Orbit control

• Orbit control is performed by firing thrusters or releasing a jet

of gases. It is also called “station keeping”.
• Thrusters and gas jets are used to correct the longitudinal
drifts (in-plane changes) and the inclination changes (out-of-
plane changes).
• Thrusters usually contain compressed gas that when sent out
of the end of the thruster will move the satellite in space
• The force of the compressed gas (the action) causes the
satellite to move in the opposite direction (the reaction)
• This is Newton's third law of physics - for every action there is
an equal and opposite reaction
• Thrusters, however, are heavy and use up lots of power
 Satellite stabilization
• Commonly used techniques for satellite
attitude control include:
1. Spin stabilization
2. Three-axis body stabilization
1. Spin stabilization
• the satellite body is spun at a rate of 30 and
100 rpm about an axis perpendicular to the
orbital plane.
• Like a spinning top, the rotating body offers gyroscopic stiffness, which prevents the
satellite from drifting from its desired orientation.

• There are two types of spinning configurations employed in spin-stabilized satellites:

(i) simple spinner configuration and
(ii) the dual spinner configuration.

(i) Simple spinner configuration: the satellite payload and other subsystems are placed
in the spinning section, while the antenna and the feed are placed in the de-spun
platform. The de-spun platform is spun in a direction opposite to that of the
spinning satellite body.
(ii) Dual spinner configuration: the entire payload
along with the antenna and the feed is placed on the
de-spun platform and the other subsystems are
located on the spinning body.
A disadvantage to this type of stabilization is that the
satellite cannot use large solar arrays to obtain power from
the Sun. Thus, it requires large amounts of battery power.
Another disadvantage of spin stabilization is that the instruments or antennas also must
perform “despin” maneuvers so that antennas or optical instruments point at their
desired targets.
2. Three-axis or Body Stabilization:
In three-axis stabilization, also known as body stabilization, the stabilization is
achieved by controlling the movement of the satellite along the three axes, i.e.
yaw, pitch and roll, with respect to a reference.
• With three-axis stabilization, satellites have small spinning wheels:
reaction wheels or momentum wheels, that rotate so as to keep the
satellite in the desired orientation in relation to the Earth and the Sun.

• . The satellite rotates in a direction opposite to that of speed change of

the wheel. For example, an increase in speed of the wheel in the clockwise
direction will make the satellite rotate in a counterclockwise direction.

• If satellite sensors detect that the satellite is moving away from the proper
orientation, the spinning wheels speed up or slow down to return the
satellite to its correct position.

• In comparison with spin-stabilized satellites, three axis stabilized satellites

have more power generation capability as larger solar panels can be used.
 Orbital effects on satellite’s performance
• The motion of the satellite has a significant effect
on its performance. The effects include:

Doppler Shift:
• Since a LEO satellite is in relative motion w.r.t. the earth
station terminal, the frequency of the satellite transmitter
varies w.r.t. the receiver on the Earth station terminal.
• If the frequency transmitted by the satellite is 𝑓𝑇 , then the
received frequency 𝑓𝑅 is given by
𝑓𝑅 −𝑓𝑇 ∆𝑓 𝑣𝑇
= =
𝑓𝑇 𝑓𝑇 𝑣
where,
𝑣𝑇 = the component of the satellite transmitter velocity
vector directed towards Earth station receiver.
𝑣 =velocity of light in free space.
Variation in the orbital distance:
– Variation in the orbital distance results in variation in the range
between the satellite and the Earth station terminal.
– If TDMA scheme is employed by the satellite, the timing of frames
should be such that the user terminals receive the correct data at the
correct time.
– Range variations are more predominant in low and medium earth
orbiting satellites as compared to the geostationary satellites.
Solar Eclipse
– There are times when the satellites do not receive solar radiation due to
obstruction by a celestial body.
– During these periods, the satellites operate from batteries onboard
them, which are designed to provide continuous power during eclipse
period.
– Nickel-Cadmium batteries are commonly used, but Nickel-Hydrogen
batteries are gradually replacing them because of greater energy-to-
weight ratio.
– The batteries are charged regularly by solar array.
– The rapidity with which a satellite enters and exits the shadow of the
celestial body creates sudden temperature stress situations. The
satellite is designed to handle this.
Sun Outages
– There are times when the satellite passes directly
between the Sun and the Earth.
– The Earth station antenna will receive signals
from the satellite as well as the microwave
radiation received by the Sun.
– The radiation from the Sun interferes with the
radiation from the satellite.
– This can cause temporary outage if the solar
radiation completely overwhelms the satellite
signal.
 Look angles of a satellite
• Look angles of a satellite refer to the coordinates to
which an earth station (ES) must be pointed in order to
communicate with the satellite and is expressed in
terms of azimuth (A) and elevation (E) angles.
• If the ES is in the footprint of the satellite, it can
communicate with it by pointing its antenna towards it.
• For accurate pointing, A and E of the satellite should
be known.

Sub-satellite point: The point on the earth’s surface, of

intersection between a line from the Earth’s center to the
satellite.
Azimuth and Elevation:
Azimuth angle calculation
For geostationary satellite
• The positioning of the earth station antenna can be accomplished using the
azimuth angle A and the elevation angle E based on a knowledge of the earth
station latitude 𝜃1 and longitude 𝜃𝐿 and the satellite longitude 𝜃𝑠 as shown in the
Fig.

• The azimuth angle is defined as the angle measured clockwise from the true north
to the intersection of the local horizontal plane TMP and the plane TSO (passing
through the earth station, the satellite, and the earth’s center).

• The azimuth angle A is between 0 and 360°. Depending on the location of the earth
station with respect to the sub-satellite point, the azimuth angle A is given by:

1. Northern Hemisphere
Earth station west of satellite: A = 180° — A‘
Earth station east of satellite: A = 180° + A’

2. Southern hemisphere
Earth station west of satellite: A = A'
Earth station east of satellite: A = 360° — A’
A’ is given by:

1 MP 
A '  tan  
 MT 
1  MO tan  S   L 
 tan  
 R e tan 1 
1  (R e / cos 1 ) tan  S   L 
 tan  
 R e tan 1 
1  tan  S   L 
 A '  tan  
 sin  1 
 E      90
Elevation Angle  (90   )    90
  
R 
where  =cos -1  e 
 OP 
but OP = MO / cos  S   L  (R e / cos 1 ) cos  S   L
   cos -1 (cos 1 cos  S   L ).
 SB 
  tan 1  
 TB 
 r  R e cos  
 tan 1  
 R e sin  
1
 R e cos 1 cos  S   L 
 tan  
R
 e sin[cos 1
(cos 1 cos  S   L )] 
Thus,
 R e cos 1 cos  S   L 
E  tan 1  
R
 e sin[cos 1
(cos 1 cos  S   L )] 
 cos 1 (cos 1 cos  S   L )