Shift control method for the local time at descendi ngnode based on sun-synchronous orbit satellite

This article analyzes the shift factors of the descending node local time for sun-synchronous satellites and proposes a shift control method to keep the local time shift within an allowance range. It is found that the satellite orbit design and the orbit injection deviation are the causes for the initial shift velocity, whereas the atmospheric drag and the sun gravitational perturbation produce the shift acceleration. To deal with these shift factors, a shift control method is put forward, through such methods as orbit variation design, orbit altitude, and inclination keeping control. The simulation experiment and practical application have proved the effectiveness of this control method.

The First Verification Test of Space-Ground Collaborative Intelligence via Cloud-Native Satellites

Recent advancements in satellite technologies and the declining cost of access to space have led to the emergence of large satellite constellations in Low Earth Orbit(LEO).However,these constellations often rely on bent-pipe architecture,resulting in high communication costs.Existing onboard inference architectures suffer from limitations in terms of low accuracy and inflexibility in the deployment and management of in-orbit applications.To address these challenges,we propose a cloud-native-based satellite design specifically tailored for Earth Observation tasks,enabling diverse computing paradigms.In this work,we present a case study of a satellite-ground collaborative inference system deployed in the Tiansuan constellation,demonstrating a remarkable 50%accuracy improvement and a substantial 90%data reduction.Our work sheds light on in-orbit energy,where in-orbit computing accounts for 17%of the total onboard energy consumption.Our approach represents a significant advancement of cloud-native satellite,aiming to enhance the accuracy of in-orbit computing while simultaneously reducing communication cost.

Simulation for MSS-2 low-perigee elliptical orbit satellites:an example of lithospheric magnetic field modelling

A future constellation of at least four geomagnetic satellites(designated Macao Scientific Satellite-1(MSS-1)and Macao Scientific Satellite-2(MSS-2))was recently proposed,to continue high-quality geomagnetic observations in the post-Swarm period,focusing especially on collecting data that will provide a global,three-dimensional survey of the geomagnetic field.In this paper,we present a simulation of two years of orbits(2020.01.01-2022.01.01)of two satellites(tentatively denoted as MSS-2)that are constellated in elliptical(200×5,300 km)low-perigee orbits.By comparing error variances of Gauss coefficients,we investigate the sensitivity of lithospheric magnetic field modelling to data collected from various satellite orbits,including a near circular reference orbit of 300×350km,and elliptical orbit of 180×5,300 km,220×5,300 km,200×3,000 km and 200×1,500 km.We find that in two years the two MSS-2 satellites can collect 35,000 observations at altitude below 250 km,data that will be useful in advancing the quality of lithospheric magnetic field modelling;this number of observations reflects the fact that only 4.5%of the flight time of these satellites will be below250 km(just 6.4%of their flight time below 300 km).By combining observations from the MSS-2 satellites’elliptical orbits of 200×5,300km with observations from a circular reference orbit,the variance of the geomagnetic model can be reduced by a factor of 285 at spherical harmonic degree n=200 and by a factor of 1,300 at n=250.The planned lower perigee of their orbits allows the new satellites to collect data at unprecedentedly lower altitudes,thus dramatically improving the spatial resolution of satellite-derived lithospheric field models,(up to 80%at n=150).In addition,lowering the apogee increases the time interval during which the satellites fly at near-Earth altitudes,thus improving the model predictions at all spherical harmonic degrees(around 52%-62%at n=150).The upper limit of the expected improvement to the field model at the orbital apogee is not as good as at the perigee.However,data from the MSS-1 orbit can help fill the gap between data from the MSS-2 orbits and from the circular reference orbit for the low-degree part of the model.The feasibility of even lower-altitude flight requires further discussion with satellite engineers.

