On nominal formation flying orbit with a small solar system body

Abstract

It is very difficult for an explorer to orbit a low-mass and irregularly shaped small body in the solar system. In this case, formation flying with the small body is a workable solution. This paper discusses two strategies of formation flying based on two different dynamic models. The orbit resulted from the C-W equation and the halo orbit around libration point L1 in the Circular Restricted Three-body Problem (CRTBP) are considered as nominal orbit respectively. Numerical simulation indicates the effect of the magnitude of μ on the stability and other features of the halo orbits, where μ is a parameter weighing the gravity of the small body. The result shows that the CRTBP is more fuel-saving and therefore a more appropriate dynamic model for solving the formation flying problem. This paper also works out a dynamic model involving solar radiation pressure. Simulation result shows that, in this condition, the C-W equation has no significant advantage. © 2013 Tsinghua University Press, and Springer-Verlag.