A modern approach to drag attenuation in a H∞ robust orbit control

The main purpose of an orbit control system is to guarantee the tracking of a predefined orbit, despite the effects of disturbances from different nature with specific constrains in terms of orbit correction and tracking errors. In this paper, the problem is formally defined and an innovative solution is proposed using a methodology that involves new approaches in the model definition, in the mathematical characterization and in the application of modern robust controller synthesis techniques. From the simulation results we can see that these approach is used for a low earth orbiter as they recover the earth gravity field.