A Positioning Method and Realization on Single Satellites in Different Orbits Using TDOA

The main geolocation technology currently used in COSPAS-SARSAT system is TDOA/FDOA or three-star TDOA,the principle is to determine the location of the signal source by using the difference in arrival time and frequency of the wireless signal between different receivers.Therefore,ground monitoring stations need to be equipped with more than two antenna receiving stations,and multiple satellites should be able to simultaneously relay the distress signal from the target source in order to achieve the geolocation function.However,when the ground receiving system has only one antenna receiving station,or the target source is in a heavily obscured environment,the ground side is unable to receive the forwarded signals from multiple satellites at the same time,which will make it impossible to locate.To address these problems,in this paper,a time-sharing single satellite geolocations method based on different orbits is proposed for the first time.This method uses one or several low-earth orbit satellites(LEO)and mediumearth orbit satellites(MEO)in the visible area,and the receiving station only needs one pair of receiving antennas to complete the positioning.It can effectively compensate for the shortcomings of the traditional TDOA using the same moment and have better positioning accuracy compared with the single satellite in the same orbit.Due to the limited experimental conditions,this paper tests the navigation satellite using different orbit time-sharing single satellite geolocations,and proves that the positioning method has high positioning accuracy and has certain promotion and application value.

Spacecraft potential variations of the Swarm satellites at low Earth orbital altitudes

In this study, we provide the first detailed analysis of variations in the spacecraft potential (Vs) of the three Swarm satellites, which are flying at about 400-500 km. Unlike previous studies that have investigated extreme charging events, usually with spacecraft potentials as negative as −100 V, this study is focused on variations of Swarm Vs readings, which fall within a few negative volts. The Swarm observations show that spacecraft at low Earth orbital (LEO) altitudes are charged only slightly negatively, varying between −7 V and 0 V, with the majority of recorded potentials at these altitudes clustering close to −2 V. However, a second peak of Vs data is found at −5.5 V, though the event numbers for these more-negative observations are less, by an order of magnitude, than for incidents near the −2 V peak. These two distinct Vs peaks suggest two different causes. We have thus divided the Swarm spacecraft Vs data into two categories: less-negatively charged (−5 < Vs < 0 V) and more-negatively-charged (−6.5 < Vs < −5 V). These two Vs categories exhibit different spatial and temporal distributions. The Vs observations in the first category remain relatively closer to 0 V above the magnetic equator, but become much more negative at low and middle latitudes on the day side;at high latitudes, these first-category Vs readings are relatively more-negative during local summer. Second-category Vs events cluster into two bands at the middle latitudes (between ±20°-50° magnetic latitude), but with slightly more negative readings at the South Atlantic Anomaly (SAA) region;at high latitudes, these rarer but more-negative second-category Vs events exhibit relatively more-negative values during local winter, which is opposite to the seasonal pattern seen in the first category. By comparing Vs data to the distributions of background plasma density at Swarm altitudes, we find for the first category that more-negative Vs readings are recorded at regions with higher background plasma density, while for the second category the more-negative Vs data are observed at regions with lower background plasma density. This can be explained as follows: the electron and ion fluxes incident on Swarm surface, whose differences determine the potential of Swarm, are dominated by the background “cold” plasma (due to ionization) and “hot” plasma (due to precipitated particles from magnetosphere) for the two Vs categories, respectively.

Design and analysis of the Macao Science Satellite-1's laser retro-reflector array

The origin and spatial-temporal variation of the Earth’s magnetic field(EMF)is one of the important scientific problems that has long been unsolved.The Macao Science Satellite-1(MSS-1)under construction is China’s first high-precision EMF measurement satellite.To satisfy the highly precise requirements of the MSS-1 orbit measurement,a light,high-precision,four-prism laser retroreflector array was designed.It weighs approximately 285 g,its effective reflection area is greater than 1.77 cm^(2),and its size is 100×100×41 mm.The laser retro-reflector array has excellent performance,and it can achieve a ranging precision at the subcentimeter level for satellite laser ranging.It will be developed and installed on the MSS-1 as a power-free load for high-precision orbit measurement and accurate orbit calibration.The MSS-1 is planned to be brought into the International Laser Ranging Service observations.More than 31satellite laser ranging stations in the International Laser Ranging Service around the world will be able to measure the MSS-1 with long arcs,which will support the scientific mission of high-precision EMF exploration.

