Continuous maneuvers for spacecraft formation flying reconfiguration using relative orbit elements

This paper presents the solutions to the spacecraft relative trajectory reconfiguration problem when a continuous thrust profile is used, and the reference orbit is circular. Given a piecewise continuous thrust profile, the proposed approach enables the computation of the control solution by inverting the linearized equations of relative motion parameterized using the mean relative orbit elements. The use of mean relative orbit elements facilitates the inclusion of the Earth's oblateness effects and offers an immediate insight into the relative motion geometry. Several reconfiguration maneuvers are presented to show the effectiveness of the obtained control scheme.