Attitude/orbit dynamic simulator for the INNOVATOR mission

The aim of this thesis work is to evaluate the orbital maneuvers of the INNOVATOR mission and the attitude performances of the CubeSat. The presence of a propulsion system, which allows to perform the different maneuvers needed to test the payload, also gives rise to a disturbance torque of significant value, which may represent a major driver for the ADCS design. This torque needs to be counteracted both in terms of reaction wheel torque and angular momentum, so the reaction wheel desaturation is of main importance. The first part of the thesis focuses on the orbital maneuvers, divided into two phases where the first one resulted in the two satellites on the same initial orbit where they were employed with a spacing of 20 kilometers; the second phase simulated the core handover maneuver where the two satellites reach two different, slightly eccentric orbits and they continue drifting in time doing radio occultations when their spacing is between 20 to 5000 kilometers. In the second part, the focus is on the pointing accuracy and the saturation of the reaction wheels in the different maneuvers. Different simulations are carried out coupling the attitude and orbit control for four different phases of the mission and the performances of the magnetorquers selected in the design process are evaluated.