Optimal small satellite orbit design based on robust multi-objective optimization method

This paper investigates an optimal small satellite orbit design problem subject to the atmospheric drag uncertainty, and the small satellite is assumed to have no orbital control systems due to volume and mass constraints. The optimization objective of maximum target observation time is considered, which is constrained by the priority and minimum observation duration of each target site. Given the adverse impacts of atmospheric drag uncertainty on the designed orbit, the optimal solution is expected to maximize observation duration for given target sites while being less sensitive to substantial variations of atmospheric coefficients involved in atmospheric drag modeling. As a result, a robust orbit design approach is proposed by combining the robust optimization model with multi-objective optimization algorithm. Finally, the Monte Carlo simulation results are provided to demonstrate that the robust orbit solutions are more reliable compared to the nominal orbit solution designed from the traditional single-objective stochastic optimization algorithm.