The Research On The Application Of Electrical Propulsion Technology In GEO Satellite Orbit Control

Comparing to traditional chemical propulsion for satellite orbit control, electrical propulsion technology has many advantages such as high specific impulse, precise thrust control, etc. which can give the mission a joyful option to reduce considerable propellant to accommodate more quantity for payload use, or simply, to cut the launching cost resulting a much lighter flight vehicle. There is tremendous progress that has been made by foreign space agencies to utilize electrical propulsion technology during recent decades, applying it to orbit control, station keeping as well as some artificially designed orbit. However, our country seems to be a bit left-behind in this field.The paper mainly focuses on the research and study on the application of electrical propulsion for GEO satellites' orbit control. Based on a thoroughly investigation on the development of such technology application worldwide, the author decide to contribute some effort into two aspects, long-term station keeping control and orbit transfer control, as the major concern.In the research of GEO satellite station keeping control, the author analyzed the strategy of some matured experience and the original principle, then brought up several ideas according to the characteristics of electrical propulsion, including a Double-Arc Limit Control strategy for E/W station keeping,and Even-Distance, Even-Distribution Control strategy for N/S station keeping.In the research of GEO satellite orbit transfer control, the author developed a special strategy for the motion equation of satellite orbit transfer under small thrust after comparison with different kind of models under big thrust. The strategy takes the small thrust as one kind of perturbation similar to other natural perturbations, after modeling and derivation it gets to the motion equation during orbit transfer. With mathematical optimization, it can then reach the optimized solution. Based on these results, more conclusions have been figured out. Through simulations, the author got the characteristics for satellite motion under small thrust orbit transfer; the relations between satellite mass, transfer time, thrust and propellant quantity under different conditions; he also attempted an analysis on the certain circumstance when using chemical thrust and electrical thrust together to achieve the orbit transfer task, getting the relationship of time and thrust.At last, the paper went into the field of electrical thrusters currently being used in the industry, considering the research earlier in the combined thrust orbit transfer, the selection and comparison of thrusters has been discussed.Overall, this paper contributes as an important step for domestic research on electrical propulsion application for satellite orbit control. Also, it provides a valuable reference for research on deep space exploration and other relative fields.