Formation flying missions have increased their importance thanks to the better performances that can be achieved with a distributed system of satellites.
A recent paper by Alejandro Monteiro Miñan, Francesca Scala and Camilla Colombo proposes an open-loop manoeuvre planning algorithm, based on continuous low thrust control, to provide the control accelerations to achieve a formation reconfiguration in a given temporal frame.
The proposed algorithm is based on an innovative control technique, which relies on the mean relative orbital elements as state variables of a first-order dynamic system, including the effect of the gravitational field of the Earth.
The article can be downloaded for free until November 26, 2022 at the following link. Don’t miss it!