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Secular dynamics of navigation satellites in the MEO and GSO regions

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Abstract

In this study, a dynamical model is developed to describe the secular evolution of navigation satellites under the geocentric reference frame with the Laplace orbit as the fundamental plane. The disturbing function, involving the effects of Earth’s oblateness and lunisolar gravitational attraction, is averaged over the orbital periods of both the satellite and the perturbers. In the regions of medium-Earth orbits and geosynchronous orbits, there are varieties of lunisolar resonances for governing the secular dynamics of navigation satellites. Among these resonances, we are interested in the ones occurring at the critical inclinations as well as the lunar node resonances. For each resonance of interest, the resonant center and width are identified analytically. Finally, dynamical maps are compared with the analytical results.

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Acknowledgements

This work was performed with the financial support of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 12073011).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Astronomy and Space Science, Nanjing University, Nanjing, 210023, China

    Hanlun Lei

  2. Key Laboratory of Modern Astronomy and Astrophysics in Ministry of Education, Nanjing University, Nanjing, 210023, China

    Hanlun Lei

  3. Department of Astronautical, Electrical and Energy Engineering, Sapienza University of Rome, Via Salaria 851, Rome, 00138, Italy

    Emiliano Ortore & Christian Circi

Authors
  1. Hanlun Lei
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  2. Emiliano Ortore
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  3. Christian Circi
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Correspondence to Hanlun Lei.

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Hanlun Lei received his Ph.D. degree in astronomy from Nanjing University, China, in 2015. Currently, he is an associate professor at the School of Astronomy and Space Science in Nanjing University. His research interest focuses on astrodynamics and celestial mechanics, including space manifold dynamics in multi-body environments as well as resonance dynamics of minor bodies.

Emiliano Ortore graduated in aerospace engineering (M.S. degree) and astronautical engineering (M.S. degree) and pursued his Ph.D. degree in aerospace engineering at Sapienza University of Rome. Since 2004, he has been working as a researcher at Sapienza University of Rome. His research fields are celestial mechanics, orbits and satellite constellations for Earth observation, telecommunication and navigation, orbits for the observation of planets, moons, and asteroids, and remote sensing applications.

Christian Circi is currently an associate professor in flight mechanics at the Department of Astronautical, Electrical and Energy Engineering, Sapienza University of Rome. He received his M.S. degrees in aeronautical engineering and aerospace engineering, and pursued his Ph.D. degree in aerospace engineering at Sapienza University of Rome. He worked as a researcher at the Grupo de Mecanica of Vuelo-Madrid (GMV), and a research assistant at the Department of Aerospace Engineering. He lecturers “interplanetary trajectories” and “flight mechanics of launcher” in the master degree course of space and astronautical engineering at Sapienza University of Rome. His principal research fields are as follows: third-body and solar perturbations, interplanetary and lunar trajectories, solar sail, orbits for planetary observation, and ascent trajectory of Launcher. He is an associate editor for the journals of Aerospace Science and Technology and the International Journal of Aerospace Engineering.

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Lei, H., Ortore, E. & Circi, C. Secular dynamics of navigation satellites in the MEO and GSO regions. Astrodyn 6, 357–374 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42064-021-0110-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s42064-021-0110-4

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