Comparison of Multiple Spacecraft Configuration Designs for Coordinated Flight Missions

Abstract

Coordinated flight allows the replacement of a single monolithic spacecraft with multiple smaller ones, based on the idea of distributed systems. According to the mission objectives and in order to ensure a safe relative motion, constraints on the relative distances need to be satisfied. At first a proper orbit design can limit the differential perturbations, then through corrective maneuvers their induced differential drifts can be canceled. In this work several designs are surveyed, defining the initial configuration of a group of spacecraft while counteracting the differential perturbations. For each of the investigated designs the focus is on the number of deployable spacecraft and on the possibility to ensure safe relative motion through station keeping of the initial configuration, with particular attention to the required $\Delta V$ budget and the constraints violations.