TY - JOUR
T1 - Orbit-attitude coupled motion around small bodies
T2 - Sun-synchronous orbits with Sun-tracking attitude motion
AU - Kikuchi, Shota
AU - Howell, Kathleen C.
AU - Tsuda, Yuichi
AU - Kawaguchi, Jun'ichiro
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was supported by a Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research ( 15J06932 and 23560964 ) from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science . Appendix A
Publisher Copyright:
© 2017 IAA
PY - 2017/11
Y1 - 2017/11
N2 - The motion of a spacecraft in proximity to a small body is significantly perturbed due to its irregular gravity field and solar radiation pressure. In such a strongly perturbed environment, the coupling effect of the orbital and attitude motions exerts a large influence that cannot be neglected. However, natural orbit-attitude coupled dynamics around small bodies that are stationary in both orbital and attitude motions have yet to be observed. The present study therefore investigates natural coupled motion that involves both a Sun-synchronous orbit and Sun-tracking attitude motion. This orbit-attitude coupled motion enables a spacecraft to maintain its orbital geometry and attitude state with respect to the Sun without requiring active control. Therefore, the proposed method can reduce the use of an orbit and attitude control system. This paper first presents analytical conditions to achieve Sun-synchronous orbits and Sun-tracking attitude motion. These analytical solutions are then numerically propagated based on non-linear coupled orbit-attitude equations of motion. Consequently, the possibility of implementing Sun-synchronous orbits with Sun-tracking attitude motion is demonstrated.
AB - The motion of a spacecraft in proximity to a small body is significantly perturbed due to its irregular gravity field and solar radiation pressure. In such a strongly perturbed environment, the coupling effect of the orbital and attitude motions exerts a large influence that cannot be neglected. However, natural orbit-attitude coupled dynamics around small bodies that are stationary in both orbital and attitude motions have yet to be observed. The present study therefore investigates natural coupled motion that involves both a Sun-synchronous orbit and Sun-tracking attitude motion. This orbit-attitude coupled motion enables a spacecraft to maintain its orbital geometry and attitude state with respect to the Sun without requiring active control. Therefore, the proposed method can reduce the use of an orbit and attitude control system. This paper first presents analytical conditions to achieve Sun-synchronous orbits and Sun-tracking attitude motion. These analytical solutions are then numerically propagated based on non-linear coupled orbit-attitude equations of motion. Consequently, the possibility of implementing Sun-synchronous orbits with Sun-tracking attitude motion is demonstrated.
KW - Gravity irregularity
KW - Orbit-attitude coupled motion
KW - Small body
KW - Solar radiation pressure
KW - Sun-synchronous orbit
KW - Sun-tracking motion
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U2 - 10.1016/j.actaastro.2017.07.043
DO - 10.1016/j.actaastro.2017.07.043
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85030698739
VL - 140
SP - 34
EP - 48
JO - Acta Astronautica
JF - Acta Astronautica
SN - 0094-5765
ER -