405502 – Spacecraft Dynamics and Control

BS Aerospace Engineering

305506 – Spaceflight Dynamics

BS Space Science

Irfan Zafar
BS Aerospace Engineering, Institute of Space Technology
MS Space Engineering, Politecnico di Milano

1/29/2018
Lesson Plan
 Introduction to the Space
 Orbital Motion
 Coordinate Systems & Relative Motion
 The Two Body Problem
 Conic Sections
 Two-Body Trajectories
 Orbital Manoeuvres
 Orbit Perturbations
 Attitude Kinematics
 Rigid Body Dynamics
 Satellite Attitude Dynamics
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Lesson Plan (contd.)

 Single and Dual-Spin Stabilization

 Introduction to Passive Attitude Stabilization Methods
 Introduction to Three Axis Attitude Control
 Attitude Determination Hardware
 Attitude/Orbit Control Hardware

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Course Overview

 Assessment
Assignments 10%
Quizzes 10%
Project 10%
OHTs 30%
Final Exam 40%

 Course Books:
• Orbital Mechanics for Engineering Students by Howard D. Curtis
• Spacecraft Dynamics and Control by M. J. Sidi

 Reference Materials
• Orbital Mechanics by V. A. Chobotov
• Lecture notes and handouts

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 Spacecraft Subsystems, Space
Environment and Interactions

Week # 1

1/29/2018
Scope

 What is a Spacecraft?
 Spacecraft Subsystems
 Spacecraft Orbits
 Space Environment
 Environment Types for Spacecraft
 Spacecraft Environment Interactions

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Spacecraft Environment Interactions

Spacecraft
(and
components)

Spacecraft
Environment
Interactions

Space Spacecraft
Environment Orbit

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 • Structure (STR)
• Power System (PWR)
• Attitude and Orbit Control
S/C Components

System (AOCS)
• Thermal Control System (TCS)
• Communication System (COM)
• Onboard Data Handling LEO
System (OBDH) MEO

S/C Orbits
• Payload HEO
PEO
GEO
Interplanetary Orbit
Vacuum
Neutral
Plasma
Radiation
MMOD

Space Environment

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Spacecraft or Spacevehicle

 Spaceplane
 Space Shuttle
 Satellite Launch Vehicle / Rocket
 Satellite, Space probe etc.

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 Spacecraft Components

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Structure

 Demand:
 Strong, Stiff and Light
 Material:
 Al-, Be-, Mg-, Ti- Alloys
 Ceramics
 Carbon Fiber
 Armored Plastics
 Panels and Walls consist of honeycomb structures in Al
 The surface is of especial importance

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Power System

 Generates electrical power

 Solar arrays
 Fuel cells
 Radioactive sources
 Cables, relays, Batteries

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Attitude and Orbit Control System

 Senses and adjusts the spacecraft orientation in space

 Sensors:
• Star Tracker
• Horizon Sensor
• Inertial Moment Unit

 Actuators:
• Magnetic torquer
• Reaction and Momentum Wheels
• Thrusters

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Propulsion System

 Maneuvers the spacecraft into desired orbit

 Thrusters of Chemical, Electrostatic and Plasma type
 Tanks, Propellants, Plumbing

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Thermal Control System

 Deals with radiation or conduction

 Passive control with
 Thermal blankets
 Coolers
 Surface Coatings
 Active Control with
 Electrical heat element
 Heat pipes
 Venetian blinds

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Communication System

 TTC
 Telemetry, Tracking and Command
 Transmitters
 Receivers
 Antennas

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Onboard Data Handling System

 Controls the function of all the other systems

 Electronics
 Software

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Payload

 Sensors of different kinds

 Communication equipment

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 Spacecraft Orbits

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Orbits

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Space craft Orbits

21 9/10/2012
 PEO: Polar Earth Orbit:
 For satellites that study whole Earth.
 e.g. Earth resource satellite.

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GEO Geosynchronous orbit

 For satellites that rotates synchronous with the Earth.

 For example: communication satellites.
 The following gif is of two geosynchronous satellites.

