Study on relative orbital configuration in satellite formation flying

In this paper, the relative orbital configurations of satellites in formation flying with non-perturbation and J2 perturbation are studied, and an orbital elements method is proposed to obtain the relative orbital configurations of satellites in formation. Firstly, under the condition of non-perturbation, we obtain many shapes of relative orbital configurations when the semi-major axes of satellites are equal. These shapes can be lines, ellipses or distorted closed curves. Secondly, on the basis of the analysis of J2 effect on relative orbital configurations, we find out that J2 effect can induce two kinds of changes of relative orbital configurations. They are distortion and drifting, respectively. In addition, when J2 perturbation is concerned, we also find that the semi-major axes of the leading and following satellites should not be the same exactly in order to decrease the J2 effect. The relationship of relative orbital elements and J2 effect is obtained through simulations. Finally, the minimum relation perturbation conditions are established in order to reduce the influence of the J2 effect. The results show that the minimum relation perturbation conditions can reduce the J2 effect significantly when the orbital element differences are small enough, and they can become rules for the design of satellite formation flying.

On-orbit target tracking and inspection by satellite formation

A new type of estimator is developed for the satellite formation to track and inspect on-orbit targets. The follower satellite in the formation works without relative sensors, and its target pointing commands are derived based on relative orbital dynamics. The centralized estimator based on truth measurement is designed, however, this estimator is proved unstable because of the lack of necessary measurement information. After that, an alternative estimator based on pseudo measurement is designed, and its observability and controllability are analyzed to qualitatively evaluate the convergence performance. Finally, an on-orbit target inspection scenario is numerically simulated to verify the performance of the estimator based on pseudo measurement.

COMPARISON OF TWO METHODS IN SATELLITE FORMATION FLYING

Recently, the research of dynamics and control of the satellite formation flying has been attracting a great deal of attentions of the researchers. The theory of the research was mainly based on Clohessy-Wiltshire' s (C-W's) equations, which describe the relative motion between two satellites. But according to some special examples and qualitative analysis , neither the initial parameters nor the period of the solution of C-W' s equations accord with the actual situation, and the conservation of energy is no longer held. A new method developed from orbital element description of single satellite , named relative orbital element method ( ROEM) , was introduced. This new method, with clear physics conception and wide application range, overcomes the limitation of C-W s equation , and the periodic solution is a natural conclusion. The simplified equation of the relative motion is obtained when the eccentricity of the main satellite is small. Finally, the results of the two methods (C-W' s equation and ROEM) are compared and the limitations of C-W s equations are pointed out and explained.

Solution set on the natural satellite formation orbits under first-order earth's non-spherical perturbation

Using the reference orbital element approach, the precise governing equations for the relative motion of formation flight are formulated. A number of ideal formations with respect to an elliptic orbit can be designed based on the relative motion analysis from the equations. The features of the oscillating reference orbital elements are studied by using the perturbation theory. The changes in the relative orbit under perturbation are divided into three categories, termed scale enlargement, drift and distortion respectively. By properly choosing the initial mean orbital elements for the leader and follower satellites, the deviations from originally regular formation orbit caused by the perturbation can be suppressed. Thereby the natural formation is set up. It behaves either like non-disturbed or need little control to maintain. The presented reference orbital element approach highlights the kinematics properties of the relative motion and is convenient to incorporate the results of perturbation analysis on orbital elements. This method of formation design has advantages over other methods in seeking natural formation and in initializing formation.

Relative navigation for satellite formation flight using a continuous-discrete converted measurement Kalman filter

The present paper develops an approach of relative orbit determination for satellite formation flight.Inter-satellite measurements by the onboard devices of the satellite were chosen to perform this relative navigation,and the equations of relative motion expressed in the Earth Centered Inertial frame were used to eliminate the assumption of the circular reference orbit.The relative orbit estimation was achieved through a continuous-discrete converted measurement Kalman filter design,in which the measurements were transformed to the inertial frame to avoid the linearization error of the observation equation.In addition,the situation of the coarse measurement period(only microwave radar measurements are available)existing was analyzed.The numerical simulation results verify the validity of the navigation approach,and it has been proved that this approach can be applied to the formation with an elliptical reference orbit.

