A Survey of Orbit Design and Selection Methodologies

Designing satellite constellations often requires consideration of many factors including mission requirements, program budget, and technological capabilities. An abundant amount of literature exists addressing satellite constellation design and it would be beneficial to have a methodology that captures and communicates its current state in the literature. This paper presents a novel topology approach to characterize the relationship between constellation geometry, mission sets, and design approaches commonly presented in the literature with the aim at identifying the current state of satellite constellation design and the potential research opportunities that exist.