Impulsive maneuvers for formation reconfiguration using relative orbital elements

Advanced multisatellite missions based on formation-flying and on-orbit servicing concepts require the capability to arbitrarily reconfigure the relative motion in an autonomous, fuel efficient, and flexible manner. Realistic flight scenarios impose maneuvering time constraints driven by the satellite bus, by the payload, or by collision avoidance needs. In addition, mission control center planning and operations tasks demand determinism and predictability of the propulsion system activities. Based on these considerations and on the experience gained from the most recent autonomous formation-flying demonstrations in near-circular orbit, this paper addresses and reviews multiimpulsive solution schemes for formation reconfiguration in the relative orbit elements space. In contrast to the available literature, which focuses on case-by-case or problem-specific solutions, this work seeks the systematic search and characterization of impulsive maneuvers of operational relevance. The inversion of the equations of relative motion parameterized using relative orbital elements enables the straightforward computation of analytical or numerical solutions and provides direct insight into the delta-v cost and the most convenient maneuver locations. The resulting general methodology is not only able to refind and requalify all particular solutions known in literature or flown in space, but enables the identification of novel fuel-efficient maneuvering schemes for future onboard implementation.