Search

Abstract: Pure gravity orbit is an orbit removed non-gravity disturbances, which can give a more precise relation between gravity and orbit, and can be used to navigation satellite, earth gravity felid measurement, gravity wave detection and other fundamental physical test mission. In this paper, the author propose a system concept of a new pure gravity orbit acquirement method named inner formation flying system, which treats the PM and the outer satellite as a pair of formation flying satellites. The inner formation flying system consists of an outer satellite and an inner satellite. The outer satellite is a small satellite with a cavity in the center. The inner satellite is a PM flying in the housing of the outer satellite''s cavity. So the inner satellite is shielded from non-gravitational forces of atmosphere drag and radiation pressure and flies along a purely gravitational path. From the view of formation flying, the outer satellite can be treated as a formation satellite with zero or small distance to the inner reference satellite. So the analysis of mechanic and dynamics of inner formation is made at first. Then a control architecture including feed forward and feedback strategies is presented and the controller is designed. The simulation is carried out in a high precision formation flying simulation environment at last to validate the inner formation flying methods. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Q-SAT, a small spherical satellite designed and developed by Tsinghua university, was successfully launched on Aug 6, 2020 at Jiuquan satellite launch center in China. The mission of Q-Sat is the joint measurement of long-wavelength Earth gravity field and upper atmosphere density, which is of great significance for improving spacecraft orbit prediction and promoting the development of satellite gravity measurement technology. The satellite is designed in spherical shape innovatively and deploys high dynamic dual-frequency GPS as the main payload. On-orbit data shows that the atmospheric density detection precision is in the order of 10−14kg/m3 and the gravity recovery precision achieves the level of 30 orders. All mission success criteria and objectives were achieved. This paper presents the design, space mission, key technologies, science capabilities and preliminary results of the satellite. • Q-SAT, a spherical satellite for the joint measurement of long-wavelength Earth gravity field and upper atmosphere density, was launched in 2020. • An electromagnetic separation system with point connection-release structure is designed for the Q-Sat. • As secondary payload a powerful GPU module is implemented to validate artificial intelligence computing capabilities in orbit. • Modifications for the Jacchia-Roberts atmospheric density model are proposed in the paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]