Part A

1. What are perturbation forces on satellite?

2. What is J2 effect on satellite?

There is a perturbing force based on this oblate Earth called "J2

Perturbations. The term J2 comes from an infinite series mathematical
equation that describes the perturbational effects of oblation on the
gravity of a planet. The coefficients of each term in this series is
described as Jk, of which J2, J3, and J4 are called "zonal coefficients."
However, J2 is over 1000 times larger than the rest and has the
strongest perturbing factor on orbits.
The two main orbital elements affected by J2 Perturbations are the Right
Ascension of the Ascending Node (Ω) and the Argument of Perigee (ω).
If we were to model the Earth as a perfect sphere with a uniform
gravitational field, the RAAN and argument of perigee would not change.
But since our Earth is not really a perfect sphere, it is important that we
account for this perturbation.
J2 perturbations will move the RAAN over time at a constant rate
depending on the orbit's size, shape, and inclination. Using this property
of J2 perturbations, we can manipulate our orbit so that the RAAN
changes at a rate of 360 degrees per year, keeping the orbit in the same
orientation with respect to the Sun. This is called a "Sun-Synchronous
Orbit".
3. How can the oblateness of Earth impart torque to change the longitude of
ascending node of a satellite?

The oblateness of the Earth also causes the perigee to move in the orbit plane,
so that the satellite altitude over a target will vary. However, this can be
overcome by choosing the right location of the perigee and the right
eccentricity. Thus, it is possible to obtain a constant altitude sun-synchronous
orbit.

4. What is Radiation Pressure Effects?

5. J2 perturbation is favorable to which type of satellite?

6. Which perturbation forces are dominating on Geostationary satellite?

7. What is station keeping?
In astrodynamics, orbital station-keeping is keeping a spacecraft at a
fixed distance from another spacecraft. It requires a series of orbital
maneuvers made with thruster burns to keep the active craft in the same
orbit as its target. For many low Earth orbit satellites, the effects of non-
Keplerian forces, i.e. the deviations of the gravitational force of the Earth
from that of a homogeneous sphere, gravitational forces from
Sun/Moon, solar radiation pressure and air drag, must be counteracted.
The deviation of Earth's gravity field from that of a homogeneous
sphere and gravitational forces from the Sun and Moon will in general
perturb the orbital plane. For a sun-synchronous orbit, the precession of
the orbital plane caused by the oblateness of the Earth is a desirable
feature that is part of mission design but the inclination change caused
by the gravitational forces of the Sun and Moon is undesirable.
For geostationary spacecraft, the inclination change caused by the
gravitational forces of the Sun and Moon must be counteracted by a
rather large expense of fuel, as the inclination should be kept sufficiently
small for the spacecraft to be tracked by non-steerable antennae.
For spacecraft in a low orbit, the effects of atmospheric drag must often
be compensated for, oftentimes to avoid re-entry; for missions requiring
the orbit to be accurately synchronized with the earth’s rotation, this is
necessary to prevent a shortening of the orbital period.

8. What is co-location?

Co-location is the placing of two or

more geostationary communications satellites in orbit, in close proximity
so that to reception equipment on the ground they 'appear' to occupy a
single orbital position. The technique as applied to a group of TV
satellites from a single operator was pioneered by SES with
the Astra satellites at 19.2°E. Co-located satellites cannot actually be
positioned at the same point on the geostationary satellite arc. In fact,
they are just close enough together to appear to be at the same position
so far as the beamwidth of the receiving dish is concerned. SES
maintains its co-located satellites within an imaginary 150 km cube in
space, centred on the notional orbital position. The greatest benefit of
co-locating satellites at one orbital slot is that the capacity for traffic at
that orbital position can be built-up in commercially manageable stages
as demand dictates.

