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Formation Flying In Highly Elliptical Orbits Initializing the FormationIn this paper several methods are examined for initializing formations in which all spacecraft start in a common elliptical orbit subsequent to separation from the launch vehicle. The tetrahedron formation used on missions such as the Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS), Auroral Multiscale Midex (AMM), and Cluster is used as a test bed Such a formation provides full three degrees-of-freedom in the relative motion about the reference orbit and is germane to several missions. The type of maneuver strategy that can be employed depends on the specific initial conditions of each member of the formation. Single-impulse maneuvers based on a Gaussian variation-of-parameters (VOP) approach, while operationally simple and intuitively-based, work only in a limited sense for a special class of initial conditions. These 'tailored' initial conditions are characterized as having only a few of the Keplerian elements different from the reference orbit. Attempts to achieve more generic initial conditions exceed the capabilities of the single impulse VOP. For these cases, multiple-impulse implementations are always possible but are generally less intuitive than the single-impulse case. The four-impulse VOP formalism discussed by Schaub is examined but smaller delta-V costs are achieved in our test problem by optimizing a Lambert solution.
Document ID
20000085955
Acquisition Source
Goddard Space Flight Center
Document Type
Preprint (Draft being sent to journal)
Authors
Mailhe, Laurie (AI Solutions, Inc. Lanham, MD United States)
Schiff, Conrad (AI Solutions, Inc. Lanham, MD United States)
Hughes, Steven (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD United States)
Date Acquired
September 7, 2013
Publication Date
January 1, 2000
Subject Category
Spacecraft Design, Testing And Performance
Meeting Information
Meeting: Space Flight Dynamics
Location: Biarritz
Country: France
Start Date: June 1, 2000
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Work of the US Gov. Public Use Permitted.

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