Highlights Propellant-free spacecraft ground impact point targeting algorithm. Guidance and feedback control targeting strategy using exclusively aerodynamic drag. Monte Carlo simulation results proving algorithm robustness and performance.
Abstract Spacecraft returning scientific samples or humans from space must be capable of surviving re-entry and landing in a desired location. Traditionally, this has been accomplished via a propulsive de-orbit burn. However, it is not always possible to mount a propulsion system on board a satellite or a capsule. In the case of small satellites deployed from the International Space Station, for example, on-board propulsion systems are forbidden for safety reasons. Our work proposes a new technological solution for re-entering and landing a spacecraft in a desired location from a low Earth orbit using exclusively aerodynamic drag and eliminating the need for chemical propulsion. First, an iterative procedure is utilized to compute the desired state at the re-entry interface (100 km) such that a propagation of the vehicle dynamics in the nominal re-entry drag configuration from this initial state leads to a landing at a desired latitude and longitude on the surface of the Earth. Next, a re-entry point targeting algorithm is utilized to determine the on-orbit ballistic coefficient profile necessary to target the desired re-entry point. Finally, the ballistic coefficient profile during the final hours of the trajectory before the re-entry interface is iteratively modified to correct any remaining along-track error in the landing location. The proposed solution is applied to a small satellite system that is jettisoned from the ISS and is equipped with a deployable heat shield that also serves as a drag device.
Precise re-entry and landing of propellantless spacecraft
Advances in Space Research ; 68 , 11 ; 4336-4358
2021-09-24
23 pages
Aufsatz (Zeitschrift)
Elektronische Ressource
Englisch
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