CONJUNCTION SCREENING AND COLLISION AVOIDANCE MANEUVER STRATEGIES FOR LOW THRUST SPACECRAFT
Authors
de Oliveira, Giuliano F.
Subjects
collision avoidance maneuver
CAM
space situational awareness
spacecraft collision probability
low-thrust
continuous-thrust
conjunction analysis
systems tool kit
STK
two-line elements
TLE catalog
special perturbation
SP catalog
screening process
risk assessment
CAM
space situational awareness
spacecraft collision probability
low-thrust
continuous-thrust
conjunction analysis
systems tool kit
STK
two-line elements
TLE catalog
special perturbation
SP catalog
screening process
risk assessment
Advisors
Romano, Marcello
Hudson, Jennifer
Date of Issue
2023-03
Date
Publisher
Monterey, CA; Naval Postgraduate School
Language
Abstract
The number of objects in space has raised concern about the risk of operational satellites and debris colliding. The U.S. Space Surveillance Network currently tracks more than 27,000 objects; of these 7,500 are active payloads and 19,500 are debris. Satellite operators follow conjunction analysis procedures to ensure safe operations in this congested environment, and it is not rare for operators to have only the systems tool kit (STK) as a conjunction analysis tool. In this case, a common approach is to perform conjunction screening using the two-line elements (TLE) catalog. Even though it is the easiest and fastest way to perform this process in STK, NASA does not recommend this practice due to TLE’s low accuracy. Instead, NASA recommends using the special perturbation (SP) catalog developed for this purpose. Yet, the use of the SP catalog in STK is less straightforward than it is for TLE. This work proposes a program that allows the use of the full SP catalog for the screening process in STK. In the conjunction analysis process, an action is required when risk of collision exceeds an acceptable limit. For low-thrust satellites, it is challenging to select and perform a conjunction avoidance maneuver (CAM) that significantly reduces the collision risk. Tangential CAM and drag maneuvers are tested for the ICEYE satellites, a small electric-propulsion SAR satellite. Results show these two approaches are feasible for the ICEYE case, but some technical concerns are identified.
Type
Thesis
Description
Series/Report No
Department
Space Systems Academic Group (SP)
Organization
Identifiers
NPS Report Number
Sponsors
Funder
Format
Citation
Distribution Statement
Approved for public release. Distribution is unlimited.
Rights
Copyright is reserved by the copyright owner.