Analysis of the robustness and mission performance of a CubeSat orbiting a binary asteroid system

The dynamics of a CubeSat orbiting a binary asteroid system can be quite complex due to the irregular gravitational fields of the two bodies and the significant effect of the Solar radiation pressure. Furthermore, as the size of the bodies result in difficulties in the observational process, the modelling of the system can come with significant uncertainties. In this work, a novel method is presented to determine the robust stability, boundedness, and mission performance of orbits in this system under state and model uncertainties. The Generalised Intrusive Polynomial Algebra (GIPA) technique with a Taylor polynomial basis is used to propagate the uncertainties through the system and produce a surrogate model of the system. These models are then analysed by looking at the specific value and time evolution of the polynomial coefficients. It is shown that the estimated size of the n + 1 degree coefficients and coefficient based variance are good indicators of the robust stability of an orbit. Furthermore, it is shown that these models can be used to calculate the bounds of the orbital elements, secondary observability, and camera ground resolution. The terminator orbits are found to show desirable stable behaviour, however also show less desirable observability characteristics. Close proximity orbits show good resolution performance, however resonances with the orbit of the secondary make the dynamics in this region more complex. This work shows how uncertainties in a highly nonlinear system can be included more efficiently in the orbit design process, and provide mission designers with new tools to design these types of mission.