Station-Keeping Method for GEO All-Electric Propulsion Satellite to Avoid Forbidden Firing Position

Abstract

GEO satellite station-keeping consuming minimal propellant, to maintain the satellite longitude and latitude in a limitative area, is a constrained optimization problem. The station-keeping problem contains complex firing position constraint such as forbidden firing position during eclipse. Aiming at All-electric propulsion satellite station-keeping problem, the control model between firing parameters and orbit elements is built. A special method is put forward to solve the station-keeping strategy to avoid forbidden position. The geostationary orbit is divided into several firing segments and thruster firing is described as a series of binary codes. To calculate the firing parameters, genetic algorithm is adopted. By choosing appropriate firing segments the forbidden firing area ca be avoided. The simulation results reveal that this method can efficiently avoid forbidden firing positions and the satellite longitude and latitude can be controlled in high precision.