Dynamics and relative equilibrium of spacecraft formation with non-contacting internal forces

Abstract

Non-contacting internal forces among multiple spacecrafts have several advantages such as no propellant consumption and plume contamination and provide a novel approach for spacecraft formation flight control. They differ from traditional thrust in their nature as an internal force, which has potentially complicated the analysis on dynamics and equilibrium of such formations. This article mainly studies the generalized dynamics and relative equilibrium for multi-spacecraft formation with non-contacting internal forces. Treating such a formation as a free multi-rigid-body system connected by force element, Kane method is applied to develop a generalized 6-DOF dynamic model with internal forces accommodated. After verifying the validity of the model for a case of two-spacecraft formation, the relative equilibrium for the generalized model is analyzed and the necessary conditions for circularly restricted static formation with non-contacting internal force are derived, which would provide guidance for formation design and control in the future.

Keywords

Formation flight non-contacting internal force multibody dynamics relative equilibrium static formation

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