Low-Thrust Station-Keeping Strategy toward Exploiting the Resonances in the Geostationary Region

Abstract

Low-thrust propulsion systems are widely used in space missions due to their high specific impulse and reduced propellant consumption. However, current research focuses on eliminating drifts in low-thrust maneuvers, resulting in high operational costs for daily station-keeping. This study aims to achieve autonomous station-keeping by exploiting long-term periodic behaviors caused by geostationary resonances. First, resonance maps caused by the Earth’s gravity and lunisolar perturbation are revisited. Then, station-keeping slots are selected based on a phase space study of the resonances. A closed station-keeping track is formed by designing a low-thrust arc to work with the drifting arc. This track moves along the edge of the station-keeping slot, providing a more extended control period and reducing ground-station operational costs. Finally, an indirect optimizing method and efficient initial costate guess technique are proposed for calculating low-thrust maneuvers.