Impulsive Spacecraft Formation Control on Quasi-peroidic Orbits

Flying spacecraft in formation presents numerous benefits. The development of novel control techniques in modern space environments will be a key enabling technology moving forward. This paper presents an impulsive control strategy for phasing a group of spacecraft on the same hyperbolic quasi-periodic orbit. Each vehicle is constrained to have a single impulsive maneuver to achieve the control objective. An admissible control set is defined to meet this constraint and a procedure for its computation is developed. We then solve for the controls which minimize the total phase error in the formation. A discussion on the expected efficacy of the single impulse control strategy is delivered. Numerical examples of the control strategy are provided in the circular restricted three body problem.