A survey of spacecraft formation flying guidance and control (Part I): Guidance

This paper provides a comprehensive survey of spacecraft formation flying guidance (FFG). Here by the term guidance we mean both path planning (i.e., reference trajectory generation) and optimal, open loop control design. FFG naturally divides into two areas: Deep Space (DS), in which relative spacecraft. dynamics reduce to double integrator form, and Planetary Orbital Environments (POE), in which they do not (e.g. libration point formations). Both areas consider optimal formation reconfigurations. In addition, DS FFG addresses optimal u, v-coverages for multiple spacecraft interferometers and rest-to-rest rotations. The main focus of the POE literature, however, is "passive relative orbits" or PROs. PROs are thrust-free periodic relative spacecraft trajectories used to design fuel-efficient formations. Finally, we present a brief overview of robotic path planning and discuss some of the similarities between this field and formation flying guidance.