9. What is the dominating perturbation force of ISS?

10. What is solar radiation pressure?
Solar radiation pressure is due to the sun's radiation at closer distances,
thus especially within the Solar System. (The radiation pressure of
sunlight on earth is very small: it is equivalent to that exerted by about a
thousandth of a gram on an area of 1 square metre, or 10 μN/m2.) While
it acts on all objects, its net effect is generally greater on smaller bodies
since they have a larger ratio of surface area to mass. All spacecraft
experience such a pressure except when they are behind the shadow of
a larger orbiting body.
Solar radiation pressure on objects near the earth may be calculated
using the sun's irradiance at 1 AU, known as the solar constant or GSC,
whose value is set at 1361 W/m2 as of 2011.
All stars have a spectral energy distribution that depends on their
surface temperature. The distribution is approximately that of black-body
radiation. This distribution must be taken into account when calculating
the radiation pressure or identifying reflector materials for optimizing
a solar sail for instance.

11. What is 3rd body perturbation force?

12. What is Tidal Friction Effects
The tidal bulges that occur thanks to the moon result in friction, friction
that slows down the Earth's rotation. This is called tidal friction, the effect
of a tidal wave slowing down the rotation of Earth. Tidal friction is
required to drag and maintain the bulge ahead of the Moon, and it
dissipates the excess energy of the exchange of rotational and orbital
energy between Earth and the Moon as heat. If the friction and heat
dissipation were not present, the Moon's gravitational force on the tidal
bulge would rapidly (within two days) bring the tide back into
synchronization with the Moon, and the Moon would no longer recede.
Most of the dissipation occurs in a turbulent bottom boundary layer in
shallow seas such as the European Shelf around the British Isles,
the Patagonian Shelf off Argentina, and the Bering Sea. The dissipation
of energy by tidal friction averages about 3.75 terawatts, of which 2.5
terawatts are from the principal M2 lunar component and the remainder
from other components, both lunar and solar.

13. Define of Gravity Harmonics?

Spherical harmonics are the natural parameters for the Earth's gravity
field as sensed by orbiting satellites, but problems of resolution arise
because the spectrum of effects is narrow and unique to each orbit.
Comprehensive gravity models now contain many hundreds of
thousands of observations from more than thirty different near-Earth
artificial satellites. With refinements in tracking systems, newer data is
capable of sensing the spherical harmonics of the field experienced by
these satellites to very high degree and order. For example, altimeter,
laser and satellite-tracking-satellite systems contain gravitational
information well above present levels of satellite gravity field recovery
(l = 20), but significant aliasing results because the orbital parameters
are too restricted compared to the large number of spherical harmonics.

14. What is Critical Inclination?

An inclination of 63.4° is often called a critical inclination, when

describing artificial satellites orbiting the Earth, because they have zero
apogee drift.

15. What is Sun-Synchronous Orbits?

Sun Synchronous Orbits

These orbits allows a satellite to pass over a section of the Earth at the
same time of day. Since there are 365 days in a year and 360 degrees in a
circle, it means that the satellite has to shift its orbit by approximately one
degree per day. These satellites orbit at an altitude between 700 to 800
km. These satellites use the fact since the Earth is not perfectly round (the
Earth bulges in the center, the bulge near the equator will cause additional
gravitational forces to act on the satellite. This causes the satellite's orbit
to either proceed or recede. These orbits are used for satellites that need a
constant amount of sunlight. Satellites that take pictures of the Earth
would work best with bright sunlight, while satellites that measure
longwave radiation would work best in complete darkness.

16. What is J3 effect?

J3 perturbation has weak effect on the right ascension and argument of

perigee. The critical angle of the right ascension and argument of
perigee which decides the precession direction is 90° and 63.43°,
respectively.

17. What do mean by Launch Window?

Launch period is the collection of days and launch window is the time
period on a given day during which a particular rocket must be launched
in order to reach its intended target. If the rocket is not launched within a
given window, it has to wait for the window on the next day of the
period. Launch periods and launch windows are very dependent on both
the rocket's capability and the orbit to which it is going.
A launch period refers to the days that the rocket can launch to reach its
intended orbit. A mission could have a period of 365 days in a year, a
few weeks each month, a few weeks every 26 months (e.g. Mars launch
periods), or a short period time that won't be repeated.
A launch window indicates the time frame on a given day in the launch
period that the rocket can launch to reach its intended orbit. This can be
as short as a second (referred to as an instantaneous window) or even
the entire day. For operational reasons, the window almost always is
limited to no more than a few hours. The launch window can stretch over
two calendar days (ex: start at 11:46 p.m. and end at 12:14 a.m.).
Launch windows are rarely exactly the same times each day.

