Low-Thrust Station-Keeping Strategy toward Exploiting the Resonances in the Geostationary Region
Publication: Journal of Aerospace Engineering
Volume 37, Issue 2
Abstract
Low-thrust propulsion systems are widely used in space missions due to their high specific impulse and reduced propellant consumption. However, current research focuses on eliminating drifts in low-thrust maneuvers, resulting in high operational costs for daily station-keeping. This study aims to achieve autonomous station-keeping by exploiting long-term periodic behaviors caused by geostationary resonances. First, resonance maps caused by the Earth’s gravity and lunisolar perturbation are revisited. Then, station-keeping slots are selected based on a phase space study of the resonances. A closed station-keeping track is formed by designing a low-thrust arc to work with the drifting arc. This track moves along the edge of the station-keeping slot, providing a more extended control period and reducing ground-station operational costs. Finally, an indirect optimizing method and efficient initial costate guess technique are proposed for calculating low-thrust maneuvers.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
Data Availability Statement
Some or all data, models, or code that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
Acknowledgments
This work has received funding from National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 12202025 and 11825201), China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (Nos. 2022M710295 and 2021TQ0024), the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities, European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme (Grant Agreement No. 679086–COMPASS), and the National Defense Pre-Research Foundation of China (No. D030309). Part of the work was included in an oral speech in the 8th European Conference for Aeronautics and Aerospace Sciences (EUCASS) (Li et al. 2019a). Thanks for the comments and suggestions from the chairman and the audience.
References
Adrian, B., H. Urrutxua, and L. Cadarso. 2022. “Relative-inclination strategy for -perturbed low-thrust transfers between circular orbits.” J. Guid. Control Dyn. 45 (10): 1973–1979. https://doi.org/10.2514/1.G006755.
Ayyanathan, P. J., and E. Taheri. 2022. “Mapped adjoint control transformation method for low-thrust trajectory design.” Acta Astronaut. 193 (Apr): 418–431. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actaastro.2021.12.019.
Cao, Y., L. Chen, X. Shao, and D. Zhang. 2022. “Multiobjective optimization design of TomoSAR satellite orbit based on multireference transfer orbit.” J. Aerosp. Eng. 35 (5): 04022078. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)AS.1943-5525.0001476.
Caverly, R. J., S. Di Cairano, and A. Weiss. 2020. “Electric satellite station keeping, attitude control, and momentum management by MPC.” IEEE Trans. Control Syst. Technol. 29 (4): 1475–1489. https://doi.org/10.1109/TCST.2020.3014601.
Colombo, C. 2019. “Long-term evolution of highly-elliptical orbits: Luni-solar perturbation effects for stability and re-entry.” Front. Astron. Space Sci. 6 (Jul): 34. https://doi.org/10.3389/fspas.2019.00034.
Gazzino, C., D. Arzelier, L. Cerri, D. Losa, C. Louembet, and C. Pittet. 2017. “Solving the minimum-fuel low-thrust geostationary station-keeping problem via the switching systems theory.” In Proc., 7th European Conf. for Aeronautics and Space Sciences. Paris: European Space Agency.
Gazzino, C., D. Arzelier, D. Losa, C. Louembet, C. Pittet, and L. Cerri. 2016. “Optimal control for minimum-fuel geostationary station keeping of satellites equipped with electric propulsion.” IFAC-PapersOnLine 49 (17): 379–384. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ifacol.2016.09.065.
Gazzino, C., D. Arzelier, C. Louembet, L. Cerri, C. Pittet, and D. Losa. 2019. “Long-term electric-propulsion geostationary station-keeping via integer programming.” J. Guid. Control Dyn. 42 (5): 976–991. https://doi.org/10.2514/1.G003644.
Gkolias, I., and C. Colombo. 2019. “Towards a sustainable exploitation of the geosynchronous orbital region.” Celestial Mech. Dyn. Astron. 131 (4): 1–30. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10569-019-9895-3.
Huang, X., B. Yang, S. Li, and Z. Wang. 2021. “Efficient high-accuracy north-south station-keeping strategy for geostationary satellites.” Sci. China Technol. Sci. 64 (11): 2415–2426. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11431-021-1907-x.
