Abstract: Common-track constellation is a special kind of constellation, all ground tracks of satellites are in one track. With recursive orbit or quasi-recursive orbit, the ground track of the constellation is a closed loop with a repeating track. In particular, if the constellation is in one orbit plane, the constellation can meet the requirement for a multi-satellite launch mission and fast satellite-satellite link establishment. The characteristics and coverage properties of a common-track constellation in one orbit plane are studied in this paper. The simulation results show that a common-track constellation in one orbit plane can provide favorable coverage to a target station in the polar areas.

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