Thermosphere density and wind measurements in the equatorial region using a constellation of drag balance nanospacecraft

A mission for in situ thermosphere density and winds measurement is described, based on nanospacecraft equipped with a drag balance instrument (DBI) and a GPS receiver. The mission is based on nanosatellite clusters deployed in three orbital planes. In this study, clusters of 10 nanospacecraft are considered, leading to a mission based on a total of 30 nanospacecraft. The geometry analyzed is a symmetrical one, including an equatorial orbit and two orbits with the same inclination and opposing ascending nodes. The main idea is that, by combining the accurate information on the satellite inertial position and velocity provided by the GPS receiver and the drag acceleration intensity provided by the DBI, due to the orbits’ geometrical configuration, both atmospheric drag and wind can be resolved in a region close to the orbit nodes. Exploiting the Earth oblateness effect, a complete scan of the equatorial regions can be accomplished in the short mission lifetime typical of very low Earth orbit satellites, even in high solar activity peaks, when the expected nanospacecraft lifetime is about 40 days.     

Broglio Drag Balance for neutral thermosphere density measurement on UNICubeSAT

The nanosatellite UNICubeSAT is described, carrying a Broglio Drag Balance Instrument for neutral thermosphere density in situ measurements. The aim of the mission is to contribute to the development of accurate thermosphere models, achieving in situ, real time measurements of atmosphere density, that could be exploited for global atmosphere model validation and accurate short term (1–3 days) real time space weather forecasts. The satellite is inexpensive and swarms could be easily launched operating as a distributed sensor network to get simultaneous in situ local (not orbit averaged) measurements in multiple positions and orbit heights. The nanosatellite is based on the Cubesat standard architecture, weighing about 1 kg for 1-L volume. Atmospheric drag force is measured by the displacement of light plates exposed to the incoming particle flux seen by the spacecraft, applying the original three dimensional Broglio Drag Balance concept to a single nanosatellite axis. The instrument concept and its relation to the satellite bus is depicted, showing that many long term potential measurement error sources and biases can be removed in data processing if the spacecraft is spin stabilized. The expected accuracy in density measurements is 20%. The instrument cost is a fraction of that of accurate accelerometers. The onboard systems are based on commercial off the shelf components, in accordance with the short lifetime typical of aeronomy satellites.     

Impact of the orbital eccentricity on the attitude performance before and after the deorbiting phase for Alsat-1

Due to the presence of periodic forcing terms in the gravity gradient torque, orbit eccentricity may produce large response for the roll, yaw and pitch angles. This paper investigates the influence of the orbit eccentricity on the performance of the attitude determination and control subsystem (ADCS) pointing of passive Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites stabilized by a gravity gradient boom or having long appendages before and after the deorbiting operation. The contribution of this work is twofold. First, the satellite attitude dynamics and kinematics are modeled by introducing the orbit eccentricity in the equations of motion of a LEO satellite in order to provide the best scenario in which satellite operators can keep the nominal functionality of LEO satellites with a gravity gradient boom after the deorbiting operation. Second, a Quaternion-based Extended Kalman Filter (EKF) is analyzed when the orbit eccentricity is considered in order to determine the influence of this disturbance on the convergence and stability of the filter. The simulations in this work are based on the true parameters of Alsat-1 which is a typical LEO satellite stabilized by a gravity gradient boom. The results show that the orbit eccentricity has a big influence on the pointing system accuracy causing micro-vibrations that affect the geocentric pointing particularly after the deorbiting phase. In this case, satellites have no orbital correction option. The Quaternion-based Extended Kalman Filter analyzed in this paper, achieved satisfactory results for eccentricity values less than 0.4 with respect to pointing system accuracy. However, singularities were observed for eccentricity values greater than 0.4.     

超低轨卫星气动舵机辅助姿态控制方法设计

针对超低轨卫星姿态控制差异化需求,开展了基于气动舵机辅助的姿态控制策略研究。完成了超低轨道稀薄大气下卫星气动舵机布局设计与气动特性研究,理论气动力可达10^-1 N量级,气动力矩可达10^-1 N·m量级。在此基础上,完成了基于气动舵机辅助的姿态控制策略研究。通过仿真验证,在x轴采用动量轮控制、y轴和z轴采用气动舵机辅助控制情况下,可实现优于0.004°的三轴指向精度和优于0.000 7(°)/s的三轴姿态稳定度。所设计气动舵机辅助姿态控制策略对超低轨卫星技术应用与发展具有重要技术价值和工程意义。     

