3.9 Satellite State Representation: R xP+yQ
3.9 Satellite State Representation: R xP+yQ
3.9 Satellite State Representation: R xP+yQ
The motion of the satellite in its natural orbital plane has been discussed earlier in this chapter. This
section describes how to determine the position of a satellite in three dimensional space. In fact, we need
six quantities (known as orbital elements) for determining the position of a satellite in space.
Let P be a unit vector along the perihelion line. Suppose that the unit vector Q is perpendicular to P,
having a true anomaly of v = 90. The position vector r can be expresses in term of these unit vector as
follows:
r = x P + y Q,
r = 𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟 P + 𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟 Q,
Differentiating the above equation with respect to t, to find the velocity vector
√𝑟𝑟𝑟
𝑟𝑟̇ =
𝑟
Let us now introduce the geocentric equatorial coordinate system for describing Earth-bound system. It is
assumed that Earth is positioned at the origin of the geocentric equatorial coordinate system with Z-axis
represent the axis of rotation of Earth and equatorial plane represents XY-reference plane. We
associated x-axis with vernal equinox .
Fig. 3.10: Celestial Sphere
We have the following relationship between the spherical coordinates: right ascension, declination
and either the Cartesian coordinates (X, Y, Z).
𝑟 = √𝑟2 + 𝑟2 + 𝑟 2
𝑟
= 𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟−1
𝑟
𝑟
= 𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟−1
√𝑟2 +𝑟2
It is important to note for selecting appropriate quadrant that that the sign of the denominator (X) must be
same to the sign of cos . Following three angles are used for describing the orientation of orbital plane as
described by Montenbruck,2005.
(i) Inclination i (which measures the angle of intersection between the orbital plane and the
equator)
(ii) Right ascension of ascending node (the angle between the vernal equinox and the
point on the orbit at which the satellite crosses the equator from south to north) and
(iii) The argument of perigee (angle between the direction of the ascending node and
the direction of the perigee).
We can express the position of a satellite in space as a function of these angles by sequence of three
Euler’s angle rotations. The unit vectors P, Q and W =h/h are used for defining the coordinates of the
orbital plane as described by Montenbruck,2005. Since,
If xyz coordinate system is rotated by an angle of (i.e. with an x’-axis is directed to the ascending
node) around W, the coordinates are
Next, the x’-axis is rotated by an angle i to get equatorial coordinates counted from the line of nodes.
Finally the new z-axis is rotated by then to obtain the equatorial coordinates counted from the
direction of equinox :
[𝑟 𝑟 𝑟 ] = 𝑟𝑟 (−) 𝑟𝑟 (−𝑟) 𝑟𝑟 (−) 𝑟[𝑟𝑟𝑟 𝑟𝑟𝑟 0 ]
with u = + v . The angle u is called argument of latitude which is the angle between the position line r and
the line of nodes. In particular, the vector P and Q are determined with a true anomaly of 0 and 90
respectively:
𝑟 = [𝑟𝑟𝑟 𝑟𝑟𝑟 − 𝑟𝑟𝑟 𝑟𝑟𝑟 𝑟 𝑟𝑟𝑟 𝑟𝑟𝑟 𝑟𝑟𝑟 + 𝑟𝑟𝑟 𝑟 𝑟𝑟𝑟 𝑟 𝑟𝑟𝑟 𝑟𝑟𝑟 𝑟𝑟𝑟 𝑟 ]
𝑟 = [−𝑟𝑟𝑟 𝑟𝑟𝑟 − 𝑟𝑟𝑟 𝑟𝑟𝑟 𝑟 𝑟𝑟𝑟 − 𝑟𝑟𝑟 𝑟𝑟𝑟 + 𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟 𝑟 𝑟𝑟𝑟 𝑟𝑟𝑟 𝑟𝑟𝑟 𝑟 ]
We can compute the third vector W by taking cross product of P and Q as follows
Six orbital elements (a, e, ʍ, ,,i) can determined if position r and velocity v of a satellite are known at
any instance. Since the angular momentum h is defined as follows:
h= r𝑟
The inclination and right ascension of the ascending node can be determined as follows:
√𝑟2𝑟 +𝑟2𝑟
𝑟 = 𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟−1
𝑟𝑟
−𝑟𝑟
= 𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟−1
𝑟𝑟
𝑟2
p= ,
𝑟𝑟
2 𝑟 2 −1
a=( − )
𝑟 𝑟𝑟
and the corresponding mean motion can determined using Eq. (3.51)
𝑟𝑟
n=√
𝑟3
𝑟
e = √1 −
𝑟
and
to prove that
It gives that
(𝑟.𝑟̇ )/𝑟2𝑟
𝑟 = 𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟−1 𝑟
1−
𝑟
The eccentric anomaly can be obtained from Kepler’s Eq. (3.48) implies that