Coulomb tether double-pyramid formation, a potential configuration for geostationary satellite collocation

Rui Qi; Anrui Shi; Arun K. Misra; Krishna D. Kumar; Jingrui Zhang

doi:10.1016/j.ast.2018.11.036

Coulomb tether double-pyramid formation, a potential configuration for geostationary satellite collocation

Rui Qi^*, Anrui Shi, Arun K. Misra, Krishna D. Kumar, Jingrui Zhang

^*Corresponding author for this work

School of Aerospace Engineering

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

20 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

This paper proposes the Coulomb tether double-pyramid satellite formation, which includes a cluster of charged satellites repelling each other by Debye-shielded Coulomb forces and two counterweights connecting to each satellite via elastic massless tethers. The center of mass of the formation is prescribed to move along the geostationary orbit. The equations of motion of the formation are obtained by using Lagrange's equation. Analytical individual satellite charges are derived for the spinning and non-spinning three-satellite configurations, respectively. When the number of satellites is more than three, approximate analytical charges are obtained. Numerical simulations indicate that the proposed formation may be successfully applied to the geostationary satellite collocation in the future.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	1131-1140
Number of pages	10
Journal	Aerospace Science and Technology
Volume	84
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ast.2018.11.036
Publication status	Published - Jan 2019

Keywords

Coulomb formation
Equilibrium solution
Satellite collocation
Tethered formation

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10.1016/j.ast.2018.11.036

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title = "Coulomb tether double-pyramid formation, a potential configuration for geostationary satellite collocation",

abstract = "This paper proposes the Coulomb tether double-pyramid satellite formation, which includes a cluster of charged satellites repelling each other by Debye-shielded Coulomb forces and two counterweights connecting to each satellite via elastic massless tethers. The center of mass of the formation is prescribed to move along the geostationary orbit. The equations of motion of the formation are obtained by using Lagrange's equation. Analytical individual satellite charges are derived for the spinning and non-spinning three-satellite configurations, respectively. When the number of satellites is more than three, approximate analytical charges are obtained. Numerical simulations indicate that the proposed formation may be successfully applied to the geostationary satellite collocation in the future.",

keywords = "Coulomb formation, Equilibrium solution, Satellite collocation, Tethered formation",

author = "Rui Qi and Anrui Shi and Misra, {Arun K.} and Kumar, {Krishna D.} and Jingrui Zhang",

note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2018 Elsevier Masson SAS",

year = "2019",

month = jan,

doi = "10.1016/j.ast.2018.11.036",

language = "English",

volume = "84",

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TY - JOUR

T1 - Coulomb tether double-pyramid formation, a potential configuration for geostationary satellite collocation

AU - Qi, Rui

AU - Shi, Anrui

AU - Misra, Arun K.

AU - Kumar, Krishna D.

AU - Zhang, Jingrui

PY - 2019/1

Y1 - 2019/1

N2 - This paper proposes the Coulomb tether double-pyramid satellite formation, which includes a cluster of charged satellites repelling each other by Debye-shielded Coulomb forces and two counterweights connecting to each satellite via elastic massless tethers. The center of mass of the formation is prescribed to move along the geostationary orbit. The equations of motion of the formation are obtained by using Lagrange's equation. Analytical individual satellite charges are derived for the spinning and non-spinning three-satellite configurations, respectively. When the number of satellites is more than three, approximate analytical charges are obtained. Numerical simulations indicate that the proposed formation may be successfully applied to the geostationary satellite collocation in the future.

AB - This paper proposes the Coulomb tether double-pyramid satellite formation, which includes a cluster of charged satellites repelling each other by Debye-shielded Coulomb forces and two counterweights connecting to each satellite via elastic massless tethers. The center of mass of the formation is prescribed to move along the geostationary orbit. The equations of motion of the formation are obtained by using Lagrange's equation. Analytical individual satellite charges are derived for the spinning and non-spinning three-satellite configurations, respectively. When the number of satellites is more than three, approximate analytical charges are obtained. Numerical simulations indicate that the proposed formation may be successfully applied to the geostationary satellite collocation in the future.

KW - Coulomb formation

KW - Equilibrium solution

KW - Satellite collocation

KW - Tethered formation

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U2 - 10.1016/j.ast.2018.11.036

DO - 10.1016/j.ast.2018.11.036

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85057860770

SN - 1270-9638

VL - 84

SP - 1131

EP - 1140

JO - Aerospace Science and Technology

JF - Aerospace Science and Technology

ER -

Coulomb tether double-pyramid formation, a potential configuration for geostationary satellite collocation

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Keywords

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