Computational mission analysis and conceptual system design for super low altitude satellite

This paper deals with system engineering and design methodology for super low altitude satel ites in the view of the com-putational mission analysis. Due to the slight advance of imaging instruments, such as the focus of camera and the image element of charge coupled device （CCD）, it is an innovative and economical way to improve the camera’s resolution to enforce the satel ite to fly on the lower altitude orbit. DFH-3, the mature satel ite bus de-veloped by Chinese Academy of Space Technology, is employed to define the mass and power budgets for the computational mis-sion analysis and the detailed engineering design for super low altitude satel ites. An effective iterative algorithm is proposed to solve the ergodic representation of feasible mass and power bud-gets at the flight altitude under constraints. Besides, boundaries of mass or power exist for every altitude, where the upper boundary is derived from the maximum power, while the minimum thrust force holds the lower boundary before the power reaching the initial value. What’s more, an analytical algorithm is employed to numerical y investigate the coverage percentage over the altitude, so that the nominal altitude could be selected from al the feasi-ble altitudes based on both the mass and power budgets and the repetitive ground traces. The local time at the descending node is chosen for the nominal sun-synchronous orbit based on the average evaluation function. After determining the key orbital ele-ments based on the computational mission analysis, the detailed engineering design on the configuration and other subsystems, like power, telemetry telecontrol and communication （TT＆amp;C）, and attitude determination and control system （ADCS）, is performed based on the benchmark bus, besides, some improvements to the bus are also implemented to accommodate the flight at a super low altitude. Two operation strategies, drag-free closed-loop mode and on/off open-loop mode, are presented to maintain the satel-lite’s altitude. Final y, a flight planning schedule for the satel ite is demonstrated from its launch into the initial altitude at the very beginning to its decay to death in the end.

Method of SLAS’s ground track manipulation based on tangential impulse thrust

Satellites with altitudes below 400 km are called super low altitude satellites(SLAS),often used to achieve responsive imaging tasks.Therefore,it is important for the manipulation of its ground track.Aiming at the problem of ground track manipulation of SLAS,a control method based on tangential impulse thrust is proposed.First,the equation of the longitude difference between SLAS and the target point on the target latitude is derived based on Gauss’s variational equations.On this basis,the influence of the tangential impulse thrust on the ground track’s longitude is derived.Finally,the method for ground track manipulation of SLAS under the tangential impulse thrust is proposed.The simulation results verify the effective-ness of the method,after manipulation,the satellite can visit the target point and revisit it for multiple days.