SPACEFLIGHT MECHANICS

Coordinate Systems, Ground Tracks and Manoeuvres

For lecture 16-23-4234-vl use only

© Thomas Ott
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TITEL / AUTOR

KEPLERIAN ELEMENTS

 We have so far established that the orbits are planar and we

found three quantities to easily describe: Shape
 The Shape of the orbit using the semi-major axis a and the
eccentricity e
 The position of the orbit using the true anomaly θ

 Now that we have also defined a coordinate system, we can

proceed and define the orientation of the plane relative to this
coordinate system
• Semimajor Axis a
• Eccentricity e

 The resulting set of orbital elements are the so called “Keplerian • True Anomaly θ
Elements”
 How many additional elements do we require to describe the
orientation?
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ORBIT ORIENTATION
Orbit is defined by....

Shape Orientation

Semimajor Axis a
Eccentricity e Inclination i
RAAN Ω
Position: True Anomaly θ Argument of Perigee ω

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KEPLERIAN ELEMENTS
 The six Keplerian Elements are:

 Semi-major axis
 Eccentricity
 Inclination
 Right Ascension of Ascending Node
 Argument of Pericentre
 True anomaly

 If you are unable to explain those, you should not be able to pass this course!

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TITEL / AUTOR

KEPLERIAN ELEMENTS
 The Keplerian Elements are super useful, because:.

 They can be understood and immediately interpreted by humans

 They give us a nice way to propagate “two-body” or “Keplerian”

orbits without numerical integration techniques

 Under the assumptions of the Two-body problem, 𝑎𝑎 𝑒𝑒 𝑖𝑖 Ω 𝜔𝜔

are all constant with time. The only orbit parameter that changes
is the true anomaly, but we already know how it evolves over time
(Time + Kepler’s equations!)

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TITEL / AUTOR

SPECIAL CASES

 Problem: Classical Orbit Elements can be singular!

 What happens when the orbit is equatorial?

 What happens when the orbit is circular?

 What happens when the orbit is equatorial & circular?

 Solution: For numerical calculations on a computer use other representation as e.g., the
Equinoctial elements – but they are not as “human readable” as the classical Keplerian
Elements
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TITEL / AUTOR

TRANSFORMATIONS
 Of course one can transform from the classical Keplerian Elements to Cartesian Elements and
Vice Versa
 There are fomulas available in every astrodynamics textbook...

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ECEF DEFINITION
 Typically used for processing actual spacecraft observations and acceleration measurements
during orbit propagation and determination

 The origin of the reference frame is the center of mass of the Earth
�
𝑲𝑲
�
𝒁𝒁
�
𝒀𝒀

�
𝑿𝑿
O
𝑱𝑱�
𝑰𝑰�

Faculty | Institute | Person 76

ECEF DEFINITION
� axis passes through the true North pole, which does not coincide with the instantaneous
 𝒁𝒁
rotation axis of the Earth. The whobbling of the North pole is known as Polar Motion and needs
to be taken into account for high-fidelity propagations.

�
𝑲𝑲
�
𝒁𝒁
�
𝒀𝒀

�
𝑿𝑿
O
𝑱𝑱�
𝑰𝑰�

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ECEF DEFINITION
� axis intercepts the surface of the
 𝑿𝑿
Earth where the Earth equatorial
plane (0° latitude) and the
Greenwich prime meridian (0°
longitude) intersects

 Θ is known as the Greenwich Mean

Sidereal Time and defines the
angular separation between 𝑿𝑿� and the
Greenwich
Prime Meridian vernal equinox direction at any point in
time
Θ
𝑰𝑰� �
𝑿𝑿
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ECEF DEFINITION

 ECEF rotates with the Earth

 Coordinates of a point fixed on the surface

of the earth (e.g., ground stations) do not
change with respect to this reference frame

cos λ cos(𝜑𝜑)
𝜑𝜑  𝒓𝒓𝑮𝑮𝑮𝑮 = 𝑅𝑅⨁ sin(λ)cos(𝜑𝜑)
sin(𝜑𝜑)
Greenwich
Prime Meridian 𝜆𝜆
 𝜆𝜆 is the longitude
Θ
 𝜑𝜑 is the latitude
𝑰𝑰� �
𝑿𝑿
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SATELLITES IN ECEF
 For satellites, latitude and longitude do
vary with time

cos λ cos(𝜑𝜑)
 𝒓𝒓 = 𝑟𝑟 sin(λ)cos(𝜑𝜑)
sin(𝜑𝜑)

𝜑𝜑  The footprint of a satellite on the surface

Greenwich
Prime Meridian 𝜆𝜆 of the Earth is known in the astrodynamics
literature as a Ground Track
Θ
𝑰𝑰� �
𝑿𝑿
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 HOW CAN I MAP THE POSITION
VECTOR OF A SATELLITE FROM
ECI TO ECEF AND VICE VERSA?

