| Currently there is considerable interest in flying two or more satellites together because satellite formation flight brings both high reliability and cost reduction for space missions. Satellite formation flight mission takes a long time, so long-term perturbation effects such as Earth oblateness perturbation should be countered to maintain the formation, or the satellite formation would be pulled apart. A satellite with a solar wing receives solar radiation pressure, which can be harnessed in maintaining satellite formation flight.; The orbital dynamic characteristics of satellite formation flight using solar wings need to be understood and be exploited in designing the solar wing and controlling formation flight. Our study led to a dynamic model for analyzing out-of-plane relative motion of satellite formation flight, and a formula for sizing the solar wing was derived from the analysis of the dynamic model. Based on a perturbation analysis of the in-plane relative motion, several schemes for maintaining in-plane relative distance were developed to solve the along-track relative motion problem caused by a non-zero wing angle. We also applied feedback control to formation flight, and some effective solar wing steering strategies were developed, starting from a regulator problem. An orbital numerical simulation program was developed based on a formulation of the realistic dynamic models and a special design of the simulation scheme. Our final efforts concentrated on studying some practical issues of interest such as the practical solar radiation pressure model, formation flight of more than two satellites, attitude control considerations. |