面向立方星变轨任务的机动控制策略

为了实现立方星在轨飞行与变轨,基于模块化推进器系统提出混合控制策略实现微小卫星轨道持续变化任务需求。首先,针对多单元立方星单一主推进器的结构部署,基于高斯变分方程采用连续低推进力实现轨道机动变化。为了实现对立方星主推进器的指向调整,基于姿态动力学模型利用PD连续姿态控制求得所需扭矩,实现对立方星的指向角和指向角速度调节。针对配置的微脉冲等离子推进器(μ-PPT)不连续的特点,通过搜寻μ PPT最优脉冲序列组合获得实际扭矩,满足对外部干扰的持续补偿以及立方星的姿态稳定和指向调整操作需求。此外,引入姿态误差敏感度阈值,使姿态控制器在能够提高系统鲁棒性的同时减少μ-PPT消耗。最后,通过对3U立方星在轨飞行与变轨的具体案例分析,表明所提出的基于微推进器系统的混合控制策略能够实现立方星轨道机动变化需求。     

一种空间目标高精度指向控制方法

针对空间动目标指向任务对卫星提出的高精度控制需求,研究了卫星星体/快反镜二级复合系统的指向控制问题,给出了一种空间运动目标高精度指向控制方法。首先,基于近圆轨道Clohessy Wiltshire方程获得追踪卫星与目标卫星的位置信息;然后,基于扩展Kalman滤波算法进行多信息融合确定追踪卫星姿态参数,并实时解算出追踪卫星载荷光轴与目标卫星的相对姿态,获得跟踪指向所需的方位角和俯仰角;最后,通过星体一级姿态控制和基于快反镜的载荷光轴二级指向控制,实现对目标卫星的快速、高精度指向。仿真结果表明,该方法可以在保证快速性的同时实现动态指向控制误差小于072″。该方法可以实现对空间目标的高精度指向控制,为未来空间中激光通信等航天任务提供技术支持。     

用于长周期高精度轨道控制任务的快速半实物仿真系统

针对长周期高精度轨道控制任务的快速仿真试验需要,对传统的卫星控制系统半实物仿真系统进行了重构.提出利用动力学仿真模型程序的超实时运行驱动试验进程加速的方法,介绍系统总体设计思路及其结构、组成和工作原理,给出实时/超实时双模高精度动力学模型的开发及星地状态同步两项关键技术的具体实现,并通过应用实例证明了系统的有效性.     

基于代码自动生成的空间交会GNC系统仿真平台

空间交会对接GNC系统涉及目标器和追踪器两个航天器的姿态轨道控制,其数学仿真比一般的卫星更复杂.给出一种轨道动力学、姿态动力学、相对动力学、测量及执行部件等仿真模型的规范化方法,并在此基础上,提出一套基于代码自动生成技术的空间交会对接GNC仿真平台,该平台的模块化和自动化程度高、软件的可读性和通用性强,实现了两个航天器的快速规范化仿真,显著提高了研究人员的工作效率,为空间交会GNC系统的设计和仿真提供了良好的支持.     

超低轨道卫星应用离子电推进技术方案

低地球轨道大气环境对诸如科学探测和对地观测卫星的阻尼作用十分明显,而且阻尼随太阳和地磁活动以及昼夜、季节交替变化范围宽.为了保证卫星轨道精度或飞行状态满足任务要求,需要利用推进系统对卫星受到的阻尼进行实时或间歇式补偿以实现轨道或飞行状态的保持.针对轨道高度220～268 km的无拖曳飞行和轨道维持应用,基于卫星轨道阻尼...     

Halo轨道探测器的姿态描述与建模

日地系Halo轨道位于平动点附近,且不存在以地球为中心的轨道平面,这使得Halo轨道探测器的姿态描述和建模问题完全不同于近地卫星.针对三轴稳定方式的探测器,给出了2种姿态描述方案:对日定向方案(方案I,基于日、地敏感器)和旋转坐标系下定向方案(方案II,基于星敏感器).依据两者所定义的不同轨道坐标系,分别建立了姿态动力学模型.分析2类描述方案的相对误差,发现方案I的上限不超过5%,而方案II的上限不超过0.005%.并就方案I设计了姿态镇定控制器,以验证所提出的姿态描述方案的合理性.结果表明:具体工程应用中应以方案II为正常工作模式,并定期修正星历表的误差;方案I作为备份,保证探测器的正常运行.      

Dynamical analysis of a spinning solar sail

This paper discusses the orbit and attitude dynamics of a solar sail, and gives the sufficient conditions of a stable orbit and attitude coupled system. The stability of the coupled system is determined by the orbit stability and attitude stability. Based on the sufficient conditions, a spin-stabilized solar sail of cone configuration is proposed to evolve in the heliocentric displaced orbit. For this kind of configuration, the attitude is always stable by spinning itself. The orbit stability depends on the orbit parameters of the heliocentric displaced orbit, the ratio of the orbit radius to displaced distance and orbit angular velocity. If the center of mass and center of pressure overlap, it can be proved that the coupled system is stable when the orbit parameters are chosen in the stable region. When the center of mass and center of pressure offset exists, the stability of the coupled system can not be judged. A numerical example is given and the result shows that both the orbit and attitude are stable for the case.     

