Journal of the Korean Society for Aeronautical & Space Sciences (한국항공우주학회지)

The Korean Society for Aeronautical and Space Sciences (한국항공우주학회)
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Residual Propellant Gauging Methods for Geostationary Satellites and Recent Technology Status

정지궤도위성의 잔여추진제량 측정방법 및 기술동향

  • Received : 2014.07.02
  • Accepted : 2014.08.22
  • Published : 2014.10.01
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Abstract

Geostationary satellites undergo various orbital perturbations and this results in location change. Therefore, all the geostationary satellites use the thruster in order to control the location change. For this purpose, the suitable amount of liquid propellant is mounted and the amount of propellant is reduced as time goes by. This means that the lifetime of the satellite depends on the residual propellant amount. Therefore precise residual propellant gauging is very important for the mitigation of economic losses arised from premature removal of satellite from its orbit, satellites replacement planning, slot management and so on. In this paper, we introduce the propellant gauging methods used in the geostationary satellites and the propellant gauging method studied in the laboratory level.

정지궤도위성은 궤도상에서 다양한 궤도상 교란을 겪고 이로 인해 시간이 증가함에 따라 위성의 위치가 변화하게 되는데 이러한 위성의 위치변화를 제어하기 위해 추력기가 사용된다. 이를 위해 적정한 양의 액체추진제가 탑재되며 시간이 지남에 따라 이러한 추진제의 양은 감소된다. 이는 궤도상에서 운용되는 위성의 수명은 추진제 잔여량에 좌우됨을 의미한다. 그러므로, 정확한 잔여추진제량 측정은 때이른 수명종료로 야기되는 경제적 손실을 완화시킬 뿐만 아니라 후속위성의 대체나 위성망 운용계획 등에 매우 중요하다. 본 논문에서는 현재 정지궤도위성에서 사용되고 있는 잔여추진제 측정방법들과 실험실 수준에서 연구되고 있는 잔여추진제 측정방법들에 대해 소개하고자 한다.

Keywords

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