Study on relative orbital configuration in satellite formation flying

In this paper, the relative orbital configurations of satellites in formation flying with non-perturbation and J2 perturbation are studied, and an orbital elements method is proposed to obtain the relative orbital configurations of satellites in formation. Firstly, under the condition of non-perturbation, we obtain many shapes of relative orbital configurations when the semi-major axes of satellites are equal. These shapes can be lines, ellipses or distorted closed curves. Secondly, on the basis of the analysis of J2 effect on relative orbital configurations, we find out that J2 effect can induce two kinds of changes of relative orbital configurations. They are distortion and drifting, respectively. In addition, when J2 perturbation is concerned, we also find that the semi-major axes of the leading and following satellites should not be the same exactly in order to decrease the J2 effect. The relationship of relative orbital elements and J2 effect is obtained through simulations. Finally, the minimum relation perturbation conditions are established in order to reduce the influence of the J2 effect. The results show that the minimum relation perturbation conditions can reduce the J2 effect significantly when the orbital element differences are small enough, and they can become rules for the design of satellite formation flying.

FY-3E:The First Operational Meteorological Satellite Mission in an Early Morning Orbit

Fengyun-3 E(FY-3E),the world’s first early-morning-orbit meteorological satellite for civil use,was launched successfully at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center on 5 July 2021.The FY-3E satellite will fill the vacancy of the global early-morning-orbit satellite observation,working together with the FY-3C and FY-3D satellites to achieve the data coverage of early morning,morning,and afternoon orbits.The combination of these three satellites will provide global data coverage for numerical weather prediction(NWP)at 6-hour intervals,effectively improving the accuracy and time efficiency of global NWP,which is of great significance to perfect the global earth observing system.In this article,the background and meteorological requirements for the early-morning-orbit satellite are reviewed,and the specifications of the FY-3E satellite,as well as the characteristics of the onboard instrumentation for earth observations,are also introduced.In addition,the ground segment and the retrieved geophysical products are also presented.It is believed that the NWP communities will significantly benefit from an optimal temporal distribution of observations provided by the early morning,mid-morning,and afternoon satellite missions.Further benefits are expected in numerous applications such as the monitoring of severe weather/climate events,the development of improved sampling designs of the diurnal cycle for accurate climate data records,more efficient monitoring of air quality by thermal infrared remote sensing,and the quasicontinuous monitoring of the sun for space weather and climate.

Selection of the best initial orbital elements of satellite based on fuzzy integration evaluation method

The fuzzy integration evaluation method （FIEM） is studied in order to select the best orbital elements from the multi-group initial orbits determined by a satellite TT＆C （Tracking, Telemetry and Control） center with all kinds of data sources. By employing FIEM together with the experience of TT＆C experts, the index system to evaluate the selection of the best initial orbits is established after the data sources and orbit determination theories are studied. Besides, the concrete steps in employing the method are presented. Moreover, by taking the objects to be evaluated as evaluation experts, the problem of how to generate evaluation matrices is solved. Through practical application, the method to select the best initial orbital elements has been proved to be flexible and effective The originality of the method is to find a new evaluation criterion （comparing the actually tracked orbits） replacing the traditional one （comparing the nominal orbits） for selecting the best orbital elements.

A New Navigation Force Model for the Earth’s Albedo and Its Effects on the Orbital Motion of an Artificial Satellite

In this paper, we developed a new approach of an analytical model to calculate the radial and transversal components of the acceleration due to the effects of Earth’s albedo. Its effects on the orbital motion of an artificial satellite are introduced. It is assumed that the satellite’s horizon is illuminated and the sun lies on the equator. The magnitudes of those components are obtained and their effects on orbital evolution have been tested for different satellites elements. The perturbations in orbital elements due to Earth’s albedo have been obtained using Lagrange Planetary equation in Gaussian form, in particular the case of LAGEOS satellite, have been found using this new analytical formalism.

Numerical simulation of the sensor output on Macao Science Satellite-1

Macao Science Satellite-1(MSS-1)will be launched at the early of 2023 into a near-circular orbit.The mission is designed to measure the Earth’s geomagnetic field with unpreceded accuracy through a new perspective.The most important component installed on the satellite,to ensure high accuracy,is the deployable boom(Optical Bench).A Vector Field Magnetometer(VFM),an Advanced Stellar Compass(ASC),and a Couple Dark State Magnetometers(CDSM)are deployed on the deployable boom.In order to maximize the mission’s scientific output,a numerical simulator on MSS-1’s deployable boom was required to evaluate the adaptability of all devices on the deployable boom and assist the satellite’s data pre-processing.This paper first briefly describes the synthesis of the Earth’s total magnetic field and then describes the method simulating the output of scalar and vector magnetometers.Finally,the calibration method is applied to the synthetic magnetometer data to analyze the possible noise/error of the relevant instruments.Our results show that the simulator can imitate the disturbance of different noise sources or errors in the measuring system,and is especially useful for the satellite’s data processing group.

