Differential orbit estimation for formation flying
- Paper number
IAC-06-C1.6.07
- Author
Mr. Xavier Vanwijck, Office National d’Etudes et de Recherches Aérospatiales (ONERA), France
- Coauthor
Mrs. Ana Diaz, European Space Agency/Student Participation Programme, Spain
- Year
2006
- Abstract
An interesting option to put heavy or large payloads into orbit is to distribute them on several smaller satellites orbiting in close formation. The formation flying, if it affords several advantages, also induces several challenges such as managing the formation as one only virtual vehicle.
In the frame of a research project called Romulus, the Long-term Design and Systems Integration Departement (DPRS) at Onera is interested by the estimation of the relative position of satellites within a formation given their relative observations.
The relative orbit estimation is able to give very accurate relative positions which will be used, in particular, by control and command systems. This estimation of the relative state of the satellites is performed, within the scope of this study, by an Extended Kalman Filter. The filter uses differential dynamic equations and is fed with relative measurements.
The study underlines the influence of several parameters on the estimation accuracies: influence of the orbit eccentricity, influence of the J2 term and of the atmospheric drag, influence of the observation system which is used (optical, radar and/or differential GPS), influence of the measurements rate and accuracy and influence of the initial estimation errors.
- Abstract document
- Manuscript document
IAC-06-C1.6.07.pdf (🔒 authorized access only).
To get the manuscript, please contact IAF Secretariat.