Compensation of gravitational attraction disturbance to pure gravity orbit for Inner Formation Flying System

Abstract

The Inner Formation Flying System (IFFS) consisting of an outer satellite and an inner satellite which is a solid sphere proof mass freely flying in the shield cavity can construct a pure gravity orbit to precisely measure the earth gravity field. The gravitational attraction on the inner satellite due to the outer satellite is a significant disturbance source to the pure gravity orbit and is required to be limited to 10−11ms−2 order. However, the gravitational disturbance force was on 10−9ms−2 order actually and must be reduced by dedicated compensation mass blocks. The region of relative motion of the inner satellite about its nominal position is within 1cm in dimension, which raises the complexity of the compensation blocks design. The iterative design strategy of the compensation blocks based on reducing the gravitational attraction at the nominal position of the inner satellite is presented, aiming to guarantee the gravitational force in the relative motion region within requirements after the compensation. The compensation blocks are designed according to the current status of IFFS, and the gravitational disturbance force in the region is reduced to 10−11ms−2 order with minimized adding mass.