Abstract
This paper presents the simulation results of an aeroassisted maneuver around the Earth, between coplanar circular orbits, from a geostationary orbit to a low orbit. The simulator developed considers a reference trajectory and a trajectory perturbed by external disturbances combined with non-idealities of sensors and actuators. It is able to operate in closed loop, controlling the trajectory (drag-free control) at each instant of time using a Proportional-Integral-Derivative (PID) controller and propulsive jets. We adopted a spacecraft with a cubic body composed of two rectangular plates arranged perpendicular to the velocity vector of the vehicle. Propulsive jets are applied at the apogee of the transfer orbit in order to keep the perigee altitude and control the rate of heat transfer suffered by the vehicle during atmospheric passage. A PID controller is used to correct the deviation in the state vector and in the keplerian elements. The U.S. Standard Atmosphere is adopted as the atmospheric model. The results have shown that the aeroassisted transfer presents a smaller fuel consumption when compared to a Hohmann transfer or a bi-elliptic transfer.
Highlights
An orbital maneuver is the transfer of a satellite from one orbit to another by means of a change in velocity
This section aims at presenting the results of an aeroassisted maneuver simulation to transfer the spacecraft from a geostationary orbit (GEO) to a low orbit of 1,000 km of altitude
It can be concluded that the control system met expectations and that it has maintained the residual error in state vector within acceptable limits
Summary
An orbital maneuver is the transfer of a satellite from one orbit to another by means of a change in velocity. In 1961, Howard London presented the approach of using aerodynamic forces to change the trajectory and velocity of a spacecraft, this new technique became known as aeroassisted maneuvers (Walberg, 1985) This type of orbital transfer can be accomplished in several layers of the atmosphere. In order to control the rate of heat transfer suffered by the vehicle during the passage through atmosphere, propulsive jets are applied at the apogee, correcting the decay of perigee. Several missions have used this technology, such as Gravity Probe B (GP-B) to test the relativistic effects on a gyroscope; STEP and MICROSCOPE had the objective of testing the weak principle of equivalence; Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) for the detection of gravitational waves; and Gravity Field and Steady State Ocean Circulation Explorer (GOCE), launched in March 2009, to determine the gravity-field anomalies with high accuracy; among others
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