The Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) primary mission will be performed by making measurements of the inter-satellite range change between two co-planar, low altitude, near-polar orbiting satellites. Understanding the uncertainties in the disturbance environment, particularly the aerodynamic drag and torques, is critical in several mission areas. These include an accurate estimate of the spacecraft orbital lifetime, evaluation of spacecraft attitude control requirements, and estimation of the orbital maintenance maneuver frequency necessitated by differences in the drag forces acting on both satellites. The FREEMOL simulation software has been developed and utilized to analyze and suggest design modifications to the GRACE spacecraft. Aerodynamic accommodation bounding analyses were performed and worst-case envelopes were obtained for the aerodynamic torques and the differential ballistic coefficients between the leading and trailing GRACE spacecraft. These analyses demonstrate how spacecraft aerodynamic design and analysis can benefit from a better understanding of spacecraft surface accommodation properties, and the implications for mission design constraints such as formation spacing control.
GRACE Mission Design: Impact of Uncertainties in Disturbance Environment and Satellite Force Models
2000
22 pages
Report
No indication
English
Astronautics , Spacecraft Trajectories & Flight Mechanics , Mission planning , Perturbation theory , Spacecraft design , Design analysis , Aerodynamic drag , Artificial satellites , Environment models , Orbital maneuvers , Orbital lifetime , Attitude control , Spacecraft control , Computerized simulation , Torque
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