April 4, 2025, Friday, 03:00PM (GMT+03.00, Moscow), IKI, Room 200

Abstract:

The development of small satellites has brought new problems in the attitude motion determination in single satellite missions and in the relative translational motion estimation in satellite formation flying missions. In this paper, an analytical approach for the accuracy study of motion determination algorithms based on the extended Kalman filter for satellites with an active attitude control system and a set of onboard sensors is proposed. Attitude motion estimation algorithms are developed for an onboard computer with low computational capabilities, the influence of disturbances not taken into account in the onboard motion model is studied. The algorithms are tested using attitude control system mock-ups suspended on a string, on an aerodynamic suspension and in orbit during commissioning. The dependence of the motion determination accuracy on the disturbances acting on the system but not taken into account in the motion model is established. The developed motion determination algorithms were implemented on more than 30 Russian small satellites; flight tests have shown the adequacy of the obtained analytical estimations and the reliability of the proposed algorithms for solving the tasks. The characteristics of algorithms for flexible motion estimation of a satellite with large non-rigid structural elements are studied for the case of a limited number of flexible modes of the system and using measurements from different sets of sensors. Algorithms for the relative motion determination of small spacecraft in formation flying tasks based on video image processing are proposed. The accuracy characteristics of these algorithms are evaluated for the task of determination the Chibis-M microsatellite relative motion after separation from the cargo ship, as well as for the problem of determination of the satellite motion relative to the orbital object in the planned mission of space debris objects observation.