Citation:
Stephen Hobbs, Disposal orbits for GEO spacecraft: A method for evaluating the
orbit height distributions resulting from implementing IADC guidelines, Advances
in Space Research, Volume 45, Issue 8, 15 April 2010, Pages 1042-1049
Abstract:
Geostationary orbit (GEO) is the most commercially valuable Earth orbit. The
Inter-Agency Space Debris Coordination Committee (IADC) has produced guidelines
to help protect this region from space debris. The guidelines propose moving a
satellite at the end of its operational life to a disposal orbit, which is
designed so that satellites left there will not infringe the operational GEO
region within a period of at least 100 yr. Standards are being developed through
the International Organisation for Standardization to translate the IADC
guidelines into engineering practice. This article presents an analytical method
for calculating the distribution of final orbits assuming the IADC guidelines in
GEO are implemented, as a function of distributions of satellite parameters
(mass per unit area, solar radiation pressure reaction coefficient), the fuel
measurement uncertainty, and the desired reliability of the disposal manoeuvre.
Results show that typically the fuel measurement uncertainty dominates the
distribution of perigee heights rather than the scatter in satellite properties
or desired manoeuvre reliability. The method is simple to implement and allows
the effects of changes in system parameters to be evaluated quickly.
