Continuous Low-Thrust Maneuver Planning for Space Gravitational Wave Formation Reconfiguration Based on Improved...

Area of Science:

• Spacecraft formation flying
• Astrodynamics
• Gravitational wave detection

Background:

• Long-baseline formations for gravitational wave detection face measurement and communication challenges.
• Maintaining precise relative states in high Earth orbit requires robust control strategies.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a minimum-fuel spacecraft formation reconfiguration strategy for gravitational wave detection missions.
• To address limitations in measurement and communication for long-baseline formations using a virtual formation control approach.

Main Methods:

• A virtual reference spacecraft provides desired relative states for physical spacecraft control.
• A linear dynamics model incorporating J2, SRP, and third-body gravity effects describes relative motion.
• A continuous low-thrust formation reconfiguration strategy is formulated as a constrained nonlinear programming problem.
• An improved particle swarm algorithm is employed to solve the optimization problem.

Main Results:

• The proposed method optimizes maneuver sequence distribution for formation reconfiguration.
• Simulation results demonstrate significant optimization of fuel consumption.
• The strategy effectively minimizes interference with the satellite platform during maneuvers.

Conclusions:

• The virtual formation control strategy effectively manages relative spacecraft motion in high Earth orbit.
• The developed minimum-fuel reconfiguration method is suitable for gravitational wave detection missions.
• The improved particle swarm algorithm provides an efficient solution for complex formation control problems.