Patent ID: 7720604
Filing Date: 2010-05-18
Classification: B64G

Abstract:
1. A method for optimizing stationkeeping fuel consumption of a satellite constellation having a plurality of satellites, each satellite having a corresponding orbit, the method comprising: a first generating step of generating a plurality of initial ascending node data sets, each initial ascending node data set including an initial right ascension of ascending node (“RAAN”) value for each orbit in the constellation, each initial RAAN value within each initial ascending node data set being separated from adjacent RAAN values by at least one predetermined separation angle, and the initial RAAN values within each initial ascending node data set being separated from the initial RAAN values within an adjacent initial ascending node data set by a first step size; a second generating step of generating a plurality of RAAN drift rates, each RAAN drift rate being separated from an adjacent RAAN drift rate by a second step size; a calculating step of calculating, for each possible data combination that includes one of the plurality of initial ascending node data sets and one of the plurality of RAAN drift rates, a fuel consumption value for each satellite in the constellation corresponding to the amount of fuel required to correct for orbital perturbations and to maintain the at least one predetermined separation angle between the orbits during a predetermined mission time period, the fuel consumption value for each satellite in the constellation being stored in a fuel consumption data set corresponding to the respective data combination; a determining step of determining, for each fuel consumption data set corresponding to each respective data combination, a maximum fuel consumption value from the plurality of fuel consumption values in the fuel consumption data set; a selecting step of selecting, from the maximum fuel consumption values determined for all data combinations, the data combination corresponding to a lowest maximum fuel consumption value in comparison to all other maximum fuel consumption values, and a placing step of placing each of the plurality of satellites in the satellite constellation in the corresponding orbit based upon the selected data combination.