Study of the control strategy for frozen orbits with arbitrary orbital element by using radial low-thrust

Traditional frozen orbits have some rigorous orbit element conditions which seriously affect the application of the frozen orbit. By utilizing orbital averaging technique, the averaged change rates of orbital elements, that occur due to the J2 perturbation arising from Earth's oblateness, are given. The averaged change rates of orbital elements caused by constant accelerations in the radial, transverse, and binormal directions, are also derived. Two control strategies for frozen orbit with arbitrary orbital element by using radial low-thrust are proposed according to some analysis. Using these control strategies orbits with arbitrary orbital element could meet the frozen condition and become frozen orbits. Simulation results show that the proposed control strategies are feasible and efficient.