A new method (patent pending) is described using xenon propulsion system for stationkeeping of modular satellites. In these satellites, the xenon plasma thrusters are mounted at a large cant angle to the solar arrays and, therefore, produce a large radial DELTAV when performing north/south stationkeeping. To minimize the impact of this radial DELTAV, two plasma thrusters are used to simultaneously correct orbital inclination and eccentricity. Less efficient (bipropellant) thrusters are used to correct the orbital semimajor axis which only requires ablout 3
展开▼
