Real time monitoring of the Chang'E-1 lunar orbit insertion

Abstract

China's first lunar satellite Chang'E-1(CE-1) was launched on Oct. 24th 2007. During its flight to the Moon, a series of maneuvers were performed to keep the satellite in the correct trajectory. Among these maneuvers, the one performed for Lunar Orbit Insertion (LOI) was the most important since it directly decided whether the satellite could enter the mission orbit or not. Therefore, real time monitoring and estimation of the satellite's state during this stage became crucial. Our work was to set up a system to accomplish this task using as few data as possible. This system included real time data transmission as well as real time data analysis which could provide the difference between the predicted and observed measurements in the first place, and then, most importantly, it also gives the ensuing orbit insertion conditions, i.e. predicts probable future orbit parameters after the maneuver. Our method was applied for the LOI process during the actual mission. The system worked well and achieved the preconcerted goal.