COSMO-SkyMed full constellation orbital flexibility and interferometric capabilities

Paper number

IAC-11,B1,3,1,x10658

Author

Dr. Manfredi Porfilio, Italian Space Agency (ASI), Italy

Coauthor

Dr. Francesco Caltagirone, Agenzia Spaziale Italiana (ASI), Italy

Coauthor

Dr. Giuseppe Francesco De Luca, Italian Space Agency (ASI), Italy

Coauthor

Dr. Fabio D'Amico, Italian Space Agency (ASI), Italy

Coauthor

Mr. Andrea Cecchini, Italian Ministry of Defense, Italy

Coauthor

Mr. Franco Nardone, Italian Ministry of Defense, Italy

Coauthor

Mr. Davide Di Domizio, Italian Ministry of Defense, Italy

Coauthor

Dr. Daniele Brotto, IAC Congress 2011, Italy

Coauthor

Mr. VALERIO GRIMANI, Thales Alenia Space Italia, Italy

Coauthor

Mr. Ignazio Rana, Thales Alenia Space Italia, Italy

Coauthor

Mr. Daniele Scaranari, Thales Alenia Space Italia, Italy

Coauthor

Dr. Giovanni Celidonio, Telespazio S.p.A., Italy

Coauthor

Mr. Paolo Inversi, Telespazio S.p.A., Italy

Coauthor

Ms. Maria Grieco, Italy

Year

2011

Abstract

COSMO-SkyMed is an Earth Observation space program funded by the Italian Ministry of Research and Italian Ministry of Defence (It-MoD) and conducted by the Italian Space Agency (ASI) in conjunction with It-MoD.
In November 2010 the fourth and last COSMO-SkyMed satellite was successfully launched and integrated into the constellation after the positive conclusion of the commissioning phase in January 2011.
The four satellites are placed in the same sun-synchronous dawn-dusk frozen orbit, designed in such a way to fulfill dual needs and to optimize the performances for a wide range of Civilian applications (e.g. risks management, agriculture/forestry, marine/coastal, geology) and Defence applications (surveillance, intelligence, crisis management, mission planning).
Currently the orbital configuration is composed of three satellites (namely PFM, FM\#2 and FM\#4) with a difference of 90 deg in their respective anomalies, and a fourth satellite (namely FM\#3) in tandem-like configuration with FM\#2 (i.e. one-day temporal decorrelation).
The aim of this paper is to analyze the orbital flexibility of COSMO-SkyMed constellation by performing a survey of the possible orbital interferometric configurations which could be achieved by the full COSMO-SkyMed constellation (e.g. tandem, tandem-like, double one-day tandem configuration, etc), focusing on their main features (e.g. interferometric data takes opportunities, temporal decorrelation, degradation of the temporal performances respect to the nominal equi-phased configuration, etc), highlighting the propellant required for orbital configuration changes and the ways to minimize it, associating them with the main state-of-the-art Civilian and Defence applications that would benefit from them and providing a preliminary quantitative assessment of the interferometric products quality improvement for each orbital configuration.

Abstract document

IAC-11,B1,3,1,x10658.brief.pdf

Manuscript document

IAC-11,B1,3,1,x10658.pdf (🔒 authorized access only).

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