Relative and Absolute Station-Keeping for Two-Dimensional-Lattice Flower Constellations

摘要

The 2-D-lattice-preserving flower constellation is a novel way to design flower constellations that maintain the initial distribution of satellites and the initial symmetries over time, i.e., relative station-keeping. The main characteristic is that all the satellites in the constellation are perturbed in a similar way; consequently, the initial distribution of the satellites (initial lattice), and especially its symmetries, are time-preserving. This constellation design maintains the relative station-keeping without orbital maneuvers for longer periods of time than one year.