Predictive control for satellite formation keeping

Based on a Hill equation and a nonlinear equation describing the desired and real dynamics of relative motion separately, a predictive controller is brought forward, which makes the real state track the desired ones to keep satellite formation. The stability and robustness of the controller are analyzed. Finally, comparing the simulation results of the proposed controller with that of the traditional, proportional-differential controller shows that the former one is capable of keeping the satellite formation more favorably, considering the disturbances such as the J2 perturbations.

Long-term effects of main-body's obliquity on satellite formation perturbed by third-body gravity in elliptical and inclined orbit

A new non-simplified model of formation flying is derived in the presence of an oblate main- body and third-body perturbation. In the proposed model, considering the perturbation of the third- body in an inclined orbit, the effect of obliquity （axial tilt） of the main-body is becoming important and has been propounded in the absolute motion of a reference satellite and the relative motion of a follower satellite. From a new point of view, J2 perturbed relative motion equations and considering a disturbing body in an elliptic inclined three dimensional orbit, are derived using Lagrangian mechanics based on accurate introduced perturbed reference satellite motion. To validate the accuracy of the model presented in this study, an auxiliary model was constructed as the Main-body Center based Relative Motion （MCRM） model. Finally, the importance of the main-body＇s obliquity is demonstrated by several examples related to the Earth-Moon system in relative motion and lunar satellite formation keeping. The main-body＇s obliquity has a remarkable effect on formation keeping in the examined in-track and projected circular orbit （PCO） formations.

DUAL QUATERNION CURVE INTERPOLATION ALGORITHM FOR FORMATION SATELLITES

The traditional algorithms for formation flying satellites treat the satellite position and attitude sepa- rately. A novel algorithm combining satellite attitude with position is proposed. The principal satellite trajectory is obtained by dual quaternion interpolation, then the relative position and attitude of the deputy satellite are ob- tained by dual quaternion modeling on the principal satellite. Through above process, relative position and atti- tude are unified. Compared with the orbital parameter and the quaternion methods, the simulation result proves that the algorithm can unify position and attitude, and satisfy the precision requirement of formation flying satel- lites.

Fast cooperative trajectory optimization and test verification for close-range satellite formation using Finite Fourier Series method

The process of formation reconfiguration for close-range satellite formation should take into account the risk of collisions between satellites.To this end,this paper presents a method to rapidly generate low-thrust collision-avoidance trajectories in the formation reconfiguration using Finite Fourier Series(FFS).The FFS method can rapidly generate the collision-avoidance threedimensional trajectory.The results obtained by the FFS method are used as an initial guess in the Gauss Pseudospectral Method(GPM)solver to verify the applicability of the results.Compared with the GPM method,the FFS method needs very little computing time to obtain the results with very little difference in performance index.To verify the effectiveness,the proposed method is tested and validated by a formation control testbed.Three satellite simulators in the testbed are used to simulate two-dimensional satellite formation reconfiguration.The simulation and experimental results show that the FFS method can rapidly generate trajectories and effectively reduce the risk of collision between satellites.This fast trajectory generation method has great significance for on-line,constantly satellite formation reconfiguration.

Feasibility study on application of satellite formations for eliminating the influence from aliasing error of ocean tide model

Currently,aliasing error of temporal signal model becomes the main factor constraining the accuracy of temporal gravity field.In provision of three types of satellite formations,i.e.,GRACE-type,Pendulum-type and n-s-Cartwheel-type,which are suitable for gravity mission and composed of observation in different directions,here we design two cases and conduct a simulation experiment on the feasibility to apply satellite formations for eliminating the influence from the aliasing error of ocean tide models.The result of our experiment shows that,when the aliasing error is disregarded,n-s-Cartwheel formation can provide the best conditions for gravity field determination,which,compared with GRACE-type,can improve the accuracy by 43%.When aliasing error of the ocean tide model acts as the main source of error,the satellite formation applied in dynamic method for gravity field inversion cannot eliminate aliasing or improve the accuracy of gravity field.And due to its higher sensitivity to the high-degree variation of gravity field,the Cartwheel-type formation,which includes the radial observation,can result in the gravity field containing more high-frequency signals for the ocean tide model error,and lead to a dramatically larger error.

