Electrostatic Force for Swarm Navigation and Reconfiguration

Abstract

In this work the concept of a swarm of satellites controlled by a hybrid thrusting electrostatic actuation system is assessed. On one side the propulsion system is investigated. First from the model of the interaction between the space plasma and a charged spacecraft a set of requirements is derived. This allows to define an actuation system for charge control. Then the applicability of the electrostatic actuation for formation keeping and reconfiguration of swarms of satellites is assessed. In particular this work aims at demonstrating that the electrostatic actuation can be exploited in a decentralized control scheme to trigger high fuel savings in reconfiguration maneuvers of swarms of satellites. To this end a novel charging strategy has been developed. The resulting system has been tested under different possible simulations and it has shown good performances in terms of reduction of the fuel expenditure for the whole swarm.