Constellation Deployment for the FORMOSAT-3/COSMIC Mission

Abstract

The FORMOSA Satellite Series No. 3/Constellation Observing System for Meteorology, Ionosphere and Climate (FORMOSAT-3/COSMIC) spacecraft constellation consisting of six low-earth-orbiting satellites is the world's first operational Global Positioning System (GPS) radio occultation mission. The mission has been jointly developed by the National Space Organization of Taiwan and the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research of the U.S. in collaboration with the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, NASA, and the Naval Research Laboratory for three onboard payloads, including a GPS Occultation Receiver, a triband beacon, and a tiny ionospheric photometer. The FORMOSAT-3/COSMIC mission was successfully launched from Vandenberg into the same orbit plane of the designated 516-km circular parking orbit altitude on April 15, 2006. After the six satellites completed the in-orbit checkout activities, the mission was started immediately at the parking orbit for in-orbit checkout, calibration, and experiment of three onboard payloads. Individual spacecraft thrust burns for orbit raising were performed to begin the constellation deployment of the satellites into six separate orbit planes. All six FORMOSAT-3/COSMIC satellites are maintained in a good state of health except spacecraft flight model no. 2, which has had power shortages. Five out of the six satellites had reached their final mission orbits of 800 km as of November 2007. This paper provides an overview of the constellation spacecraft design, constellation mission operations, constellation deployment timeline evolution, associated spacecraft mass property and moment of inertia results, orbit-raising challenges, and lessons learned during the orbit-raising operations.

Global GNSS Radio Occultation Mission for Meteorology, Ionosphere & Climate

“…The primary scientific goal of the mission is to demonstrate the value of near-real-time GPS RO observation in operational numerical weather prediction. With the ability of performing both rising and setting occultation, the mission provides about 1,600~2,400 atmospheric and ionospheric soundings per day in near real-time that give vertical profiles of temperature, pressure, refractivity, and water vapor in neutral atmosphere, and electron density in the ionosphere with global coverage (Anthes et al, & 2008Liou et al, 2006aLiou et al, , 2006bLiou et al, , & 2007Fong et al, 2008aFong et al, & 2009a.…”

“…The mission results have shown that the RO data from FORMOSAT-3 are of better quality than those from previous missions and penetrate much further down into the troposphere, mission results could be referred to Liou et al (2007), Anthes et al (2008), Fong et al (2008a, 2008c& 2009a), and Huang et al (2009. In the near future, other GNSS, such as the Russian Global Navigation Satellite System (GLONASS), and the planned European Galileo system, could be used to extend the applications by the use of RO technique Fong et al, 2009aFong et al, & 2009b.…”

“…The major subsystem elements of the spacecraft system are Payload Subsystem, Structure and Mechanisms Subsystem (SMS), Thermal Control Subsystem (TCS), Electrical Power Subsystem (EPS), Command and Data Handling Subsystem (C&DH), Radio Frequency Subsystem (RFS), Reaction Control Subsystem (RCS), Attitude Control Subsystem (ACS) and Flight Software Subsystem (FSW). The spacecraft bus provides structure, RF power, electrical power, thermal control, attitude control, orbit raising, and data support to the instrument (Fong et al, 2008a(Fong et al, , 2008b(Fong et al, & 2009a. Table 3 shows the spacecraft bus key design features.…”

FORMOSAT-3/COSMIC Spacecraft Constellation System, Mission Results, and Prospect for Follow-On Mission

“…The dash lines are the planned sched ule and the dots recorded the ex e cu tion re sults of the thrust ing. The FM3 encoun tered the so lar ar ray drive mech a nism anom aly and this blocks the FM3 thrust burn ac tiv ity to be de ployed at the 800 km mis sion or bit af ter reach ing the 711 km orbit (Fong et al 2008a). …”

Switching Operation of Ion Beam Extraction and Electron Emission Using the Miniature Ion Thruster μ1

“…[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8] Moreover, an increasing number of planned small spacecraft missions are in need of propulsive capability. Propulsion devices supply the spacecraft with attitude control, station keeping, and orbit transfer.…”