Initial conditions and fuel-optimal control for formation flying of satellites
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1999 by The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics Inc. All rights reserved. This paper deals with the formulation and solution of the initial condition, determination and fuel-optimal control problem in regard to formation flying of satellites. Unlike the relative station-keeping problem for satellites in the same plane, formation flying entails the creation of proper out-of-plane relative motion such that the satellites in the formation satisfy some mission requirements. Two methods for determining initial conditions of a satellite (Deputy), given the initial conditions of the chief satellite, for formation flying without thrust for a long period, are presented. The first method matches the mean J2-induced angular drift rates of the two satellites, and the second method is based on imposing periodic boundary conditions on the relative position and velocity in a rotating coordinate system. A fuel-optimal impulsive thrusting scheme is developed to establish a formation. A fuel-optimal, low-thrust, variable Isp propulsion scheme is presented for orbit maintenance.
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Guidance, Navigation, and Control Conference and Exhibit
