The essence of the NewSpace era and its initiatives and competence has been evident since a decade of enthralling missions with technological demonstrations and valuable applications. With this, the space industry, academia, and related entities are taking the lead in making efforts towards sustainability in severe space environments using creative methodologies and systems specifically for CisLunar space. This region is crucial for not only uplifting the applicability of the space technology useful for Earth but also for its continuous long-term progression and survival. Small satellites (< 500 kg) are one crucial portion of its NewSpace advancements adding essential value to the overall space systems and technology providing the data prominent for major solutions on Earth and recently for the Moon. For utilizing the best of the potential of these satellites, creating unique cost-effective systems and methodologies to control and operate them significantly is a pivotal need of the hour. When these satellites are used in a constellation, the utility is exponential and has greater advantages not only for the Earth-based applications but also supporting major missions for Moon and CisLunar space as a whole. This paper presents the mission planning and operations aspects specifically using small satellite constellations in the CisLunar region. Two novel methodologies have been proposed and demonstrated for mission planning which are Slew Maneuvering and Adaptive Mapping techniques which are fully script-based facilitating the operators of a parametric level control over the designed mission planning and execution. These are specific and customizable to mission objectives aligned for performing certain tasks for a given life cycle. On the mission operations front, a novel technique named ‘Controlled Deployment of Satellites (CODES)’ has been proposed and discussed emphasizing the need to reduce and optimize the number of satellites used for a small satellite constellation by enhancing the deployment methodology. A greater prominence towards exploring the various ways of attaining autonomy for mission planning and operations has been widely discussed and elaborated. Several results with systems engineering importance have been plotted and discussed explaining their importance in ease of access and monitoring with an operator point of view while managing a particular mission with regard to their operations for Earth and Moon within the given boundaries of CisLunar space. The conclusions drawn from these results of the proposed techniques were discussed and detailed along with the future work framed after this research has been briefly described.
Autonomous Mission Planning and Operations for Optimal Deployment of Small Satellite Constellations in CisLunar Space
Springer Aerospace Techn.
International Conference on Space Operations ; 2023 ; Dubai, United Arab Emirates March 06, 2023 - March 10, 2023
14.12.2024
65 pages
Aufsatz/Kapitel (Buch)
Elektronische Ressource
Englisch
Mission Planning & Operations , CisLunar , Small-satellite constellations , NewSpace , Adaptive-mapping Engineering , Aerospace Technology and Astronautics , Astronomy, Astrophysics and Cosmology , Space Sciences (including Extraterrestrial Physics, Space Exploration and Astronautics) , Mechanical Engineering