Maintenance of satellite formations using environmental forces

Abstract

This paper examines the maintenance of satellite formations using two environmental forces: solar radiation pressure and aerodynamic forces. It is assumed that the satellites are equipped with solar flaps or aerodynamic flaps. Control using aerodynamic flaps is considered for satellite formations in LEO while solar flaps is applied to formations in LEO as well as GEO. The simple control laws based on open-loop and closed-loop control methods are designed for required rotation of the flaps to achieve desired formation keeping. The feasibility of the proposed schemes is proven via stability analyses followed by numerical simulations. A linear flap rotation scheme is found to keep the relative position errors bounded to ±5m. The proposed control methods show the effectiveness of the use of solar radiation pressure and aerodynamic forces for satellite formation flying.