ℐℱ = 𝑃𝑃 𝑁𝑁 𝑅𝑅 [𝑊𝑊]

Polar Motion:
Describe the
orientation of the
true North wrt the
instantaneous
Rotation Axis of
the Earth

Source: https://celebrating200years.noaa.gov/magazine/vlbi/Figure3.html
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HOW CAN I MAP THE POSITION
VECTOR OF A SATELLITE FROM ECI
TO ECEF AND VICEVERSA?
ℐℱ = 𝑃𝑃 𝑁𝑁 𝑅𝑅 [𝑊𝑊]

Precession & Nutation of Rotation of the Earth

the Earth’s Rotation Axis

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HOW CAN I MAP THE POSITION
VECTOR OF A SATELLITE FROM
ECI TO ECEF AND VICEVERSA?
 For this class, we will disregard polar motion and precession/nutation effects, leaving us with a
single rotation about the third axis:

ℐℱ = 𝑃𝑃 𝑁𝑁𝐼𝐼3 𝑅𝑅𝐼𝐼3 𝑊𝑊 𝐼𝐼=

3 𝑅𝑅3 (−Θ)

 We can then immediately find an expression for the angular velocity of the ℱ frame as seen
from the ℐ frame:

� = 7.2921 × 10−5 𝒁𝒁
𝝎𝝎ℱ/ℐ = 𝜔𝜔⨁ 𝒁𝒁 � (rad/s)

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ECEF SUMMARY
� , 𝒀𝒀
 Introduced a new reference frame ℱ = O|𝑿𝑿 � , 𝒁𝒁
� that rotates with Earth

� �
𝑲𝑲 �
𝑲𝑲
𝒁𝒁 �
𝒁𝒁
Neglecting
Polar Motion,
Precession & 𝝎𝝎ℱ/ℐ �
𝒀𝒀
O �
𝒀𝒀 Nutation
O
𝑰𝑰� 𝑰𝑰�
𝑱𝑱� 𝑱𝑱�
�
𝑿𝑿 Θ �
𝑿𝑿
 This frame is used for processing satellite observations and measurements because ground stations
are conveniently fixed in these coordinate system
 It is also used to find and plot satellites’ ground tracks!

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SATELLITE GROUND
TRACKS

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GROUND TRACK DEFINITION
 A ground track is defined as the locus of points on the Earth surface directly below a satellite as
it travels through its orbit
 Mathematically, it is found by transforming the position vector of the satellite from ECI to ECEF
and calculating its longitude and latitude
𝑟𝑟 cos 𝜃𝜃
• 𝒓𝒓 = ℱℐ ℐ𝒫𝒫 𝑟𝑟 sin 𝜃𝜃
� �
𝑲𝑲 0
𝒁𝒁
𝑟𝑟 cos 𝜃𝜃 𝑋𝑋
= 𝑅𝑅3 Θ ℐ𝒫𝒫 𝑟𝑟 sin 𝜃𝜃 = 𝑌𝑌
0 𝑍𝑍
�
𝒀𝒀
O • 𝜆𝜆 = tan−1
𝑌𝑌
longitude
𝑋𝑋
𝑰𝑰�
Θ 𝑱𝑱� 𝑍𝑍
�
• 𝜑𝜑 = sin−1 latitude
𝑿𝑿 𝑟𝑟
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3D VS 2D GROUND TRACKS

 The Earth rotates counter-clockwise, thus the ground track drift west each revolution by an
amount ∆λ = 𝜔𝜔⊕ 𝑃𝑃, where 𝑃𝑃 is the orbital period of the spacecraft and 𝜔𝜔⊕ is the Earth’s spin
rate
 From ∆λ we can estimate 𝑃𝑃
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EFFECTS OF INCLINATION ON
GROUND TRACKS

 Same satellite, but inclination is changed from 90 to 60 deg

 The maximum latitude recorded on a 2D ground-track, 𝜑𝜑𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚 , corresponds to the inclination of
the satellite!
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EFFECTS OF INCLINATION ON
GROUND TRACKS

