The autonomous configuration of satellite formations using generic potential functions

Abstract

A path-planning tool has been developed to generate safe trajectories from initial docking release to a specified observation point and back to docking for a small free-flying robot camera manoeuvring in proximity to the international space station (ISS). This work was partly supported by Daimler-Chrysler GmbH (now part of the Astrium group) for the ISS Inspector free-flying camera. The tool makes use of ellipse of safety (EOS) trajectories to enforce long-term passive safety requirements in the presence of differential air drag during the fly around phases of the manoeuvre, while transferring between the docking port and observation point.