Optimal Satellite Maneuvers for Spaceborne Jamming Attacks

Satellites are becoming exceedingly critical for communication, making them prime targets for cyber-physical attacks. We consider a rogue satellite in low Earth orbit that jams the uplink communication between another satellite and a ground station. To achieve maximal interference with minimal fuel consumption, the jammer carefully maneuvers itself relative to the target satellite's antenna. We cast this maneuvering objective as a two-stage optimal control problem, involving i) repositioning to an efficient jamming position before uplink communication commences; and ii) maintaining an efficient jamming position after communication has started. We obtain the optimal maneuvering trajectories for the jammer and perform simulations to show how they enable the disruption of uplink communication with reasonable fuel consumption.