 Same satellite, but inclination is changed from 90 to 60 deg

 The maximum latitude recorded on a 2D ground-track, 𝜑𝜑𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚 , corresponds to the inclination of
the satellite!
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EFFECTS OF INCLINATION ON
GROUND TRACKS
 For retrograde
orbits, 𝑖𝑖 = 𝜋𝜋 − 𝜑𝜑𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚

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EFFECTS OF SEMI-MAJOR
AXIS ON GROUND TRACKS
 Note that the Earth completes one revolution with respect to the ECI frame in 23 hrs, 56 minutes
and 4 seconds 𝑇𝑇⊕ = 86164 s (sidereal day)
 The spin rate of the Earth is obtained as 𝜔𝜔⊕ = 2𝜋𝜋/𝑇𝑇⊕
 Since ∆λ = 𝜔𝜔⊕ 𝑃𝑃 , we expect the longitude separation after one orbital period to increase as we
increase 𝑃𝑃 (hence the semi-major axis) of a S/C

Same as left picture, but

twice the semi-major axis

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 REPEATING GROUND TRACKS

 What happens when 𝑷𝑷 is a multiple of 𝑻𝑻⊕ = 𝟐𝟐𝟐𝟐/𝝎𝝎⊕ ?

𝑛𝑛 𝑛𝑛
 Mathematically, if 𝑃𝑃 = 𝑇𝑇 , then ∆λ = 𝜔𝜔⊕ 𝑃𝑃 = 2𝜋𝜋
𝑚𝑚 ⊕ 𝑚𝑚

Geosynchronous After 𝑚𝑚 revolutions,

Orbit! the spacecraft comes
back to its initial
location with respect
to ground

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REPEATING GROUND TRACKS
 What happens when 𝑷𝑷 is a multiple of 𝑻𝑻⊕ = 𝟐𝟐𝟐𝟐/𝝎𝝎⊕ ?
𝑛𝑛 𝑛𝑛
 Mathematically, if 𝑃𝑃 = 𝑇𝑇 , then ∆λ = 𝜔𝜔⊕ 𝑃𝑃 = 2𝜋𝜋
𝑚𝑚 ⊕ 𝑚𝑚

 After 𝑚𝑚 revolutions, the spacecraft comes back to its initial location with respect to the surface of the
Earth
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EFFECTS OF ECCENTRICITY ON
GROUND TRACKS

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EFFECTS OF ECCENTRICITY ON
GROUND TRACKS
 Circular orbits are symmetric about a line of equal longitude
 As we increase the eccentricity, the orbital speed varies between apoapsis and periapsis,
yielding asymmetric shapes with respect to Earth’s surface

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EFFECTS OF ARGUMENT OF
PERICENTER
 The other case where ground tracks are symmetric with respect to lines of equal longitude is
when 𝜔𝜔 = 90 or 270 deg

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SUMMARY

 Ground Tracks are a powerful tool for coverage and visibility analyses

 Can tell us whether a satellite is passing above certain sites or ground stations

 They tell us a great deal of information about the satellite’s orbit elements

 They still don’t tell us about where a satellite would be with respect to a specific ground station

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ORBITAL MANEUVERS

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MOTIVATION
 Spacecraft Missions are often carried out in phases

Apollo 8 VMMO

 Each phase has its own orbit, and maneuvers are often placed at the beginning and end of each
phase to change the state of the S/C

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ORBITAL MANEUVERS
(IN GENERAL)
 Goal: Transfer the spacecraft from one orbit to another

 Methodology:
Maneuvers are implemented by firing an onboard propulsion system

 Spacecraft needs to carry propellant for

orbital maneuvers
 Mass is expensive, so mission designers
try to optimize maneuvers in order to
reduce fuel costs (optimal control theory)

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NASA/JPL/Caltech (Illustration by David 100
Seal)
ORBITAL MANEUVERS (IN
THIS MODULE TODAY)
 Assumptions:
High-thrust propulsion systems can change the state of the spacecraft in a short amount of time.
In this case, maneuvers are often approximated as instantaneous velocity changes or “∆𝒗𝒗"s
The alternative of continuous low-thrust manoeuvres is not treated in the lecture today, but there
will be a dedicated lecture on those trajectories

 Goal: Find minimum ∆𝒗𝒗 maneuvers (i.e., minimum fuel cost) that change spacecraft’s orbit
elements

 Methodology:
Maneuvers are implemented by instantaneous velocity changes:

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EFFECT OF A ∆𝒗𝒗 ON
ORBITAL ENERGY
 Frequently, we want to change the orbital energy of a spacecraft (i.e., its semi-major axis): for example, moving
from a low-Earth parking orbit to GEO, compensate for atmospheric drag, …)

 Mathematically, we have

 𝒗𝒗−

 𝒗𝒗+
𝛼𝛼
∆𝒗𝒗

𝒓𝒓
 How can I maximize ∆𝑬𝑬 with minimum- ∆𝒗𝒗?

