Reconfigurable Satellite Constellations for Geo-Spatially Adaptive Earth Observation Missions

Reconfigurability can benefit a wide spectrum of Earth-observation missions where the location of targets is unknown or uncertain a priori, including atmospheric research, disaster monitoring, and reconnaissance. The concept of a reconfigurable constellation (ReCon) is introduced by incorporating reconfigurability into static satellite constellations. The ReCon framework consists of two operational modes,global observation mode (GOM) and regional observation mode (ROM). GOM has a non-repeating ground track (NRGT) and ROM features a repeating ground track (RGT). Transitions between the two modes are performed by a Hohmanntransfer. A preliminary modeling for the ReCon framework is explained and the optimization results are presented.