Adaptive repetitive learning control for trajectory-keeping of satellite formation flying

An adaptive repetitive control scheme is proposed for trajectory-keeping of satellite formation flying in the leader–follower mode which is described by Lawden equation.The system is parameterised by power series approximation and the unknown timevarying parameters are estimated by adaptive repetitive learning law.Through rigorous analysis by constructing a Lyapunov-like composite energy function(CEF),the stability of the closed-loop system is proved.Finally,a simulation example is provided to illustrate the effectiveness of the control algorithms proposed in this paper.

USEFUL RELATIVE MOTION DESCRIPTION METHOD FOR PERTURBATIONS ANALYSIS IN SATELLITEFORMATION FLYING

A set of parameters called relative orbital elements were defined to describe the relative motion of the satellites in the formation flying. With the help of these parameters, the effect of the perturbations on the relative orbit trajectory and geometric properties of satellite formation can be easily analyzed. First, the relative orbital elements are derived, and pointed out： if the eccentricity of the leading satellite is a small value, the relative orbit trajectory is determined by the intersection between an elliptic cylinder and a plane in the leading satellite orbit frame reference; and the parameters that describe the elliptic cylinder and the plane can be used to obtain the relative orbit trajectory and the relative orbital elements. Second, by analyzing the effects of gravitational perturbations on the relative orbit using the relative orbital elements,it is found that the propagation of a relative orbit consists of two parts ： one is the drift of the elliptic cylinder; and the other is the rotation of the plane resulted from the rotation of the normal of the plane. Meanwhile, the analytic formulae for the drift and rotation rates of a relative trajectory under gravitational perturbations are presented. Finally, the relative orbit trajectory and the corresponding changes were analyzed with respect to the J2 perturbation.

Physical analysis on improving the recovery accuracy of the Earth's gravity field by a combination of satellite observations in along-track and cross-track directions

The physical investigations on the accuracy improvement to the measurement of the Earth＇s gravity field recovery are carried out based on the next-generation Pendulum-A/B out-of-plane twin-satellite formation in this paper. Firstly, the Earth＇s gravity field complete up to degree and order 100 is, respectively, recovered by the collinear and pendulum satellite formations using the orbital parameters of the satellite and the matching accuracies of key payloads from the twin GRACE satellites. The research results show that the accuracy of the Earth＇s gravity field model from the Pendulum-A/B satellite formation is about two times higher than from the collinear satellite formation, and the further improvement of the determination accuracy of the Earth＇s gravity field model is feasible by the next-generation Pendulum-A/B out-of-plane twin-satellite formation. Secondly, the Earth＇s gravity field from Pendulum-A/B complete up to degree and order 100 is accurately recovered based on the orbital parameters of the satellite （e.g., an orbital altitude of 400 km, an intersatellite range of 100 km, an orbital inclination of 89° and an orbital eccentricity of 0.001）, the matching accuracies of space- borne instruments （e.g. 10-6 m in the intersatellite range, 10-3 m in the orbital position, 10-6 m/s in orbital velocity, and 10-11 m/s2 in non-conservative force）, an observation time of 30 days and a sampling interval of 10 s. The measurement accuracy of the Earth＇s gravity field from the next-generation Pendulum-A/B out-of-plane twin-satellite formation is full of promise for being improved by about l0 times compared with that from the current GRACE satellite formation. Finally, the physical requirements for the next-generation Pendulum-A/B out-of-plane twin-satellite formation are analyzed, and it is proposed that the satellite orbital altitude be preferably designed to be close to 400±50 km and the matching precision of key sensors from the Pendulum-A/B mission be about one order of magnitude higher than from the GRACE program.

