Aerodynamic collision avoidance manoeuvres provide an opportunity for
satellites in Low Earth Orbits to reduce the risk during close encounters. With
rising numbers of satellites and objects in orbit, satellites experience close
encounters more frequently. Especially those satellites without thrusting
capabilities face the problem of not being able to performimpulsive evasive
manoeuvres. For satellites in Low Earth Orbits, though, perturbing forces due
to aerodynamic drag may be used to influence their trajectories, thus offering
a possibility to avoid collisions. This work introduces a tool for the analysis
of aerodynamic collision avoidance manoeuvres. Current space-weather data are
employed to estimate the density the satellite encounters. Achievable in-track
separation distances following a variation of the ballistic coefficient through
a change in attitude are then derived by evaluating an analytical equation from
literature. Considering additional constraints for the attitude, e.g., charging
phases, and uncertainties in the used parameters, the influence of a manoeuvre
on the conjunction geometry and the collision probability is examined. The
university satellite Flying Laptop of the University of Stuttgart is used as an
exemplary satellite for analysis, which show the general effectiveness of
evasive manoeuvres employing aerodynamic drag. First manoeuvring strategies can
be deducted and the influence of parameter uncertainties is assessed.Comment: 18 pages, 13 figure