Design and sensitivity analysis of an Earth observation mission's operating orbit in the absence of injection into the Sun-synchronous orbit

Abstract

This article investigates an operational orbit's design and sensitivity analysis for Earth observation (EO) missions in non-sun-synchronous orbits. Sun-synchronous orbits are the primary choice for deploying EO satellites, but in the absence of access to such orbits, alternative options can be considered, including multi-sun-synchronous orbits (MSSO) capable of repeating ground track (RGT).In this research, sets of such orbits are designed, taking into account the defined mission and considering the available altitude and inclination of the orbit. To achieve this, a constrained search problem is formulated, considering the constraints related to the characteristics of multi-sun-synchronicity and repeating ground tracks to search for orbit characteristics.Furthermore, to identify the allowable range of injection errors, a sensitivity analysis of the designed orbit's characteristics has been conducted to assess their sensitivity to uncertainties in injection accuracy during a case study investigation.

Keywords

• multi sun-synchronous orbit (msso)
• earth observation mission
• repeat ground track orbits (rtgo)
• sensitivity analysis
• uncertainty