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Chapter 1
Satellite Overview
1.1 Introduction
A satellite consists of various systems designed to meet the mission specific
requirements. All but the simplest satellites require a common set of
systems shown by the solid lines in Figure 1.1. Complex satellites require
additional systems shown by the dotted lines. The systems are classified
into two groups, the payload and the bus. The payload consists of the
communications equipment in commercial satellites or science instruments
in research satellites. The bus consists of all remaining equipment grouped
into several functional systems that support the payload. The power system
is one of the bus systems that consist of the solar array, battery, power
electronics, distribution harness, and controls. Other essential bus systems
are the communications and data handling system to receive commands
and return information, telemetry sensors to gage the satellite state, and a
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4 Spacecraft Power Systems
C ¼ fðX1 ; X2 ; X3 ; X4 Þ ð1:1Þ
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Satellite Overview 5
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6 Spacecraft Power Systems
sized for the average electrical power dissipation, the external heat input
from the sun, the Earth’s reflected sunlight (albedo), and the long
wavelength (infrared) heat radiated from the Earth.
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Satellite Overview 7
FIGURE 1.2 Configuration and evolution of GPS, mid-Earth orbit navigation satellites of the
U.S. Air Force.
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8 Spacecraft Power Systems
Molniya day
Low Earth Various Various 0 to high 0 to 90 >90 min
a
Closest distance from the Earth surface.
b
Farthest distance from the Earth surface.
c
Ratio of difference to sum of apogee and perigee radii.
d
Angle between orbit plane and equatorial plane.
e
One sidereal day is 23 h, 56 min, 4.09 s.
In the case of LEO and MEO, the orbit parameters are chosen to avoid the
radiation belts that surround the Earth at altitudes of 1.3 to 1.7 and 3.1 to 4.1
Earth radii. A typical LEO satellite has an altitude of 500 to 1500 km, an orbit
period of 1.5 to 2 h, and is visible to a given Earth station for only a few
minutes in every orbit period. A typical MEO satellite is between 5000 and
12000 km altitude with orbit period of several hours. In a highly elliptical
inclined orbit, it can see the polar regions for a large fraction of its orbit
period.
A GEO satellite moving west to east at an altitude of 35,786 km (22,237
miles) results in a nominal orbit period of 24 h, and remains stationary with
respect to the Earth. Three such satellites spaced 120 apart in the equatorial
plane can provide continuous coverage of the globe except near the poles.
The launch vehicle booster and its upper stages deliver the satellite in the
transfer orbit, which is an elliptical orbit with the Earth at one of its foci and
the apogee at the geosynchronous orbit. An apogee kick motor is then fired
to circularize the orbit at the geosynchronous height. The primary features
of various orbits are described below.
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Satellite Overview 9
position. This simplifies the design and operating requirements of both the
satellite and the ground station. However, it takes more fuel to reach and
maintain the geostationary orbit than any other orbit around the Earth at
that altitude. Numerous satellites already placed there make it difficult to
get a desirable location in this orbit that would avoid radio frequency
interference from neighboring satellites. The Tracking and Data Relay
Satellite (TDRS) of the U.S. Department of Defense is an example of a
geostationary satellite. A satellite placed in this orbit tends to drift away
from its assigned station. Hence, a periodic station-keeping operation is
required.
The time in space is kept in sidereal time, which measures the rotation of
the Earth in relation to a fixed star. Solar time is used on Earth to measure
the Earth’s rotation in relation to the sun. The same star is not in the same
place at the same solar time, but is at the same place at the same sidereal
time from day to day. A sidereal day consisting of 24 sidereal hours is the
time the Earth takes to rotate once on its axis past an imaginary line from
the Earth’s center to any star. Thus, the sidereal time is measured from a
point in the sky called the vernal equinox, although no bright start marks
this point.
