A Minimal Observation Method for High-Thrust Initial Maneuver Determination
摘要
Maneuver determination is an important capability for maintaining custody of the large and growing space object catalog. Large maneuvers can be particularly difficult to handle as a space object may quickly leave the field of view of an unaware sensor. This paper describes an algorithm for estimating high-thrust maneuvers from only a pre-maneuver state estimate and two post-maneuver angles-only observations and analyzes its accuracy and reliability. This algorithm can be used to quickly and efficiently estimate maneuvers and seed accurate initial estimates into higher fidelity algorithms that require more data and computational resources.