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Applied Sciences
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Advances in Spacecraft Attitude and Orbital Dynamics, Control, Trajectory Planning...
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Advances in Spacecraft Attitude and Orbital Dynamics, Control, Trajectory Planning and Navigation

A special issue of Applied Sciences (ISSN 2076-3417). This special issue belongs to the section "Aerospace Science and Engineering".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 20 May 2024 | Viewed by 2096

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Weiduo Hu

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Astronautics, Beihang University, Beijing 10091, China
Interests: spacecraft navigation, control, and dynamics; orbital mechanics; simulation; attitude determination and control; optical navigation
Prof. Dr. Fu-Yuen Hsiao

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Aerospace Engineering, Tamkang University, Tamsui, New Taipei City 25137, Taiwan
Interests: astrodynamics; Hamiltonian systems; dynamics; navigation; guidance and control

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Many themes are related to traditional spacecraft dynamics and control, which incorporate spacecraft attitude and orbit dynamics and control, as well as design, testing and performance of novel attitude sensors and actuators, and also cover the dynamics and control of multiple interconnected rigid and flexible bodies, including tethered systems, and in-orbit assembly.

There is also emphasis on studies and applications related to the guidance, navigation and control of Earth-orbiting and interplanetary spacecraft, including formation flying, rendezvous and docking.

This topic also includes advances in the knowledge of natural motions of objects in orbit around the Earth, planets and minor bodies, Lagrangian points and, more generally, natural orbital dynamics of spacecraft in the Solar System, and also the attitude dynamics of a spacecraft. It also covers advances in orbit determination.

Attitude and orbit trajectory planning, control and navigation for new space applications and missions are related to spacecraft design, operations and optimization of Earth-orbiting and interplanetary missions, with emphasis on studies and experiences related to current and future space application and missions. The attitude and orbit topics include, but are not limited to:

  • Formation flying and space nets;
  • Pursuit–evasion game control of spacecraft;
  • Orbit and attitude trajectory planning;
  • Constellations of global communication or remote sensing;
  • Asteroid or comet exploration and mining;
  • In situ resource utilization in space;
  • Space-based construction and assembly;
  • Planetary entry, descent and landing rendezvous and docking;
  • Neural-network-based pose estimation;
  • Point-cloud-based pose estimation;
  • AI-based trajectory optimization.

Prof. Dr. Weiduo Hu
Prof. Dr. Fu-Yuen Hsiao
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Applied Sciences is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • orbital mechanics
  • orbital simulation
  • attitude control
  • tracking
  • trajectory prediction
  • navigation
  • guidance
  • aerospace engineering

Published Papers (4 papers)

