Space occupancy in low-earth orbit
OA Location
Author(s)
Bombardelli, Claudio
Falco, Gabriele
Amato, Davide
Rosengren, Aaron J
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
With the upcoming launch of large constellations of satellites in the low-Earth orbit (LEO) region, it will become important to organize the physical space occupied by the different operating satellites in order to minimize critical conjunctions and avoid collisions. This paper introduces the definition of space occupancy as the domain occupied by an individual satellite as it moves along its nominal orbit under the effects of environmental perturbations throughout a given interval of time. After showing that space occupancy for the zonal problem is intimately linked to the concept of frozen orbits and proper eccentricity, frozen orbit initial conditions are provided in osculating element space and a frozen-orbit polar equation is obtained to describe the space occupancy region in closed analytical form. Next, the problem of minimizing space occupancy is analyzed in a realistic model including tesseral harmonics, third-body perturbations, solar radiation pressure, and drag. The corresponding initial conditions, leading to minimum space occupancy (MiSO) orbits, are obtained numerically for a set of representative configurations in LEO. The implications for the use of MiSO orbits to optimize the design of mega-constellations are discussed.
Date Issued
2021-04-01
Date Acceptance
2020-12-27
Citation
Journal of Guidance, Control, and Dynamics: devoted to the technology of dynamics and control, 2021, 44 (4), pp.684-700
ISSN
0731-5090
Publisher
American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics
Start Page
684
End Page
700
Journal / Book Title
Journal of Guidance, Control, and Dynamics: devoted to the technology of dynamics and control
Volume
44
Issue
4
Copyright Statement
© 2021 by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Inc. All rights reserved.
Identifier
https://arc.aiaa.org/doi/10.2514/1.G005371
Subjects
0901 Aerospace Engineering
0906 Electrical and Electronic Engineering
0913 Mechanical Engineering
Aerospace & Aeronautics
Publication Status
Published
Date Publish Online
2021-03-01