Low Earth orbit represents a valuable limited natural resource. Of particular interest are sun-synchronous orbits; it is estimated that approximately 44% of low Earth satellites are sun-synchronous. A previously developed sun-synchronous orbit slot architecture is considered. An in-depth analysis of the relative motion between satellites and their corresponding slots is performed. The long-term evolution of Earth's orbital environment is modeled by a set of coupled ordinary differential equations. A metric for quantifying the benefit, if any, of implementing a sun-synchronous architecture is developed. The results indicate that the proposed slot architecture would reduce the frequency of collisions between satellites in sun-synchronous orbits.

The objective of this study was to design a launch vehicle capable of deploying a nanosatellite into a Sun-synchronous orbit at 500 km orbital altitude from the JAS 39E/F Gripen fighter aircraft. This was achieved by first performing theoretical calculations for the required nozzles and solid propellant grain configurations for the first two solid stages, followed by the necessary liquid propellant configuration for the third stage. Lastly, two methods were investigated in solving the trajectory ascent problem for the launch vehicle design. First, by stating the trajectory problem as an initial value problem while guessing a Sigmoidal steering law. Secondly, by stating the trajectory problem as a boundary value problem. The latter was solved by transcribing the trajectory problem into a nonlinear program where a parametric steering law was derived using a Sequential quadratic programming algorithm.Ultimately, resulting in a launch vehicle design with a gross lift-off mass of 1,289 kg, capable of launching an 8.4 kg payload into the targeted orbit, with suggested modifications to increase the possible payload mass to 12.9 kg. / Målet med den här studien var att designa en luftlanserad trestegsraket kapabel till att transportera en nanosatellit upp till en solsynkron omloppsbana på 500 km altitud från ett JAS 39E/F Gripen jaktflygplan. Det gjordes genom att först beräkna de nödvändiga dysorna och krutladdningsformerna för de två första stegen tillsammans med en flytande bränsledesign för det tredje steget. Två metoder undersöktes för bananalysen. Först genom att anta en Sigmoidal styrningsfunktion för pitchen, sedan genom att transkribera problemet till ett icke-linjärt program där en parametrisk styrlag togs fram genom att använda en Sequential quadratic programming algoritm. Slutligen presenterades en raketdesign med en total vikt på 1 289 kg, kapabel till att skjuta upp en nyttolast på 8,4 kg till den önskade omloppsbanan tillsammans med förslag som kan öka den möjliga nyttolasten till 12,9 kg.