METHOD FOR DETERMINING THE SEQUENCE OF FLIGHTS BETWEEN SPACE DEBRIS OBJECTS IN THE VICINITY OF A GEOSTATIONARY ORBIT Russian patent published in 2021 - IPC B64G1/26 B64G1/66 

FIELD: space technology.

SUBSTANCE: invention relates to the field of controlling the movement of spacecraft using the reactive force generated by a high-thrust propulsion system, and using disturbances from the Moon, the Sun, the non-centrality of the Earth’s gravitational field, light pressure, leading to long-period fluctuations in the inclination of the orbits of passive objects from the vicinity of the geostationary orbit. The task is to build the most advantageous fly-by schemes for a group of space debris objects (SDO) with an accurate calculation of the maneuvers of an active spacecraft (SC) and, thus, reduce the cost of the total characteristic speed (TCS) when flying between each pair and all SDOs. This makes it possible, with the given capabilities of a particular spacecraft, to fly around the largest number of SDOs. To solve the problem, a method is proposed for determining the sequence of flights between space debris objects in the vicinity of the geostationary orbit. In this case, the sequence of flights and the fly-by scheme are selected based on the type of portrait of the evolution of the inclinations of the orbits of the SDOs. It is a set of lines describing the change in the inclinations of the planes of the orbits of objects in the approximate range [0°; 17°] relative to the equatorial plane of the Earth. The greatest TCS expenditures occur when the plane of motion of the spacecraft changes, in connection with which three fly-by schemes are considered. In the first case, flights are carried out at the moment of equality of the inclinations of the two orbits at an arbitrary value, while the mismatch in the longitude of the ascending node (LAN) can be any in magnitude and is subject to correction using the propulsion system. Such a scheme No. 0 requires significant costs of the TCS and is very sensitive to the accuracy of calculating the movement of the SDOs. In the second case, flights are performed at the moment of equality of inclinations in the equatorial region (inclinations less than 1°), where the angle between the planes remains small even with large differences in the LAN. This scheme A is advantageous in terms of the costs of the TCS, but may not allow covering all objects. In the third case, flights are also carried out in the equatorial region, however, at the moment when the inclination of the orbit of the next object reaches the minimum value. According to the costs of the TCS, this flight scheme B is close to the previous one, while all the objects under study are covered. Therefore, it is recommended as the main scheme of the SDO group fly-by from the vicinity of the geostationary orbit.

EFFECT: parameters of maneuvers that provide flight between objects are calculated on the basis of formulas for a universal non-coplanar transfer between two near-circular orbits.

1 cl, 5 dwg