Drag and energy accommodation coefficients during sunspot maximum

Conditions appropriate to gas-surface interactions on satellite surfaces in orbit have not been successfully duplicated in the laboratory. However, measurements by pressure gauges and mass spectrometers in orbit have revealed enough of the basic physical chemistry that realistic theoretical models of the gas-surface interaction can now be used to calculate physical drag coefficients. The dependence of these drag coefficients on conditions in space can be inferred by comparing the physical drag coefficient of a satellite with a drag coefficient fitted to its observed orbital decay. This study takes advantage of recent data on spheres and attitude stabilized satellites to compare physical drag coefficients with the histories of the orbital decay of several satellites during the recent sunspot maximum. The orbital decay was obtained by fitting, in a least squares sense, the semi-major axis decay inferred from the historical two-line elements acquired by the US Space Surveillance Network. All the principal orbital perturbations were included, namely geopotential harmonics up to the 16th degree and order, third body attraction of the Moon and the Sun, direct solar radiation pressure (with eclipses), and aerodynamic drag, using the Jacchia-Bowman 2006 (JB2006) model to describe the atmospheric density. After adjusting for density model bias, a comparison of the fitted drag coefficient with the physical drag coefficient has yielded values for the energy accommodation coefficient as well as for the physical drag coefficient as a function of altitude during solar maximum conditions. The results are consistent with the altitude and solar cycle variation of atomic oxygen, which is known to be adsorbed on satellite surfaces, affecting both the energy accommodation and angular distribution of the reemitted molecules.     

空间站大型伸展机构动力学研究中的若干问题

由于空间站大型伸展机构运动中的时变性，其拓扑构形和系统的自由度都是变化着的，因而问题较定常构形动力学问题复杂得多。文章对航天伸展机构进行分类，并研究所组成的各类运行副，约束特点和约束方程及轨道、姿态、伸展运动的几何和运动描述；考虑柔性结构效应及热变形的动力学分析模型；还对连接间隙、摩擦、限位内碰撞、预应力、重力场及空气阻力的干扰进行分析；最后讨论了试验研究结论。     

A detailed spin analysis of the San Marco 5 mission

The attitude of the San Marco 5 satellite flown in 1988 has been monitored by several sensors. Thus the history of the spin period is known with a high degree of accuracy. Because of the simple geometry (spherical body with several extremely long antennas) and the good mass balance (used for the accelerometer aboard) of the satellite it was possible to separate different effects of variations of the spin period. The influence of the drag on the spin period has been modeled. The results are used to derive total gas densities along the trajectory and compare them with model densities, in situ measurements from the drag balance instrument and densities derived by orbital drag methods.     

轨道末期星载相机侧摆成像匹配分析与实验

通过分析卫星轨道末期星载TDI CCD相机成像面临的数据读出频率过大、像移失配严重等瓶颈问题, 提出了轨道末期卫星侧摆成像匹配方案. 依据轨道衰减高度, 设计侧摆成像匹配模型, 计算出轨道高度与匹配成像侧摆角度之间的变化关系, 对侧摆成像时的像移速度矢量、偏流角度、成像畸变等进行了定量的可行性分析, 并利用蒙特卡洛方法分析了满足侧摆成像的卫星姿态指向精度和稳定度. 利用基于小型三轴气浮台的小卫星姿态控制系统和TDI CCD相机成像系统进行仿真试验, 结果表明, 仿真图像的MTF函数和互相关相似性测度均在0.85以上, 侧摆成像匹配方案能较好地满足轨道末期成像需求.      

Stewart平台卫星动力学建模与姿态指向一体化控制

针对Stewart平台卫星大范围快速机动后的指向控制问题,提出了考虑翼板柔性的Stewart平台卫星动力学建模与姿态指向一体化控制方法。对考虑柔性翼板的Stewart平台卫星的动力学建模与主动控制进行了研究,采用力学基本原理和混合坐标法建立系统的刚柔耦合精确动力学模型,并提出一种同时考虑平台载荷指向与隔振的协同控制方案。数值仿真结果表明,所建立的动力学模型能够准确地描述系统的动力学行为,所提控制方案能够有效提高卫星平台的姿态指向精度。与未施加控制的情况相比,该方案能够将支撑杆的变形量减少到千分之一,从而保证了结构安全。此外,还分析了翼板柔性对Stewart平台卫星姿态控制的影响,结果表明翼板柔性对下平台姿态精度有较大影响,对上平台姿态精度影响较小。     

