Date of Award
Summer 2010
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Science (MS)
Department
Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering
Program/Concentration
Aerospace Engineering
Committee Director
Brett Newman
Committee Member
Robert L. Ash
Committee Member
Colin P. Britcher
Call Number for Print
Special Collections; LD4331.E535 G87 2010
Abstract
In this thesis, conditions and design requirements for a repeating ground track for a low Earth orbit satellite have been examined and several repeating ground tracks have been designed for a single area on the Earth. In order to construct and validate desired orbital results, the study has two phases which also help to investigate repeating ground track conditions: the fist one is the design phase, and second one is the simulation phase. The common objective of all the case studies is to present a closed ground track on the target by using the design parameters. In order to design a repeating ground track orbit, different approaches such as the flower constellation, the graphical approach, and the iterative method are used. The gravitational potential of the Earth and the condition for repeating ground track expressions are fundamental equations used in all design methods. The simulation phase depends on Runge-Kutta numerical integration, which is applied to the position and velocity vectors of the satellite on the designed orbit. Some of the disturbing effects such as drag and solar pressure are neglected thorough the design. However, simulation is used to predict the impact of drag, which is neglected in the case studies.
Rights
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DOI
10.25777/hppa-ds86
Recommended Citation
Gurdal, Gurkan.
"Repeating Ground Track Design for Low Earth Orbit Satellite"
(2010). Master of Science (MS), Thesis, Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering, Old Dominion University, DOI: 10.25777/hppa-ds86
https://digitalcommons.odu.edu/mae_etds/509