23 Source: wikipedia 29/01/2018

Global Positioning System (GPS)

 Orbital height: 20,180 km

 Total satellites: 32
 Regime: 6x MEO planes

24 Source: wikipedia 29/01/2018

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Space Environment

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 Introduction

Space:
 Considered: empty, vast vacuum
 Reality:

o A dynamic place filled with trillions of objects and radiations

o Vast distances and temperature range
o Velocities: zero to speed of light
o A constantly changing space of extremes

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Where space begins?

 By International law standards, regardless of altitude:

o Lower boundary of space: lowest perigee attainable by
satellite.
o National airspace: the space above a country
o Orbiting vehicles are in space

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Lowest altitude for a satellite:

 Atmosphere decides the lowest altitude.

 Atmosphere extends to more than 1000 miles into space.
 Lowest orbit:
1. 150km for circular orbit.
2. 129km(perigee) for elliptical orbit.

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Earth’s Atmosphere

 What is atmosphere?
 Importance for satellites?

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Atmospheric regions:
 The basic division of atmosphere is on the basis of variation of the average
temperature profile with altitude. (pic)

 The regions of the atmosphere are:

 Troposphere

 Stratosphere

 Mesosphere

 Thermosphere

 Exosphere

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32
 Troposphere:

 Lowest region of atmosphere, extends to tropopause.

 Altitude range: at equator=0 to 10-15km, at poles= 0 to 10 km
 Weather occur in this layer due to:
1. Temperature decreases with altitude(17oC to -51oC).This give
rise to rapid vertical mixing giving instability.
2. High air density near surface due to gravity.
 Contains 90% of Earth’s atmosphere and 99% of Earth’s water.

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Stratosphere:

 Starts from tropopause(10-15km) and extends to stratopause(48-

53km).
 Slight rise in temperature with altitude to -2oC hence slow
vertical mixing.
 Ozone layer in stratosphere maintains life on Earth by absorbing
UV radiations coming from Sun.
 Above 9 miles:
1. Body pressure=atmospheric pressure forbidding breathing by
mask.
2. Precaution: pressurization through pressure suit.
 Above 15 miles: pressure suits generate too much heat.

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Mesosphere

 Extends from the stratopause(48-53km) to the

Mesopause(80-90km).
 Temperature decreases with altitude to minimum(-100).
 At mesosphere, both fuel and oxidizer are needed to provide
thrust.

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Thermosphere

 Extends from mesopause (80-90km) to thermopause

(320km-600km)
 Temperatures range: 500° C to 2,000°C or higher as a
result of absorption of short-wavelength radiation by N2 and
O2 .
 Above 100km, loft control surfaces don’t work as
atmosphere is too thin to generate aerodynamic
stabilization.

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Exosphere:

 Extends from thermopause (320-600km) to space.

 Density of atoms is very low
 Atoms collide with each other after travelling 1600miles in
20 min.
 Satellite orbiting are slowed by atmospheric drag caused by
friction by collision with individual molecules.

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Ionosphere:

 Extends within mesopause(50-81km) extends to 400km.

 Molecules and atoms are ionized by cosmic rays, solar X-rays
and UV radiations, in a process called photo-ionization.
 Ionization vary with day, night and altitude with solar activity.
 Auroras:
1. Auroras are the brilliant lights mostly on North and South pole
2. These are cause by interaction between ionosphere and
Earth’s magnetic field

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Aurora

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Effects of ionosphere:

 Ionosphere can reflect, absorb or delay certain radio

frequencies hence affecting communication system between
satellite and ground stations.
 Ground to ground long range communication utilize the
property of ionosphere reflection.

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Earth’s Magnetic Field

 Earth has magnetic field same as that of a bar magnet.

 Earth’s magnetic field arises from electric currents
flowing in molten metallic core of Earth.

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Earth’s Magnetic Field Distortion:

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Earth’s Magnetic Field Distortion:

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Magnetosphere:
 The region around Earth where its magnetic field is affective.
 Solar wind from Sun
1. compresses magnetic field in towards Earth.
2. Stretch out magnetic field on opposite side of Earth giving teardrop
shape.

Magnetopause:
 Boundary of magnetosphere where pressure of solar wind equals
Earth’s Magnetic field pressure.
 It is 10 Earth radii approx. on Sun ward side.
 It fluctuates between 7 to 14 Earth’s radii because of solar wind
disturbances.

