Design of a drag-free control system for gravity field measurement satellite based on a cusped hall electric propulsion system

Design of a drag-free control system for gravity field measurement satellite based on a cusped hall electric propulsion system | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Design of a drag-free control system for gravity field measurement satellite based on a cusped hall electric propulsion system Kai Cui, Jialin Zheng, Kai Xu, Hao Wang, Jing Chen, Xiang Niu This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-4115762/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Published Journal Publication published 12 Mar, 2025 Read the published version in Microgravity Science and Technology → Version 1 posted 9 You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract To obtain a more accurate gravity field model, gravity field measurement satellites use the drag-free control system to minimize the residual disturbance force of the satellite and improve the measurement accuracy of the gravity field. To meet the drag-free control accuracy, these tasks propose the requirements of wide continuous throttling ability, low noise, and rapid response for the propulsion system, which acts as the actuator of the control system. This research takes a cusped hall electric propulsion system as the research object and constructs a component-level propulsion system model based on experimental data. The drag-free control system design and simulation are conducted with the theory of orbital dynamics, atmospheric drag model, and control method based on the extended state observer. The simulation results show that the slow thrust response speed of the propulsion system limits the bandwidth of the control system, resulting in the control accuracy not meeting the mission requirements. To solve this problem, a thrust response speed optimization method based on coordinated control of input parameters of the propulsion system is proposed. The results show that the thrust response speed is improved and the bandwidth of the control system is increased after the coordinated control of the flow rate and the voltage, which makes the residual accelerations of the satellite meet the drag-free control requirements of the gravity field measurement satellite. Drag-free control Gravity field measurement satellite Cusped hall electric propulsion system Thrust performance optimization Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Published Journal Publication published 12 Mar, 2025 Read the published version in Microgravity Science and Technology → Version 1 posted Editorial decision: Revision requested 23 Jun, 2024 Reviews received at journal 21 Jun, 2024 Reviews received at journal 28 May, 2024 Reviewers agreed at journal 26 May, 2024 Reviewers agreed at journal 26 May, 2024 Reviewers invited by journal 26 Mar, 2024 Submission checks completed at journal 20 Mar, 2024 Editor assigned by journal 20 Mar, 2024 First submitted to journal 17 Mar, 2024 You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. 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Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-4115762","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":282435170,"identity":"8086d465-334b-440f-9280-edc48768a355","order_by":0,"name":"Kai 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