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.
ATMOSPHERIC DENSITY ESTIMATION IN LOW-EARTH ORBIT FOR DRAG-MODULATED SPACECRAFT
Proceedings of the 44th Annual American Astronautical Society Guidance, Navigation, and Control Conference, 2022 ; Chapter : 65 ; 1179-1194
2024-01-01
16 pages
Article/Chapter (Book)
Electronic Resource
English
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