meetings - Space Flight Mechanics Committee

Feb 13, 2013 Kauai Salon 2
SESSION 22: FLIGHT DYNAMICS OPERATIONS AND SPACECRAFT AUTONOMY
Chair: David Dunham, KinetX, Inc.
13:30 AAS Verification of the Orekit Java Implementation of the Draper Semi-analytical
13-398 Satellite Theory
Paul Cefola, University at Buffalo, State University of New York; Barry Bentley,
University at Cambridge; Luc Maisonobe, CS Communications & Systems; Pascal
Parraud, CS Communications & Systems; Romain Di-Costanzo, CS
Communications & Systems; Zachary Folcik, Arlington, MA
The verification of the java Orekit implementation of the Draper Semi-analytical Satellite
Theory (DSST) is discussed. The Orekit library for space flight dynamics has been
published under the open-source Apache license V2. The DSST is unique due to the
included force models. However, the DSST has not been readily accessible to the wider
Astrodynamics research community. Implementation in Orekit program is a comprehensive
task because it involves migrating the DSST to the object-oriented java language and to a
consistent decomposition strategy. The resolution of anomalies discovered during the
verification process is an important product of this project.
13:50 AAS CubeSat Collision Risk Analysis at Orbital Injection
13-399 Mauro Pontani, University of Rome "La Sapienza"; Chantal Cappelletti, GAUSS
s.r.l.
The CubeSat project is aimed at increasing accessibility to space, due to the limited costs
and development times for such nanosatellites. Usually Cubesats are released in clusters
and, in the absence of any maneuver capability, collision risk analysis is necessary. This
research includes a worst-case analysis, with reference to two distinct operational orbits and
two distinct release systems, after formulating the problem as a parameter optimization
problem. The results attained in this research lead to identifying some desirable
characteristics of CubeSats release systems, such as the correct timing for successive
releases, or the optimal position of the nanosatellite dispenser.
14:10 AAS Effects of the Local Plasma Environment on the Dynamics of Electrodynamic
13-400 Tether Systems
John Janeski, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University; Christopher Hall,
University of New Mexico; Wayne Scales, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State
University
Electrodynamic tether (EDT) systems consist of a long tether connecting two satellites that
develops a current for generating power or thrust via the system's electromagnetic
interaction with the space environment. A complete system model for an EDT is developed
that combines a high-fidelity tether dynamics model and a model for the tether current
governed by the local plasma properties. Variations in the tether system dynamics due to the
tether current model are investigated and compared to experimental data from the Plasma
Page 82
23 rd AAS / AIAA Space Flight Mechanics Meeting