In this paper, we present algorithms and interfaces of the ephemeris generator developed for the onboard ephemeris calculation of Korea Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter (KPLO), and test and verify the performance of it in various ways. KPLO has several tasks,...
In this paper, we present algorithms and interfaces of the ephemeris generator developed for the onboard ephemeris calculation of Korea Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter (KPLO), and test and verify the performance of it in various ways. KPLO has several tasks, such as taking image of lunar surface, investigating magnetic field distribution, radiation and surface composition in polar orbits of the moon. For this purpose, the probe must be able to point to a specific location. In order to operate the probe, the solar panel must be oriented toward the sun and the communication antenna must be directed to the earth and to perform this, the position of the probe itself, the position of the sun, and the position of the moon should be calculated in onboard. The computation of the position of the space object is called the ephemeris calculation. The purpose of this study is to develop an onboard ephemeris generation algorithm that meets KPLO requirements with the kinematic method. The kinematic method is to find an approximating function of the given precise ephemeris and generate the ephemeris with it. Therefore, it is important to find the approximating function in the kinematic method. The developed ephemeris generator finds an approximating function using interpolation method considering the size and accuracy of the data to be transmitted. There are various methods of interpolation. Among them, polynomial interpolation with Chebyshev node, polynomial interpolation with uniform node and Hermite interpolation are used for test and the method with the smallest error is selected. As a result, polynomial interpolation with Chebyshev node is used for the probe ephemeris generator and polynomial interpolation with uniform node is used for the celestial ephemeris generator. The developed ephemeris generator consists of the ground station software which compresses the ephemeris and onboard ephemeris generation algorithm. Since ground station software will be used for the mission of KPLO, it was developed considering interface with FDS (Flight Dynamics Software). In addition, the developed onboard ephemeris generation algorithm will be loaded on onboard code and will be used for actual mission. The developed ephemeris generator consists of the celestial generator and the probe ephemeris generator. The performance verification of the probe ephemeris generator is carried out by checking whether the generated ephemeris of the mission orbit meets the requirements. In addition, the performance of the ephemeris generator is tested for the Earth orbit and the Earth-Moon transition orbit from lunar exploration reference trajectory. In the case of the celestial ephemeris generator, 1 year ephemeris of the Sun/Moon is calculated to verify that it meets the requirements.