Rotating Motion Control of Tethered Satellite Cluster Systems

We propose the concept of Tethered Satellite Cluster Systems. The system consists of the satellites connected by tethers, and keeps and changes the formation with active tension/length control of the tether. The purpose of the system is the saving of the thruster fuel required for the coordinated mission and the improvement of the control precision, using tether tension. The system is applied to tethered service satellites, which perform the missions, for example an autonomic inspection, casting, capture, moorage and deorbit of an uncontrolled satellite. In this paper, we treat the rotating motion; satellites rotate on the center of the mass of the system with the formation in same plane. We establish the coordinated control method using tension and thrust. This control method can decrease the fuel consumption of the thruster, for utilizing the tether tension/torque equilibriums. It can also improve the control precision. Moreover, we establish the formation control method without thrust for the transition to the objective formation.