Orbital dynamics of “smart-dust” devices with solar radiation pressure and drag
Orbital dynamics of “smart-dust” devices with solar radiation pressure and drag
This paper investigates how perturbations due to asymmetric solar radiation pressure, in the presence of Earth
shadow, and atmospheric drag can be balanced to obtain long-lived Earth-centered orbits for swarms of microscale
“smart-dust” devices, without the use of active control. The secular variation of Keplerian elements is expressed
analytically through an averaging technique. Families of solutions are then identified in which sun-synchronous
apse-line precession is achieved passively to maintain asymmetric solar radiation pressure. The long-term orbit
evolution is characterized by librational motion, progressively decaying due to the nonconservative effect of
atmospheric drag. Long-lived orbits can then be designed through the interaction of energy gain from asymmetric
solar radiation pressure and energy dissipation due to drag. In this way, the usual short drag lifetime of such higharea-
to-mass spacecraft can be greatly extended (and indeed selected). In addition, the effect of atmospheric drag can
be exploited to ensure the rapid end-of-life decay of such devices, thus preventing long-lived orbit debris
1613-1631
Colombo, Camilla
595ced96-9494-40f2-9763-ad4a0f96bc86
McInnes, Colin
58a93321-a76d-42f9-9c2f-bfb659124b78
November 2011
Colombo, Camilla
595ced96-9494-40f2-9763-ad4a0f96bc86
McInnes, Colin
58a93321-a76d-42f9-9c2f-bfb659124b78
Colombo, Camilla and McInnes, Colin
(2011)
Orbital dynamics of “smart-dust” devices with solar radiation pressure and drag.
Journal of Guidance, Control, and Dynamics, 34 (6), .
(doi:10.2514/1.52140).
Abstract
This paper investigates how perturbations due to asymmetric solar radiation pressure, in the presence of Earth
shadow, and atmospheric drag can be balanced to obtain long-lived Earth-centered orbits for swarms of microscale
“smart-dust” devices, without the use of active control. The secular variation of Keplerian elements is expressed
analytically through an averaging technique. Families of solutions are then identified in which sun-synchronous
apse-line precession is achieved passively to maintain asymmetric solar radiation pressure. The long-term orbit
evolution is characterized by librational motion, progressively decaying due to the nonconservative effect of
atmospheric drag. Long-lived orbits can then be designed through the interaction of energy gain from asymmetric
solar radiation pressure and energy dissipation due to drag. In this way, the usual short drag lifetime of such higharea-
to-mass spacecraft can be greatly extended (and indeed selected). In addition, the effect of atmospheric drag can
be exploited to ensure the rapid end-of-life decay of such devices, thus preventing long-lived orbit debris
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Published date: November 2011
Organisations:
Astronautics Group
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 342322
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/342322
ISSN: 0731-5090
PURE UUID: e8cc1760-d91b-4ba1-a671-9aaf37b177fc
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Date deposited: 22 Aug 2012 10:10
Last modified: 14 Mar 2024 11:49
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Author:
Camilla Colombo
Author:
Colin McInnes
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