Abstract Analytic constant charge solutions are investigated for square planar and 3-D tetrahedron four-craft static Coulomb formations. The solutions are formulated in terms of the formation geometry and attitude. In contrast to the two- and three-spacecraft Coulomb formations, a four-spacecraft formation has new equality and multiple inequality constraints that need to be satisfied for the individual spacecraft charges to be both unique and real. Unique charge relative equilibriums are important to reduce the overall power requirement of the spacecraft charge emision. A spacecraft must not only satisfy three inequality three-craft constraints to yield a real charge solution, but it must also satisfy two additional equality constraints to ensure that the spacecraft charges are unique. Further, a method is presented to reduce the number of equality constraints arising due to the dynamics of a four-spacecraft formation. The unique and real spacecraft charges are determined as a function of the orientation of the square formation in a given principal orbit plane. For the 3-D tetrahedron formation scenario there is only a unique set of charged products. The implementability constraints are numerically evaluated to show that only trivial equal-mass tetrahedron formations are possible where one craft is on the along-track axis with zero charge.


    Access

    Check access

    Check availability in my library

    Order at Subito €


    Export, share and cite



    Title :

    Analytic Solutions for Equal Mass Four-Craft Static Coulomb Formation


    Contributors:

    Published in:

    Publication date :

    2008-03-01


    Size :

    24 pages




    Type of media :

    Article (Journal)


    Type of material :

    Electronic Resource


    Language :

    English





    Analytic Solutions for Equal Mass Four-Craft Static Coulomb Formation

    Vasavada, Harsh / Schaub, Hanspeter | Online Contents | 2008


    Analytic Solutions for Equal Mass 4-Craft Static Coulomb Formation (AAS 07-268)

    Vasavada, H. / Schaub, H. / American Astronautical Society et al. | British Library Conference Proceedings | 2008


    Reconfiguration and Control of Non-Equal Mass Three-Craft Coulomb Formation

    Ting, Wang / Guangqing, Xia / Nan, Zhao | Online Contents | 2016


    Reconfiguration and Control of Non-Equal Mass Three-Craft Coulomb Formation

    Ting, Wang / Guangqing, Xia / Nan, Zhao | Springer Verlag | 2016