Session
Technical Session VII: Spacecraft Systems and Standards
Abstract
A parameter estimator for accurate analytic propagation of Epicyclic orbits to be used on board a spacecraft is developed as a replacement of high precision computationally expensive numerical propagators. Long term propagation of orbits using analytical descriptions needs proper choice of orbital parameters. The question arises on how to choose these orbital parameters of an analytical approximation appropriate to a given choice of orbital parameters for the numerically propagated orbit obtained from full nonlinear equations of motion such that the two trajectories remain sufficiently close to each other for long terms usually a week. In this paper we employed statistical data regression technique to accurately determine linear secular growths in argument of latitude and right ascension of the ascending node of an Epicyclic model1. This enables precise determination of semi-major axis and inclination of the orbit valid for longer durations with fixed secular variations. Accurately fixing secular quantities minimizes the average drift and improves fidelity over longer periods.
Presentation Slides
Epicycle Parameter Filter for Long Term Orbital Parameter Estimation
A parameter estimator for accurate analytic propagation of Epicyclic orbits to be used on board a spacecraft is developed as a replacement of high precision computationally expensive numerical propagators. Long term propagation of orbits using analytical descriptions needs proper choice of orbital parameters. The question arises on how to choose these orbital parameters of an analytical approximation appropriate to a given choice of orbital parameters for the numerically propagated orbit obtained from full nonlinear equations of motion such that the two trajectories remain sufficiently close to each other for long terms usually a week. In this paper we employed statistical data regression technique to accurately determine linear secular growths in argument of latitude and right ascension of the ascending node of an Epicyclic model1. This enables precise determination of semi-major axis and inclination of the orbit valid for longer durations with fixed secular variations. Accurately fixing secular quantities minimizes the average drift and improves fidelity over longer periods.
