On-Orbit Service Mission Programming and Orbit Optimization for Multi-object-spacecraft

Paper number

IAC-08.C1.4.10

Author

Ms. Lili Zheng, China

Coauthor

Prof. Jianping Yuan, China

Coauthor

Dr. Zhanxia Zhu, Northwestern Poltechnical University, China

Year

2008

Abstract

Autonomous on-orbit servicing of satellite leads to a significant saving in mission life-cycle costs, especially for expensive satellite systems composed of many satellites, such as constellation and close formation. With the increase of quantity of spacecrafts, the development of astronautics and the deeply research of on-orbit servicing techniques, it is hoped that some spacecrafts can provide on-orbit service for several failure satellites, such as on-orbit maintenance, replenishment, assembly, and so on. Furthermore, in some emergency mission, we expect that these spacecrafts can supply on-orbit service operation promptly. In this paper, we assume the scenario that one carrier spacecraft is launched to a preliminary orbit at first, and then release several small serving spacecrafts, such as space robots, to accomplish the relevant on-orbit service missions for multi-object-spacecraft. In addition, the long-distance orbital transfer time could reach an optimal value with limited fuel via proper mission programming and orbit optimization. 

The simple scenario is considered that the object satellites and the carrier spacecraft are coplanar. The preliminary orbit of the carrier spacecraft is designed based on the orbital elements of all the object satellites. The released occasion and transfer orbits of the small serving spacecrafts are determined via the optimization method based on the universal variable method and nonlinear programming. The long-distance minimum transfer time is obtained with limited fuel. The universal variable method is more convenient than the traditional method for the Gauss problem. The optimization calculation is accomplished in virtue of Matlab optimization tools, and the optimization algorithm can converge promptly with a favorable initial estimate. The simulation demonstrates the availability of the service strategy and the effectiveness of this algorithm at the end of the paper.

The simulation result indicates that the strategy can be widely used for multi-object-spacecraft on-orbit services. It is concluded that once the released occasion of small serving spacecrafts is obtained via optimization algorithm, an optimal prompt transfer orbit for service mission can always be determined.

Abstract document

IAC-08.C1.4.10.pdf

Manuscript document

IAC-08.C1.4.9.pdf (🔒 authorized access only).

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