A study of reaction wheel configurations for a 3-axis satellite attitude control

The satellite reaction wheel’s configuration plays also an important role in providing the attitude control torques. Several configurations based on three or four reaction wheels are investigated in order to identify the most suitable orientation that consumes a minimum power. Such information in a coherent form is not summarized in any publication; and therefore, an extensive literature search is required to obtain these results. In addition, most of the available results are from different test conditions; hence, making them difficult for comparison purposes. In this work, the standard reaction wheel control and angular momentum unloading schemes are adopted for all the reaction wheel configurations. The schemes will be presented together with their governing equations, making them fully amenable to numerical treatments. Numerical simulations are then performed for all the possible reaction wheel configurations with respect to an identical reference mission. All the configurations are analyzed in terms of their torques, momentums and attitude control performances. Based on the simulations, the reaction wheel configuration that has a minimum total control torque level is identified, which also corresponds to the configuration with minimum power consumption.     

Spin axis orientation of Ajisai determined from Graz 2 kHz SLR data

The Graz 2 kHz Satellite Laser Ranging (SLR) measurements allow determination of the spin axis orientation of the geodetic satellite Ajisai. The high repetition rate of the laser makes it possible to determine the epoch time when the laser is pointing directly between two corner cube reflector (CCR) rings of the satellite. Identification of many such events during a few (up to 3) consecutive passes allows to state the satellite orientation in the celestial coordinate system. Six years of 2 kHz SLR data (October 2003–October 2009) delivered 331 orientation values which clearly show precession of the axis along a cone centered at 14^h56^m2.8^s in right ascension and 88.512° in declination (J2000.0 celestial reference frame) and with an half-aperture angle θ of 1.405°. The spin axis precesses with a period of 117 days, which is equal to the period of the right ascension of the ascending node of Ajisai’s orbit. We present a model of the axis precession which allows prediction of the satellite orientation – necessary for the envisaged laser time transfer via Ajisai mirrors.     

Estimation of the elastic Earth parameters (h2, l2) using SLR data

We present results for the global elastic parameters h₂ and l₂ derived from the analysis of Satellite Laser Ranging (SLR) data. SLR data for the two satellites LAGEOS 1 and LAGEOS 2 observed during 2.5 years from January 3, 2005 until July 1, 2007 with 18 globally distributed ground stations were analysed using different approaches. The analysis was done separately for the two satellites and approaches to estimate the two elastic parameters independently and together were performed. We do a sequential analysis and study the stability of the estimates as a function of length of the data set used. The adjusted final values for h₂ equal to 0.6151 ± 0.0008 and 0.6152 ± 0.0008, and those for l₂ equal to 0.0886 ± 0.0003 and 0.0881 ± 0.0003 for LAGEOS 1 and LAGEOS 2 tracking data are compared to other independently derived estimates. These parameters and their errors achieve stability at about the 24 and 27 month time interval for h₂ and l₂, respectively.     

High vertical resolution water vapour profiles in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere retrieved from MAESTRO solar occultation spectra

An algorithm has been developed that retrieves water vapour profiles in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere from optical depth spectra obtained by the Measurements of Aerosol Extinction in the Stratosphere and Troposphere Retrieved by Occultation (MAESTRO) instrument onboard the SCISAT satellite as part of the Atmospheric Chemistry Experiment (ACE) mission. The retrieval relies on ro-vibrational absorption of solar radiation by water vapour in the 926–970 nm range. During the iterative inversion process, the optical depth spectra are simulated at the spectral resolution and sampling frequency of MAESTRO using the correlated-k approximation. The Chahine inversion updates the water vapour volume mixing ratio (VMR), adjusting all retrieval layers simultaneously, to match the observed differential optical depth due to absorption by water vapour and ozone at each tangent height. This approach accounts for significant line saturation effects. Profiles are typically obtained from ∼22 km down to the cloud tops or to 5 km, with relative precision as small as 3% in the troposphere. In the lower stratosphere, the precision on water vapour VMR is ∼1.3 μmol/mol in an individual retrieval layer (∼1 km thick). The spectral capability of MAESTRO allows for the clear separation of extinction due to water vapour and aerosol, and for the fitting quality to be quantified and used to determine an altitude-dependent convergence criterion for the retrieval. In the middle troposphere, interhemispheric differences in water vapour VMR are driven by oceanic evaporation whereas in the upper troposphere, deep convection dominates and a strong seasonal cycle is observed at high latitudes.     

