極低地球軌道科學探索、系統開發及資源應用(4/5)

Very Low Earth Orbits (VLEOs) are defined as having altitudes less than 400 km.VLEO spacecraft are of great interest due to the potential for lower launch costs,low latency, enhanced Earth observation resolution, and sustained in-situobservations in an undersampled atmospheric region. However, severalchallenges exist to the utilization of VELO spacecraft, many of which are closelyrelated to the upper atmosphere in this region. Enhanced drag results in shorterspacecraft lifetimes and increased heating. Tracking and telemetry arecomplicated by the higher velocities combined with uncertainties in orbitpropagation drag models. The dominant atmospheric constituent at thesealtitudes is atomic oxygen, which is a corrosive oxidization agent acting uponspacecraft materials.