Optimized relative phase maintenance for heterogeneous area-to-mass ratio microsatellite constellations

Abstract

Long-term maintenance missions present a challenge for low-orbit heterogeneous area-to-mass ratio (AMR) microsatellite constellations due to inconsistent fuel consumption and carrying capacity. Based on the idea of cooperative control, the fuel consumption of fuel-rich satellites is properly increased in this paper to assist fuel-starved satellites in saving fuel, so as to optimize the fuel consumption balance of each satellite and extend the controllable lifetime of the constellation. The evolution of the relative phase under J2 and atmospheric drag perturbation is analyzed. The target configuration and the strategy of maintenance are modeled and optimized based on the principle of fuel consumption balance. The traditional absolute phase maintenance method for heterogeneous AMR constellation is devised. On this basis, the orbit altitude is optimized with the simulated annealing algorithm to improve the fuel consumption balance. Based on the relative phase maintenance method, the maintenance strategy is optimized with the genetic algorithm to further reduce fuel and enhance the fuel consumption balance. Finally, the three methods are contrasted.