The geostationary orbit period is exactly 1 sidereal day. It is slightly
shorter than the mean solar day of 24 h because of the sun’s apparent
motion resulting from the Earth’s rotation around the sun, which is 360 in
365.24 days, i.e., 0.9856 per day. By the time the Earth has rotated once in
relation to a distant star, it has moved westward along its orbit, as depicted
in Figure 1.3. The sun is then 0.9856 east of its position at the start of the
Earth’s rotation. The Earth needs additional time to rotate eastward to come
back in line with the sun. The Earth must thus rotate a total of 360.9856 in 1
mean solar day so that the meridian will align itself with the sun from one
noon to the next in exactly 24 h (86,400 s). The time for the Earth to rotate
0.9856 past one rotation is 86,400/(0.9856/360.9856) ¼ 235.91 s. The side-
real period of rotation is therefore 86,400 235:91 ¼ 86,164.09 s, or 23 h,
56 m, 4.09 s, which is shorter by 3 m and 55.91 s than the mean solar day.
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10 Spacecraft Power Systems
FIGURE 1.3 Sidereal day and mean solar day for Earth.
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Satellite Overview 11
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12 Spacecraft Power Systems
First law: The satellite orbit is an ellipse with the planet at one focal point.
Second law: The line joining the planet and the satellite sweeps equal
areas in equal times. If the time intervals it1 and it2 in Figure 1.5
are equal, then the swept areas A1 and A2 are also equal.
Third law: The square of the orbit period is proportional to the cube of
the semi-major axis,
42 a3
i:e:; To2 ¼ ð1:2Þ
where a is the semimajor axis of the orbit, and is the gravity constant of the
planet. For the Earth, is 3.986 1014 m3/s2 or 3.986 105 km3/s2.
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Satellite Overview 13
For circular orbits, the third law gives the orbit period To in terms of the
orbit radius Ro,
2R1:5 o
To ¼ pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
ffi s; or To ¼ 2:7644 106 R1:5
o h ð1:3Þ
398600
For the orbit period to be 1 sidereal day of 86,164.09 s, the orbit radius must
be 42,164 km. Deducting the mean radius of the Earth surface 6378 km, we
get the geosynchronous satellite altitude of 35,786 km above the Earth
surface. This altitude is about six times the Earth’s radius.
The satellite velocity in circular orbit is given by
2Ro
v¼ ð1:4Þ
To
which is 3.075 km/s in GEO orbit. In comparison, the Earth travels in its
orbit around the sun at speed of 30 km/s, about ten times faster.
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14 Spacecraft Power Systems
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Satellite Overview 15
introduced by the attitude and/or orbit control system to restore the vehicle
to the stable position. Fuel movement in the tanks may also add in to the
oscillations, but it is normally controlled by baffles. There are five points
within the reference frame in space at which a stationary body will be in
equilibrium. All these points are in the plane in which the dominant masses
rotate. They are referred to as the Lagrangian or Libration points, and are of
potential use for the spacecraft in the Earth–Moon type systems.
Inherently stiff due to rotational inertia Bias or zero momentum maintains the
stability
Simple mechanical structure Complex attitude control
Only 1/3rd of the solar array generate power at Full solar array generates power all the
any time time
Power limited by body size that fits the launch Can have high power by adding solar
vehicle panels
Less flexibility in design Great flexibility in design
Suitable for small satellites Suitable for large satellites
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16 Spacecraft Power Systems
circular orbit, called the parking orbit. Then, the so-called Hohmann
transfer takes the satellite to the final orbit using minimum fuel. The first
velocity increment changes the low circular orbit into a highly elliptical
transfer orbit with perigee that of the final circular orbit. The second
velocity increment at the apogee of transfer orbit places the satellite in the
final circular orbit. When the perigee and the apogee kick motors are fired,
some sort of stabilization is needed because the thrust would tumble the
satellite and cause incorrect orbit injection.
The fully deployed satellite, which is 3-axis stabilized in the operational
orbit, can use spin stabilization in the transfer orbit when the solar panels
are stowed into a box shaped body. The satellite is despun by applying
reaction wheel torque to bring to a non-spinning state at the end of transfer
orbit. The de-spinning operation takes about 10 min. Until the solar array is
fully deployed, the sunlit panel radiates heat from the front face only, as
opposed to both the front and back faces after the deployment. Moreover,
the exposed panel is oriented normal to the sun for maximizing the power
generation except during maneuvering. To keep the temperature of the sun
side panel from rising above the tolerance limit, the satellite is spun at a low
rate, such as 1/10th to 1 revolution per minute. Spinning at such a slow
barbecue rate is merely for thermal reasons even when the spinning is not
required for stability. The spin rate is gyro controlled. One can deploy the
array in the transfer orbit, but it adds a mechanism and structural
complexity, resulting in added mass, low reliability, and difficult transfer
orbit maneuvers.
