Orbit Propagation and Lifetime Analysis of NARSSCUBE-2 Using High Precision Numerical Approach

Abstract

Due to their short mission lifetime, Cube satellites launched in the last decades have increased the number of objects in Low Earth Orbits and the number of space debris. As a result, it is important to obtain accurate measurements of CubeSats trajectories in order to determine their decay and orbital lifetime and to avoid collisions with debris. In this paper, a special perturbation technique has been used as an orbit propagator in order to model orbital motion and predict the behavior of Cube satellites subjected to perturbations. This technique is a high-precision numerical approach via Cowell's formulation with adaptive step size Runge-Kutta-Fehlberg (RKF78) for numerical integration. The technique used is named SPC (Special Perturbation using Cowell's method). Orbit propagation and orbital decay evolution of NARSSCUBE-2 have been analyzed using appropriate orbital parameters derived from historic NORAD Two Line Element sets. The results from the SPC technique have been compared with the SGP4 analytical orbit propagator and then verified with the HPOP numerical orbit propagator from FreeFlyer® astrodynamics software. The accuracy of each propagator has been verified with the observation data. The SPC orbit propagator gives a higher accuracy of orbit prediction compared to SGP4 and closely matches with HPOP.