Applied Aspects of Optimization of Orbital Structures of Satellite Systems by Specifying Parameters of Orbital Motion

Abstract

The paper deals with issues related to optimizing the ballistic structure of a satellite system for remote sensing of the Earth. Approaches to the ballistic design of the satellite system, previously developed by specialists from various scientific schools, were focused on maintaining the structural stability of the system by deploying groupings with the same geometry and with the same inclinations, which ensured the same age-old departures of elements from all the orbits. At the same time, there is a whole range of tasks that require the formation of a satellite system in different orbits. To achieve the required level of stability of a new cluster of orbital structures we provide an approach, including: heuristic formation of many target different height orbits; identifying some basic near-circular orbit; selection of possible variants of iterative quasi-synchronous orbits; coordination of the composition of the vector of characteristics of traffic conditions and final calculation of an acceptable option that provides the specified accuracy of the route closure cycle. Testing of the proposed approach is carried out on the example of determining the parameters of orbits that ensures equality of effective days in a given range of heights. The method of selecting the degree of consideration of various physical factors of the space environment, which ensures the achievement of identical deviations of the forecast trajectory from the reference one, is presented. The characteristics of the mathematical model of quasi-synchronous orbit motion used in forecasting are calculated from the condition of stability at a given time interval. To get the appropriate estimates, we use corrections to the orbit parameters given from the Greenwich coordinate system. A detailed algorithm is described that provides the possibility of unambiguously determining the characteristics of a stable structure, in the implementation of which the transition from the solution of a normal system of equations to the solution of two triangular systems is performed. The analysis of the subject area has shown that the proposed approach is new, and the solved scientific problem belongs to the class of inverse problems of space cybernetics.