Integrated orbit and attitude hardware-in-the-loop simulations for autonomous satellite formation flying

Development and experiment of an integrated orbit and attitude hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) simulator for autonomous satellite formation flying are presented. The integrated simulator system consists of an orbit HIL simulator for orbit determination and control, and an attitude HIL simulator for attitude determination and control. The integrated simulator involves four processes (orbit determination, orbit control, attitude determination, and attitude control), which interact with each other in the same way as actual flight processes do. Orbit determination is conducted by a relative navigation algorithm using double-difference GPS measurements based on the extended Kalman filter (EKF). Orbit control is performed by a state-dependent Riccati equation (SDRE) technique that is utilized as a nonlinear controller for the formation control problem. Attitude is determined from an attitude heading reference system (AHRS) sensor, and a proportional-derivative (PD) feedback controller is used to control the attitude HIL simulator using three momentum wheel assemblies. Integrated orbit and attitude simulations are performed for a formation reconfiguration scenario. By performing the four processes adequately, the desired formation reconfiguration from a baseline of 500–1000 m was achieved with meter-level position error and millimeter-level relative position navigation. This HIL simulation demonstrates the performance of the integrated HIL simulator and the feasibility of the applied algorithms in a real-time environment. Furthermore, the integrated HIL simulator system developed in the current study can be used as a ground-based testing environment to reproduce possible actual satellite formation operations.     

Stability of relative equilibria of the full spacecraft dynamics around an asteroid with orbit–attitude coupling

The full dynamics of spacecraft around an asteroid, in which the spacecraft is considered as a rigid body and the gravitational orbit–attitude coupling is taken into account, is of great value and interest in the precise theories of the motion. The spectral stability of the classical relative equilibria of the full spacecraft dynamics around an asteroid is studied with the method of geometric mechanics. The stability conditions are given explicitly based on the characteristic equation of the linear system matrix. It is found that the linearized system decouples into two entirely independent subsystems, which correspond to the motions within and outside the equatorial plane of the asteroid respectively. The system parameters are divided into three groups that describe the traditional stationary orbit stability, the significance of the orbit–attitude coupling and the mass distribution of the spacecraft respectively. The spectral stability of the relative equilibria is investigated numerically with respect to the three groups of system parameters. The relations between the full spacecraft dynamics and the traditional spacecraft dynamics, as well as the effect of the orbit–attitude coupling, are assessed. We find that when the orbit–attitude coupling is strong, the mass distribution of the spacecraft dominates the stability of the relative equilibria; whereas when the orbit–attitude coupling is weak, both the mass distribution and the traditional stationary orbit stability have significant effects on the stability. We also give a criterion to determine whether the orbit–attitude coupling needs to be considered.     

基于观测器的平台无陀螺姿态复合控制

针对超静卫星星体平台无陀螺、载荷敏感器与星体平台执行机构非共基准安装时整星存在姿态异位控制问题,提出了一种基于观测器估计星体平台姿态的复合控制方法。首先,建立星体平台/Stewart平台/载荷的动力学模型,并获得Stewart平台作动器关节空间的等效动力学模型。针对关节空间等效模型,设计super twisting观测器,以作动器平动位移为输入,以载荷和星体平台之间的相对姿态和角速度为输出,实现星体平台姿态和角速度估计。其次,以载荷测量姿态信息为输入,设计Stewart作动器的积分滑模控制律,实现载荷高精度指向控制。以观测器估计的星体平台姿态信息为输入,设计星体平台控制器实现星体平台的稳定控制。Lyapunov稳定性分析表明所设计的观测器和控制器能够保证闭环系统渐近稳定。数学仿真结果表明：在星体平台有陀螺时,载荷能够实现0.1″指向精度;在星体平台无陀螺时,采用观测器估计星体平台姿态并进行控制,载荷亦可实现0.1″指向精度。     

基于X射线脉冲星的深空探测器自主导航方案

X射线脉冲星自主导航系统可以为深空探测器提供位置、速度、时间和姿态等丰富且自主的导航信息,以X射线脉冲星测得的信息作为量测量,结合轨道动力学方程,对航天器的轨道进行自主估计确定。论文阐述了该方案的导航原理,在借鉴现有航天器导航系统的基础上,提出了基于X射线脉冲星导航的方案,介绍了方案的硬件组成、系统结构,并针对方案中导航敏感器多冗余的特征,给出了基于多传感器组合导航技术的结构,最后用仿真资料对方案做了性能概算和精度估计。