 ∆𝒗𝒗 ⇌ 𝒗𝒗− , 𝑖𝑖. 𝑒𝑒. , 𝛼𝛼 = 0 or 𝜋𝜋

 𝑣𝑣 − maximum (e.g., @pericenter)
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EFFECT OF A ∆𝒗𝒗 ON SPECIFIC
ANGULAR MOMENTUM
 Before the Maneuver:
 After the Maneuver:
 Change in angular momentum:

𝒗𝒗− 𝛽𝛽
𝒗𝒗+
 How can I maximimze ∆𝒉𝒉 with minimum-∆𝒗𝒗?
𝒆𝒆� 𝑟𝑟
∆𝒗𝒗
 ∆𝒗𝒗 ⊥ 𝒓𝒓, 𝑖𝑖. 𝑒𝑒., β = 𝜋𝜋/2
 𝑟𝑟 maximum (e.g., @apocenter) 𝒓𝒓

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SINGLE IMPULSE MANEUVER
Change the orbit elements of a satellite with a single burn:

Must be implemented when the initial and target orbits intersect

 There, velocity changes are simply given by ∆𝒗𝒗 = 𝒗𝒗2 − 𝒗𝒗1
 Use the cosine rule to measure the magnitude of the impulsive maneuver:

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INCLINATION CHANGE
 Single impulse maneuver aimed at changing only the inclination of a satellite

 As any other single impulse maneuver it must be implemented when the initial and final orbit
intersect. Hence, inclination changes are usually implemented at either the ascending or
descending nodes

 Since both orbits have the same velocity magnitude, 𝑣𝑣1 = 𝑣𝑣2 = 𝑣𝑣, and

 Very expensive maneuver: ∆𝑖𝑖 = 60° → ∆𝑣𝑣 = 𝑣𝑣 (the full orbital velocity!)

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HOHMANN TRANSFER
 Use two-impulsive burns to transfer between two circular orbits:

 We start from a circular orbit with semi-major axis 𝑎𝑎1 = 𝑟𝑟𝑖𝑖

 We want to move into a circular orbit with semi-major axis 𝑎𝑎2 = 𝑟𝑟𝑓𝑓
 The optimal path (as long as 𝑎𝑎2 /𝑎𝑎1 < 11.94) is an elliptic orbits with
 𝑟𝑟𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝 = 𝑎𝑎1 𝑟𝑟𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎 = 𝑎𝑎2

𝑟𝑟𝑝𝑝𝑡𝑡 + 𝑟𝑟𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎 𝑎𝑎1 + 𝑎𝑎2 𝑟𝑟𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝 𝑎𝑎1

𝑎𝑎𝑡𝑡 = = 𝑒𝑒𝑡𝑡 = 1 − =1 −
2 2 𝑎𝑎𝑡𝑡 𝑎𝑎𝑡𝑡

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HOHMANN TRANSFER
 From the vis-viva equation
𝑣𝑣 2 𝜇𝜇 𝜇𝜇
− =−
2 𝑟𝑟 2𝑎𝑎

 The velocity of a spacecraft in a circular orbit (𝑟𝑟 = 𝑎𝑎) is equal to

𝜇𝜇 𝜇𝜇 𝜇𝜇
𝑣𝑣𝑐𝑐 = , 𝑣𝑣1 = , 𝑣𝑣2 =
𝑎𝑎 𝑎𝑎1 𝑎𝑎 2

 The velocity of a spacecraft in an elliptic orbit when 𝑟𝑟 = 𝑟𝑟𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝 = 𝑎𝑎 𝑡𝑡 (1 − 𝑒𝑒𝑡𝑡 ) is

𝜇𝜇 1 + 𝑒𝑒𝑡𝑡
𝑣𝑣𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝 =
𝑎𝑎 𝑡𝑡 1 − 𝑒𝑒𝑡𝑡

 The velocity of a spacecraft in an elliptic orbit when 𝑟𝑟 = 𝑟𝑟𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎 = 𝑎𝑎 𝑡𝑡 (1 + 𝑒𝑒𝑡𝑡 ) is

