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Aerospace
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Orbit Determination Methods for Space Missions and Applications to the...
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Orbit Determination Methods for Space Missions and Applications to the Exploration of the Solar System

A special issue of Aerospace (ISSN 2226-4310). This special issue belongs to the section "Astronautics & Space Science".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 June 2024 | Viewed by 4194

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Giacomo Lari

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Dipartimento di Matematica, Università di Pisa, Largo Bruno Pontecorvo 5, 56127 Pisa, Italy
Interests: space missions; radio science; astronomy; celestial mechanics
Dr. Marco Zannoni

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Dipartimento di Ingegneria Industriale, Alma Mater Studiorum - Università di Bologna, Via Fontanelle 40, 47121 Forlì, Italy
Interests: spacecraft navigation; radio science; planetary science; small SATs

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Space missions are an extraordinary opportunity to collect data in proximity to celestial bodies, whether large, such as planets and satellites, or small, such as asteroids and comets. The payload of a mission includes different instruments and experiments, with which it is possible to investigate many features of target celestial bodies. 

Among these, radio science experiments make use of the radio link with Earth to perform very precise orbit determination of the spacecraft. Often, the standard onboard radio subsystem is augmented by dedicated instrumentation, such as Ultra Stable Oscillators or Ka-band transponders, or different types of data, such as accelerometers, laser altimeters, or pictures taken by optical cameras. In this framework, space missions’ data have been proved crucial to study the gravity, rotation, and atmosphere of celestial bodies. Moreover, they are routinely used to improve ephemerides, also allowing to measure small dynamical effects that affect the long-term evolution of celestial bodies. In order to obtain these fundamental results for a full understanding of the solar system, space missions are preceded by a development phase for determining scientific objectives and resolving engineering challenges. In this context, preliminary simulations and covariance analyses are essential to investigate new mission concepts and to assess the performances of future missions. 

This Special Issue aims to cover innovative technologies, methods, and applications of precise orbit determination using space mission data. Relevant topics include but are not limited to: 

  • New orbit determination strategies;
  • Software products for precise orbit determination;
  • Development of dedicated hardware and instrumentation;
  • Estimation of the gravity field of planets and small bodies;
  • Estimation of the rotation and precession of celestial bodies;
  • Detection of dynamical effects affecting the orbital evolution of celestial bodies;
  • Test of the General Relativity theory;
  • Use of nanosatellites for in situ observations;
  • Synergic use of different onboard instruments;
  • New mission concepts for solar system exploration.

Dr. Giacomo Lari
Dr. Marco Zannoni
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Aerospace is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • orbit determination
  • radio science
  • spacecraft data
  • small satellites
  • planetary science
  • satellite geodesy
  • ephemerides

