Modified fuel-balanced formation keeping strategy based on actively rotating satellites in formation

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to propose a modified fuel-balanced formation keeping strategy based on actively rotating satellites in the formation in the J2 perturbed environment. Design/methodology/approach Based on the relative orbital elements theory, the J2 perturbed relative motions between different satellites in the formation are analyzed, and then, the method to estimate fuel required to keep the in-plane and out-of-plane relative motions is presented, based on which a modified fuel-balanced formation keeping strategy is derived by considering both in-plane and out-of-plane J2 perturbations. Findings Numerical simulations demonstrate that the modified fuel-balanced formation keeping strategy is valid, and the modified fuel-balanced formation keeping strategy requires less total fuel consumption than original Vadali and Alfriend’s method. Research limitations/implications The modified fuel-balanced formation keeping strategy is valid for formation flying mission whose member satellite is in circular or near-circular orbit. Practical implications The modified fuel-balanced formation keeping strategy can be used to solve formation flying keeping problem, which involves multiple satellites in the formation. Originality/value The modified fuel-balanced formation keeping strategy is proposed by considering both in-plane and out-of-plane J2 perturbations, which further reduce the fuel consumption than the original Vadali and Alfriend’s method.