18. What is ground trace?

A ground track or ground trace is the path on the surface of a
planet directly below an aircraft or satellite. In the case of a satellite, it is
the projection of the satellite's orbit onto the surface of the Earth (or
whatever body the satellite is orbiting).
A satellite ground track may be thought of as a path along the Earth's
surface which traces the movement of an imaginary line between the
satellite and the centre of the Earth. In other words, the ground track is
the set of points at which the satellite will pass directly overhead, or
cross the zenith, in the frame of reference of a ground observer. The
ground track of a satellite can take a number of different forms,
depending on the values of the orbital elements, parameters which
define the size, shape, and orientation of the satellite's orbit.

19. List the perturbation forces are considered in Interplanetary Trajectories.

20. What is space debris?

Space debris (also known as space junk, space pollution, space
waste, space trash, or space garbage) is a term for defunct human-
made objects in space—principally in Earth orbit—which no longer serve
a useful function. These include derelict spacecraft—non-functional
spacecraft and abandoned launch vehicle stages—mission-related
debris, and particularly numerous in Earth orbit, fragmentation debris
from the breakup of derelict rocket bodies and spacecraft. In addition to
derelict human-built objects left in orbit, other examples of space debris
include fragments from their disintegration, erosion and collisions, or
even paint flecks, solidified liquids expelled from spacecraft, and
unburned particles from solid rocket motors. Space debris represents a
risk to spacecraft. Space debris is typically a negative externality—it
creates an external cost on others from the initial action to launch or use
a spacecraft in near-Earth orbit—a cost that is typically not taken into
account nor fully accounted for in the cost by the launcher or payload
owner. Several spacecraft, both manned and unmanned, have been
damaged or destroyed by space debris.

Part B

1. Write short notes on /3 Effects and Frozen Orbits?

In orbital mechanics, a frozen orbit is an orbit for an artificial satellite in

which natural drifting due to the central body's shape has been
minimized by careful selection of the orbital parameters. Typically, this is
an orbit in which, over a long period of time, the
satellite's altitude remains constant at the same point in each
orbit. Changes in the inclination, position of the lowest point of the orbit,
and eccentricity have been minimized by choosing initial values so that
their perturbations cancel out. This results in a long-term stable orbit that
minimizes the use of station-keeping propellant.

2. Write notes on Earth's Triaxiality Effects and EastWest Station keeping?

East - West station keeping

The strength of the earth's gravitational field had three slight bumps
around the equator with dips in between. This "triaxialty" causes
satellites to drift slowly sideways towards where gravity pulls the
most. This needs regular sideways thruster firings, just before the
satellite is about to leave its station keeping box. Basically you give it a
good kick back the other way and if you judge it just right it gradually
goes across, stops just before it leaves the far side and then falls back
sideways over the next few weeks, ready for the next thruster firing.

3. What is North-South Station keeping?

North - South station keeping

The most significant effect is the pull of the sun which causes the
inclination of the satellites orbit to increase at the rate of about 0.8 deg
per year. If a satellite was left alone, after one year it would be going up
and down daily in a north south direction with an inclination amplitude of
+/- 0.8 deg. This would cause the satellite to move well outside the
beam width pointing of virtually all, except the smallest, fixed pointing
satellites dishes.

To keep a satellite's inclination down to a maximum of about 0.15 deg it

is necessary to use fuel to fire its north/south thrusters every few
weeks. About 90% of the station keeping fuel is allocated to correct
this.

When initially positioned in orbit a satellite might have an inclination

perhaps -0.5 degrees and this will be allowed to decrease to zero and
increase to +0.15 deg before station-keeping fuel is used. Towards end
of life north - soputh station keeping is be abandoned and inclination is
allowed to increase to say 4 degrees over a period 5 years while
keeping the east west position within +/- 0.15 deg. This allows the
satellite to be retained in use for tracking antennas.

4. What are Atmospheric Drag Effects on satellite?

8. Explain COWELL'S METHOD for satellite Perturbation.

11. Discuss what is meant by the rectification of the orbit.

12. Define the variation of parameters method

16. Find the distance from the Sun at which a space station must be placed in
order that a particular phase angle between the station and Earth will repeat
itself every 4 years.