Criteria and Trade-offs for LEO Orbit Design

The purpose of this paper is to define principal criteria to select the best orbit for radar or optics applications in LEO orbits. Mission requirements and P/L constraints are converted into specified parameters such as altitude, eccentricity, inclination, right of ascending of the node, sensor and off- nadir angle, repeat cycle, near-repeat cycle, sub-cycle, overlapping area of interest, field of regard, re-look and repeat time, in order to determine criteria for LEO orbit design. Trade-offs of the selected parameters are performed for radar and optics applications permitting a choice of the best orbit among large number of them. Several satellite projects (e.g. COSMO-SkyMed and JHM) have been analysed by taking advantages of this strategy to define or to verify the best orbital choice for the specified application (optical or radar) in LEO orbits.