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Designing Natural Formations of Low-Earth-Orbiting Satellites

Authors: Phil Palmer; Mark Halsall;

Designing Natural Formations of Low-Earth-Orbiting Satellites

Abstract

In this paper, we describe possible natural formations for satellites in low Earth orbit that exploit the Earth's oblateness. These formations are based upon an analytic model of natural formations for satellites in nearly circular orbits, which has already been published, and explores the range of formations available. We describe how we parameterize the formations and then derive from this parameterization the orbital elements needed for each satellite orbit and then show the long-term evolution of these orbits to show the slow evolution of the formation geometry over time. We demonstrate that the formations maintain their projected shape in the sky without control over a day, in the presence of gravitational perturbations. This shows that the control requirements for long-term maintenance of such formations can be reduced considerably for long-term maintenance.

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selected citations
These citations are derived from selected sources.
This is an alternative to the "Influence" indicator, which also reflects the overall/total impact of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network (diachronically).
BIP!Citations provided by BIP!
popularity
This indicator reflects the "current" impact/attention (the "hype") of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network.
BIP!Popularity provided by BIP!
influence
This indicator reflects the overall/total impact of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network (diachronically).
BIP!Influence provided by BIP!
impulse
This indicator reflects the initial momentum of an article directly after its publication, based on the underlying citation network.
BIP!Impulse provided by BIP!
9
Top 10%
Top 10%
Average
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