At the end of a mission, satellites embedded in a constellation must first perform propulsive maneuvers to safely exit the constellation before they can begin with the usual end-of-mission activities: deorbit, passivation, and decommissioning. The target orbit for these exit maneuvers must be sufficiently below the remaining constellation satellites such that, once achieved, there is no longer risk of close conjunctions. Yet, the exit maneuvers must be done based on the spacecraft's state of health and operational capability when the decision to end the mission is made. This paper focuses on the recently developed exit strategy for the CloudSat mission to highlight problems and issues, which forced the discarding of CloudSat's original EoM Plan and its replacement with a new plan consistent with changes to the spacecraft's original operational mode. The analyses behind and decisions made in formulating this new exit strategy will be of interest to other missions in a constellation currently preparing to update their End-of-Mission Plan.
End-of-Mission Planning Challenges for a Satellite in a Constellation
International Earth Observation Convoy and Constellation Concepts Workshop ; 2013 ; Noordwijk, Netherlands
2013-10-09
Aufsatz (Konferenz)
Keine Angabe
Englisch
end-of-mission (EoM) , A-Train Mission Operations Working Group (MOWG) , Aura , Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observations (CALIPSO) , Spacecraft Design, Testing And Performance , safe exit orbit , CloudSat , Global Change Observation Mission 1st-Water (GCOM W1) , Aqua , Afternoon Constellation (a.k.a. "A-Train")
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