Reconfiguration of Three-Craft Coulomb Formation Based on Patched-Conic-Section Trajectories

Abstract

This paper investigates the nonequilibrium fixed-shape three-craft Coulomb formation reconfiguration problem. Being aware that using the feedback-control approach might result in the chattering of the charges due to the nonequilibrium nature of the system dynamics, this paper proposes a trajectory planning approach to accomplish the reconfiguration. Entire maneuver trajectories are divided into multiple phases. During each phase, only two of the three craft are charged. In this way, the relative trajectory of the charged spacecraft during a certain phase is a conic section. Entire trajectories are composed of patched conics and/or straight lines. The procedures determining the three-phase maneuver strategy are developed, including a preadjusting phase and two transition phases. Numerical simulations demonstrate the effectiveness of the algorithm and the elegance of the charge histories.