Multi-orbit lunar GNSS constellation design with distant retrograde orbit and Halo orbit combination

Abstract

The Moon is the closest natural satellite to mankind, with valuable resources on it, and is an important base station for mankind to enter deep space. How to establish a reasonable lunar Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) to provide real-time positioning, navigation, and timing (PNT) services for Moon exploration and development has become a hot topic for many international scholars. Based on the special spatial configuration characteristics of Libration point orbits (LPOs), the coverage capability of Halo orbits and Distant Retrograde Orbit (DRO) in LPOs is discussed and analyzed in detail. It is concluded that the Halo orbit with a period of 8 days has a better coverage effect on the lunar polar regions and the DRO has a more stable coverage effect on the lunar equatorial regions, and the multi-orbital lunar GNSS constellation with the optimized combination of DRO and Halo orbits is proposed by combining the advantages of both. This multi-orbital constellation can make up for the fact that a single type of orbit requires a larger number of satellites to fully cover the Moon, using a smaller number of satellites for the purpose of providing PNT services to the entire lunar surface. We designed simulation experiments to test whether the multi-orbital constellations meet the full lunar surface positioning requirements, and compare the coverage, positioning, and occultation effects of the four constellation designs that pass the test, and finally obtain a set of well-performing lunar GNSS constellations. The results indicate that the multi-orbital lunar GNSS constellation combining DRO and Halo orbits can cover 100% of the Moon surface, provides there are more than 4 visible satellites at any time on the Moon surface, which meets the navigation and positioning requirements, and the Position Dilution of Precision (PDOP) value is stable within 2.0, which can meet the demand for higher precision Moon surface navigation and positioning.

Exploiting Lunar Navigation Constellation for GNC Enhancement in Landing Missions

“…In this work, to simulate these effects and generate the measurements fed to the filter, we implemented the model in Equations ( 9) and (10)…”

“…Additionally, it is worth underlining that the measurement function of Equation ( 18) integrates the estimated clock bias and drift to refine the pseudorange and range-rate a priori predictions, guided by Equations ( 9) and (10). The propagation model for these parameters is expressed by f c , as defined in Equation (19).…”

“…Other studies considered instead constellations deployed in Lagrange Point Orbits (LPO), which provide many geometrical and dynamical features that classical two-body orbits do not possess [8,9]. A hybrid approach to the design of the architecture was instead followed in [10], where both Keplerian and LPOs are considered in the optimisation, having performance and coverage as maximisation indexes.…”