Demonstration on the indexes design of gravity satellite orbit parameters in the low-low satellite-to-satellite tracking mode

Combining with the exigent demand of the development of satellite gravimetry system in China, aiming at the determination of technical indexes of gravity satellite orbit parameters, on the basis of the numerical experiments and results analysis, the design indexes of gravity satellite orbit height, inter-satellite range and the orbit inclination are analyzed and calculated, and the issues towards twin gravity satellites such as coherence requirement of the orbit semi-major axes, control requirement of the pitch angle and time interval requirement to keep twin satellites formation in mobility are diseussed. Results show that the satellite orbit height is 400 km to 500 km, the inter-satellite range is about 220 km, the satellite orbit inclination is between polar orbit and sun-synchronous orbit, the semi-major axes difference of twin satellites orbit is within ± 70. 146 m, the pitch angle of twin satellites is about 0.9 degree, and the time interval to keep twin satellites formation in mobility is 7 days to 15 days.

Research on Autonomous Orbit Determination of Navigation Satellite Based on Crosslink Range and Orientation Parameters Constraining

Autonomous navigation of navigation satellite is di scussed. The method of auto-orbit determination using the crosslink range and o rientation parameters constraining is put forward. On the basis of the analysis of its feasibility, some useful conclusions are given.

Practical Optimization of Low-Thrust Minimum-Time Orbital Rendezvous in Sun-Synchronous Orbits

High-specific-impulse electric propulsion technology is promising for future space robotic debris removal in sun-synchronous orbits.Such a prospect involves solving a class of challenging problems of low-thrust orbital rendezvous between an active spacecraft and a free-flying debris.This study focuses on computing optimal low-thrust minimum-time many-revolution trajectories,considering the effects of the Earth oblateness perturbations and null thrust in Earth shadow.Firstly,a set of mean-element orbital dynamic equations of a chaser(spacecraft)and a target(debris)are derived by using the orbital averaging technique,and specifically a slow-changing state of the mean longitude difference is proposed to accommodate to the rendezvous problem.Subsequently,the corresponding optimal control problem is formulated based on the mean elements and their associated costate variables in terms of Pontryagin’s maximum principle,and a practical optimization procedure is adopted to find the specific initial costate variables,wherein the necessary conditions of the optimal solutions are all satisfied.Afterwards,the optimal control profile obtained in mean elements is then mapped into the counterpart that is employed by the osculating orbital dynamics.A simple correction strategy about the initialization of the mean elements,specifically the differential mean true longitude,is suggested,which is capable of minimizing the terminal orbital rendezvous errors for propagating orbital dynamics expressed by both mean and osculating elements.Finally,numerical examples are presented,and specifically,the terminal orbital rendezvous accuracy is verified by solving hundreds of rendezvous problems,demonstrating the effectiveness of the optimization method proposed in this article.

High Precision Orbit Determination of CHAMP Satellite

The precision orbit determination of challenging minisatellite payload(CHAMP) satellite was done based on position and navigation data analyst(PANDA) software which is developed in Wuhan University, using the onboard GPS data of year 2002 from day 126 to 131. The orbit accuracy was assessed by analyzing the difference from GFZ post-processed science orbits (PSO), the GPS carrier and pseudo-range data residuals and the satellite laser ranging (SLR) residuals.

Low Altitude Satellite Constellation for Futuristic Aerial-Ground Communications

This paper discusses the significance and prospects of low altitude small satellite aerial vehicles to ensure smooth aerial-ground communications for next-generation broadband networks.To achieve the generic goals of fifthgeneration and beyondwireless networks,the existing aerial network architecture needs to be revisited.The detailed architecture of low altitude aerial networks and the challenges in resource management have been illustrated in this paper.Moreover,we have studied the coordination between promising communication technologies and low altitude aerial networks to provide robust network coverage.We talk about the techniques that can ensure userfriendly control and monitoring of the low altitude aerial networks to bring forth wireless broadband connectivity to a new dimension.In the end,we highlight the future research directions of aerial-ground communications in terms of access technologies,machine learning,compressed sensing,and quantum communications.

