Spacecraft Formation Optimization with a Multi-Impulse Design

Satellite formation flight has emerged as a method to increase science return and enable missions that had been impossible with a single spacecraft. Formations often must maintain a precise geometry, complicating mission design given natural orbit dynamics. This paper presents a multi-impulse formation design strategy that is a compromise between active control and drift solutions. This design formulation is applied to optimize the Magnetospheric Multi-scale tetrahedron mission using two optimization algorithms, a hierarchical strategy and a particle swarm approach. Results are presented for a variety of multi-impulse problem specifications, demonstrating that a multi-impulse solution is a viable strategy that can dramatically improve formation accuracy and longevity at minimal fuel cost.