Initial Values Determination of Thrust Parameters for Continuously Low-Thrust Maneuvering Spacecraft

Continuous low thrust is widely used in orbit transfer maneuvers. If the unknown maneuvers are not correctly compensated, the orbiting accuracy will be seriously affected. We propose a rapid method for pre-identifying thrust acceleration based on single-arc orbit determination in order to determine the orbit of non-cooperative continuous low-thrust maneuvering spacecraft. The single-arc orbit determination results of two ground-based radar observations with a certain time interval are used to inversely determine the direction and magnitude of acceleration of the spacecraft under continuous thrust based on their relationship with satellite orbit parameters. The solution error is relatively small when using this method, even over a short period of time when data are sparse. The results can then be applied to the orbital adjustment of a satellite. The results show that when the satellite climbs with maximum tangential acceleration, the interval between the two radar observations is greater than 7 h, and the proposed method can rapidly pre-identify tangential thrust acceleration with a solution error of less than 5%. When the satellite adjusts the orbital plane with the maximum normal acceleration, the average relative measurement error of the normal acceleration is about 20% when the time interval between two observations is 24 h. The longer the observation interval and the greater the thrust acceleration, the smaller the relative error. The calculation results can be used as the initial value for precision orbit determination of continuous low-thrust maneuvering spacecraft.