Guidance and Control of Formation Flying Spacecraft

A key element of NASA’s future space exploration is high precision formation flying (FF) for space interferometry. Precision FF has never been attempted before and poses new and significant challenges to the underlying control system. While the guidance and control (G&C) methodologies of single spacecraft for traditional planetary flyby and orbiter missions are well-understood, the G&C of FF missions is fundamentally different. The FF systems require new control systems, architectures, and greater levels of autonomy to meet expected precision performance in the presence of environmental disturbances, plant uncertainties and more complex system interactions. This chapter will trace the motivation for these changes and will layout approaches taken to meet the new challenges. Fred Y. Hadaegh Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91109, e-mail: Fred.Y.Hadaegh@jpl.nasa.gov Gurkirpal Singh Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91109, e-mail: Gurkipal.Singh@jpl.nasa.gov Behcet Acikmese Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91109, e-mail: Behcet.Acikmese@jpl.nasa.gov Daniel P. Scharf Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91109, e-mail: Daniel.P.Scharf@jpl.nasa.gov Milan Mandic Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91109, e-mail: Milan.Mandic@jpl.nasa.gov