Effects of Space Environment on Satellite Mega-Constellations: From Nodes and Links to Network Performance

Min Sheng; Di Zhou; Sijing Ji; Weigang Bai; Yan Zhu; Junyu Liu; Jiandong Li

doi:10.1016/j.eng.2025.07.024

Engineering ›› 2025, Vol. 54 ›› Issue (11) :93 -102. DOI: 10.1016/j.eng.2025.07.024

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Effects of Space Environment on Satellite Mega-Constellations: From Nodes and Links to Network Performance

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Abstract

Satellite mega-constellations (SMCs) encounter significant operational challenges due to various space environmental effects. While the mechanisms underlying some of these effects have been studied from a physical perspective, their precise impact on the network performance of SMCs remains unclear. To elucidate this further, this study investigates the spatiotemporal distribution characteristics of space environmental effects, such as solar radiation, ionizing radiation, and space debris, and the associated failure mechanisms in the nodes and links of SMCs. In addition, the impacts of solar radiation and single-event effects on performance of SMC system, particularly network throughput capacity, are examined. Results reveal that under the effect of the space environment, the throughput capacity degradation of SMC system varies with different parameters such as orbital altitude and inclination. Most importantly, the results bridge the gap between the physical phenomena of space environmental effects and network-level modeling. Finally, future research directions are prospected, regarding network topology control, constellation architecture, network routing techniques, and so on, to help mitigate network performance degradation due to space environmental effects.

Keywords

Satellite mega-constellations / Network topology structure / Space environmental effects / System throughput capacity

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Min Sheng, Di Zhou, Sijing Ji, Weigang Bai, Yan Zhu, Junyu Liu, Jiandong Li. Effects of Space Environment on Satellite Mega-Constellations: From Nodes and Links to Network Performance. Engineering, 2025, 54(11): 93-102 DOI:10.1016/j.eng.2025.07.024

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