Kaula, W. M. 2013. Theory of satellite geodesy: Applications of satellites to geodesy, 86–90. Chelmsford, MA: Courier Corporation.
Kluever, C. A. 2022. “Low-thrust guidance for geocentric transfers using single-rotation-axis steering.” J. Guid. Control Dyn. 45 (10): 1927–1933. https://doi.org/10.2514/1.G006759.
Lee, B. S. 2012. “Geo satellite collision avoidance maneuver strategy against inclined GSO satellite.” In Proc., SpaceOps 2012. New York: American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics.
Li, L., I. Gkolias, C. Colombo, and J. Zhang. 2019a. “Design of low-thrust control in the geostationary region for station keeping.” In Proc., 8th European Conf. for Aeronautics and Space Sciences. New York: American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics.
Li, L., J. Zhang, Y. Li, and S. Zhao. 2019b. “Geostationary station-keeping with electric propulsion in full and failure modes.” Acta Astronaut. 163 (Oct): 130–144. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actaastro.2019.03.021.
Li, L., J. Zhang, S. Zhao, R. Qi, and Y. Li. 2019c. “Autonomous onboard estimation of mean orbital elements for geostationary electric-propulsion satellites.” Aerosp. Sci. Technol. 94 (Nov): 105369. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ast.2019.105369.
Nie, T., and P. Gurfil. 2021. “Resonant Control of Satellite Orbits.” J. Guid. Control Dyn. 44 (12): 2126–2142. https://doi.org/10.2514/1.G006040.
Pontani, M., and F. Celani. 2021. “Neighboring optimal guidance and attitude control of low-thrust earth orbit transfers.” J. Aerosp. Eng. 33 (6): 04020070. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)AS.1943-5525.0001190.
Sushil, Y., M. Kumar, and V. Kumar. 2021. “Resonant curve of geo-synchronous satellite including effect of Earth’s equatorial ellipticity and resistive force using perturbations technique.” New Astron. 86 (Jul): 101573. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.newast.2021.101573.
Taheri, E., N. I. Li, and I. Kolmanovsky. 2017. “Co-state initialization for the minimum-time low-thrust trajectory optimization.” Adv. Space Res. 59 (9): 2360–2373. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.asr.2017.02.010.
Weiss, A., U. V. Kalabic, and S. Di Cairano. 2018. “Station keeping and momentum management of low-thrust satellites using MPC.” Aerosp. Sci. Technol. 76 (May): 229–241. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ast.2018.02.014.
Zhang, J., A. Shen, and L. Li. 2023a. “Minimum-fuel geostationary east-west station-keeping using a three-phase deep neural network.” Acta Astronaut. 204 (Mar): 500–509. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actaastro.2022.08.038.
Zhang, J., Q. Xiao, and L. Li. 2023b. “Solution space exploration of low-thrust minimum-time trajectory optimization by combining two homotopies.” Automatica 148 (Feb): 110798. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.automatica.2022.110798.
Zhang, J., S. Zhao, Z. Zhou, and X. Li. 2016. “Optimal station keeping for XIPS thrusters in failure mode under eclipse constraints.” J. Aerosp. Eng. 29 (6): 04016041. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)AS.1943-5525.0000638.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Aerospace Engineering
Volume 37 • Issue 2 • March 2024
Copyright
© 2023 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Jun 29, 2023
Accepted: Sep 29, 2023
Published online: Dec 26, 2023
Published in print: Mar 1, 2024
Discussion open until: May 26, 2024
ASCE Technical Topics:
- Aerospace engineering
- Benefit cost ratios
- Business management
- Continuum mechanics
- Dynamics (solid mechanics)
- Engineering fundamentals
- Engineering mechanics
- Financial management
- Geomatics
- Mapping
- Models (by type)
- Motion (dynamics)
- Optimization models
- Oscillations
- Practice and Profession
- Resonance
- Solid mechanics
- Space exploration
- Space stations
- Surveying methods
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.