Time-varying expression of the formation flying along circular trajectories

Abstract

Usually, the formation flying associated with circular orbits is discussed through the well-known Hill's or C-W equations of motion. This paper dares to present and discuss the coordinates that may contain time-varying coefficients. The discussion presents how the controller's performance is affected by the selection of coordinates, and also looks at the special coordinate suitable for designating a target bin to which each spacecraft in the formation has only to be guided. It is revealed that the latter strategy may incorporate the J2 disturbance automatically.