control strategies of formation flying using solar sail propulsion in the vicinity of collinear points

Paper number

IAC-08.C1.6.1

Author

Mr. Triwanto Simanjuntak, The University of Tokyo, Japan

Coauthor

Dr. Mutsuko Morimoto, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), Japan

Coauthor

Dr. Junichiro Kawaguchi, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), Japan

Year

2008

Abstract

Realization of formation flying using solar sail propulsion will offer great benefits for future space exploration missions. The use of solar sail, which will significantly reduce the use of the chemical propulsions, allows missions to be more flexible in term of mass and life cycle of the missions. Missions which require long baselines, potentially is solved by flying spacecrafts in a formation.  

Collinear points of the Sun-Earth system, L1 and L2 have a lower pseudo gravity potential compare to others Lagrangian point, but haven’t been exploited extensively for space missions needs due to the prohibited region, the shadowed area (for L2) and the communication link disturbances area when the satellites in-line with the Sun (for L1). 

What we propose here is to design a small low-thrust Halo orbit firstly, where the leader will be placed. This Halo orbit is derived from linearization at the Collinear Lagrangian points with constant thrust that rotated constantly in a control plane. This designed orbit also needs to avoid the prohibited region. 

Basically, three types of case that are examined in this research. The first case is when the leader spacecraft don’t use solar sail. In the second case, the leader use solar sail and rely only to one gimbal, while in third case, the leader has two gimbal. In all three cases, the follower has solar sail with two gimbals. For each case, a suitable small Halo orbit is generated accordingly.

A formation keeping strategy is adopted, where the follower spacecraft tracks in certain fixed distance. This relative distance need to be kept constant for space astronomical observations purpose. The equations of relative motion between the two spacecraft are derived by linearizing the follower equations of motion at the leader position and thusly a linear-time varying system is obtained. The formation is controlled to a piece constant and the optimal feedback control for this system is achieved by using Linear Quadratic Regulator method (LQR).

Abstract document

IAC-08.C1.6.1.pdf

Manuscript document

IAC-08.C1.6.1.pdf (🔒 authorized access only).

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