Mothership-CubeSat radioscience for phobos geodesy and autonomous navigation
Mothership-CubeSat radioscience for phobos geodesy and autonomous navigation
The knowledge of the interior structure (e.g., homogeneous, porous, or fractured) of Martian moons will lead to a better understanding of their formation as well as the early solar system. One approach to inferring the interior structure is via geodetic characteristics, such as gravity field and libration. Geodetic parameters can be derived from radiometric tracking measurements. A feasible mothership-CubeSat mission is proposed in this study with following purposes, (1) performing inter-sat Doppler measurements, (2) improving the understanding of Phobos as well as the dynamic model, (3) securing the mothership as well as the primary mission, and (4) supporting autonomous navigation, given the long distance between the Earth and Mars. This study analyzes budgets of volume, mass, power, deployment ∆v, and link, and the Doppler measurement noise of the system, and gives a feasible design for the CubeSat. The accuracy of orbit determination and geodesy is revealed via the Monte-Carlo simulation of estimation considering all uncertainties. Under an ephemeris error of the Mars-Phobos system ranging from 0 to 2 km, the autonomous orbit determination delivers an accuracy ranging from 0.2 m to 21 m and 0.05 mm/s to 0.4 cm/s. The geodesy can return 2nd-degree gravity coefficients at an accuracy of 1‰, even in the presence of an ephemeris error of 2 km. The achieved covariance of gravity coefficients and libration amplitude indicates an excellent possibility to distinguish families of interior structures.
autonomous navigation, CubeSats, interior structure, orbit determination, Phobos, planetary geodesy, radioscience, small bodies
Chen, Hongru
8286469d-afe1-46e5-b107-694017de4d97
Rambaux, Nicolas
dbc7fcc9-fe7a-4f22-9288-de9eeabf14e2
Lainey, Valéry
fa5aea68-6aa9-4433-a7ee-31071354bcca
Hestroffer, Daniel
06b8b68f-3a94-4f2e-b434-ce6822b08c71
28 March 2022
Chen, Hongru
8286469d-afe1-46e5-b107-694017de4d97
Rambaux, Nicolas
dbc7fcc9-fe7a-4f22-9288-de9eeabf14e2
Lainey, Valéry
fa5aea68-6aa9-4433-a7ee-31071354bcca
Hestroffer, Daniel
06b8b68f-3a94-4f2e-b434-ce6822b08c71
Chen, Hongru, Rambaux, Nicolas, Lainey, Valéry and Hestroffer, Daniel
(2022)
Mothership-CubeSat radioscience for phobos geodesy and autonomous navigation.
Remote Sensing, 14 (7), [1619].
(doi:10.3390/rs14071619).
Abstract
The knowledge of the interior structure (e.g., homogeneous, porous, or fractured) of Martian moons will lead to a better understanding of their formation as well as the early solar system. One approach to inferring the interior structure is via geodetic characteristics, such as gravity field and libration. Geodetic parameters can be derived from radiometric tracking measurements. A feasible mothership-CubeSat mission is proposed in this study with following purposes, (1) performing inter-sat Doppler measurements, (2) improving the understanding of Phobos as well as the dynamic model, (3) securing the mothership as well as the primary mission, and (4) supporting autonomous navigation, given the long distance between the Earth and Mars. This study analyzes budgets of volume, mass, power, deployment ∆v, and link, and the Doppler measurement noise of the system, and gives a feasible design for the CubeSat. The accuracy of orbit determination and geodesy is revealed via the Monte-Carlo simulation of estimation considering all uncertainties. Under an ephemeris error of the Mars-Phobos system ranging from 0 to 2 km, the autonomous orbit determination delivers an accuracy ranging from 0.2 m to 21 m and 0.05 mm/s to 0.4 cm/s. The geodesy can return 2nd-degree gravity coefficients at an accuracy of 1‰, even in the presence of an ephemeris error of 2 km. The achieved covariance of gravity coefficients and libration amplitude indicates an excellent possibility to distinguish families of interior structures.
Text
remotesensing-14-01619-v2
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Accepted/In Press date: 21 March 2022
Published date: 28 March 2022
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© 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
Keywords:
autonomous navigation, CubeSats, interior structure, orbit determination, Phobos, planetary geodesy, radioscience, small bodies
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 490805
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/490805
ISSN: 2072-4292
PURE UUID: 267045a3-6667-400e-b4e3-681012dc91de
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Date deposited: 06 Jun 2024 16:59
Last modified: 15 Jun 2024 02:11
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Contributors
Author:
Hongru Chen
Author:
Nicolas Rambaux
Author:
Valéry Lainey
Author:
Daniel Hestroffer
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