Abstract Orbital capability is a decisive step forward for nanosatellites in general and CubeSats in particular. Although trajectory maneuvers and their implementation have been thoroughly studied for classical satellites, the high level of constraints on CubeSats in terms of mass, volume and power, makes the transition delicate. Orbit, attitude and power control subsystems available for this format limit too optimistic performance available in literature. To verify this hypothesis, we simulate trajectory maneuvers in Earth orbit with representative CubeSat hardware and software. A low-thrust trajectory solver based on classical orbital elements from the literature is adapted to our context. A home-made attitude control simulation tool is coupled to include both control and perturbative dynamics. Increases in time and propellant consumption of more than 100% are caused by thrust direction errors such as misalignments and attitude control limitations, sometimes leading to mission loss. These results highlight an important increase in complexity for the CubeSat format that is not covered by the usual approach. Such limitations should be considered from the very start of the design of a nanosatellite mission with trajectory modification requirements.

中文翻译：

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姿态控制：立方体小推力推进设计的关键因素

摘要 轨道能力是一般纳米卫星，特别是立方体卫星向前迈出的决定性一步。尽管已经对经典卫星的轨迹机动及其实施进行了彻底的研究，但立方体卫星在质量、体积和功率方面的高度限制使过渡变得微妙。可用于这种格式的轨道、姿态和功率控制子系统限制了文献中过于乐观的性能。为了验证这一假设，我们使用具有代表性的 CubeSat 硬件和软件来模拟地球轨道上的轨迹机动。基于文献中经典轨道元素的低推力轨迹求解器适用于我们的上下文。自制的姿态控制仿真工具被耦合以包括控制和微扰动力学。时间增加和推进剂消耗超过 100% 是由推力方向错误（例如未对准和姿态控制限制）引起的，有时会导致任务失败。这些结果突出了 CubeSat 格式的复杂性的显着增加，这是通常方法未涵盖的。在设计具有轨迹修改要求的纳米卫星任务时，就应考虑此类限制。