Formation reconfiguration in restricted three body problem

Reconfiguration of formation flying around a halo orbit of the Sun-Earth restricted three body system is investigated with impulse maneuvers. For a short time reconfiguration, the two-impulse maneuver is investigated with both analytical and numerical methods and the Beginning-Ending （BE） method is proven to be an energy-optimal one of all two-impulse （TI） reconfigurations, and the energy consumption of BE is independent of the position of the chief spacecraft, and decreases with the reconfiguration time. Then, genetic algorithm is adopted to optimize the energy consumption. The results show that the optimal energy increases with radius difference between the initial and final orbits, and decreases with the reconfiguration time.

A new control law based on characteristic exponent assignment for libration point orbit maintenance

A new method is developed for stabilizing motion on collinear libration point orbits using the formalism of the circular restricted three body problem. Linearization about the collinear libration point orbits yields an unstable linear parameter-varying system with periodic coefficients. Given the variational equations, an innovative control law based on characteristic exponent assignment is introduced for libration point orbit maintenance. A numerical simulation choosing the Richardson＇s third order approximation for a halo orbit as a nominal orbit is conducted, and the results demonstrate the effectiveness of this control law.

Evolution of Periodic Orbits in the Sun-Saturn System

We analyze the periodic orbits, quasi periodic orbits and chaotic orbits in the photo gravitational Sun-Saturn system incorporating actual oblateness of Saturn in the planar circular restricted three body problem. In this paper, we study the effect of solar radiation pressure on the location of Sun centered and Saturn centered orbits, its diameter, semi major axis and eccentricity by taking different values of solar radiation pressure q and different values of Jacobi constant “C”, and by considering actual oblateness of Saturn using Poincare surface of section (PSS) method. It is ob-served that by the introduction of perturbing force due to solar radiation pressure admissible range of Jacobi constant C decreases, it is also observed that as value of C decreases the number of islands decreases and as a result the number of periodic and quasi periodic orbits decreases.Fur-ther, the periodic orbits around Saturn and Sun moves towards Sun by decreasing perturbation due to solar radiation pressure q for a specific choice of Jacobi constant C. It is also observed that due to solar radiation pressure, semi major axis and eccentricity of Sun centered periodic orbit reduces, whereas, due to solar radiation pressure uniform change in semi major axis and eccen-tricity of Saturn centered periodic orbits is observed.

Evolution of the “f” Family Orbits in the Photo Gravitational Sun-Saturn System with Oblateness

We analyze the periodic orbits of “f” family (simply symmetric retrograde periodic orbits) and the regions of quasi-periodic motion around Saturn in the photo gravitational Sun-Saturn system in the framework of planar circular restricted three-body problem with oblateness. The location, nature and size of these orbits are studied using the numerical technique of Poincare surface of sections (PSS). In this paper we analyze these orbits for different solar radiation pressure (q) and actual oblateness coefficient of Sun Saturn system. It is observed that as Jacobi constant (C) increases, the number of islands in the PSS and consequently the number of periodic and quasi-periodic orbits increase. The periodic orbits around Saturn move towards the Sun with decrease in solar radiation pressure for given value of “C”. It is observed that as the perturbation due to solar radiation pressure decreases, the two separatrices come closer to each other and also come closer to Saturn. It is found that the eccentricity and semi major axis of periodic orbits at both separatrices are increased by perturbation due to solar radiation pressure.

Analysis of Effect of Oblateness of Smaller Primary on the Evolution of Periodic Orbits

Evolution of periodic orbits in Sun-Mars and Sun-Earth systems are analyzed using Poincare surface of section technique and the effects of oblateness of smaller primary on these orbits are considered. It is observed that oblateness of smaller primary has substantial effect on period, orbit’s shape, size and their position in the phase space. Since these orbits can be used for the design of low energy transfer trajectories, so perturbations due to planetary oblateness has to be understood and should be taken care of during trajectory design. In this paper, detailed stability analysis of periodic orbit having three loops is given for A2 = 0.0001.

Analysis of Effect of Solar Radiation Pressure of Bigger Primary on the Evolution of Periodic Orbits

Evolution of periodic orbits in Sun-Mars and Sun-Earth systems are analyzed using Poincare surface of section technique and the effects of solar radiation pressure of bigger primary and actual oblateness of smaller primary on these orbits areconsidered. It is observed that solar radiation pressure of bigger primary has substantial effect on period, orbit’s shape, size and their position in the phase space. Since these orbits can be used for the design of low energy transfer trajectories, so perturbations due to solar radiation pressure has to be understood and should be taken care of during trajectory design. It is also verified that stability of such orbits are negligible so they can be used as transfer orbit. For each pair of solar radiation pressure q and Jacobi constant C we get two separatrices where stability of island becomes zero. In this paper, detailed stability analysis of periodic orbit having two loops is given when q = 0.9845.

Floquet-based design and control approach to spacecraft formation flying in libration point orbits

A method for spacecraft formation flying (SFF) design and control near libration point orbits was developed by making use of the Floquet theory for periodic orbits. Firstly, the Floquet theory used in libration point orbits was introduced and the coefficients of four Floquet periodic modes were proved to be nearly constant when the amplitude in z direction of earth-moon L1 halo orbits is less than 20000 km. On this basis, a configuration design approach to SFF in L1 halo orbits was proposed, and several types of special configurations were obtained with periodic mode 3 and mode 5 or mode 4 and mode 6. Then, in order to control the SFF configuration concisely, those coefficients of the 5 modes (except the stable one) must be kept constant. A stationkeeping method for SFF was developed, which controls 5 Floquet modes simultaneously. Finally, simulations showed that the Floquet-based approach of configuration design and control for SFF is effective, simple and convenient. The research may be of value for deep space explorations.

Control of orientation for spacecraft formations in the vicinity of the Sun-Earth L2 libration point

Formation flying in the vicinity of the libration point is an important concept for space exploration and demands reliable and accurate techniques for the control of a spacecraft.On the basis of previous works,this paper addresses the problem of relative orientation control of spacecraft formation flying utilizing the framework of the circular restricted three-body problem(CR3BP)with the Sun and Earth as the primary gravitational bodies.Two specific tasks are accomplished in this study.First,the tangent targeting method(TTM),an efficient two-level differential correction algorithm,is exploited to control the Chief/Deputy architecture to maintain a prespecified orientation.The time spent within the orientation error corridor between successive maneuvers is maximized while the relative separation between the vehicles is held constant at each target point.The second task is to further optimize the maneuver intervals by dropping the constraint imposed on the relative vehicle separation.Numerical investigation indicates that the number of maneuvers can be significantly reduced and the length of time between successive maneuvers can be greatly increased by utilizing the TTM.