A self-reconfiguration planning strategy for cellular satellites

Abstract

Cellular satellites, which disaggregate space systems into many small and simple unit cells, represent a promising direction in space system construction. Cellular satellites can greatly change the design of space systems with attractive features, such as rapid response, task flexibility, and a high effectiveness-to-cost ratio. On-orbit self-reconfiguration is critical to enabling cellular satellites to fulfill their potential. In this paper, a self-reconfiguration planning strategy is proposed for cellular satellites. Using this strategy, the cellular satellite can autonomously evolve its morphology from an initial configuration to an expected configuration, mainly by the assistance of assembling cell. The assembling cell design and the detailed self-reconfiguration planning algorithms are presented in this paper. The extensive visual simulations are conducted to validate the effectiveness of the proposed strategy.