Artificial frozen orbit control scheme based on \(J_2\) perturbation (Q546384)

The authors study two control strategies to eliminate the secular growth of the perigee argument for orbits that are not at the critical inclination. The inclination of frozen orbit with non-rotation of the perigee that occurs due to \(J_2\) perturbation must be equal to the critical inclination. To release the constraints of natural frozen orbit, two control schemes are proposed, and the main contributions can be formulated as follows: 1) the transverse and radial continuous low thrusts are ensure artificial frozen orbits with optimum of fuel consumption; 2) a scheme with transverse control only could save more energy than a scheme with radial control only; 3) an improved method of the thrust control is given, and its validity is verified by considering a satellite problem.