Integrated method for measuring distance and time difference between small satellites

The advancement of small satellites is promoting the development of distributed satellite systems,and for the latter,it is essential to coordinate the spatial and temporal relations between mutually visible satellites.By now,dual one-way ranging(DOWR)and two-way time transfer(TWTT)are generally integrated in the same software and hardware system to meet the limitations of small satellites in terms of size,weight and power(SWaP)consumption.However,studies show that pseudo-noise regenerative ranging(PNRR)performs better than DOWR if some advanced implementation technologies are employed.Besides,PNRR has no requirement on time synchronization.To apply PNRR to small satellites,and meanwhile,meet the demand for time difference measurement,we propose the round-way time difference measurement,which can be combined with PNRR to form a new integrated system without exceeding the limits of SWaP.The new integrated system can provide distributed small satellite systems with on-orbit high-accuracy and high-precision distance measurement and time difference measurement in real time.Experimental results show that the precision of ranging is about 1.94 cm,and that of time difference measurement is about 78.4 ps,at the signal to noise ratio of 80 dBHz.

Orbit and attitude control of spacecraft formation flying

Formation flying is a novel concept of distributing the functionality of large spacecraft among several smaller, less expensive, cooperative satellites. Some applications require that a controllable satellite keeps relative position and attitude to observe a specific surface of another satellite among the cluster. Specially, the target space vehicle is malfunctioning. The present paper focuses on the problem that how to control a chaser satellite to fly around an out-of-work target satellite closely in earth orbit and to track a specific surface. Relative attitude and first approximate relative orbital dynamics equations are presented. Control strategy is derived based on feedback linearization and Lyapunov theory of stability. Further, considering the uncertainty of inertia, an adaptive control method is developed to obtain the correct inertial ratio. The numerical simulation is given to verify the validity of proposed control scheme.

A tale of planet formation: from dust to planets

The characterization of exoplanets and their birth protoplanetary disks has enormously advanced in the last decade.Benefitting from that,our global understanding of the planet formation processes has been substantially improved.In this review,we first summarize the cutting-edge states of the exoplanet and disk observations.We further present a comprehensive panoptic view of modern core accretion planet formation scenarios,including dust growth and radial drift,planetesimal formation by the streaming instability,core growth by planetesimal accretion and pebble accretion.We discuss the key concepts and physical processes in each growth stage and elaborate on the connections between theoretical studies and observational revelations.Finally,we point out the critical questions and future directions of planet formation studies.

Equilibrium configurations of the tethered three-body formation system and their nonlinear dynamics

This paper considers nonlinear dynamics of teth- ered three-body formation system with their centre of mass staying on a circular orbit around the Earth, and applies the theory of space manifold dynamics to deal with the nonlinear dynamical behaviors of the equilibrium configurations of the system. Compared with the classical circular restricted three body system, sixteen equilibrium configurations are obtained globally from the geometry of pseudo-potential energy sur- face, four of which were omitted in the previous research. The periodic Lyapunov orbits and their invariant manifolds near the hyperbolic equilibria are presented, and an iteration procedure for identifying Lyapunov orbit is proposed based on the differential correction algorithm. The non-transversal intersections between invariant manifolds are addressed to generate homoclinic and heteroclinic trajectories between the Lyapunov orbits. （3,3）- and （2,1）-heteroclinic trajecto- ries from the neighborhood of one collinear equilibrium to that of another one, and （3,6）- and （2,1）-homoclinic trajecto- ries from and to the neighborhood of the same equilibrium, are obtained based on the Poincar6 mapping technique.

Gap formation in a self-gravitating disk and the associated migration of the embedded giant planet