Improved kHz-SLR tracking techniques and orbit quality analysis for LEO missions

Satellite gravity field missions such as CHAMP, GRACE and GOCE are designed as low Earth orbiting spacecraft (LEO) with orbit heights of about 250–500 km. The challenging mission objectives require a very precise knowledge of the satellite orbit position in space. For these missions precise orbit information is typically provided by GPS satellite-to-satellite tracking (SST) observations supported by satellite laser ranging (SLR).     

AIT环境对卫星热控白漆性能影响的试验

热控白漆喷涂之后至卫星发射之前需要经过数个月的部件组装和测试（AIT）阶段,AIT环境是否影响热控白漆的性能是一个疑问。将与卫星天线相同热控ACR-1白漆的试验膜放置在AIT环境中,对其吸收率和发射率进行了六次测量。通过测量数据,对比分析了AIT过程中温度、湿度、洁净度等环境因素对热控白漆性能的影响程度。结果表明,在试验周期内,ACR-1白漆的吸收率和发射率变化量不大,对白漆性能可靠性的影响度不明显;洁净度对ACR-1白漆的吸收率影响较大。因此,在AIT阶段卫星环境应保持较高的洁净度。     

航天器应急姿态捕获中GPS信号的应用

星载全球定位系统（GPS）卫星接收机在测量接收各GPS卫星信号时,可同时得到接收信号的信号强度测量辅助数据E。理论分析表明,接收信号的强度E与信号入射天线的法向夹角α强相关。如建立E与α稳定的先验模型,E就可以作为测量值,计算入射天线的角度α。在同一时刻,通过三个以上GPS卫星信号入射天线的角度α,可计算星载GPS卫星接收机接收天线的空间姿态。确定姿态的精度取决于E与α相关先验模型的稳定性。利用CHAMP卫星星载接收机在轨实测数据检验,估算的初始姿态精度为2°~3°。该方法可作为航天器故障状态下应急姿态捕获的一种辅助手段,也可为携带星载GPS而无高精度定姿要求的简易航天器提供一种新的无附加成本的定姿途径。     

椭圆轨道卫星空间任意位置悬停的方法

对任务星施加持续的控制加速度,使其在飞行过程中相对于目标卫星的空间位置保持不变,即实现任意位置悬停飞行。通过对任务星与目标星的相对运行分析和重力差异补偿分析,给出了在飞行过程中任务星相对于运行在椭圆轨道上的目标星实现任意位置悬停所需的径向、切向和法向控制加速度公式。最后对典型悬停飞行过程进行了动力学仿真,并对不同悬停飞行任务的能量消耗进行了对比分析,表明在一段时间内对任务星进行轨道悬停是可行的。     

基于STLS的卫星惯量矩阵在轨估计

提出了一种采用结构总体最小二乘（Structured total least squares, STLS）进行卫星惯量矩阵在轨估计的方法,与当前估计方法相比,该方法在考虑敏感器测量噪声时能获得一致估计。首先由动量守恒定律得到估计方程,针对该方程的特点定义了惯量矩阵的STLS估计,并使用结构总体最小范数（Structured total least norm, STLN）算法进行求解。证明了当噪声为高斯分布时该STLS估计为极大似然估计,给出了该STLS估计具有一致性的充分条件,仿真结果验证了文章所提估计方法的有效性。     

三星构型设计与时差定位精度研究

三星时差定位是星载高精度无源定位的重要形式,需要深入研究三星编队构型设计来 改善其高精度定位性能。从三星时差定位原理出发,推导了地理经纬度位置下的误差分析模 型,提出了基于最小定位误差均方差下的最佳构型数学表达式,并分析了不同构型对误差均 方差的敏感程度;讨论了在三星编队飞行中进行构型设计与保持的问题,并根据定位误差周 期稳定性和一致性设计要求,基于轨道相对动力学方程,提出了一种卫星编队的设计;通过 仿 真研究表明,三星形成的三角形构型中,其两腰长对应地心角距低于约0.3°时或三角形趋 于共线时定位性能敏感;固定腰长情况下等腰直角三角形星座构型具有最佳误差特性;提出 的具体编队方案,在运行周期内具有定位误差小和误差特性的良好一致性,对工程设计应用 具有重要意义。