Development of a program for the prediction of placement of spacecraft based on TLE data

Abstract

. Accurate prediction of spacecraft placement is crucial for mission completion and scientific research. Based on the archive of the TLE data of the spacecraft, the placements of the Low Earth Orbit spacecraft ( Аl -Farabi-2), Medium Earth Orbit spacecraft (BEIDOU-3 M20), and High Earth Orbit spacecraft (IPM 2 & BREEZE-M R/B) were predicted in coordinate form using the first set of TLE data and SGP4/SDP4 model in Python. This work also employs the STK software for comparison purposes. The actual placements of these spacecraft are obtained by parsing their TLE data archives, and the errors of the two prediction methods are calculated. The errors are compared to evaluate the similarity and prediction accuracy of the two methods. This comprehensive analysis allows for an assessment of the feasibility of predicting spacecraft placements using a Python program as an alternative to the STK software. The results indicate that the Python-based method can be effectively used for accurate satellite coordinate prediction, offering a more accessible and cost-effective alternative to the STK software.