Rapid On-Demand Launch Mission Planning for Timely Delivery of Spacecraft Constellations
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Abstract
On-demand launch from an airborne launch vehicle can provide a nanosatellite overhead in under an hour anywhere in the world. On-demand launch can support capabilities already on-orbit and provide tailored or new capabilities rapidly. A military rapid on-demand launch fulfills operational requirements for on-demand space support and reconstitution. Current capabilities in tracking and denial of space-assets limits the effectiveness of constellations already on-orbit to be operationally responsive in military space. Time-sensitive returns using scheduling algorithms for the timely deployment of a nanosatellite constellation can be achieved. Four case studies show the capability to provide persistent coverage of a moving target to provide terminal guidance to a net-enabled weapon, provide reconstitution of a PNT constellation, view persistence, and on-demand coverage of natural phenomena for disaster response. The three novel contributions of this work are creation of a mission planning system to deliver a constellation on-demand to observe a target from anywhere in the world using tactical airborne aircraft, combining existing vehicle models for aircraft, launch vehicle, satellite, and optimization tools to modify on-demand launch scheduling of a constellation for optimal coverage, and applying previously existing coverage quality measurements to measure replenishment and reconstitution value added by on-demand launch. A mission planning system for delivery of multiple satellites from multiple similar air-launched platforms for constellation installation over any selected point constrained for reaction time with optimized coverage quality is delivered.