Resource allocation for uplink grant-free access in beam-hopping based LEO satellite systems

The low earth orbit(LEO) satellite system provides a promising solution for the global coverage of Internet of Things(IoT) services.Confronted with the sporadic uplink transmission from massive IoT terminals, this work investigates the grant-free access scheme and resource allocation algorithm for the beam-hopping(BH) based LEO satellite systems.To improve the packet success rate, the time slots are pre-allocated to each cell according to the number of terrestrial terminals and the probability of packet arrival.When the packets arrive, the terrestrial terminals perform contention-free or contention-based grant-free access with packet repetition in the time slots allocated to their cells.The analytical expression of the packet collision probability for the grant-free access scheme is derived to provide reference for the resource allocation.To reduce the computational complexity, a heuristic resource allocation algorithm is proposed to minimize the maximum cell packet collision probability in the system.Simulation results show that the proposed resource allocation scheme achieves lower packet collision probability and higher resource utilization ratio when compared with the uniform resource allocation scheme.

Initial orbit determination of BDS-3 satellites based on new code signals

For the two newly launched satellites(PRN number 27 and 28) of the future global BeiDou navigation satellite system(BDS-3), there is no available broadcast ephemeris data and other initial orbit information, but the initial orbit is the fundamental of the comprehensive analysis of the satellites and their signals. Precise orbit determination(POD) also requires determination of a priori initial value with a certain precision in order to avoid problems such as filter divergence during POD. Compared with the Newton iteration method, which relies on the initial value, this study utilizes the Bancroft algorithm to directly solve the nonlinear equations with the advantage of numerical stability. The initial orbits of these two satellites are calculated based on new code signals, and their results are analyzed and discussed. The experimental results show that, with the exception of very few epochs, when the new code signal is utilized, the median and robust variance factor of the observed residuals computed using pseudo-range observations and the solved initial orbits are less than 4 and 2 m, respectively. It also shows that this solution can be used for rapid initial orbit recovery after maneuvers of the new BeiDou satellites.

Beam Position and Beam Hopping Design for LEO Satellite Communications

The numbers of beam positions(BPs)and time slots for beam hopping(BH)dominate the latency of LEO satellite communications.Aiming at minimizing the number of BPs subject to a predefined requirement on the radius of BP,a low-complexity user density-based BP design scheme is proposed,where the original problem is decomposed into two subproblems,with the first one to find the sparsest user and the second one to determine the corresponding best BP.In particular,for the second subproblem,a user selection and smallest BP radius algorithm is proposed,where the nearby users are sequentially selected until the constraint of the given BP radius is no longer satisfied.These two subproblems are iteratively solved until all the users are selected.To further reduce the BP radius,a duplicated user removal algorithm is proposed to decrease the number of the users covered by two or more BPs.Aiming at minimizing the number of time slots subject to the no co-channel interference(CCI)constraint and the traffic demand constraint,a low-complexity CCI-free BH design scheme is proposed,where the BPs having difficulty in satisfying the constraints are considered to be illuminated in priory.Simulation results verify the effectiveness of the proposed schemes.

Solution set on the natural satellite formation orbits under first-order earth's non-spherical perturbation

Using the reference orbital element approach, the precise governing equations for the relative motion of formation flight are formulated. A number of ideal formations with respect to an elliptic orbit can be designed based on the relative motion analysis from the equations. The features of the oscillating reference orbital elements are studied by using the perturbation theory. The changes in the relative orbit under perturbation are divided into three categories, termed scale enlargement, drift and distortion respectively. By properly choosing the initial mean orbital elements for the leader and follower satellites, the deviations from originally regular formation orbit caused by the perturbation can be suppressed. Thereby the natural formation is set up. It behaves either like non-disturbed or need little control to maintain. The presented reference orbital element approach highlights the kinematics properties of the relative motion and is convenient to incorporate the results of perturbation analysis on orbital elements. This method of formation design has advantages over other methods in seeking natural formation and in initializing formation.