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Considerations on formation flying separations for earth observing satellite missionsWe assume that scientific requirements (or other mission requirements) call for simultaneous observations from sensors located on different formation-flying spacecraft, and assess how well various kinds of formations of two and three spacecraft can meet these simultaneity requirements. We simulate two types of formation, one where the slave spacecraft moves with respect to the reference spacecraft, and the other where the two spacecraft are kept at a constant time separation. For each type of formation we consider two attitudes: a perfect local vertical local horizontal (LVLH) and an attitude which represents the maximum allowable mission tolerance offset from the mission requirements for attitude determination. We simulate formations of multiple spacecraft and determine how well they can perform simultaneous observations. For each spacecraft we compute the instantaneous ground projection of the center of the imager's fieId of view and plot the movement of the instantaneous ground projection of one spacecraft in the formation relative to the other. The size and shape of this effective ground target parametrize the size and shape of the actual ground target as well as the size and shape of the imager's field of view and the percentage of overlap required.
Document ID
19930064470
Acquisition Source
Legacy CDMS
Document Type
Conference Paper
Authors
Folta, David
(NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD, United States)
Bordi, Francesco
(Computer Sciences Corp. Seabrook, MD, United States)
Scolese, Christopher
(NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD, United States)
Date Acquired
August 16, 2013
Publication Date
January 1, 1992
Publication Information
Publication: In: Spaceflight mechanics 1992; Proceedings of the 2nd AAS(AIAA Meeting, Colorado Springs, CO, Feb. 24-26, 1992. Pt. 2 (A93-48426 20-12)
Publisher: Univelt, Inc.
Subject Category
Astronautics (General)
Report/Patent Number
AAS PAPER 92-144
Accession Number
93A48467
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Other

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