Flyby planning based on single-plane resonance for walker-delta mega constellation

The mega constellation flyby problem is difficult to solve due to large-scale constellation satellites. A two-step planning method (TSPM) is proposed. In the first step, the no-maneuver flyby orbit designs based on the single-plane coplanar resonance (SPCR) and the single-plane un-coplanar resonance (SPUCR) for the two-body problem are proposed. In the second step, the optimizations of multi-impulse transfer trajectories of coplanar and un-coplanar resonant orbits are presented. The proposed TSPM is applied to solving the flyby planning of the mega Walker-Delta constellation with 5, 280 satellites. Due to the regular distribution of constellation satellites, the optimal results show obvious regularity. Compared with the TSPM based on the SPCR, the proposed TSPM based on the SPUCR obviously reduces the fuel cost, and the average velocity increment and mission duration per flyby are only 0.03 m/s and 0.06 h.