Orbit Mechanics, Exercise 1

Keplerian Orbits in Space-fixed, Earth-fixed and Topocentric systems

Changli Chen
changli.chen@tum.de

Directed by Prof. Urs Hugentobler

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Main tasks
I. Keplerian elements Orbits in 2D plane [ (1), (2), (3) ]
• 2D orbit
• Time series of Mean anomaly, Eccentric anomaly and True anomaly
II. 2D plane 3D trajectory in space-fixed system [ (4), (5) ]
III. Orbit in space-fixed system earth-fixed system [ (6), (7), (8) ]
• 3D orbit
• Groundtrack
IV. Orbit in earth-fixed system topocentric system [ (9), (10), (11) ]
• Azimuth and elevation
• visibility

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Task I. Keplerian elements -> Orbits in 2D plane

1. function [ r, v ] = kep2orb ( a, e, t )

GM
n M (t)  n (t  T0 )
a3

Kepler’s equation: M  E  e sin E Ei  106 abs (Ei )  106

 1 e E
r  a(1  e cosE) tan  tan
2 1 e 2
v  [0,360 ]
1 e E
r,   2  atan( tan ) if v  0, v  v  2* pi;
1 e 2

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Task I. Keplerian elements -> Orbits in 2D plane

2. Plot the orbit of 5 satellites in the orbital plane x  r cos y  r sin

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Task I. Keplerian elements -> Orbits in 2D plane
3. Plot the Mean anomaly M, Eccentric anomaly E, True anomaly v, and v-M

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Task II. 2D plane -> 3D Space-fixed system

4. function [ r, v ] = kep2cart ( a, e, i, omega, w, t )

[ r , v ]  kep2orb ( a, e, t )

cos    sin 
rb  r   sin  e  cos 
GM
rb  
a(1  e 2 )  
 0   0 

r  R3 () R1 (i) R3 ( )rb 1 0 0   cos  sin  0


R1 ( )  0 cos  
sin   R3 ( )    sin  cos  0 
r  R3 () R1 (i) R3 ()rb 0  sin  cos    0 0 1 

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Task II. 2D plane -> 3D Space-fixed system

5. Plot the trajectory in Space-fixed system

Plot3(x,y,z, 'r');
Earth_coast(3);

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Task III. Space-fixed system -> Earth-fixed system

6. function [posi_efix, vel_efix] = cart2efix ( posi_sfix, vel_sfix, t )

2
Rotating rate: E 
86164s
Rotating angle: 0 (t)   E t

rEarth fixed (t)  R 3 (0 (t))  rSpace fixed (t)

 cos  sin  0
R3 ( )    sin  cos  0 
 0 0 1 

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Task III. Space-fixed system -> Earth-fixed system

7. Plot the trajectory in Earth-fixed system

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Task III. Space-fixed system -> Earth-fixed system

8. Calculate and draw the satellite ground-tracks.

Latitude

yEarth  fixed
tan  
xEarth  fixed

Longitude   [180 ,180 ]

zEarth  fixed
tan 
2
xEarth  fixed  y 2
Earth  fixed

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Task III. Space-fixed system -> Earth-fixed system

8. Calculate and draw the satellite ground-tracks. Earth_coast(2);

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Task IV. Earth-fixed system -> Topocentric system

9. function [posi_topo, vel_topo] = efix2topo ( posi_efix, vel_efix )

Wettzell
Translation
𝒅=𝑹−𝒓

Rotation
𝒅𝒉𝒐𝒓𝒊 = 𝑄1 𝑅2 (90 − 𝜑)𝑅3 (𝜆)𝒅

Notice: −1 0 0
𝑄1 = 0 1 0
0 0 1
Right handed --> Left handed

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Task IV. Earth-fixed system -> Topocentric system

10. Plot the trajectory of satellite as observed by Wettzell.

Azimuth (A):
𝑦
tan𝐴 = A [0,360 ]
𝑥

Elevation (E or h):
𝑧
tanE =
𝑥2 + 𝑦2

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Task IV. Earth-fixed system -> Topocentric system

10. Plot the trajectory of satellite as observed by Wettzell.

hsky = skyplot
(azimuth,elevation, '.r');

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Task IV. Earth-fixed system -> Topocentric system

11. Calculate and visualize the visibility. visi = (elevation > 0);
bar(times, visi, color);
 Satellite is visible, if Elevation angle > 0 set(gca,'xtick',0:1:24);

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Additional tips: Try to write readable and efficient code

• Use understandable (variable) matrix names.

• Add comments to explain the code.
• Initialize matrixes. E.g. posi_sfix = zeros(3,200)
• Avoid loops (use “.”-operators). E.g. x = r .* cos(v);
• Use the advantages of MATLAB matrix operations
• Structure the code into logical units.
• Try to use the debugging tool of MATLAB and be patient

• No hesitation to ask help from your tutor ！

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 Thank you

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