Some simple guidelines based on the accuracy in determining a satellite formation’s semimajor axis differences are useful in making preliminary assessments of the navigation accuracy needed to support such missions. These guidelines are valid for any elliptical orbit, regardless of eccentricity. Although maneuvers required for formation establishment, reconfiguration, and station-keeping require accurate prediction of the state estimate to the maneuver time, and hence are directly affected by errors in all the orbital elements, experience has shown that determination of orbit plane orientation and orbit shape to acceptable levels is less challenging than the determination of orbital period or semimajor axis. Furthermore, any differences among the members’ semimajor axes are undesirable for a satellite formation, since they will lead to differential in-track drift due to period differences. Since inevitable navigation errors prevent these differences from ever being zero, one may use the guidelines this paper presents to determine how much drift will result from a given relative navigation accuracy, or conversely what navigation accuracy is required to limit drift to a given value. Since the guidelines do not account for perturbations, they may be viewed as useful preliminary design tools, rather than as the basis for mission navigation requirements, which should be based on detailed analysis of the mission configuration, including all relevant sources of uncertainty.

中文翻译：

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轨道编队飞行的导航精度准则

基于确定卫星编队的半长轴差的准确性的一些简单准则，可用于对支持此类任务所需的导航精度进行初步评估。这些准则对任何椭圆形轨道均有效，而与离心率无关。尽管编队建立，改组和驻场所需的机动需要对机动状态的状态估计进行准确的预测，因此直接受到所有轨道要素误差的影响，但经验表明，确定轨道平面方向和轨道形状到可接受的水平要比确定轨道周期或半长轴困难。此外，成员半长轴之间的任何差异对于卫星编队都是不希望的，因为它们会由于周期差异而导致轨内漂移差异。由于不可避免的导航误差会阻止这些差异永远为零，因此可以使用本文提出的指导原则来确定给定的相对导航精度会导致多少漂移，或者反过来需要将漂移限制为给定值所需的导航精度。由于准则没有考虑到干扰，因此它们可能被视为有用的初步设计工具，而不是任务导航要求的基础，而后者应以对任务配置的详细分析为基础，包括不确定性的所有相关来源。可以使用本文提出的指南来确定给定的相对导航精度将导致多少漂移，或者相反，将漂移限制为给定值需要多少导航精度。由于准则没有考虑到干扰，因此它们可能被视为有用的初步设计工具，而不是任务导航要求的基础，而后者应以对任务配置的详细分析为基础，包括不确定性的所有相关来源。可以使用本文提出的指南来确定给定的相对导航精度将导致多少漂移，或者相反，将漂移限制为给定值需要多少导航精度。由于准则没有考虑到干扰，因此它们可能被视为有用的初步设计工具，而不是任务导航要求的基础，而后者应以对任务配置的详细分析为基础，包括不确定性的所有相关来源。