𝜇𝜇 1 − 𝑒𝑒 𝑡𝑡
𝑣𝑣𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎 =
𝑎𝑎𝑡𝑡 1 + 𝑒𝑒 𝑡𝑡

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HOHMANN TRANSFER
Once we combine this information with the inputs of the Hohmann transfer, we find:

𝜇𝜇 1+𝑒𝑒𝑡𝑡 𝜇𝜇
 ∆𝑣𝑣1 = −
𝑎𝑎𝑡𝑡 1 −𝑒𝑒𝑡𝑡 𝑎𝑎1

𝜇𝜇 𝜇𝜇 1−𝑒𝑒𝑡𝑡
 ∆𝑣𝑣2 = −
𝑎𝑎2 𝑎𝑎𝑡𝑡 1+𝑒𝑒𝑡𝑡

Notice that the burns occur in the velocity direction, hence 𝜙𝜙 = 𝛼𝛼 = 0°

𝜇𝜇 𝑎𝑎2 𝜇𝜇 𝑎𝑎1
 ∆𝑣𝑣𝑡𝑡𝑡𝑡𝑡𝑡 = ∆𝑣𝑣1 + ∆𝑣𝑣2 = −1 + 1−
𝑎𝑎1 𝑎𝑎𝑡𝑡 𝑎𝑎2 𝑎𝑎𝑡𝑡

𝜋𝜋 𝑎𝑎𝑡𝑡3
 𝑇𝑇 = = 𝜋𝜋 is the Hohmann time-of-flight or transfer time
𝑛𝑛𝑡𝑡 𝜇𝜇

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BI-ELLIPTIC TRANSFER
When 𝑎𝑎2 ⁄𝑎𝑎1 ≥ 11.94, a three-impulse maneuver may be more efficient

 Insert into a highly elliptic orbit, so that 𝑣𝑣𝐵𝐵 ~ 0

 Then, both ∆𝑣𝑣𝐴𝐴 and ∆𝑣𝑣𝐶𝐶 are done at perigee, where orbital speed is max.

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BI-ELLIPTIC TRANSFER

Ratio between
Intermediate &
Initial orbit

 Earth parking orbits typically have 𝑎𝑎1 = 6578 km

 Moon’s semi-major axis is ~ 384400 km, i.e., 𝑎𝑎2 ⁄𝑎𝑎1 ~ 58 Same as 𝑎𝑎2 ⁄𝑎𝑎1
 Drawback: 𝑇𝑇 = 𝑇𝑇2 ⁄2 + 𝑇𝑇3 ⁄2 ≫ 𝑇𝑇𝐻𝐻𝐻𝐻𝐻𝐻𝐻𝐻𝐻𝐻𝐻𝐻𝐻

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NON-TANGENTIAL BURNS
BETWEEN CIRCULAR ORBITS
If time-of-flight becomes an issue, we may need to sacrifice
propellant to reach the desired orbit faster and in a less efficient way
𝑎𝑎1 + 𝑟𝑟𝑎𝑎𝑎 𝑟𝑟𝑎𝑎𝑎 − 𝑎𝑎1
• Pick 𝑟𝑟𝑎𝑎𝑎 > 𝑎𝑎3 and calculate 𝑎𝑎2 = and 𝑒𝑒2 =
𝑟𝑟𝑎𝑎𝑎 + 𝑎𝑎1 𝑟𝑟𝑎𝑎𝑎
2
𝑎𝑎2 (1 − 𝑒𝑒22 )
• Find 𝜃𝜃2 using the orbit equation: 𝑟𝑟 𝜃𝜃2 = 𝑎𝑎3 =
1 + 𝑒𝑒2 cos 𝜃𝜃2

• Use Kepler’s and time equations to find the time-of-flight

• ∆𝑣𝑣⃗ = 𝒗𝒗𝐵𝐵3 − 𝒗𝒗𝐵𝐵2 𝒊𝒊̂𝒑𝒑

𝒊𝒊̂𝒆𝒆
𝜇𝜇 𝜇𝜇 𝜇𝜇 𝜇𝜇 𝜇𝜇
∆𝑣𝑣⃗ = − sin 𝜃𝜃2 𝒊𝒊̂𝒆𝒆 + − cos 𝜃𝜃2 − 𝑒𝑒2 𝒊𝒊̂𝒑𝒑
ℎ2 ℎ3 ℎ3 ℎ2 ℎ2

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