Research Article | | Peer-Reviewed

Attitude Estimation of H2A Rocket Body from Light Curve Measurements

Received: 18 September 2023     Accepted: 12 October 2023     Published: 28 October 2023
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Abstract

The knowledge of the attitude motion of space debris is relevant for active debris removal missions. One possibility to characterize the attitude of space objects consists in the acquisition of photometric measurements over time, called light curves. The observed object is illuminated by the Sun and the variation of its apparent brightness gives information about its attitude state, e.g. whether the object is tumbling or not. If the light curve indicates a clear periodic variation it can be assumed that the object is rotating around its own axis with approximately constant angular velocity. However, often the orientation of the spin axis in body-fixed and inertial frame is unknown and its determination is challenging. Depending on the observed object and the information available about its shape, surface, components, a limited number of methods exists to determine the spin axis orientation. In this article we focus the attitude analysis on the Japanese H2A upper stage. Several light curves of this type of rocket body exhibit specific peaks, which can be exploited to extract attitude information. We assume that the peaks are related to the specular reflection occurring on the conical part of the upper stage. We present a novel method to estimate the direction of the rotation axis from the position of these peaks.

Published in International Journal of Astrophysics and Space Science (Volume 11, Issue 2)
DOI 10.11648/j.ijass.20231102.11
Page(s) 15-22
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2023. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Space Debris, Attitude Determination, Light Curves, H2A Rocket Body

References
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[4] Cardona T, Seitzer P, Rossi A, Piergentili F, Santoni F (2016) Bvri photometric observations and light-curve analysis of geo objects. Advances in Space Research 58: 514-527.
[5] Lu Y, Zhang C, Sun R, Zhao C, Xiong J (2017) Investigations of associated multi-band observations for geo space debris. Advances in Space Research 59: 2501-2511.
[6] Vananti A, Schildknecht T, Krag H (2017) Reflectance spectroscopy characterization of space debris. Advances in Space Research 59: 2488-2500.
[7] Zilkova D, Silha J, Matlovic P, Toth J (2023) Space debris spectroscopy: Specular reflections at LEO regime. Advances in Space Research 71: 3249–3261.
[8] Kucharski D, Kirchner G, Jah M, Bennett JC, Koidl F, Steindorfer M, Wang P (2021) Full attitude state reconstruction of tumbling space debris TOPEX/Poseidon via light-curve inversion with Quanta Photogrammetry. Acta Astronautica 187: 115-122.
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[12] Silha J, Schildknecht T, Pittet JN, Kirchner G, Steindorfer M, Kucharski D, Cerutti-Maori D, Rosebrock J, Sommer S, Leushacke L, Kärräng P, Kanzler R, Krag H (2017) Debris attitude motion measurements and modelling by combining different observation techniques. Journal of the British Interplanetary Society 70: 52-62.
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[15] Yanagisawa T, Kurosaki H (2012) Shape and motion estimate of LEO debris using light curves. Advances in Space Research 50: 136-145.
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Cite This Article
  • APA Style

    Alessandro Vananti, Yao Lu, Thomas Schildknecht. (2023). Attitude Estimation of H2A Rocket Body from Light Curve Measurements. International Journal of Astrophysics and Space Science, 11(2), 15-22. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijass.20231102.11

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    ACS Style

    Alessandro Vananti; Yao Lu; Thomas Schildknecht. Attitude Estimation of H2A Rocket Body from Light Curve Measurements. Int. J. Astrophys. Space Sci. 2023, 11(2), 15-22. doi: 10.11648/j.ijass.20231102.11

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    AMA Style

    Alessandro Vananti, Yao Lu, Thomas Schildknecht. Attitude Estimation of H2A Rocket Body from Light Curve Measurements. Int J Astrophys Space Sci. 2023;11(2):15-22. doi: 10.11648/j.ijass.20231102.11

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  • @article{10.11648/j.ijass.20231102.11,
      author = {Alessandro Vananti and Yao Lu and Thomas Schildknecht},
      title = {Attitude Estimation of H2A Rocket Body from Light Curve Measurements},
      journal = {International Journal of Astrophysics and Space Science},
      volume = {11},
      number = {2},
      pages = {15-22},
      doi = {10.11648/j.ijass.20231102.11},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijass.20231102.11},
      eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ijass.20231102.11},
      abstract = {The knowledge of the attitude motion of space debris is relevant for active debris removal missions. One possibility to characterize the attitude of space objects consists in the acquisition of photometric measurements over time, called light curves. The observed object is illuminated by the Sun and the variation of its apparent brightness gives information about its attitude state, e.g. whether the object is tumbling or not. If the light curve indicates a clear periodic variation it can be assumed that the object is rotating around its own axis with approximately constant angular velocity. However, often the orientation of the spin axis in body-fixed and inertial frame is unknown and its determination is challenging. Depending on the observed object and the information available about its shape, surface, components, a limited number of methods exists to determine the spin axis orientation. In this article we focus the attitude analysis on the Japanese H2A upper stage. Several light curves of this type of rocket body exhibit specific peaks, which can be exploited to extract attitude information. We assume that the peaks are related to the specular reflection occurring on the conical part of the upper stage. We present a novel method to estimate the direction of the rotation axis from the position of these peaks.
    },
     year = {2023}
    }
    

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  • TY  - JOUR
    T1  - Attitude Estimation of H2A Rocket Body from Light Curve Measurements
    AU  - Alessandro Vananti
    AU  - Yao Lu
    AU  - Thomas Schildknecht
    Y1  - 2023/10/28
    PY  - 2023
    N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijass.20231102.11
    DO  - 10.11648/j.ijass.20231102.11
    T2  - International Journal of Astrophysics and Space Science
    JF  - International Journal of Astrophysics and Space Science
    JO  - International Journal of Astrophysics and Space Science
    SP  - 15
    EP  - 22
    PB  - Science Publishing Group
    SN  - 2376-7022
    UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijass.20231102.11
    AB  - The knowledge of the attitude motion of space debris is relevant for active debris removal missions. One possibility to characterize the attitude of space objects consists in the acquisition of photometric measurements over time, called light curves. The observed object is illuminated by the Sun and the variation of its apparent brightness gives information about its attitude state, e.g. whether the object is tumbling or not. If the light curve indicates a clear periodic variation it can be assumed that the object is rotating around its own axis with approximately constant angular velocity. However, often the orientation of the spin axis in body-fixed and inertial frame is unknown and its determination is challenging. Depending on the observed object and the information available about its shape, surface, components, a limited number of methods exists to determine the spin axis orientation. In this article we focus the attitude analysis on the Japanese H2A upper stage. Several light curves of this type of rocket body exhibit specific peaks, which can be exploited to extract attitude information. We assume that the peaks are related to the specular reflection occurring on the conical part of the upper stage. We present a novel method to estimate the direction of the rotation axis from the position of these peaks.
    
    VL  - 11
    IS  - 2
    ER  - 

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Author Information
  • Astronomical Institute, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland

  • Astronomical Institute, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland

  • Astronomical Institute, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland

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