Research on the visual simulation system of a stratospheric satellite's trajectory control

A stratospheric satellite, which is a new type of low-cost and low-energy-consumption spacecraft, can be controlled by a stratosail to orbit around the Earth's stratosphere from east to west at the height of 35 km. This paper researches on the visual simulation system of the stratospheric satellite's trajectory control. First, based on the more complete investigation of the characteristics of stratospheric environment and stratospheric winds, the trajectory control method of the stratospheric satellite is proposed, and then the components of the stratospheric satellite and their functions are given: a super-pressure helium balloon is used to balance the gravity, a stratosail to control the trajectory, and a 15km-long tether to connect the balloon and the stratosail to make them located in different wind strata. Second, the dynamic models of the balloon and stratosail are derived more compactly due to the appropriate options and definitions of various coordinate systems. After that, various simulations are carried out in scenarios of different wind conditions. Third, according to the dynamic models, the trajectory control scheme is proposed. In the end, the Creator and Vega Prime software platforms are applied to develop a visual simulation system for the trajectory control of the stratospheric satellite using the results of numerical simulations as input. The results of the visual simulation system show that the stratosail can be used to control the trajectory of stratospheric satellites precisely. Moreover, in the presence of wind disturbances the stratospheric satellite can still be controlled by the stratosail to fly from east to west along the predefined trajectory, namely, the control of the south-north direction is stable. Furthermore, through the visual simulation system, the trajectory control can be demonstrated visually, which means the control performance can be evaluated more intuitively.