A solution of the navigation problem for autonomous insertion of payload into a geostationary orbit using a low-thrust engine

An onboard navigation system for a space vehicle (satellite) as it is inserted into a geostationary orbit using a low-thrust engine is considered. The navigation system uses optoelectronic Earth, Sun, and star sensors and a multichannel GNSS signal receiver. The purpose of the study is to form a general design of the integrated navigation system, including the justification of its architecture and operation algorithms, based on requirements for the accuracy of the navigation problem solution. To integrate various measurements, a quasilinear Kalman filter and its special "scalar" modification are used. The vector to be estimated onboard the spacecraft consists of the coordinate and velocity components, the attitude of its body axis, and the attitude and actual thrust of its main thruster. Instrument sensor errors are considered as uncontrollable factors. The main tool for the analysis of the navigation system error is simulation, which is performed using dedicated software developed using the object-oriented paradigm.