Proc., SpaceOps Conf., American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Reston, VA.
Friedland, B. (1986). Control system design: An introduction to state space methods, McGraw-Hill, New York.
Garulli, A., Giannitrapani, A., Leomanni, M., and Scortecci, F. (2011). “Autonomous low-Earth-orbit station-keeping with electric propulsion.” J. Guid. Control Dyn., 34(6), 1683–1693.
Gurfil, P., and Kholshevnikov, K. V. (2006). “Manifolds and metrics in the relative spacecraft motion problem.” J. Guid. Control Dyn., 29(4), 1004–1010.
Hintz, G. R. (2008). “Survey of orbit element sets.” J. Guid. Control Dyn., 31(3), 785–790.
Hui, L., Junfeng, L., and Baoyin, H. (2006). “Sliding mode control for low-thrust Earth-orbiting spacecraft formation maneuvering.” Aerosp. Sci. Technol., 10(77), 636–643.
Kirk, D. E. (1970). Optimal control theory: An introduction, Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ.
Knežević, Z., and Milani, A., (1998). “Orbit maintenance of a lunar polar orbiter.” Planet Space Sci., 46(11–12), 1605–1611.
Königsmann, H. J., Collins, J. T., Dawson, S., and Wertz, J. R. (1996). “Autonomous orbit maintenance system.” Acta Astronaut., 39(9–12), 977–985.
Lamy, A., Charmeau, M. C., Laurichesse, D., Grondin, M., and Bertrand, R. (2004). “Experiment of autonomous orbit control on the Demeter satellite.” Proc., 18th Int. Symp. on Space Flight Dynamics, Munich, Germany, 327–333.
Lee, S. H. (2015). “Analytic approach to determine optimal conditions for maximizing altitude of sounding rocket.” Aerosp. Sci. Technol., 40, 47–55.
Liu, J. (1974). “Satellite motion about an oblate Earth.” AIAA J., 12(11), 1511–1516.
Micheau, P. (1995). “Orbit control techniques for LEO satellites.” Spaceflight dynamics, Vol. 1, Cepadues-Editions, Toulouse, France, 739–902.
Montenbruck, O., and Gill, E. (2000). Satellite orbits: Model, methods and applications, Springer, Heidelberg, Germany, 5.
Montenbruck, O., Kirschner, M., D’Amico, S., and Bettadpur, S. (2006). “E/I-vector separation for safe switching of the GRACE formation.” Aerosp. Sci. Technol., 10(7), 628–635.
Nadoushan, M. J., and Assadian, N. (2015). “Repeat ground track orbit design with desired revisit time and optimal tilt.” Aerosp. Sci. Technol., 40, 200–208.
Plam, Y., Allen, R. V., Wertz, J. R., and Bauer, T. (2008). “Autonomous orbit control experience on TacSat-2 using microcosm’s orbit control kit (OCK).” Proc., 31st Annual AAS Guidance and Control Conf., Breckenridge, CO.
Qingsong, M., Pengji, W., and Di, Y. (2004). “Low-thrust fuzzy formation keeping for multiple spacecraft flying.” Acta Astronaut., 55(11), 895–901.
Ren, W., and Beard, R. (2004). “Decentralized scheme for spacecraft formation flying via the virtual structure approach.” J. Guid. Control Dyn., 27(1), 73–82.
Schaub, H. (2004). “Relative orbit geometry through classical orbit element differences.” J. Guid. Control Dyn., 27(5), 839–848.
Schaub, H., and Junkins, J. L. (2003). Analytical mechanics of space systems, American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Reston, VA, 649–651.
Sidi, M. J. (1997). Spacecraft dynamics and control, a practical engineering approach, 1st Ed., Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, U.K., 379–388.
Tavakoli, M. M., and Assadian, N. (2014). “Model predictive orbit control of a low Earth orbit satellite using Gauss’s variational equations.” Proc. Inst. Mech. Eng. Part G: J. Aerosp. Eng., 228(13), 2385–2398.
Vallado, D. A. (1997). Fundamentals of astrodynamics and applications, McGraw-Hill, New York.
Wertz, J. R., and Gurevich, G. (2001). “Applications of autonomous on-board orbit control.” Proc., 11th AAS/AIAA Space Flight Mechanics Meeting, Santa Barbara, CA.
Yang, C. F., Peng, H. J., Tan, S. J., and Li, Y. P. (2016). “Improved time-varying controller based on parameter optimization for libration-point orbit maintenance.” J. Aerosp. Eng., 04015010.
Zhong, W., and Gurfil, P. (2013). “Mean orbital elements estimation for autonomous satellite guidance and orbit control.” J. Guid. Control Dyn., 36(6), 1624–1641.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Aerospace Engineering
Volume 31 • Issue 4 • July 2018
Copyright
©2018 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: May 24, 2017
Accepted: Sep 5, 2017
Published online: Apr 18, 2018
Published in print: Jul 1, 2018
Discussion open until: Sep 18, 2018
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.