Formation Flight of Multiple Rigid Body Spacecraft

The control of multiple rigid body spacecraft in formation flight is explored in this paper. We propose a general control methodology based on the general equations of motion for constrained mechanical systems to solve the problem of formation flying with attitude requirements. Examples of formation flying rigid body spacecraft with various attitude requirements will be given about an oblate central body. The examples demonstrate the broad applicability and scalability of the method. The approach leads to a simple non-linear control methodology that allows exact control of both orbital and attitude dynamics. No linearization of the dynamics is required. The approach used reveals a systematic technique for controlling complex non-linear systems.