Autonomous Formation Keeping and Reconfiguration for Remote Sensing Spacecraft

Kurzfassung

This paper is devoted to the realistic demonstration of a complete Guidance, Navigation and Control (GNC) system for formation flying spacecraft in Low Earth orbit (LEO). Numerous technical novelties in the areas of formation flying guidance, GPS-based relative navigation, and impulsive relative orbit control have made this possible, but the primary contribution of this research work stems from the design and implementation of a comprehensive formation flying system through the successful integration of various techniques. This research has led to the full development, testing and validation of the GNC flight code to be embedded in the on-board computer of the Main spacecraft of the Swedish PRISMA technology demonstration. Furthermore key guidance and control algorithms presented here are going to be demonstrated for the first time on-board the German TanDEM-X formation flying mission. Overall this paper focuses on realistic application cases closely related to upcoming formation flying missions. The intention is to realize a practical and reliable way to a technology which is discussed and studied since decades but is still confined in research laboratories. Hardwarein- the-loop real-time simulations including flight computers show that simple techniques, which exploit the natural orbit motion to full extent, can meet the demanding requirements of the long-term close formation flying.