Abstract In this paper the use of solar radiation pressure for spacecraft formation reconfiguration at the L 2 Sun–Earth/Moon collinear libration point is presented. The system consisting of a leader and three follower spacecraft is considered. The leader spacecraft is assumed to be in a fixed halo trajectory and the follower spacecraft position relative to the leader satellite is controlled using two angles and area; these are varied based on a variable structure model reference adaptive control technique to achieve the desired formation reconfiguration. This approach ensures that all follower spacecraft complete the required maneuver in the same time. An intertially fixed circular trajectory, which is suitable for interferometer missions, is used in this paper. The stability of the proposed controller is established using Lyapunov theory. The performance of the proposed controller is tested through numerical simulation of the governing nonlinear equations of motion and is applied for formation initialization, resizing, retargeting, and rotation. The numerical results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed control technique for spacecraft formation reconfiguration using solar radiation pressure at the L 2 libration point. Furthermore, control inputs on the order of 15degrees and 2m2 for area change are sufficient to execute the maneuvers.
Highlights Solar radiation pressure for spacecraft formation reconfiguration is proposed. A nonlinear controller based on model reference adaptive control technique is designed. An intertially fixed circular reference trajectory is considered. Simulation results and stability analysis validate the proposed control strategy.
Multiple spacecraft formation reconfiguration using solar radiation pressure
Acta Astronautica ; 103 ; 269-281
2014-05-18
13 pages
Article (Journal)
Electronic Resource
English
Multiple spacecraft formation reconfiguration using solar radiation pressure
Online Contents | 2014
|Optimal Formation-Reconfiguration for Multiple Spacecraft
British Library Conference Proceedings | 1998
|Lorentz-Augmented Spacecraft Formation Reconfiguration
AIAA | 2014
|Minimum-Fuel Formation Reconfiguration of Multiple Free-Flying Spacecraft
Online Contents | 1999
|