NASA Logo

NTRS

NTRS - NASA Technical Reports Server

Back to Results
Conjunction Assessment Techniques and Operational Results from the Magnetospheric Multiscale MissionThis paper will describe the results that have been obtained to date during the MMS mission concerning conjunction assessment. MMS navigation makes use of a weak-signal GPS-based system: this allows signals to be received even when MMS is flying above the GPS orbits, producing a highly accurate determination of the four MMS orbits. This data is downlinked to the MMS Mission Operations Center (MOC) and used by the Flight Dynamics Operations Area (FDOA) for both maneuver design and conjunction assessment. The MMS fly in tetrahedron formations around apogee, in order to collect simultaneous particles and fields science data. The original plan was to fly tetrahedra between 10 and 160 km in size; however, after Phase 1a of the mission, the science team requested that smaller sizes be flown if feasible. After analysis (to be detailed in a companion paper), a new minimum size of 7 km was decided upon. Flying at this reduced scale size makes conjunction assessment between the MMS spacecraft even more important: the methods that are used by the MMS FDOA to address this problem will be described in the paper, and a summary given of the previous analyses that went into the development of these techniques. Details will also be given of operational experiences to date. Finally, two CA mitigation maneuver types that have been designed (but never yet required to actually be performed) will also be outlined.
Document ID
20170005561
Acquisition Source
Goddard Space Flight Center
Document Type
Conference Paper
Authors
Williams, Trevor
(NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD United States)
Carpenter, Russell
(NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD United States)
Farahmand, Mitra
(AI Solutions, Inc. Lanham, MD, United States)
Ottenstein, Neil
(AI Solutions, Inc. Lanham, MD, United States)
Demoret, Michael
(AI Solutions, Inc. Lanham, MD, United States)
Godine, Dominic
(AI Solutions, Inc. Lanham, MD, United States)
Date Acquired
June 14, 2017
Publication Date
June 19, 2017
Subject Category
Astrodynamics
Astronautics (General)
Space Transportation And Safety
Report/Patent Number
GSFC-E-DAA-TN43010
IWSCFF 17-01
Meeting Information
Meeting: International Workshop on Satellite Constellations and Formation Flying
Location: Boulder, CO
Country: United States
Start Date: June 19, 2017
End Date: June 21, 2017
Sponsors: International Astronautical Federation
Funding Number(s)
CONTRACT_GRANT: NNG14VC09C
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Public Use Permitted.
Keywords
conjunction Assessment
No Preview Available