Effects of solar radiation pressure on orbits of space solar power station

The orbital dynamic behaviors of 3 typical space solar power stations (SSPSs) under the gravity gradient stabilized flight strategy were investigated. In view of the earth shadow and the effective cross-sectional area, a solar radiation pressure model was established. Firstly, the energy method was used, through the Legendre transformation and with the generalized mo-menta introduced, the canonical equations for the orbits in the Hamiltonian system were de-rived; then, the symplectic Runge-Kutta method was adopted to solve the corresponding canon-ical equations. Finally, several numerical examples were given, and the effectiveness of the proposed model and the stability of the numerical scheme were verified, in comparison with the previously reported results. The effects of the earth shadow and the effective cross-sectional ar-ea variations on SSPSs are significant. Meanwhile, the curves of the semi-major axis, eccentric-ity and orbital inclination in the geosynchronous orbit were obtained. The results provide a the-oretical reference for the design of SSPSs.