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Magneto tail:

 Solar wind extends Earth’s magnetic field as a tail on

opposite side as that of sun into a long tail called magneto
tail.
 Extends out to 1000 earth’s radii.
 Plasma Sheet:
1. It is a region of high density plasma which lies within magneto
tail.
2. This is where magnetic field lines reverse direction from
Northern lobe to Southern lobe.

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Shock Wave:

 Solar wind when encounters Earth’s magnetic field deflects

resulting a shock wave.
 This shock wave is called bow shock.
 From Earth, its front lies on sunward side between 10 and 15
Earth’s radii.

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Van Allen Radiation Belts

 Van Allen radiation belt is a zone of energetic charged particles,

most of which originate from the solar wind that is captured by
and held around a planet by that planet's magnetic field

 Discovered in 1958 by interpretation of data of Explorer 1 by Dr.

James Van Allen

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 Earth’s Magnetosphere Levels:

1. Bow shock
2. Magnetosheath
3. Magnetopause
4. Magnetosphere
5. Northern tail lobe
6. Southern tail lobe
7. Plasmasphere

48 Source : Wikipedia 1/29/2018

 Spacecraft Environment Types

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Vacuum

 Lack of environment.
 At height 300 km the atmospheric density is 1015 m-3 approx.
(at sea level 1025 m-3)

Neutral
 Contains neutral atmospheric constituents; composed
primarily of neutral gas particles
 Located between 90-600 km

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Plasma

 An ionized gas composed of equal numbers of positively and

negatively charged particles is termed as plasma
 Environment consists of:
1. Ambient plasma (Ionization in atmosphere, solar wind,
particles in radiations belts).
2. The plasma which is induced by spacecraft thrusters of
plasma-type

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EM Radiation

 Radiations from
1. Sun and Earth.
2. EMI (electromagnetic Interference) caused by spacecraft
system or by arcing.
3. Surrounding plasma.
4. Nuclear sources in the spacecraft.

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MMOD
 Millions of man-made debris and
naturally occurring micrometeoroids
orbit in and around Earth's space
environment at hypervelocity speeds
averaging 10 km/s (22,000 mph)

 This "space junk" collides with spacecraft

and satellites. Collision with these
particles can cause serious damage or
catastrophic failure to spacecraft or
satellites and is a life threatening risk to
astronauts conducting extra-vehicular
activities in space

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Spacecraft Environment Interactions

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Vacuum
 Outgassing from spacecraft surface:
Molecular release from a material into the
gaseous phase

 Highly volatile, loosely bound molecules

 Solar UV can enhance surface outgassing

 It may also results in contamination which

is dangerous for spacecraft components

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Neutral:

 Aerodynamic drag (force) in

LEO.
 For asymmetrical satellites,
could also give rise to a torque

Collision with atmospheric

molecules:
 Initiates physical and chemical
changes at the spacecraft
surface, e.g. erosion,
sputtering
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Glow phenomena
 Surfaces facing the atmospheric wind produce a bright
orange glow
 Intensity of the glow depends on atmospheric density, angle
between the velocity vector and the spacecraft surface, and
surface temperature
 Result of NO2 formed in surface-aided recombination
between O and NO
 Observed on many LEO satellites
 Source of contamination for optical observations

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Plasma stream to s/c surface:

1. Changes s/c potential

 Affects Instruments
2. Charged surfaces may attract
charged particles to sensitive
surfaces
3. In LEO, spacecraft travel through
dense but low energy plasma
4. LEO spacecraft may charge to
thousands of volts, however
charging orbits is typically a greater
concern
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Electromagnetic Radiations:

 RF affects electronics
 IR affects thermal balance
 Visible affects sensors
 UV degrades material properties and give rise to charged
particles through photo-emission
 X-rays, Gamma rays can penetrate the S/C shield and give
rise to charged particles within the S/C

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MMOD

 Micrometeoroids and orbital debris (MMOD) can, due to

high K.E, cause large damage to S/C
Vs/c=6-8 km/s(in LOE) Vmm = 15-20(70) km/s

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