1) Find out Sun-synchronous orbit inclinations for circular orbit altitudes varying
from 500 km to 1200 km. Plot your result and discuss. Include your code also.
Governing equation:
(
Figure 1. Sun-synchronous orbit
Graph:
Graph1. Variation of inclination angle vs altitude
Observations:
Inclination angle for any circular orbit altitudes is greater than 90 degrees.
This is expected as then only cos(i) will be negative to ensure orbit has an a
nodal regression rate which is equals to Earths orbital rotation speed
around the Sun.
Variation of circular orbit altitude with inclination angle is almost linear in
nature. Inclination angle increases with altitude.
Coding:
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h=[500:1:1200]; %defining circular orbit altitudes
Re=6378;
%Radius of the earth
a=Re+h;
%Finding semi-major axis of elliptical path
J2=1082.63e-6; %Oblate spheroid constant
e=0;
%defining eccentricity
i=acos(-0.9856*(1-e^2)*((a./Re).^3.5)/(9.9358));
%finding the
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i=180*i/pi;
%converting radian to degrees
plot(i,h);
%plotting inclination angle vs altitude
xlabel('inclinations in degrees');
ylabel('altitudes in km');
title('Variation of sun synchronous orbit inclinations with
circular orbit altitudes ');
grid on;
inclination angle
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2) Analyse bi-elliptic transfer designs for transferring from a 1000 km orbit to
130000 km orbit for intermediate orbit radius between 200000 km and 500000
km.
(i) Plot the total impulse requirement for different intermediate orbit
(ii) Plot the period of transfer for different intermediate orbit radius.
(iii) Include your code and observations
Figure 2.Bi-elliptic transfer
Graphs:
Graph2.1. Intermediate orbital radius vs total impulse
Graph2.2. Intermediate orbital radius vs period of transfer
Observations:
From graph2.1, it is clear that the total impulse required to be provided
decreases with intermediate orbital radius and variation is not linear in
nature but somewhat quadratic.
From graph 2.2, it is evident that period of impulse increases with
intermediate orbital radius and that too nature is quadratic to some extent.
This is obvious because as the size of orbit becomes larger, the time taken
to traverse along elliptic path will increase.
In practical situations, we want low velocity impulse as well as least period of
transfer. But from above graphs, both are inversely proportional to each other
hence, both low values are difficult to obtain. So, optimization design is used to
achieve the objective.
Sometimes, this can be achieved by minimizing
where
is impulse
velocity, P is period of transfer and m, n are constant. Accordingly, the
intermediate orbital radius is chosen.
Coding(2):
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clc;
clear all;
h=[200000:1000:500000];
%defining intermediate circular orbit
radius
rc=h;
%defining radius of intermediate
circular orbit
Re=6378;
%Radius of the earth
ri=6378+1000;
%Radius of the initial orbit
rf=6378+130000;
%Radius of the final orbit
mu=398600;
%Gravitational constant of central
body
at1=(ri+rc)*.5;
%Finding semi-major axis of transfer
orbit1
at2=(rf+rc)*.5;
%Finding semi-major axis of second
transfer orbit2
Vi=sqrt(mu/ri);
%Finding velocity at first transfer
point of initial orbit
Vit1=sqrt(mu.*(2/ri-1./at1));
%Finding velocity at first transfer
point of transfer orbit1
Vt1=sqrt(mu.*(2./rc-1./at1));
%Finding velocity at second transfer
point of transfer orbit1
Vt1t2=sqrt(mu.*(2./rc-1./at2)); %Finding velocity at second transfer
point of transfer orbit2
Vt2f=sqrt(mu.*(2/rf-1./at2));
%Finding velocity at third transfer
point of transfer orbit2
Vf=sqrt(mu/rf);
%Finding velocity at third transfer
point of final orbit
delV1=(Vit1-Vi);
%first velocity impulse
delV2=(Vt1t2-Vt1);
%second velocity impulse
delV3=(Vf-Vt2f);
%third velocity impulse
VT=abs(delV1)+abs(delV2)+abs(delV3);
%total velocity impulse
t1=pi*at1.^1.5/mu^.5;
%time period taken to complete
Halfway of transfer orbit1
t2=pi*at2.^1.5/mu^.5;
%time period taken to complete halfway
of transfer orbit2
total_time=t1+t2;
%total time
figure (1);plot(rc,VT);
%plotting radius of intermediate
circular orbit vs total impulse
ylabel('Total impulse (in km/s)');
xlabel('Intermediate orbital radius (in km)');
title('Variation of total impulse with intermediate orbit
radius');
grid on
figure (2);plot(rc,total_time); %plotting radius of intermediate
circular orbit vs total time
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xlabel('Intermediate orbital radius (in km)');
ylabel('Period of transfer(in sec)');
title('Variation of period of transfer with intermediate orbital
radius (in km)');
grid on
