Assessment of Non-Coplanar Maneuver Parameters and Perturbing Accelerations Using the Minimal Number of Observations

Abstract

The algorithms for determining the active space object maneuver parameters in the conditions of near-circular orbits are presented in the paper. The right ascension and declination angles are used to determine the parameters of a single maneuver with transversal and lateral components (the application moment and the velocity impulse magnitude). Two pairs of angles are used to determine the parameters of the maneuver with only a lateral component. Two pairs of angles are needed for the determination of the parameters of the long-duration maneuver performed by a low-thrust engine (moments of the maneuver start and finish, and components of the acceleration delivered by the engine). The essential detail that makes it possible to determine the parameters of long-duration maneuvers is their symmetry relative to the center of the engine operating interval. Considerable perturbing accelerations, which are not accounted for by traditional perturbing models, affect passive objects, especially membranous objects with a big and variable area-to-mass ratio. This decreases dramatically the accuracy of these objects’ motion propagation. In this paper, the magnitude of perturbing acceleration is determined with the assumption that it is constant and is active throughout the whole time interval from the moment of the last orbit determination to the moment of the new measurement used. Examples of the assessment of maneuvers performed by an object in the geostationary orbit are presented.

Keywords

• maneuver
• active space object
• maneuver assessment
• geostationary orbit
• optical measurements
• tracklet