Abstract
Intellectual system for optimal design of satelllite orbits and constellations for discontinuous Earth coverage is a unique intellectual instrument with robotic elements for sythesis of optimal satellite orbits and constellations by given criterion (minimum number of satellites in the constellation, or minimum revisit time in Earth observations, or another practically grounded criterion) based on author’s Route Satellite Constellations general theory considering optimization among arbitrary constellations, alternatively to different traditional approaches considering narrow classes of constellations to be analyzed (Walker Constellations, etc.). It is shown that the problem of Earth discontinuous (periodic) coverage optimization is extremely more complex, than the problem of continuous coverage, and searching optimal constelltions for discontinuous coverage among a priori fixed constellation types successfully implemented for continuous coverage (like Walker Constellations) is not perspective. It is also shown that using the intellectual system suggested leads to creation optimal (nearly optimal) satellite orbits and constellations for different tasks of periodic coverage on low Earth orbits (remote sensing, space communication, etc.) basing on given initial data.