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CEAS EuroGNC 2019

Application of Mean-Motion-Based Artificial Potentials for a Cluster Flight Mission Scenario
Federico Fumenti DLR, Institute of Space Systems, Bremen, Germany
David Seelbinder DLR, Institute of Space Systems, Bremen, Germany
Stephan Theil DLR, Institute of Space Systems, Bremen, Germany
Abstract:
Cluster flight is one of the key technologies that are required to enable the deployment of distributed space systems. Through the concept of cluster flight, a large monolithic structure can be replaced with multiple smaller spacecraft, permitting to overcome physical limitations and improve mission performance. To ensure a safe relative motion between several objects that fly in proximity, the guidance and control algorithm must be designed in order to be scalable, autonomous, and responsive. A technique to meet these requirements by employing the method of the artificial potentials is presented in this paper. For a cluster of spacecraft that are distributed in the along-track direction in a leader-follower manner, the relative distances can be altered by focusing and adjusting the mean motion of the spacecraft. An artificial-potential-based approach can be used to evaluate corrections of the semi-major axes by only reacting on the current configuration, with no need to perform trajectory predictions.
Keywords: Adaptive control; Multi-vehicle cooperative decision and control; Spacecraft orbit guidance
 View PDF CEAS-GNC-2019-010


Federico Fumenti, David Seelbinder, Stephan Theil: Application of Mean-Motion-Based Artificial Potentials for a Cluster Flight Mission Scenario. Proceedings of the 2019 CEAS EuroGNC conference. Milan, Italy. April 2019. CEAS-GNC-2019-010.
BibTeX entry:

@Incollection{CEAS-GNC-2019-010,
    authors = {Fumenti, Federico and Seelbinder, David and Theil, Stephan},
    title = {Application of Mean-Motion-Based Artificial Potentials for a Cluster Flight Mission Scenario},
    booktitle = {Proceedings of the 2019 {CEAS EuroGNC} conference},
    address = {Milan, Italy},
    month = apr,
    year = {2019},
    note = {CEAS-GNC-2019-010}
}