Stationkeeping of geosynchronous spacecraft using a hybrid orbit propagator and optimization technique

Methods of directly controlling the position of a geostationary spacecraft for station-keeping purpose were demonstrated. The study described the position of a geostationary spacecraft with respect to reference longitude using the orbit-compression method. Perturbations due to the various sources were included along with advanced numerical scheme to obtain the precise orbit-propagation results. It was observed that a hybrid orbit propagator, a combination of a precise numerical orbit propagator and an approximate analytical orbit propagator can be used to predict spacecraft position drift arising from various perturbing forces. The study used two method for station-keeping planning that were minimum-fuel and minimum-distance station-keeping. The simulation results proved that both method can be used to control the spacecraft position within the 3-D station-keeping box limits.