Formation flying activities and capabilities at ball aerospace

Abstract

Abstvuct -Many hture missions will be implemented with distributed spacecraft systems, which require formation flying capability. Here, formation flying means controlling the motion of one or more spacecraft relative to other nearby spacecraft to enable them to operate as a distributed sensor, in orbit about a planet or in deep space, at interspacecraft ranges fiom meters to many kilometers. This paper discusses BATC experience, modeling and study work in formation flying. We discuss our deep space formation flying work (StarLight, Terrestrial Planet Finder, and MAXIM Pathfinder), low Earth orbit formation flying work (Cloudsat), and rendezvous and docking work (Deep Impact and Orbital Express).