Article ID Journal Published Year Pages File Type
1715224 Acta Astronautica 2013 7 Pages PDF
Abstract

This paper investigates the effect of orbit inclination angle on the performance of the Formosa satellite number 3 (FORMOSAT-3 or FS3) and FORMOSAT-7 (FS7) type constellations. The FS3 developed by National Space Organization (NSPO) of Taiwan was launched on 15 April 2006. It is a constellation consisting of 6 microsatellites at 72° orbit inclination and 800 km altitude for the acquisition of the global positioning system (GPS) signal occultation data. The international space community has given very positive comments on the contribution of FS3. Therefore, NSPO is planning the future program and designates FS7 to be the follow-up of FS3. There are two major indexes to assess the performance of FS3/7 type constellations: maximization of daily data acquisition and evenness in global data distribution. From system simulation, the number of data acquisition of FS3 is 2415. However, the number can be increased to 3050 by changing the orbit inclination to 154°. The drawback is that there is no data beyond 45° latitude north/south. After trade-off, it has been found that the optimal configuration is a 3–2–1 combination with 3 satellites deployed at 154° inclination, 2 satellites at 108° and 1 satellite at 90°. Daily data acquisition is 2924 using this configuration. For readers′ information, the 3–2–1 configuration could probably be called the “hybrid constellation” because it is not a standard one like the “Walker” or “Draim” or “Ballard” constellations.

► Daily GPS signal occultation data of current FORMOSAT-3/COSMIC are 2415. ► Maximum data number is 3023 at 154° orbit inclination with poor global distribution. ► Optimal configuration is 3/2/1 satellites at 154°/108°/90° inclination, respectively. ► Maximum occultation data of 3/2/1 configuration are 2924 with good global distribution. ► Further studies could be on the effect of altitude, satellite spacing, orbital plane spacing, etc.

Related Topics
Physical Sciences and Engineering Engineering Aerospace Engineering
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