Long term dynamics and optimal control of nano-satellite deorbit using a short electrodynamic tether

This paper studies the long term dynamics and optimal control of a nano-satellite deorbit by a short electrodynamic tether. The long term deorbit process is discretized into intervals and within each interval a two-phase optimal control law is proposed to achieve libration stability and fast deorbit simultaneously. The first-phase formulates an open-loop fast-deorbit control trajectory by a simplified model that assumes the slow-varying orbital elements of electrodynamic tethered system as constant and ignores perturbation forces other than the electrodynamic force. The second phase tracks the optimal trajectory derived in the first phase by a finite receding horizon control method while considering a full dynamic model of electrodynamic tether system. Both optimal control problems are solved by direct collocation method base on the Hermite–Simpson discretization schemes with coincident nodes. The resulting piecewise nonlinear programing problems in the sequential intervals reduces the problem size and improve the computational efficiency, which enable an on-orbit control application. Numerical results for deorbit control of a short electrodynamic tethered nano-satellite system in both equatorial and highly inclined orbits demonstrate the efficiency of the proposed control method. An optimal balance between the libration stability and a fast deorbit of satellite with minimum control efforts is achieved.