2018/06/04 by Cyrus Foster, Foster, Cyrus, James Mason +11
Engineering · Physics and Astronomy · #Astro and Planetary Science #FOS: Physical sciences #Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics (astro-ph.IM) #Space Physics (physics.space-ph) #Space Satellite Systems and Control #Spacecraft Dynamics and Control
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.1806.01218
openalex publication_date 2018/06/04 · openalex created_date 2018/06/13 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
A methodology is presented for the differential drag control of a large fleet of propulsion-less satellites deployed in the same orbit. The controller places satellites into a constellation with specified angular offsets and zero-relative speed. Time optimal phasing is achieved by first determining an appropriate relative placement, i.e. the order of the satellites. A second optimization problem is then solved as a large coupled system to find the drag command profile required for each satellite. The control authority is the available ratio of low-drag to high-drag ballistic coefficients of the satellites when operating in their background mode. The controller is able to successfully phase constellations with up to 100 satellites in simulations. On-orbit performance of the controller is demonstrated by phasing the Planet Flock 2p constellation of twelve cubesats launched in June 2016 into a 510 km sun-synchronous orbit.