Optimising satellite geometries to minimise drag in very low Earth orbits

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The precise effect of spacecraft geometry in the high-drag regime of very low Earth orbit has yet to be investigated. This is essential for efficient operation, drag minimisation and accurate attitude control, and will prove invaluable for the design of future satellites utilizing these altitudes. The work will assimilate spacecraft systems engineering methods and external geometries for different applications to generate practicable satellite configurations that minimise drag and optimize the performance of the systems in terms of drag, launch requirements, attitude stability, controllability, etc. It will use data from the DISCOVERER project on gas surface interactions to generate appropriate GSI models as these effect the optimum geometries.The opportunity also exists to have input to the DISCOVERER CubeSat activity which will provide the validation for the updates GSI information, through supporting the hardware development and/or control manoeuvres for the satellite, on to implementing them on the platform and helping with the CubeSat operations, and/or post processing flight attitude data to extract GSI information.