Citation

Abstract

The dynamics of orbit uncertainty in an unstable orbital environment are discussed with specific application to the orbit determination of a halo orbit about the Earth-Sun L1 point. This article documents a simplified orbit determination covariance program developed under Telecommunications and Mission Operations Division Technology support. The program is ideally suited to investigate spacecraft trajectory navigation in challenging environments, where the basic dynamics of the trajectory can no longer be modeled using near-Keplerian motion. The model incorporates a range of dynamical models including the restricted three-body problem, the attendant square-root information (SRIF) and state transition matrix integrations, stochastic acceleration efiects on the SRIF matrix, and a simplified yet qualitatively accurate model of Doppler data. A series of computations is performed showcasing the program’s ability to analyze the dynamics of orbit uncertainty distribution in unstable orbital environments.

Keywords

orbit determination unstable orbits spacecraft navigation uncertainty distributions

Details

Volume
42-146
Published
August 15, 2001
Pages
1–18
File Size
681.5 KB