Control of Solar Sail Periodic Orbits in the Elliptic Three-Body Problem

Biggs, James D.; McInnes, Colin R.; Waters, Thomas J.

doi:10.2514/1.38362

Cited by 38 publications

(31 citation statements)

References 7 publications

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“…The formulation that we use for the ERTBP is different from the one seen in the literature by McInnes et al in [8,1]. Here we use an inertial reference system centred on the centre of mass of the two primaries, hence the two primaries are not fixed throughout time.…”

Section: Dynamical Modelmentioning

confidence: 98%

On the station keeping of a solar sail in the elliptic Sun–Earth system

Farrés

Jorba

2011

Advances in Space Research

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In this work we focus on the dynamics of a Solar sail in the SunEarth Elliptic Restricted Three-Body Problem with Solar radiation pressure. The considered situation is the motion of a sail close to the L 1 point, but displacing the equilibrium point with the sail so that it is possible to have continuous communication with the Earth. In previous works we derived a station keeping strategy for this situation but using the Circular RTBP as a model.In this paper we discuss the effect of the eccentricity in the region close to the sail-displaced L 1 point of the Circular RTBP. Then we show how to use the information on this dynamics to design a station keeping strategy. Finally, we apply these results to the GeoStorm mission, including errors in the sail orientation and on the estimation of the position of the sail in the simulations.

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Section: Dynamical Modelmentioning

confidence: 98%

On the station keeping of a solar sail in the elliptic Sun–Earth system

Farrés

Jorba

2011

Advances in Space Research

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“…Solar sails have often been proposed as spacecraft propulsion system to maintain displaced NKOs [2,4,[7][8]10].…”

Section: Geomentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Such displaced NKOs can be generated by applying a continuous, thrust-induced acceleration to counterbalance or augment part of the local gravitational acceleration [2]. The existence, stability and control of displaced NKOs have been studied for both the two-and three body problem [3][4][5] and numerous applications have been proposed. These applications range from spacecraft proximity operations [6] to NKOs displaced high above the ecliptic to enable imaging and communication for high latitudes [7] and displaced NKOs for lunar far side communication and lunar south pole coverage [8][9].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Displaced Geostationary Orbit Design Using Hybrid Sail Propulsion

Heiligers

Ceriotti

McInnes

et al. 2011

Journal of Guidance, Control, and Dynamics

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Due to an increase in number of geostationary spacecraft and limits imposed by east-west spacing requirements, the geostationary orbit is becoming congested. To increase its capacity, this paper proposes to create new geostationary slots by displacing the geostationary orbit either out of or in the equatorial plane by means of hybrid solar sail and solar electric propulsion. To minimize propellant consumption, optimal steering laws for the solar sail and solar electric propulsion thrust vectors are derived and the performance in terms of mission lifetime is assessed. For comparison, similar analyses are performed for conventional propulsion, including impulsive and pure solar electric propulsion. It is shown that hybrid sails outperform these propulsion techniques and that out-of-plane displacements outperform in-plane displacements. The out-of-plane case is therefore further investigated in a spacecraft mass budget to determine the payload mass capacity. Finally, two transfers that enable a further improvement of the performance of hybrid sails for the out-ofplane case are optimized using a direct pseudo-spectral method: a seasonally transit between orbits displaced above and below the equatorial plane and a transit to a parking orbit when geostationary coverage is not needed. Both transfers are shown to require only a modest propellant budget, outweighing the improvements they can establish.

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“…By applying a continuous acceleration to counterbalance the gravitational acceleration, the geostationary orbit can be levitated above or below the equatorial plane, thereby creating new geostationary slots [2]. The existence, stability and control of displaced NKOs have been studied for both the two-and three-body problem [3][4] and numerous applications have been proposed. The two-body problem applications include spacecraft proximity operations [5] and hovering above Saturn"s rings for insitu observations [6].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…NKOs displaced high above the ecliptic have been proposed in the Earth-Sun threebody problem to enable imaging and communication satellites for high latitudes [7], while displaced NKOs in the Earth-Moon system have been studied for lunar far side communication and lunar south pole coverage [8][9]. Solar sails have often been proposed as spacecraft propulsion system to maintain displaced NKOs [2,4,[7][8]10]. Solar sails exploit the radiation pressure generated by photons reflecting off a large, highly reflecting sail to produce a continuous, propellant-less thrust [2].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Displaced geostationary orbits using hybrid low-thrust propulsion

et al. 2012

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In this paper, displaced geostationary orbits using hybrid low-thrust propulsion, a complementary combination of Solar Electric Propulsion (SEP) and solar sailing, are investigated to increase the capacity of the geostationary ring that is starting to become congested. The SEP propellant consumption is minimized in order to maximize the mission lifetime by deriving semi-analytical formulae for the optimal steering laws for the SEP and solar sail accelerations. By considering the spacecraft mass budget, the performance is also expressed in terms of payload mass capacity. The analyses are performed both for the use of pure SEP and hybrid low-thrust propulsion to allow for a comparison. It is found that hybrid lowthrust control outperforms the pure SEP case both in terms of payload mass capacity and mission lifetime for all displacements considered. Hybrid low-thrust propulsion enables payloads of 255 to 487 kg to be maintained in a 35 km displaced orbit for 10 to 15 years. Adding the influence of the 2 J and 2,2 J terms of the Earth"s gravity field has a small effect on this lifetime, which becomes almost negligible for small values of the sail lightness number. Finally, two SEP transfers that allow for an improvement in the performance of hybrid low-thrust control are optimized for the propellant consumption by solving the accompanying optimal control problem using a direct pseudospectral method. The first type of transfer enables a transit between orbits displaced above and below the equatorial plane, while the second type of transfer enables customized service for which a spacecraft is transferred to a Keplerian parking orbit when geostationary coverage is not needed. While the latter requires a modest propellant budget, the first type of transfer comes at the cost of an almost negligible SEP propellant consumption.

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Control of Solar Sail Periodic Orbits in the Elliptic Three-Body Problem

Abstract: Control of solar sail periodic orbits in the elliptic three-body problem.

Cited by 38 publications

References 7 publications

On the station keeping of a solar sail in the elliptic Sun–Earth system

On the station keeping of a solar sail in the elliptic Sun–Earth system

Displaced Geostationary Orbit Design Using Hybrid Sail Propulsion

Displaced geostationary orbits using hybrid low-thrust propulsion

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