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Utilizing differential atmospheric forces in the Very Low Earth Orbits (VLEO) regime for the control of the relative motion within a satellite formation is a promising option as any thrusting device has tremendous effects on the mission capacity due to the limited weight and size restrictions of small satellites. One possible approach to increase the available control forces is to reduce the mass of the respective satellites as well as to increase the available surface area. However, satellites of these characteristics suffer from rapid orbital decay and consequently have a reduced service lifetime. Therefore, achieving higher control forces is in contradiction to achieving a minimum orbital decay of the satellites, which currently represents one of the biggest challenges in the VLEO regime. In this work, the geometry of a given reference satellite, a 3UCubeSat, is optimized under the consideration of different surface material properties for differential lift and drag control applications while simultaneously ensuring a sustained VLEO operation. Notably, not only the consideration of sustainability but also the optimization with regard to differential lift is new in literature. It was shown that the advantageous geometries strongly depend on the type of gas-surface interaction and thus, two different final designs, one for each extreme type, are presented. In both cases, improvements in all relevant parameters could be achieved solely via geometry adaptions.

Aerodynamic collision avoidance manoeuvres provide an opportunity for satellites in Low Earth Orbits to reduce the risk during close encounters. With rising numbers of satellites and objects in orbit, satellites experience close encounters more frequently. Especially those satellites without thrusting capabilities face the problem of not being able to performimpulsive evasive manoeuvres. For satellites in Low Earth Orbits, though, perturbing forces due to aerodynamic drag may be used to influence their trajectories, thus offering a possibility to avoid collisions. This work introduces a tool for the analysis of aerodynamic collision avoidance manoeuvres. Current space-weather data are employed to estimate the density the satellite encounters. Achievable in-track separation distances following a variation of the ballistic coefficient through a change in attitude are then derived by evaluating an analytical equation from literature. Considering additional constraints for the attitude, e.g., charging phases, and uncertainties in the used parameters, the influence of a manoeuvre on the conjunction geometry and the collision probability is examined. The university satellite Flying Laptop of the University of Stuttgart is used as an exemplary satellite for analysis, which show the general effectiveness of evasive manoeuvres employing aerodynamic drag. First manoeuvring strategies can be deducted and the influence of parameter uncertainties is assessed., Comment: 18 pages, 13 figures

Challenging space missions include those at very low altitudes, where the atmosphere is source of aerodynamic drag on the spacecraft that finally defines the missions lifetime unless way to compensate for it is provided. This environment is named Very Low Earth Orbit (VLEO) and is defined for $h<450~km$. In addition to the satellite's aerodynamic design, to extend the lifetime of such missions an efficient propulsion system is required. One solution is Atmosphere-Breathing Electric Propulsion (ABEP) that collects atmospheric particles to be used as propellant for an electric thruster. The system would minimize the requirement of limited propellant availability and can also be applied to any planetary body with atmosphere, enabling new missions at low altitude ranges for longer times. One of the objectives of the H2020 DISCOVERER project, is the development of an intake and an electrode-less plasma thruster for an ABEP system. The article describes the characteristics of intake design and the respective final deigns providing collection efficiencies up to $94\%$. On the other side, the radio frequency (RF) Helicon-based plasma thruster (IPT) developed at IRS, is hereby presented as well, while its performances are being evaluated, the thruster has been operated with single atmospheric species as propellant, and has highlighted very low input power requirement for operation at comparable mass flow rates $P\sim 60~W$., Comment: arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with arXiv:2106.15912

Operating satellites in Very Low Earth Orbit (VLEO) benefits the already expanding New Space industry in applications including Earth Observation and beyond. However, long-term operations at such low altitudes require propulsion systems to compensate for the large aerodynamic drag forces. When using conventional propulsion systems, the amount of storable propellant limits the maximum mission lifetime. The latter can be avoided by employing Atmosphere-Breathing Electric Propulsion (ABEP) system, which collects the residual atmospheric particles and uses them as propellant for an electric thruster. Thus, the requirement of on-board propellant storage can ideally be nullified. At the Institute of Space Systems (IRS) of the University of Stuttgart, an intake, and a RF Helicon-based Plasma Thruster (IPT) for ABEP system are developed within the Horizons 2020 funded DISCOVERER project. In order to assess possible future use cases, this paper proposes and analyzes several novel ABEP based mission scenarios. Beginning with technology demonstration mission in VLEO, more complex mission scenarios are derived and discussed in detail. These include, amongst others, orbit maintenance around Mars as well as refuelling and space tug missions. The results show that the ABEP system is not only able to compensate drag for orbit maintenance but also capable of performing orbital maneuvers and collect propellant for applications such as Space Tug and Refuelling. Thus, showing a multitude of different future mission applications.

