Drag-modulation has been proposed for trajectory control of spacecraft in low- Earth orbit for uses such as formation keeping, targeted reentry and constellation phasing. However, using changes in aerodynamic drag to control a spacecraft requires knowledge of the atmospheric density in order to predict the drag force being applied. Due to modeling errors and inaccuracies in space weather forecasting, there will be a difference between the predicted density used to plan the trajectory and the true density encountered in-flight. This density prediction error causes the spacecraft to depart from the intended trajectory. This paper proposes the use of an extended Kalman filter along with a linear model of a spacecraft’s motion relative to a planned trajectory to estimate the density prediction error. The estimated density can then be used to improve the performance of a dragmodulated control strategy or as measurements to improve atmosphere models. The proposed method is tested in simulation and found to be capable of estimating the time-varying density error caused by a space weather forecasting error. Estimated values of the density error are then shown to significantly improve the accuracy of state predictions made by the linear model.


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    Titel :

    ATMOSPHERIC DENSITY ESTIMATION IN LOW-EARTH ORBIT FOR DRAG-MODULATED SPACECRAFT


    Beteiligte:
    Sandnas, Matt (Herausgeber:in) / Spencer, David B. (Herausgeber:in) / Hayes, Alex D. (Autor:in) / Caverly, Ryan J. (Autor:in) / Gebre-Egziabher, Demoz (Autor:in)


    Erscheinungsdatum :

    2024-01-01


    Format / Umfang :

    16 pages





    Medientyp :

    Aufsatz/Kapitel (Buch)


    Format :

    Elektronische Ressource


    Sprache :

    Englisch




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