Method for On-Orbit Thrust Estimation for Microthrusters Based on Nanosatellites
Publication: Journal of Aerospace Engineering
Volume 35, Issue 2
Abstract
The development of nanosatellites is inseparable from micropropulsion systems, and a micropropulsion system cannot be separated from the evaluation of its micropropulsion performance. Although the ground measurement system is relatively mature, it is difficult to simulate accurately the space environment due to the complexity of the space environment. Therefore, it is necessary to estimate the on-orbit microthrusters. This paper presents an on-orbit thrust estimation system for microthrusters based on a closed-loop attitude control system. The magnetorquers and the microthruster are used as attitude actuators, and the torque generated by the microthruster is used to compensate for the environmental disturbance torque and the known disturbance torque generated by the magnetorquers. In addition, the cubature Kalman filter algorithm based on a gyro-free star sensor was used to estimate the satellite attitude information with high precision. In the on-orbit simulation experiment for microthrusters on the order of tens of micronewtons to tens of millinewtons, the error of 100 μN was 5.67%, and the error of 10 mN was reduced to 2.54%. This method solves the problem of the low accuracy of the traditional on-orbit thrust estimation method when estimating the thrust of a microthruster on the order of 100 μN, and it enables a nanosatellite equipped with the microthruster to complete various space application tasks better.
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Data Availability Statement
The on-orbit experimental data involved in the research process of this paper were obtained from simulation software developed independently by our laboratory. Some or all data, models, or code that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author or the first author upon reasonable request.
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Published In
Journal of Aerospace Engineering
Volume 35 • Issue 2 • March 2022
Copyright
© 2021 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: May 17, 2021
Accepted: Sep 3, 2021
Published online: Nov 27, 2021
Published in print: Mar 1, 2022
Discussion open until: Apr 27, 2022
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