We present the results of our recent study on the interactions between a giant planet and a self-gravitating gas disk. We investigate how the disk＇s self-gravity affects the gap formation process and the migration of the giant planet. Two series of 1-D and 2-D hydrodynamic simulations are performed. We select several surface densities and focus on the gravitationally stable region. To obtain more reliable gravity torques exerted on the planet, a refined treatment of the disk＇s gravity is adopted in the vicinity of the planet. Our results indicate that the net effect of the disk＇s self- gravity on the gap formation process depends on the surface density of the disk. We notice that there are two critical values, ∑I and ∑n. When the surface density of the disk is lower than the first one,∑0 〈 ∑I, the effect of self-gravity suppresses the formation of a gap. When ∑0 〉 ∑I, the self-gravity of the gas tends to benefit the gap formation process and enlarges the width/depth of the gap. According to our 1-D and 2-D simulations, we estimate the first critical surface density to be ∑I ≈ 0.8 MMSN. This effect increases until the surface density reaches the second critical value ∑n- When ∑0 〉 ∑n, the gravitational turbulence in the disk becomes dominant and the gap formation process is suppressed again. Our 2-D simulations show that this critical surface density is around 3.5 MMSN. We also study the associated orbital evolution of a giant planet. Under the effect of the disk＇s self-gravity, the migration rate of the giant planet increases when the disk is dominated by gravitational turbulence. We show that the migration timescale correlates with the effective viscosity and can be up to 104 yr.

Delay of planet formation at large radius and the outward decrease in mass and gas content of Jovian planets

A prominent observation of the solar system is that the mass and gas content of Jovian planets decrease outward with orbital radius, except that, in terms of these properties, Neptune is almost the same as Uranus. In previous studies, the solar nebula was assumed to preexist and the formation process of the solar nebula was not considered. It was therefore assumed that planet formation at different radii started at the same time in the solar nebula. We show that planet formation at different radii does not start at the same time and is delayed at large radii. We suggest that this delay might be one of the factors that causes the outward decrease in the masses of Jovian planets. The nebula starts to form from its inner part because of the inside-out collapse of its progenitorial molecular cloud core. The nebula then expands outward due to viscosity. Material first reaches a small radius and then reaches a larger radius, so planet formation is delayed at the large radius. The later the material reaches a planet＇s location, the less time it has to gain mass and gas content. Hence, the delay tends to cause the outward decrease in mass and gas content of Jovian planets. Our nebula model shows that the material reaches Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune at t = 0.40, 0.57, 1.50 and 6.29 × 10^6 yr, respectively. We discuss the effects of time delay on the masses of Jovian planets in the framework of the core accretion model of planet formation. Saturn＇s formation is not delayed by much time relative to Jupiter so that they both reach the rapid gas accretion phase and become gas giants. However, the delay in formation of Uranus and Neptune is long and might be one of the factors that cause them not to reach the rapid gas accretion phase before the gas nebula is dispersed. Saturn has less time to go through the rapid gas accretion, so Saturn＇s mass and gas content are significantly less than those of Jupiter.

Relation between Mass and Radius of Exoplanets Distinguished by their Density

The formation of the solar system has been studied since the 18th century and received a boost in 1995 with the discovery of the first exoplanet,51 Pegasi b.The investigations increased the number of confirmed planets to about5400 to date.The possible internal structure and composition of these planets can be inferred from the relationship between planet mass and radius,M-R.We have analyzed the M-R relation of a selected sample of iron-rock and ice-gas planets using a fractal approach to their densities.The application of fractal theory is particularly useful to define the physical meaning of the proportionality constant and the exponent in an empirical M-R power law in exoplanets,but this does not necessarily mean that they have an internal fractal structure.The M-R relations based on this sample are M=(1.46±0.08)R^(2.6±0.2)for the rocky population(3.6≤ρ≤14.3 g cm^(-3)),with 1.5≤M≤39M_(⊕),and M=(0.27±0.04)R^(2.7±0.2)for ice-gas planets(0.3≤ρ≤2.1 g cm^(-3))with 5.1≤M≤639 M_(⊕)(or■2 M_(J))and orbital periods greater than 10 days.Both M-R relations have in their density range a great predictive power for the determination of the mass of exoplanets and even for the largest icy moons of the solar system.The average fractal dimension of these planets is D=2.6±0.1,indicating that these objects likely have a similar degree of heterogeneity in their densities and a nearly similar composition in each sample.The M-R diagram shows a"gap"between ice-gas and iron-rock planets.This gap is a direct consequence of the density range of these two samples.We empirically propose an upper mass limit of about 100 M_(⊕),so that an M-R relation for ice-gas planets in a narrow density range is defined by M∝R^(3).