Low Earth Orbit Slotting for Space Traffic Management Using Flower Constellation Theory
Name
2020_scitech06.pdf
Description
Accepted version
Size
673.25 KB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
0e3ddf4799a007b319e18a597f094534
Author(s)
Arnas, David
Lifson, Miles
Linares, Richard
Avenda, Martin
Date Issued
January 2020
Journal
AIAA Scitech 2020 Forum
Publisher
American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA)
Citation
Arnas, David, Lifson, Miles, Linares, Richard and Avenda, Martin. 2020. "Low Earth Orbit Slotting for Space Traffic Management Using Flower Constellation Theory." AIAA Scitech 2020 Forum, 1 PartF.
Version
Author's final manuscript
Abstract
This paper proposes the use of Flower Constellation (FC) theory to facilitate the design of a Low Earth Orbit (LEO) slotting system to avoid collisions between compliant satellites and optimize the available space. Specifically, it proposes the use of concentric orbital shells of admissible “slots” with stacked intersecting orbits that preserve a minimum separation distance between satellites at all times. The problem is formulated in mathematical terms and three approaches are explored: random constellations, single 2D Lattice Flower Constellations (2D-LFCs), and unions of 2D-LFCs. Each approach is evaluated in terms of several metrics including capacity, Earth coverage, orbits per shell, and symmetries. In particular, capacity is evaluated for various inclinations and other parameters. Next, a rough estimate for the capacity of LEO is generated subject to certain minimum separation and station-keeping assumptions and several trade-offs are identified to guide policy-makers interested in the adoption of a LEO slotting scheme for space traffic management.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics
Terms of Use
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike
Persistent DSpace Link
DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.2514/6.2020-0721