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22 pages, 940 KiB  
Article
Multivariate Attention-Based Orbit Uncertainty Propagation and Orbit Determination Method for Earth–Jupiter Transfer
by Zhe Zhang, Yishuai Shi and Hongwei Han
Appl. Sci. 2024, 14(10), 4263; https://doi.org/10.3390/app14104263 - 17 May 2024
Viewed by 191
Abstract
Current orbit uncertainty propagation (OUP) and orbit determination (OD) methods suffer from drawbacks related to high computational burden, limiting their applications in deep space missions. To this end, this paper proposes a multivariate attention-based method for efficient OUP and OD of Earth–Jupiter transfer. [...] Read more.
Current orbit uncertainty propagation (OUP) and orbit determination (OD) methods suffer from drawbacks related to high computational burden, limiting their applications in deep space missions. To this end, this paper proposes a multivariate attention-based method for efficient OUP and OD of Earth–Jupiter transfer. First, a neural network-based OD framework is utilized, in which the orbit propagation process in a traditional unscented transform (UT) and unscented Kalman filter (UKF) is replaced by the neural network. Then, the sample structure of training the neural network for the Earth–Jupiter transfer is discussed and designed. In addition, a method for efficiently generating a large number of samples for the Earth–Jupiter transfer is presented. Next, a multivariate attention-based neural network (MANN) is designed for orbit propagation, which shows better capacity in terms of accuracy and generalization than the deep neural network. Finally, the proposed method is successfully applied to solve the OD problem in an Earth–Jupiter transfer. Simulations show that the proposed method can obtain a similar estimation to the UKF while saving more than 90% of the computational cost. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Spacecraft Attitude and Orbital Dynamics, Control, Trajectory Planning and Navigation)
15 pages, 978 KiB  
Article
Passivity-Based Control with Disturbance Observer of Electromagnetic Formation Flight Spacecraft in the Port-Hamiltonian Framework
by Jiaming Wang, Qingrui Zhou, Wei Zheng and Jiang Shao
Appl. Sci. 2024, 14(10), 4248; https://doi.org/10.3390/app14104248 - 17 May 2024
Viewed by 226
Abstract
Satellite formation flying technology currently represents a focal point in space mission research. Traditional spacecraft payload performance and lifespan are often constrained by propellant limitations. Electromagnetic Formation Flying (EMFF), a propellant-free formation flying technique, has garnered widespread attention. Its inherent strong nonlinearity and [...] Read more.
Satellite formation flying technology currently represents a focal point in space mission research. Traditional spacecraft payload performance and lifespan are often constrained by propellant limitations. Electromagnetic Formation Flying (EMFF), a propellant-free formation flying technique, has garnered widespread attention. Its inherent strong nonlinearity and coupling present challenges for high-precision control within EMFF. This paper presents the relative motion dynamics of a two-satellite EMFF in the port-Hamiltonian framework and constructs an accurate nonlinear model of the dynamics. Utilizing the concept of Interconnection and Damping Assignment and nonlinear disturbance observer, a composite disturbance-rejection passivity-based controller is designed, offering a method for controlling the magnetic dipole strength of formation satellites. Finally, numerical simulations are conducted to demonstrate the viability of the proposed dynamics model and control strategy. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Spacecraft Attitude and Orbital Dynamics, Control, Trajectory Planning and Navigation)
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22 pages, 2642 KiB  
Article
Revisiting the Numerical Evaluation and Visualization of the Gravity Fields of Asteroid 4769 Castalia Using Polyhedron and Harmonic Expansions Models
by Weiduo Hu, Tao Fu and Chang Liu
Appl. Sci. 2024, 14(10), 4058; https://doi.org/10.3390/app14104058 - 10 May 2024
Viewed by 581
Abstract
For the convenience of comparison with previous literature, the gravity calculations are revisited for the Asteroid 4769 Castalia, but with extensions on its surface and on intersecting planes and spheres around it, using the polyhedron and harmonic expansion methods with different order and [...] Read more.
For the convenience of comparison with previous literature, the gravity calculations are revisited for the Asteroid 4769 Castalia, but with extensions on its surface and on intersecting planes and spheres around it, using the polyhedron and harmonic expansion methods with different order and degree for different cases, especially including the gravitational accelerations inside the asteroid, which did not appear at all before. In these evaluations, a few different facts of the these methods and results are revealed, such as the fact that gravity diverges when the position radius is less than the mean radius from harmonic-expansion method, and the maximum gravity is not at the deep valley and mountain top. For a surface that intersects the asteroid, the maximum gravity on it is at the intersection lines between the asteroid surface and the spheres or planes. This means that on the sphere and the plane, the gravities inside and outside the asteroid are smaller than the gravity on the intersection, i.e., on the surface. Some analyses of these conclusions are given with many examples with different radii of the sphere and with different order and degree harmonic expansion models for the above asteroid surface and surrounding spheres. It is interesting to note that very few researchers know that the polyhedral method can also be used to calculate the gravity inside an asteroid with just some modifications of the code. Some special gravity figures on surface and planes inside the asteroid Castalia are computed and made for the first time. The calculations also include tangential gravity, potential, and gravitational slope on surface. Specifically, we find that the overall mean gravitational slope could be one kind of indicator of the density of an asteroid. The minimum overall mean slope happens when the asteroid density is about 2.9 g/cm3, which is much larger than a usually assumed value between 1.7 and 2.5 for asteroid Castalia when its period is 4.07 h, since rotation period should be a more accurate parameter than its estimated density. These conclusions about this typical prolate-like asteroid could be a benchmark for analyzing other similar asteroids. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Spacecraft Attitude and Orbital Dynamics, Control, Trajectory Planning and Navigation)
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14 pages, 4349 KiB  
Article
Optimal Trajectories of Diffractive Sail to Highly Inclined Heliocentric Orbits
by Giovanni Mengali and Alessandro A. Quarta
Appl. Sci. 2024, 14(7), 2922; https://doi.org/10.3390/app14072922 - 29 Mar 2024
Viewed by 449
Abstract
Recent literature indicates that the diffractive sail concept is an interesting alternative to the more conventional reflective solar sail, which converts solar radiation pressure into a (deep space) thrust using a thin, lightweight highly reflective membrane, usually metalized. In particular, a diffractive sail, [...] Read more.
Recent literature indicates that the diffractive sail concept is an interesting alternative to the more conventional reflective solar sail, which converts solar radiation pressure into a (deep space) thrust using a thin, lightweight highly reflective membrane, usually metalized. In particular, a diffractive sail, which uses a metamaterial-based membrane to diffract incoming solar rays, is able to generate a steerable thrust vector even when the sail nominal plane is perpendicular to the Sun–spacecraft line. This paper analyzes the optimal transfer performance of a diffractive-sail-based spacecraft in a challenging heliocentric scenario that is consistent with the proposed Solar Polar Imager mission concept. In this case, the spacecraft must reach a near-circular (heliocentric) orbit with a high orbital inclination with respect to the Ecliptic in order to observe and monitor the Sun’s polar regions. Such a specific heliocentric scenario, because of the high velocity change it requires, is a mission application particularly suited for a propellantless propulsion system such as the classical solar sail. However, as shown in this work, the same transfer can be accomplished using a diffractive sail as the primary propulsion system. The main contribution of this paper is the analysis of the spacecraft transfer trajectory using a near-optimal strategy by dividing the entire flight into an approach phase to a circular orbit of the same radius as the desired final orbit but with a smaller inclination, and a subsequent cranking phase until the desired (orbital) inclination is reached. The numerical simulations show that the proposed strategy is sufficiently simple to implement and can provide solutions that differ by only a few percentage points from the optimal results obtainable with a classical indirect approach. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Spacecraft Attitude and Orbital Dynamics, Control, Trajectory Planning and Navigation)
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