A-B-Cs of Sun-Synchronous Orbit Mission

Design
Ronald J. Boain
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
California Instituteof Technology

AAS/AIAA Space Flight Mechanics Conference

Maui, Hawaii
8-12 February 2004

9 February 2004
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Earth’s orbital

MLT
MLT = Mean Local Time
of Ascending Node
9 February 2004
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 Sun-Synchronous Condition: Inclination vs. Altitude
(e = 0)

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9 February 2004 Altitude, km
 Reckoning Time

Understanding how time is reckoned is a complex subject

- Sidereal time
- Apparent solar time
- Mean solar time
Sidereal time is based on the earth’s rotation rate relative to the starshernal
equinox and is not useful for reckoning time since it loses approximately 4
minutes per day measured in mean solar time
Apparent solar time is inconvenient since the sun’s motion is not regular
with respect to the background stars and can vary > I 6 min per day
- Obliquity of the ecliptic, i.e., sun’s change in declination
- Elliptic earth orbit, i.e., The Equation of Time
Only mean solar time based on the mean sun crossing the mean solar
meridian is consistent with 86400 seconds per day
The MLT for SS-Os is also based on the mean solar meridian

9 February 2004
 System Engineering the Mission Design
I Stated Science Requirements1
I
Desires
Limitation on the range to a
target; viewing angle constraints
Number and distribution of
targets to be observed (for
discrete targets)
I Area coverage to be provided
(for continuous targets)
~~~
I Frequency with which
targetdareas are to be sampled
Sun-lighting conditions to be
provided (for optical
measurements)
Seasonal considerations of
observations
Overall duratiodperiod of time
necessary to measure some
9 February 2004
Motivating Traceable Orbit
Objective or CharacteristiclParameter
instrument
Characteristic
Instrument sensitivity, resolution, Orbit altitude
field of viewkwath-width,
allowable elongation/ distortion
over a footprint, etc.
Unique geographic targets to be Orbit altitude, inclination;
measured groundtrack grid density;
groundtrack tied point to achieve
over-flight of specific latllon
Percentage of earth's surface to
be accessible for observation
Orbit inclination, altitude
Allowable time interval before a
repeat observation is possible
Consistent sun shadows for
Orbit altitude
Orbit nodal position and/or nodal
targets Mean Local Time; orbit
inclination
Visual access to Antarctica (for Orbit nodal position and/or nodal
example) during Antarctic Mean Local Time; orbit
summer inclination
Life expectancy for instruments, Orbit altitude
system, mission life
 Delta ELV Performance to SS-0 Altitude
NASA ELV Performance Estimation Curve(s)
LEO Circular with inclination Sun- Sy nchronous
Please note ground rules and assumptions below.

3,800
3,600
3,400
3,200
3,000
.--.2,800
m
2,600
$ 2,400
= 2,200
2,000
1,800
1,600
1,400
1,200

200 400 600 800 1,000 1,200 1,400 1,600 1,800 2,000
Altitude &m)
9 February 2004
 Orbit Parameters for SS-Os
with an Integer Number of Revs in One-Day

Five solutions, corresponding to Revs per Orbital Equator Dist

Day, ## Period, Altitude, betw/ Adj
12, 13, 14, 15, & 16 revs per day, sec km GTs, km
exist over a range of altitudes
12 7200.00 1680.86 3339.59
desired for low earth SS-Os
(q=51.5")
The equatorial altitude for these
solutions ranges between 250 and 13 6646.15 1262.09 3082.69
1680 km (q=56.1")
These solutions have coarse GT
6171.43 893.79 2862.50
grids, Le., >2500 km between
(q=61.I")
adjacent groundtracks
- q is the angle subtended from 15 5760.OO 566.89 2671.67
the nadir direction to the (y66.7")
adjacent groundtrack
Although interesting orbits, they 16 5400.oo 274.42 2504.69
(qz72.7")
provide only localized coverage

9 February 2004
 SS-Os with Finer GT Grids

Next consider SS-Os which repeat their GT in two-days:

- If solutions exist for all integers between 12 and 16 for the one-
day repeat, then solutions exist for integers between 24 and 32
for the two-day repeat:
24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30,31, 32
- Apparently 9 possible solutions
A quick calculation shows that solutions for 24, 26, 28, 30, and 32
are degenerate with 12,. .. 16 for one-day repeats, Le., they have
identically the same periods, with the integer solutions for the one-
day repeat
- Therefore, there are only four new solutions for the two-day
repeat, but these have 25,27,29, and 31 revs, thereby
decreasing the spacing between nodes at the expense of
increasing the re-visit time ("access'l)

9 February 2004
 Notation for Solutions with
R Revs in D Days

Extending the previous reasoning, repeat GT orbits can be found for

3,4,5,6,7 ,... and so forth days
Example: Thee-day repeat orbits
36, 37, 38, 39,40,41,42,43,44,45,46,47,48
Removing the degenerate solutions yields 8 unique solutions which
repeat their GT in three-days:
37, 38,40,41,43,44,46,47
A convenient notation for one of these solutions is:
3D43R = 3-day repeat in exactly 43 revs or
3D47R = 3-day repeat in exactly 47 revs and so forth
Another example: Seven-day repeat orbit solutions =>
7D85R, 7D86R, 7D87R, ... 7D109R, 7D111R

9 February 2004
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9 February 2004
 Analemma in Declination - Equation of Time Space
Annelemma 2005

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Equation of Time

9 February 2004
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2003 EOSPM1.EpochText ()

9 February 2004
 Orbit Plane Geometry for Computing
the Time Spent in Shadow
Given Spherical Triangle A-B-C,
the Law of Cosines gives:

cos(9/2)=cos(q)lcos(p)
rr
1."
ngular Momentum

Orbit Plane

A
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9 February 2004 Earth Earth's figure
 Summary

SS-Os are defined as low earth orbits which have a nodal

precession rate equal to the earth’s Mean Motion
- There is a unique coupling between orbit altitude and inclination
to achieve this precession rate as implied by Eq. 1
- This precession has the effect of making the position of the
nodes with respect to the mean sun remain fixed (to first order)
SS-0 altitudes can be selected to provide a repeat groundtracks in
an integer number of revs in an integer number of days
Sun-lighting conditions on the orbit and for observations made from
the orbit can be determined by selecting the MLT
The paper provides several simple algorithms that enable the
calculation of altitude (hence inclination) and MLT to satisfy common
mission requirements

9 February 2004
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