Analysis and Distributed Control of a Formation of Intelligent Satellites

The gravitational perturbations are ever present and to counter their effect requires fuel, and spacecraft have to carry all their fuel. Thus, the guiding principle of our program is 'Use, don't fight Kepler'. Our approach has not been to not just treat this as a control problem but to utilize the physics to find the orbits that require the least amount of fuel to control and then develop the control techniques to minimize fuel consumption. Using this approach we have identified the non-resonant relative motion orbits that remain close together without thrusting in the presence of the J2 perturbation. Some of the relative orbits obtained for high inclination orbits of the chief satellite are too large for practical use. We have determined alternative specifications that will result in mission specific relative orbits, albeit at the expense of a small amount of fuel. We have developed a state transition matrix for elliptic orbits under the influence of J2. We have developed novel feedback control strategies, unique to this problem. A formation maintenance strategy that consumption has been complete. We have also developed a strategy for formation resizing using effects into the selection of the initial conditions for relative motion orbits. This effort is now complete and this report is the final report.