Guidance and control for aerodynamic based nanosat multi-static SAR formation flying mission aimed at sub-milli-meterspace debris characterization

Background:

Characterizing debris and micrometeoroids of the sub-millimeter size in the LEO region is not possible by using ground-based sensors. This demands in situ characterization, and to make this characterization cost-effective, a nanosat formation flying mission looks attractive. However, because of size, weight, and power (SWAP) constraints, the possibility of using perturbation forces without using an active thruster system for position control alleviates the constraints on SWAP.

Problem Statement:

To design a nanosat formation that enables characterization of sub-millimeter size objects in LEO using only the aerodynamic forces.

Challenges Posed by Aerodynamic Force Based Control:

• Formation flying mission imposes strict constraints to maintain the baseline required for radar sensing.
• Limited control authority directly influences the position accuracy we can achieve.
• Uncertainty in the density has to be accounted for.
• Translation and attitude motions are inherently coupled.

Please find the related codes in this github repo.

I will update this page as soon as I get more updates.