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Autonomous navigation of an asteroid orbiter enhanced by a beacon satellite in a high-altitude orbit

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Abstract

This study aims to assess the autonomous navigation performance of an asteroid orbiter enhanced using an inter-satellite link to a beacon satellite. Autonomous navigation includes the orbit determination of the orbiter and beacon, and asteroid gravity estimation without any ground station support. Navigation measurements were acquired using satellite-to-satellite tracking (SST) and optical observation of asteroid surface landmarks. This study presents a new orbiter–beacon SST scheme, in which the orbiter circumnavigates the asteroid in a low-altitude strongly-perturbed orbit, and the beacon remains in a high-altitude weakly-perturbed orbit. We used Asteroid 433 Eros as an example, and analyzed and designed low- and high-altitude orbits for the orbiter and beacon. The navigation measurements were precisely modeled, extended Kalman filters were devised, and observation configuration was analyzed using the Cramer–Rao lower bound (CRLB). Monte Carlo simulations were carried out to assess the effects of the orbital inclination and altitudes of the orbiter and beacon as key influencing factors. The simulation results showed that the proposed SST scheme was an effective solution for enhancing the autonomous navigation performance of the orbiter, particularly for improving the accuracy of gravity estimation.

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Acknowledgements

This research was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 12003054) and Strategic Pilot Science and Technology (Project No. XDA3000000). Leizheng Shu acknowledgments support from the Youth Innovation Promotion Association of Chinese Academy of Science.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China

    Weidong Yin, Leizheng Shu & Yang Gao

  2. Key Laboratory of Space Utilization, Technology and Engineering Center for Space Utilization, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100094, China

    Weidong Yin, Yu Shi, Leizheng Shu & Yang Gao

Authors
  1. Weidong Yin
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  2. Yu Shi
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  4. Yang Gao
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Correspondence to Leizheng Shu.

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Additional information

Weidong Yin received his B.S. degree from the School of Aeronautics and Astronautics of Dalian University of Technology, China, in 2017. He is currently studying for his Ph.D. degree in Technology and Engineering Center for Space Utilization, Chinese Academy of Sciences (University of Chinese Academy of Sciences). His research interests include spacecraft autonomous navigation and the gravity field about asteroids.

Yu Shi received his B.S. and Ph.D. degrees in aerospace engineering from Beihang University, China, in 2014 and 2019, respectively. He is currently an assistant research fellow with the Technology and Engineering Center for Space Utilization, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China. His research interests include asteroid exploration, spacecraft dynamics and control.

Leizheng Shu received his Ph.D. degree from School of Astronautics, Beihang University in 2015, and before that he also received his M.Eng. and B.Eng. degrees from the same university in 2012 and 2009, respectively. He is now a research professor in Technology and Engineering Center for Space Utilization, Chinese Academy of Sciences. The focus of his current research lies in intelligent perception and autonomous navigation of spacecraft.

Yang Gao received his B.S. and M.S. degrees from Beihang University and Chinese Academy of Sciences in 1997 and 2000, respectively. He received his Ph.D. degree in 2003 at the University of Missouri, Columbia, USA. From 2004 to 2005, he was a postdoctoral research fellow at the University of Missouri. Since June 2005, he has been an associate research fellow at Academy of Opto-Electronic, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Currently, he is a research professor at Technology and Engineering Center of Space Utilization, Chinese Academy of Sciences. His academic interests include orbit determination, spacecraft dynamics and control, guidance and navigation, trajectory optimization, and space mission design.

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Yin, W., Shi, Y., Shu, L. et al. Autonomous navigation of an asteroid orbiter enhanced by a beacon satellite in a high-altitude orbit. Astrodyn 8, 375–400 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42064-023-0172-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s42064-023-0172-6

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