Abstract Calculating the Time of Closest Approach (TCA) and the minimal distance between two orbiting objects is a vital step in space debris collision risk assessment and avoidance maneuver computation. Currently, two methods are commonly used to compute the TCA and the corresponding minimal distance: propagating both objects with a small time-step and approximating the derivative of a distance function using cubic polynomials. Lately using the Surrogate-based Optimization (SBO) search was also suggested. Propagating is too slow; estimating is usually not accurate enough, and the SBO is considered a good compromise. This paper proposes a novel method based on Chebyshev Proxy Polynomials for the TCA computation problem. This method is designed to allow fast computation and high accuracy; this is demonstrated in several examples, and shown to be slightly slower than the approximation method and have accuracy competitive to those of the SBO method.
Highlights Introducing a new method to calculate the time of closest approach (TCA). Just a little slower than ANCAS, achieving accuracy of less than 1 mm in LEO and GEO. Calibrated on near-circular yet found to be useful in highly elliptic orbits. The method was tested in a one-on-all scenario: a satellite and the entire catalog. More than 97% of the computations were within 0.001sec of the true TCA.
Satellite closest approach calculation through Chebyshev Proxy Polynomials
Acta Astronautica ; 170 ; 55-65
2020-01-15
11 pages
Aufsatz (Zeitschrift)
Elektronische Ressource
Englisch
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