A small spacecraft motion control method employing inflatable braking units for deceleration while orbital flight prior to the atmospheric entry

DOI: 10.34759/vst-2020-3-23-36

Аuthors

Kul'kov V. M.^*, Yoon S. W.^**, Firsyuk S. O.^***

Moscow Aviation Institute (National Research University), 4, Volokolamskoe shosse, Moscow, А-80, GSP-3, 125993, Russia

*e-mail: vmk_1@mail.ru
**e-mail: wook4573@naver.com
***e-mail: iskramai@gmail.com

Abstract

The article considers braking modes control of the small spacecraft (SS) of the CubeSat type by aerodynamic braking units. The controllability area for hitting any atmospheric entry point employing boundary condition for the range angle and angle of entrance is under consideration. When employing aerodynamic braking system, it is necessary to tend to obtain the range angle value ensuring hitting the specified region of the Earth surface for safe fall of SS fragments and the angle of entrance guaranteeing the SS burning out in the dense atmosphere.

The problem of finding optimal control of the SS with IAD can be solved stage-by-stage. Initially the problem of minimizing the flight time from the initial orbit to the atmospheric boundary is being solved. Then the requirements for the final values of the trajectory parameters of the aerodynamic braking section are being determined. Finally, the control law σ_x(t) should be found, which ensures the SS hitting the specified region of the phase coordinates.

As the result of the proposed approach, the complex task of optimizing the trajectory of SS is reduced to solving two problems: first, at the interorbital transfer section prior to atmospheric entry, and then at the section of main aerodynamic deceleration in the atmosphere. This allows eliminating the jumps of the right-hand parts in the formulated problem and simplifying it significantly without breaking the generality.

The study of the effect of perturbing factors acting on the SS of a CubeSat type with IAD was conducted, and the impact of variations in the atmospheric density was demonstrated. Ballistic analysis was performed using various control laws of the SS using IAD with 1–2 balloons, in condition of hitting the specified area at the boundary of the atmosphere with account for the levels of solar activity. Analysis of the possibility of control by the control function changing (ballistic coefficient) was conducted. A comparative assessment of the considered control programs was performed, depending on a number of basic conditions for the restrictions of the motion control problem of the SS with IAD.

Keywords:

optimal control, small spacecraft, inflatable structures, deorbiting, space debris, control mode, ballistic analysis

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