Fast Fly Around Formation Design Based on Continuous Low Thrust

The issue of satellite operations in close proximity to a reference satellite is of interest for both civilian and military applications. One such operation is fast fly around formation in a time period less than the orbital period of the reference satellite. A control law based on continuous low thrust is derived in this paper to realize fast fly around space circle formation on circular orbit. The fuel expenditure in a formation period is determined by analytical expressions, and an optimality condition is developed such that this fuel expenditure is minimized. Validity of the conclusion is proved by numerical method. Simulation results show that the minimum velocity increment is approximately 4.77m/s when the chief spacecraft's altitude is 500km, with the formation period 10 minutes and circular radius 100m. The control strategy presented in this paper can not only be used in fast space circle formation, but also be appropriate to other kinds of fast fly around formations on eccentric orbits.