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Satellite Overview 17
duration is, therefore, important for the spacecraft power system design.
For the geosynchronous satellite, the longest eclipse occurs on the vernal
and autumnal equinoxes when the sun is in the equatorial plane as shown
in Figure 1.9. The duration for which the entire sun is blocked is called the
umbra (total eclipse marked by dotted arc). The total arc when the sun is
fully or partially blocked is called the penumbra (arc a–b). It is proportional
to the mean solar day accounting for the Earth’s orbital motion during the
eclipse. The umbra duration varies with the seasons, the longest being
69.4 min occurring around March 21 and September 21. From the
geometrical considerations of the geosynchronous orbit in Figure 1.9, the
penumbra duration is 73.7 min (1.228 h) and the umbra is 4.3 min shorter
than the penumbra. Since the solar array output voltage and current during
this 4.3 min would not meet the requirement for the power system
operation, penumbra is taken as the eclipse duration for the power system
design.
As the sun moves above or below the equator after an equinox, the
eclipse duration becomes shorter and shorter, and finally becomes zero
when the inclination of the sun becomes high enough (Figure 1.10). The
number of days the geosynchronous satellite sees an eclipse, and the eclipse
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18 Spacecraft Power Systems
duration on that day, are shown in Figure 1.11. The eclipse onset time on a
particular day is of interest to the satellite design engineer, because it
determines the required services and the battery requirement onboard the
satellite.
In near-equatorial, circular, low Earth orbits, eclipses of approximately
equal duration occur once every orbit period. The eclipse duration is
FIGURE 1.10 GEO eclipse, once per orbit in spring and autumn seasons only.
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Satellite Overview 19
FIGURE 1.11 GEO eclipse duration longest on vernal and autumnal equinox days.
where ¼ angle of the sunlight incidence on the orbit plane, i.e., the angle
between the Sun–Earth line and the local normal of the orbit plane.
The angle varies seasonally between (i þ ), where i ¼ orbit inclina-
tion with respect to the equator and ¼ angle between the sun line and the
ecliptic plane (23.45 ). As increases, the eclipse duration decrease, which
improves the load capability of the electrical power system. At certain value
of high , no eclipse occurs. There are polar and near-polar low Earth orbits
FIGURE 1.12 Eclipse in near-equatorial LEO, once per orbit in all seasons.
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20 Spacecraft Power Systems
FIGURE 1.13 Eclipse duration and orbit period vs circular orbit altitude.
that never have an eclipse of the sun. On the other hand, the longest eclipse
occurs at ¼ 0.
1.8.1 Example
For a satellite in a 6343-mile radius and 20 inclination orbit, the above
equation gives Te ¼ 0.63 h or 38 min long eclipse (note that the argument of
the sin1 must be in radians).
For circular orbits, the eclipse duration and the number of eclipses per
year are plotted in Figures 1.13 and 1.14, respectively. The ratio of the
maximum eclipse to minimum sunlight duration is an indicator of a
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Satellite Overview 21
FIGURE 1.15 Minimum sun time and maximum eclipse duration in circular Earth orbits.
challenge posed to the power system design engineer. The greater the ratio,
the heavier the battery requirement to power the load during an eclipse. It
also requires a larger solar array to capture the energy required during
shorter periods of sunlight, and to divert a higher fraction of it to charge the
battery while simultaneously supplying full load to the payload. Such a
demand is greater on a low Earth orbit satellite, as seen in Figures 1.15 and
1.16.
FIGURE 1.16 Ratio of maximum eclipse to minimum sun time in circular Earth orbits.
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22 Spacecraft Power Systems
Table 1.3 Variation of solar flux and angle of incidence with the seasons
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Satellite Overview 23
FIGURE 1.17 Seasonal variations in solar parameters over 1 year in geosynchronous orbit.
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24 Spacecraft Power Systems
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Satellite Overview 25
Reference
1. Frohlich, R.C., Contemporary Measures of the Solar Constant: The Solar Output
and its Variations, Colorado Associated University Press, Boulder, CO,
1977, pp. 93–109.
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