AE 322 Spaceflight Mechanics

(Assignment 2)

Submitted by:Tanmay Singhal SC11B053

Problem

1) Find out Sun-synchronous orbit inclinations for circular orbit altitudes varying from 500 km to 1200 km. Plot your result and discuss. Include your code also. Answer. Sun-synchronous Orbit Design A sun synchronous orbit has a nodal regression rate which matches the Earth's orbital rate around the Sun. The orbit plane of a sun synchronous orbit maintains a fixed geometry with respect to the Earth-Sun line. This requirement implies that a sun synchronous orbit is always retrograde with an orbital incl are useful because they provide near-constant Sun angles relative to a satellite viewing a fixed location on the Earth's surface. The sun synchronous governing equation is

Cosi +{

where we =orbital rate of the Earth (0.985 degrees/day) a =semimajor axis e =orbital eccentricity i =orbital inclination mu=gravitational constant of the Earth req =equatorial radius of the Earth J2 =second zonal gravity harmonic of the Earth n = This algorithm starts with an initial guess for the orbital inclination given by i0=cos-1{ ( ) }

It then computes the perturbed mean motion based on this value of inclination using the following expression: n = { ( ) ( )}

MATLAB CODE:clc; clear all; mu = 398600.440; % Earths gravitational parameter [km^3/s^2] Re = 6378; % Earth radius [km] J2 = 0.0010826269; % Second zonal gravity harmonic of the Earth we = 1.99106e-7; % Mean motion of the Earth in its orbit around the Sun [rad/s] % Input Alt = 500:5:1200; % Altitude,Low Earth orbit (LEO) a = Alt + Re; % Mean semimajor axis [km] e = 0.0; % Eccentricity h = a*(1 - e^2); % [km] n = (mu./a.^3).^0.5; % Mean motion [s-1] tol = 1e-10; % Error tolerance % Initial guess for the orbital inclination i0 = 180/pi*acos(-2/3*(h/Re).^2*we./(n*J2)); err = 1e1; while(err >= tol ) % J2 perturbed mean motion np = n.*(1 + 1.5*J2*(Re./h).^2.*(1 - e^2)^0.5.*(1 - 3/2*sind(i0).^2)); i = 180/pi*acos(-2/3*(h/Re).^2*we./(np*J2)); err = abs(i - i0); i0 = i; end plot(Alt,i,'.b'); grid on;hold on; xlabel('Altitude,Low Earth orbit'); ylabel('Mean orbital inclination'); title('Sun-Synchronous Circular Orbit,Inclination vs Altitude'); hold off;

Problem 2) Analyse bi-elliptic transfer designs for transferring from a 1000 km orbit to 130000 km orbit for intermediate orbit radius between 200000 km and 500000 km. (i) Plot the total impulse requirement for different intermediate orbit radius (ii) Plot the period of transfer for different intermediate orbit radius. (iii) Include your code and observations.

Solution 1).

ii)

iii)MATLAB CODE:clc; clear all; %constant mu = 398600; % Earths gravitational parameter [km^3/s^2] R_earth=6378; % [km]Radius of earth H_I=1000 ; % [km] initial orbit altitude R_I=R_earth+H_I; %[km] total radius of initial altitude H_F=130000; % [km] final orbit altitude R_F=R_earth+H_F; %[km] total radius of final altitude %transfer from initial orbit to transfer orbit 1 V_I=(mu/R_I)^.5; %[km/s] velocity in initial orbit y=200000:10000:500000; %altitude of intermediate orbits x=206378:10000:506378;%distance from centre of earth to intermediate orbits a_T1=(R_I+x)/2; % [km] semi-major axis of transfer orbit 1

V_T1=(mu*((2/R_I)-(1./a_T1))).^.5; % [km/s]velocity at periapsis of transfer orbit 1 Delta_V1=abs(V_T1-V_I); %[km/s] impulse in transfer orbit 1

%transfer from transfer orbit 1 to transfer orbit 2 APO_T1=2*a_T1-R_I; %{km] apoapsis distance in transfer orbit 1. V_apoT1=(mu*((2./APO_T1)-(1./a_T1))).^.5; a_T2=(x+R_F)/2 ; % [km] semi-major axis of transfer orbit 2

V_apoT2=(mu*((2./APO_T1)-(1./a_T2))).^.5; %[km/s] velocity at apoapsis in second transfer orbit Delta_V2=abs(V_apoT2-V_apoT1); % [km/s] impulse given for transfer orbit 1 to transfer orbit 2 %transfer from transfer orbit 2 to final orbit V_Rf=(mu./R_F).^.5; % [km/s] velocity in final orbit V_PerT2=(mu*((2/R_F)-(1./a_T2))).^.5; %[km/s]velocity at periapsis of transfer orbit 2 Delta_V3=abs(V_PerT2-V_Rf);%impulse given from transfer orbit2 to final orbit del_Vnet=Delta_V1+Delta_V2+Delta_V3;%net impulse given in transfer from initial to final T_per=(pi*((((a_T2).^3/(mu)).^.5)+(((a_T1).^3/(mu)).^.5)))./(24*3600); % [days] time period; figure(1); hold on;grid on; plot(y,del_Vnet); xlabel('Altitude [km]'); ylabel('IMPULSE net'); title('the total impulse for different intermediate orbit'); figure(2); hold on;grid on; plot(y,T_per); xlabel('Altitude [km]'); ylabel('Period [Days]'); title('total transfer period as a function of intermediate orbits');

Observations:1.)Net impulse in bi-elliptic transfer decreases with increase in intermediate orbit altitude. 2.) Total time period in transfer increases with increase in intermediate orbit altitudes. 3.)For real application, there is intermediate value chosen for net impulse and total impulse orbit.