Orbit Maneuvering of Vickay-1 Space Satellite Amidst Ionospheric Constraints Over Akure, Southwestern Nigeria

The need to enhance the performance of the Vickay-1 space satellite in orbit amidst the impacts of the ionosphere constraints necessitated the design of the research work. The Vickay-1 space satellite in orbit monitored different levels of ionosphere constraints using ionosonde data over Akure, Southwestern Nigeria, over an average of 11 years (2011-2021) of the solar cycle. The study examined the impacts of ionospheric constraints such as troubled events like geomagnetic storms, coronal mass ejections, solar flares, solar wind, and sunspots on the paths of space satellite signal transmission using cross plots of the analyzed ionosonde data, and also determined to what extent to maneuver the space satellite orbit in order to overcome the troubled events. The ionosonde data used in this study, namely geomagnetic field data, coronal mass ejection data, solar wind data, sunspot data, and solar flare intensity data as monitored by the Vickay-1 space satellite, were obtained from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The data were processed and analyzed using MATLAB 2019 and Microsoft Excel. Cross-plots of the analyzed data were used to determine the different levels of the ionospheric constraints (high, moderate, and low) over Akure. Using Hohmann's transfer function, the orbit elements namely the inclination angle, altitude, total orbit energy, total orbit velocity and total orbit period of the Vickay-1 satellite were similarly determined to control its orbit against the ionospheric limitations. Findings from this study indicated that the estimated values obtained from the cross plots ranged as follows: geomagnetic storm (6.69 to 8.45 kp), coronal mass ejection (1.59 × 1028 to 6.66 × 1029 MeV), solar wind velocity (345.97 to 465.35 km s-1), sunspot number (46.22 to 50.45), and solar flare intensity (2.00 × 10-5 to 7.16 × 10-6 Watts m-2). The determined orbit elements of the Vickay-1 space satellite showed inclination angle ranges from (82.5° to 262.5°), altitude (9583.69 to 30,454.67 km), total orbit energy (2.10 × 10-12 to 2.90 × 10-9 J), total orbit velocity (2.09 × 10-12 to 2.51 × 10-12 km hr-1) and total orbit period (2.14 × 10-12 to 3.49 × 10-12 sec). The study concluded that signal fading and multipath effects over Akure were caused by space satellite operational problems resulting from ionospheric constraints, and also proved that the orbit position of the Vickay-1 space satellite can be controlled from an altitude of approximately 9,583.69 km within the low earth orbit to an altitude of approximately 35,888.53 km between medium earth orbit and geosynchronous earth orbit to obtain efficient signal transmission over Akure. The study therefore, recommended that communication firms should identify the ionospheric impact conditions before adjusting their space satellite positions in order to improve low signal transmission challenges over Akure.