Autonomous control of electric power supplied to a thruster during electric orbit raising
AssigneeThe Boeing Company
InventorsSadek W. Mansour, Jeffrey Scott Noel, Rainier Pio Roda
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A method for autonomously controlling electric power supplied to a thruster of a spacecraft during electric orbit raising includes determining a state of charge of a battery onboard the spacecraft at an entry into an eclipse during each orbit of a plurality of orbits during the electric orbit raising of the spacecraft. The method also includes determining an electric power level used to fire each thruster of a plurality of thrusters during each orbit beginning after the eclipse, based at least on the state of charge of the battery, and that will provide a shortest electric orbit raising duration and minimize thruster propellant usage during electric orbit raising.
Claims20
A method for autonomously controlling electric power supplied to a thruster of a spacecraft during electric orbit raising, comprising:
- determining, by a processor, a state of charge of a battery onboard the spacecraft at an entry into an eclipse during each orbit of a plurality of orbits during the electric orbit raising of the spacecraft;
- and
- determining, by the processor, an electric power level used to fire each thruster of a plurality of thrusters during each orbit beginning after the eclipse, based at least on the state of charge of the battery, and that will provide a shortest electric orbit raising duration and minimize thruster propellant usage during electric orbit raising.
A system for autonomously controlling electric power supplied to a thruster of a spacecraft during electric orbit raising, comprising:
- a battery to power the spacecraft;
- a plurality of thrusters used for electric orbit raising of the spacecraft and station keeping of the spacecraft;
- and
- spacecraft control electronics powered by the battery, the spacecraft control electronics being configured to control operation of the thrusters, and the spacecraft control electronics being further configured to:
- determine a state of charge of the battery onboard the spacecraft at an entry into an eclipse during each orbit of a plurality of orbits during the electric orbit raising of the spacecraft;
- and
- determine an electric power level used to fire each thruster of the plurality of thrusters during each orbit beginning after the eclipse, based on the state of charge of the battery, and that will provide a shortest electric orbit raising duration and minimize thruster propellant usage during the electric orbit raising.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.