Nt1310 Unit 9 Lab Report

Background
In order to properly describe or design the orbit of a spacecraft, it is required to use the classical orbital elements described in Table 9.

Table 9. Classical orbital elements [12].
Element Symbol Description
Eccentricity e Deviation from a circular orbit
Semi-major axis a Half the distance between closest and furthest point of approach
Inclination i Tilt of orbital plane with respect to equatorial plane
Right ascension of ascending node Ω Angle from origin of longitude to direction of ascending node
Argument of perigee ω Angle between ascending node and position vector
True anomaly ν Angle between satellite and perigee

The period of the orbit can be defined by the equation: P_o=2π√(a^3/μ) (1)
Where μ is the standard …show more content…
Eccentricity values for different type of orbits.
Orbit Value
Circular 0
Elliptical 1

The semi-major axis of an orbit can be described as half the distance between the furthest and closes point of approach of an orbit [12]. The semi-major axis of an orbit can be shown through the relationship: a=(r_p+r_a)/2 (12)
Orbital Environment Calculations
The assumption is that the initial launch will be from the International Space Station (ISS). Therefore, our cubesat will have the same orbital parameters as the ISS. This includes the apogee altitude, perigee altitude and inclination. The values of the ISS orbit can be seen in the following table. It can be seen that the perigee altitude and apogee altitude are very close leading to an almost circular orbit.
Table 11. ISS orbital values.
ISS
Perigee 409 km
Apogee 416 km
Inclination 51.65 degrees

We can then take these values, and use the above equations to calculate the parameters of our cubesat’s orbit. In the following table, the calculated values for semi-major axis, eccentricity, period, angular radius and time in eclipse.

Table 12. Calculated orbit values based off of ISS parameters.
Parameter Calculated

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