A METHOD FOR GEOSTATIONARY STATION KEEPING OF A SPACECRAFT, AND A SYSTEM THEREFOR

摘要

The present invention provides a method for station keeping of a spacecraft in a defined slot of a geostationary orbit. The spacecraft comprises at least two propulsion units having forces with components in an east-, a west-, a south-and a north-direction in a coordinate system fixed to the spacecraft. The method comprises the steps of placing the spacecraft in said defined slot of the geostationary orbit, and controlling a direction of an apogee vector originating at the center of the earth and pointing towards an apogee of the geostationary orbit of the spacecraft to point in a direction with an angle in the interval from -90 to 90 degrees from a direction of a sun vector originating at the center of the earth and pointing towards the sun, and simultaneously controlling the eccentricity and inclination of the geostationary orbit to be within the defined slot.