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

15 pages, 2765 KiB  
Article
Radio Science Experiments during a Cruise Phase to Uranus
by Ivan di Stefano, Daniele Durante, Paolo Cappuccio and Paolo Racioppa
Aerospace 2024, 11(4), 282; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/aerospace11040282 - 05 Apr 2024
Viewed by 496
Abstract
The exploration of Uranus, a key archetype for ice giant planets and a gateway to understanding distant exoplanets, is acquiring increasing interest in recent years, especially after the Uranus Orbiter and Probe (UOP) mission has been prioritized in the Planetary Science Decadal Survey [...] Read more.
The exploration of Uranus, a key archetype for ice giant planets and a gateway to understanding distant exoplanets, is acquiring increasing interest in recent years, especially after the Uranus Orbiter and Probe (UOP) mission has been prioritized in the Planetary Science Decadal Survey 2023–2032. This paper presents the results of numerical simulations aimed at providing experimental constraints on the parameterized post-Newtonian (PPN) parameter γ, a measure of space–time curvature in general relativity (GR), during the cruise phase of a spacecraft travelling to Uranus. Leveraging advanced radio tracking systems akin to those aboard the JUICE and BepiColombo missions, we explore the potential of solar conjunction experiments (SCEs) to refine current measurements of γ by exploiting the spacecraft’s long journey in the outer Solar System. We discuss the anticipated enhancements over previous estimates, underscoring the prospect of detecting violations of GR. Our simulations predict that by using an advanced radio tracking system, it is possible to obtain an improvement in the estimation of γ up to more than an order of magnitude with respect to the latest measurement performed by the Cassini–Huygens mission in 2002, contingent on the calibration capabilities against solar plasma noise. The results reveal that a number of SCEs during the mission can substantially strengthen the validation of GR. In tandem with fundamental physics tests, the use of radio links during SCEs presents a valuable opportunity to dissect the solar corona’s plasma dynamics, contributing to solar physics and space weather forecasting. This paper also enumerates methodologies to analyze electron density, localize plasma features, and deduce solar wind velocity, enriching the scientific yield of the experiments beyond the primary objective of testing GR during the cruise phase of a mission to Uranus. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Orbit Determination Methods for Space Missions and Applications to the Exploration of the Solar System)
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17 pages, 5407 KiB  
Article
Determination of Jupiter’s Pole Orientation from Juno Radio Science Data
by Giacomo Lari, Marco Zannoni, Daniele Durante, Ryan S. Park and Giacomo Tommei
Aerospace 2024, 11(2), 124; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/aerospace11020124 - 31 Jan 2024
Viewed by 804
Abstract
The extreme accuracy of Juno radio science data allows us to perform very precise orbit determination experiments. While previous works focused on the estimation of the gravitational field of Jupiter, in this article, we aim to accurately determine the planet’s orientation in space. [...] Read more.
The extreme accuracy of Juno radio science data allows us to perform very precise orbit determination experiments. While previous works focused on the estimation of the gravitational field of Jupiter, in this article, we aim to accurately determine the planet’s orientation in space. For this purpose, we implement a rotational model of Jupiter, taking into account also its main deformations, as they affect the planet’s inertia components. Rotation parameters are estimated simultaneously with all other parameters (especially gravity and tides), in order to obtain a global and coherent solution. In our experiments, we find that Juno data manage to constrain Jupiter’s pole direction with an accuracy of around 10−7 radians for the whole duration of the mission, allowing us to improve its long-term ephemerides. Moreover, Juno data provide an upper bound on the maximum displacement between Jupiter’s pole and spin axis of less than 10 m, which allows us to investigate possible short-period nutation effects due to, for example, atmospheric and interior processes of the planet. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Orbit Determination Methods for Space Missions and Applications to the Exploration of the Solar System)
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17 pages, 5000 KiB  
Article
Research on Enhanced Orbit Prediction Techniques Utilizing Multiple Sets of Two-Line Element
by Junyu Chen and Chusen Lin
Aerospace 2023, 10(6), 532; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/aerospace10060532 - 03 Jun 2023
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1904
Abstract
Acquiring accurate space object orbits is crucial for many applications such as satellite tracking, space debris detection, and collision avoidance. The widely used two-line element (TLE) method estimates the position and velocity of objects in space, but its accuracy can be limited by [...] Read more.
Acquiring accurate space object orbits is crucial for many applications such as satellite tracking, space debris detection, and collision avoidance. The widely used two-line element (TLE) method estimates the position and velocity of objects in space, but its accuracy can be limited by various factors. A combination of multiple TLEs and advanced modeling techniques such as batch least squares differential correction and high-precision numerical propagators can significantly improve TLE accuracy and reliability, ensuring better space object surveillance. Previous studies analyzed additional factors that may influence TLE accuracy and evaluated the accuracy of Starlink TLE using precise ephemeris data from SpaceX. The results indicate that utilizing multiple TLEs for precise orbit determination can significantly enhance the performance of orbit prediction methods, particularly when compared to SGP4. By leveraging 10-day Starlink TLEs, the accuracy of 5-day predictions can be improved by approximately twofold. Additionally, producing two pseudo-observations within an orbital period near the TLE epoch yields the greatest effect on prediction accuracy, with this distribution of pseudo-observations increasing accuracy by approximately 10% compared to a uniform distribution. Further research can explore more data fusion and machine learning approaches to optimize operations in space. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Orbit Determination Methods for Space Missions and Applications to the Exploration of the Solar System)
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Planned Papers

The below list represents only planned manuscripts. Some of these manuscripts have not been received by the Editorial Office yet. Papers submitted to MDPI journals are subject to peer-review.

Title: Radio science experiments during a cruise phase to Uranus
Authors: Ivan Di Stefano; Daniele Durante; Paolo Cappuccio; Paolo Racioppa
Affiliation: Department of Mechanical and Aerospace engineering, Sapienza University of Rome
Abstract: The exploration of Uranus, a key archetype for ice giant planets and a gateway to understanding distant exoplanets, is acquiring increasing interest in recent years, especially after the Uranus Orbiter and Probe (UOP) mission has been prioritized in the Planetary Science Decadal Survey 2023-2032. This paper presents the results of numerical simulations aimed at providing experimental constraints on the parameterized post-Newtonian (PPN) parameter γ, a measure of space-time curvature in General Relativity (GR), during the cruise phase of a spacecraft travelling to Uranus. Leveraging advanced radio tracking systems akin to those aboard JUICE and BepiColombo missions, we explore the potential of solar conjunction experiments (SCEs) to refine current measurements of γ by exploiting the long spacecraft's journey in the outer Solar System. We discuss the anticipated enhancements over previous estimates, underscoring the prospect of detecting violations of GR. Our simulations predict a potential improvement in the estimation of γ up to more than an order of magnitude with respect to the latest measurement performed by the Cassini-Huygens mission in 2002, contingent on the calibration capabilities against solar plasma noise. The results reveal that a number of SCEs during the mission can substantially strengthen the validation of GR. In tandem with fundamental physics tests, the use of radio links during SCEs presents a valuable opportunity to dissect the solar corona's plasma dynamics, contributing to solar physics and space weather forecasting. This paper also enumerates methodologies to analyze electron density, localize plasma features, and deduce solar wind velocity, enriching the scientific yield of the experiments beyond the primary objective of testing GR during the cruise phase of a mission to Uranus.

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