Inducing Atmospheric Reentry of Disposed GPS Satellites via Orbital Eccentricity Growth
- Paper number
IAC-08.A6.4.6
- Author
Mr. Alan B. Jenkin, The Aerospace Corporation, United States
- Coauthor
Dr. R. Anne Gick, The Aerospace Corporation, United States
- Year
2008
- Abstract
The long-term eccentricity growth of medium Earth orbit constellation disposal orbits was first published by Chao in 2000, and since then it has been verified by several independent studies. Current disposal practice for the Global Positioning System (GPS) is to move a satellite to an orbit above the GPS operational altitude range and then minimize initial disposal orbit eccentricity. This procedure delays the onset of eccentricity growth and the eventual overlap of the disposal orbit with the GPS operational altitude range. In a previous paper by the authors that considered the Galileo constellation, it was shown that maximizing eccentricity growth can cause disposal orbit perigees to dip into the atmosphere, thereby inducing satellite reentry as early as 120 years after disposal. High eccentricity growth can be achieved by proper selection of the initial eccentricity vector of the disposal orbit. This alternative disposal strategy has the benefit of removing satellites from orbit so that they no longer pose a collision risk. However, the Galileo results are not necessarily applicable to GPS because eccentricity growth at the lower altitude of GPS is different than at the higher altitude of Galileo. The current study considers the feasibility of inducing atmospheric reentry for GPS. The analysis involved a numerical sweep of key orbital parameters using The Aerospace Corporation’s tool MEANPROP, which uses the Draper Semianalytic Orbit Propagator as its core propagation routine. Only disposal orbits that can be achieved with a reasonable amount of propellant are considered. The study determined the amount of disposal orbit lifetime reduction that can be achieved, the average percentage of satellites that can be caused to reenter, and the sensitivity of lifetime reduction to dispersions in targeted disposal orbital parameters. Study results show that, as initial eccentricity is increased, the percentage of satellites that can be caused to reenter increases, but sensitivity to orbit parameter targeting errors also increases. Hence maximizing initial eccentricity may not be the best disposal strategy for lifetime reduction.
- Abstract document
- Manuscript document
IAC-08.A6.4.6.pdf (🔒 authorized access only).
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