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arXiv · 2204.09258

BeiDou-G2: Past and Present

Hou-Yuan Lin
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Abstract

In January 2022, the defunct satellite BeiDou-G2 was pulled out of geostationary orbit by Shijian-21 to a graveyard orbit. For safe docking and operation, it was necessary to determine the rotation state in advance. In this paper, we show the evolution of the rotation of the BeiDou-G2 satellite based on the photometry observation data for the past 10 years. The rotational speed of BeiDou-G2 was found to be annual oscillation, mainly due to the solar radiation. Based on the evolution of BeiDou-G2's rotation speed and its orbit, we confirmed that in the last 10 years, the satellite had six abnormal events. These abnormal events were mainly due to the increase in the rotation speed caused by suspected fuel leakages. Additionally, the abnormal events included one collision in 2012, which was inferred to be the trigger of the fuel leakages in the following years. No rotational speed abnormalities occurred again after 2017, probably due to the complete release of the residual fuel. The parameters and the propagating models after one incidence of solar panel damage in 2014 and one fragment in 2016, with the standard errors for propagating over 1 year of the rotational axis less than 3{\deg} and rotational speed being 0.11{\deg}/s, were believed to be able to satisfy the accuracy requirements of the rotation state well at the moment of docking.

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Hou-Yuan Lin. 2022-04-20. BeiDou-G2: Past and Present. https://arxiv.org/abs/2204.09258

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