Enhancement of DLR/GSOC FDS for Low Thrust Orbit Transfer and Control

Abstract

On behalf of possible future missions with electric Propulsion (EP) controlled by DLRs German Space Operations Center (DLR/GSOC) the present operational multi-mission Flight Dynamics System (FDS) is enhanced to support the preparation and operations of such types of project. For designing an easily extendable framework, various low-thrust Scenarios were considered. Each low-thrust phase is modelled by a thrust profile comprising non-equidistant thrust vector and constant thrust level. Based on this design several multimission FD software modules are enhanced, e.g. Orbit Determination (OD) and generation of Orbit Related Information (ORI). The low-thrust transfer trajectories are optimized by means of the software package ASTOS/GESOP [1]. Demonstrating the extended FDS capabilities by means of a GEostationary Orbit (GEO) positioning reference mission shows an excellent consistency between resulting ephemerides by the optimizer in comparison to the FDS, validating the correct processing of thrust profiles within the implemented system.