Challenging space missions include those at very low altitudes, where the atmosphere is source of aerodynamic drag on the spacecraft. To extend the lifetime of such missions, an efficient propulsion system is required. One solution is Atmosphere-Breathing Electric Propulsion (ABEP) that collects atmospheric particles to be used as propellant for an electric thruster. The system would minimize the requirement of limited propellant availability and can also be applied to any planetary body with atmosphere, enabling new missions at low altitude ranges for longer times. IRS is developing, within the H2020 DISCOVERER project, an intake and a thruster for an ABEP system. The article describes the design and simulation of the intake, optimized to feed the radio frequency (RF) Helicon-based plasma thruster developed at IRS. The article deals in particular with the design of intakes based on diffuse and specular reflecting materials, which are analysed by the PICLas DSMC-PIC tool. Orbital altitudes $h=150-250$ km and the respective species based on the NRLMSISE-00 model (O, $N_2$, $O_2$, He, Ar, H, N) are investigated for several concepts based on fully diffuse and specular scattering, including hybrid designs. The major focus has been on the intake efficiency defined as $\eta_c=\dot{N}_{out}/\dot{N}_{in}$, with $\dot{N}_{in}$ the incoming particle flux, and $\dot{N}_{out}$ the one collected by the intake. Finally, two concepts are selected and presented providing the best expected performance for the operation with the selected thruster. The first one is based on fully diffuse accommodation yielding to $\eta_c<0.46$ and the second one based un fully specular accommodation yielding to $\eta_c<0.94$. Finally, also the influence of misalignment with the flow is analysed, highlighting a strong dependence of $\eta_c$ in the diffuse-based intake while, ..., Comment: Accepted Version

The Satellite for Orbital Aerodynamics Research (SOAR) is a CubeSat mission, due to be launched in 2021, to investigate the interaction between different materials and the atmospheric flow regime in very low Earth orbits (VLEO). Improving knowledge of the gas-surface interactions at these altitudes and identification of novel materials that can minimise drag or improve aerodynamic control are important for the design of future spacecraft that can operate in lower altitude orbits. Such satellites may be smaller and cheaper to develop or can provide improved Earth observation data or communications link-budgets and latency. Using precise orbit and attitude determination information and the measured atmospheric flow characteristics the forces and torques experienced by the satellite in orbit can be studied and estimates of the aerodynamic coefficients calculated. This paper presents the scientific concept and design of the SOAR mission. The methodology for recovery of the aerodynamic coefficients from the measured orbit, attitude, and in-situ atmospheric data using a least-squares orbit determination and free-parameter fitting process is described and the experimental uncertainty of the resolved aerodynamic coefficients is estimated. The presented results indicate that the combination of the satellite design and experimental methodology are capable of clearly illustrating the variation of drag and lift coefficient for differing surface incidence angle. The lowest uncertainties for the drag coefficient measurement are found at approximately 300 km, whilst the measurement of lift coefficient improves for reducing orbital altitude to 200 km., Comment: 19 pages, 11 figures. Accepted for publication in Acta Astronautica (2020-12-14)

Very low Earth orbits (VLEO), typically classified as orbits below approximately 450 km in altitude, have the potential to provide significant benefits to spacecraft over those that operate in higher altitude orbits. This paper provides a comprehensive review and analysis of these benefits to spacecraft operations in VLEO, with parametric investigation of those which apply specifically to Earth observation missions. The most significant benefit for optical imaging systems is that a reduction in orbital altitude improves spatial resolution for a similar payload specification. Alternatively mass and volume savings can be made whilst maintaining a given performance. Similarly, for radar and lidar systems, the signal-to-noise ratio can be improved. Additional benefits include improved geospatial position accuracy, improvements in communications link-budgets, and greater launch vehicle insertion capability. The collision risk with orbital debris and radiation environment can be shown to be improved in lower altitude orbits, whilst compliance with IADC guidelines for spacecraft post-mission lifetime and deorbit is also assisted. Finally, VLEO offers opportunities to exploit novel atmosphere-breathing electric propulsion systems and aerodynamic attitude and orbit control methods. However, key challenges associated with our understanding of the lower thermosphere, aerodynamic drag, the requirement to provide a meaningful orbital lifetime whilst minimising spacecraft mass and complexity, and atomic oxygen erosion still require further research. Given the scope for significant commercial, societal, and environmental impact which can be realised with higher performing Earth observation platforms, renewed research efforts to address the challenges associated with VLEO operations are required., Comment: 23 pages, 19 figures. Accepted for publication in Progress in Aerospace Sciences (24-04-2020)

We present a load balancing strategy for hybrid particle-mesh methods that is based on domain decomposition and element-local time measurement. This new strategy is compared to our previous approach, which assumes a constant weighting factor for each particle to determine the computational load. The timer-based load balancing is applied to a plasma expansion simulation. The performance of the new algorithm is compared to results presented in the past and a significant improvement in terms of computational efficiency is shown., Comment: 15 pages, 7 figures

In the context of the validation of PICLas, a kinetic particle suite for the simulation of rarefied, non-equilibrium plasma flows, the biased hypersonic nitrogen flow around a blunted cone was simulated with the Direct Simulation Monte Carlo method. The setup is characterized by a complex flow with strong local gradients and thermal non-equilibrium resulting in a highly inhomogeneous computational load. Especially, the load distribution is of interest, because it allows to exploit the utilized computational resources efficiently. Different load distribution algorithms are investigated and compared within a strong scaling. This investigation of the parallel performance of PICLas is accompanied by simulation results in terms of the velocity magnitude, translational temperature and heat flux, which is compared to experimental measurements.