The benefits of very low earth orbit for earth observation missions

Crisp, Nicholas; Roberts, Peter; Livadiotti, Sabrina; Oiko, Vitor Toshiyuki Abrao; Edmondson, Steve; Haigh, Sarah J.; Huyton, Claire; Sinpetru, Luciana; Smith, Katherine; Worrall, Stephen D.; Becedas, Jonathan; Domínguez, Rosa M.; González, D.; Hanessian, V.; Mølgaard, A.; Nielsen, Jens D.; Bisgaard, Morten; Chan, Yung-An; Fasoulas, Stefanos; Herdrich, Georg; Romano, Francesco; Traub, Constantin; García-Almiñana, Daniel; Rodriguez-Donaire, Silvia; Sureda, Miquel; Kataria, D. O.; Outlaw, Ron; Belkouchi, Badia; Conte, Alexis; Perez, Jose Santiago; Villain, Rachel; Heißerer, Barbara; Schwalber, Ameli

doi:10.1016/j.paerosci.2020.100619

Cited by 141 publications

(60 citation statements)

References 42 publications

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“…Moreover, the intake design work has to be strongly linked (and iterated along) with the thruster design work, to ensure their operation in a common range of pressures, mass flows, and efficiencies. Finally, an ABEP system has great potentials on Earth observation and telecommunications in VLEO over LEO [56], and a near future ABEP technological demonstration mission is needed. A GOCE-like mission [57] could serve to experimentally validate the ABEP system.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

RF Helicon-based Inductive Plasma Thruster (IPT) Design for an Atmosphere-Breathing Electric Propulsion system (ABEP)

et al. 2020

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Challenging space missions include those at very low altitudes, where the atmosphere is source of aerodynamic drag on the spacecraft. To extend such missions lifetime, an efficient propulsion system is required. One solution is Atmosphere-Breathing Electric Propulsion (ABEP). It collects atmospheric particles to be used as propellant for an electric thruster. The system would minimize the requirement of limited propellant availability and can also be applied to any planet with atmosphere, enabling new mission at low altitude ranges for longer times. Challenging is also the presence of reactive chemical species, such as atomic oxygen in Earth orbit. Such species cause erosion of (not only) propulsion system components, i.e. acceleration grids, electrodes, and discharge channels of conventional EP systems. IRS is developing within the DISCOVERER project, an intake and a thruster for an ABEP system. The paper describes the design and implementation of the RF helicon-based inductive plasma thruster (IPT). This

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

RF Helicon-based Inductive Plasma Thruster (IPT) Design for an Atmosphere-Breathing Electric Propulsion system (ABEP)

et al. 2020

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“…Because of this, VLEOs offer the possibility to significantly decrease the number of spacecraft required to achieve desired lidar coverage in a given time. This has been previously noted in [19], but the potential reductions in spacecraft numbers and mission cost have not been investigated in detail. Ref.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 92%

Investigation of very low Earth orbits (VLEOs) for global spaceborne lidar

et al. 2022

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Very low Earth orbits (VLEOs) have been proposed as a beneficial space mission regime due to their propensity to increase instrument spatial resolution and reduce launch cost per unit mass. However, for visual instruments, these benefits come at the cost of a decreased instrument swath width. This reduction results in longer revisit periods for regions on Earth and longer time until global coverage is achieved. Conversely, light detection and ranging (lidar) as an active remote sensing technique, can benefit from larger swath widths at lower altitudes, due to the increased signal-to-noise ratio. Investigation of this relationship shows that lidar swath width is inversely proportional to altitude squared, and, as a result, the number of spacecraft required to provide a desired lidar coverage also decreases approximately in inverse proportion to altitude squared. Investigation of suitable propulsion systems shows that although propellant mass and number of thrusters required for orbit maintenance increases with decreasing altitude, the overall system mass, and hence launch cost, will, in general, tend to decrease with decreasing altitude due to the lower number of spacecraft required. For a given mission, spacecraft bus, and propulsion system, a VLEO altitude can be identified that will result in the minimum overall mission cost.

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“…In recent years, spaceflight at altitudes below 250 km is becoming an attractive option [1]. Even if several technical difficulties make it challenging to orbit at such low altitudes, making use of very low Earth orbits (VLEO) would reshape near-Earth space utilization by expanding the operational range and mission capabilities of satellite platforms [1,2]. As VLEO is closer to the Earth's surface, science and Earth observation missions would greatly benefit from improved reconnaissance conditions.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Rarefied Flow Simulation of Conical Intake and Plasma Thruster for Very Low Earth Orbit Spaceflight

et al. 2022

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Air-breathing electric propulsion has the potential to enable space missions at very low altitudes. This study introduces to a 0D hybrid formulation for describing the coupled intake and thruster physics of an air-breathing electric propulsion prototype. Model derivation is then used to formally derive main system’s key performance indicators and estimate the figure of merit for the design of rarefied flow air intakes. Achievable performance by conical intake shapes are defined and evaluated by Monte Carlo simulations. Influence of inlet flow variation is assessed by dedicated sensitivity analyses. The set of requirements and optimality conditions derived for the downstream plasma thruster suggest concept feasibility within an achievable performance range.

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The benefits of very low earth orbit for earth observation missions

Cited by 141 publications

References 42 publications

RF Helicon-based Inductive Plasma Thruster (IPT) Design for an Atmosphere-Breathing Electric Propulsion system (ABEP)

RF Helicon-based Inductive Plasma Thruster (IPT) Design for an Atmosphere-Breathing Electric Propulsion system (ABEP)

Investigation of very low Earth orbits (VLEOs) for global spaceborne lidar

Rarefied Flow Simulation of Conical Intake and Plasma Thruster for Very Low Earth Orbit Spaceflight

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