Satellite Constellations and Formation
AAE59000
Credit Hours:
3Learning Objective:
On completing this course you shall be able to:
- Analyze orbital perturbations and their effects on satellite orbits
- Define station keeping control and related orbital maneuvers
- Design and analyze simple formation flying architectures, with special emphasis in tandem formations
- Review classical satellite constellation designs and their importance in past, current, and future space missions
- Introduction to satellite constellation theory and its application to design and mission analysis
Description:
The design and operation of satellite constellations and formation flying is a multidisciplinary endeavor covering many aspects of engineering. This course introduces the relative dynamics of satellites and their application to the design and study of formation flying and satellite constellations. To that end, this course covers orbital perturbations near the Earth, station keeping definition and related maneuvers, relative dynamics and formation flying, definition of classical satellite constellations, and analytical satellite constellation theory.
Topics Covered:
- Introduction
- Review of orbital mechanics
- Orbital perturbations
- Station keeping
- Formation flying
- Satellite constellations
- Applications of constellation theory
Prerequisites:
AAE 490 - Orbital Analysis, AAE 532 - Orbit Mechanics or equivalent. Familiarity with computer coding in any language, for instance, C, C++, Fortran, Matlab, or Python
Applied / Theory:
50/50
Web Address:
https://purdue.brightspace.com
Homework:
Homework will be assigned biweekly and posted on Brightspace. You will upload your completed homework on Gradescope. Homework is due before the start of the lecture on the due date stated on the specific homework. All the scripts used to solve these assignments should be created by you in the coding language of your preference. The homework report must be written in a word processing software (i.e. Work, LaTeX, QuarkXPress, or similar), and properly organized and structured as if it were a technical report. It should also contain a copy of all the scripts created to solve the assignment in one or several appendixes at the end of the document or in the specific problem they are used. These scripts must be properly commented and with a clear definition of variables. No homework will be accepted late or with a deficient presentation.
Projects:
None
Exams:
The course will have exams, with the option to in-person and online proctoring.
Textbooks:
No textbook is required.
Computer Requirements:
Any home computer of simple laptop should be enough to perform all the computations required during this course.
A coding language and associated software will be required in order to write scripts and subroutines to solve this course's homework. For convenience, Matlab is advisable but not compulsory. Other examples of coding languages that could be used include C, C++, Fortran, or Python.