Surrey Space Centre – University of Surrey and SITAEL have jointly published an article in Acta Astronautica titled “Air-breathing electric propulsion: Flight envelope identification and development of control for long-term orbital stability“.
The paper investigates the link between thruster performance and feasible operating altitude (as shown in the first figure, below), as well as performing orbital propagations of an air-breathing spacecraft (second image). A control law is introduced to provide a stable altitude range which is robust to time-varying atmospheric conditions.
Congratulations to authors: Mansur Tisaev, Nicola Baresi and Andrea Lucca Fabris from University of Surrey, and Eugenio Ferrato, Vittorio Giannetti, Christopher Paissoni and Tommaso Andreussi from SITAEL.
The paper is freely accessible by clicking here!
