Low Earth Orbit Slotting for Space Traffic Management Using Flower Constellation Theory
This paper proposes the use of Flower Constellation (FC) theory to facilitate the design of a Low Earth Orbit (LEO) slotting system to avoid collisions between compliant satellites and optimize the available space. Specifically, it proposes the use of concentric orbital shells of admissible “slots”...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA)
2021
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| Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/137741 |
| _version_ | 1811087777846001664 |
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| author | Arnas, David Lifson, Miles Linares, Richard Avenda, Martin |
| author2 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics |
| author_facet | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics Arnas, David Lifson, Miles Linares, Richard Avenda, Martin |
| author_sort | Arnas, David |
| collection | MIT |
| description | This paper proposes the use of Flower Constellation (FC) theory to facilitate the design of a Low Earth Orbit (LEO) slotting system to avoid collisions between compliant satellites and optimize the available space. Specifically, it proposes the use of concentric orbital shells of admissible “slots” with stacked intersecting orbits that preserve a minimum separation distance between satellites at all times. The problem is formulated in mathematical terms and three approaches are explored: random constellations, single 2D Lattice Flower Constellations (2D-LFCs), and unions of 2D-LFCs. Each approach is evaluated in terms of several metrics including capacity, Earth coverage, orbits per shell, and symmetries. In particular, capacity is evaluated for various inclinations and other parameters. Next, a rough estimate for the capacity of LEO is generated subject to certain minimum separation and station-keeping assumptions and several trade-offs are identified to guide policy-makers interested in the adoption of a LEO slotting scheme for space traffic management. |
| first_indexed | 2024-09-23T13:51:49Z |
| format | Article |
| id | mit-1721.1/137741 |
| institution | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-09-23T13:51:49Z |
| publishDate | 2021 |
| publisher | American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | mit-1721.1/1377412023-06-20T17:26:56Z Low Earth Orbit Slotting for Space Traffic Management Using Flower Constellation Theory Arnas, David Lifson, Miles Linares, Richard Avenda, Martin Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics This paper proposes the use of Flower Constellation (FC) theory to facilitate the design of a Low Earth Orbit (LEO) slotting system to avoid collisions between compliant satellites and optimize the available space. Specifically, it proposes the use of concentric orbital shells of admissible “slots” with stacked intersecting orbits that preserve a minimum separation distance between satellites at all times. The problem is formulated in mathematical terms and three approaches are explored: random constellations, single 2D Lattice Flower Constellations (2D-LFCs), and unions of 2D-LFCs. Each approach is evaluated in terms of several metrics including capacity, Earth coverage, orbits per shell, and symmetries. In particular, capacity is evaluated for various inclinations and other parameters. Next, a rough estimate for the capacity of LEO is generated subject to certain minimum separation and station-keeping assumptions and several trade-offs are identified to guide policy-makers interested in the adoption of a LEO slotting scheme for space traffic management. 2021-11-08T18:00:43Z 2021-11-08T18:00:43Z 2020-01 2021-05-06T14:57:06Z Article http://purl.org/eprint/type/ConferencePaper https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/137741 Arnas, David, Lifson, Miles, Linares, Richard and Avenda, Martin. 2020. "Low Earth Orbit Slotting for Space Traffic Management Using Flower Constellation Theory." AIAA Scitech 2020 Forum, 1 PartF. en 10.2514/6.2020-0721 AIAA Scitech 2020 Forum Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/ application/pdf American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) MIT web domain |
| spellingShingle | Arnas, David Lifson, Miles Linares, Richard Avenda, Martin Low Earth Orbit Slotting for Space Traffic Management Using Flower Constellation Theory |
| title | Low Earth Orbit Slotting for Space Traffic Management Using Flower Constellation Theory |
| title_full | Low Earth Orbit Slotting for Space Traffic Management Using Flower Constellation Theory |
| title_fullStr | Low Earth Orbit Slotting for Space Traffic Management Using Flower Constellation Theory |
| title_full_unstemmed | Low Earth Orbit Slotting for Space Traffic Management Using Flower Constellation Theory |
| title_short | Low Earth Orbit Slotting for Space Traffic Management Using Flower Constellation Theory |
| title_sort | low earth orbit slotting for space traffic management using flower constellation theory |
| url | https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/137741 |
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