Engineering Commons^™

Fuel Saving Strategies For Separated Spacecraft Interferometry, Timothy Mclain, Randal W. Beard, Christopher A. Bailey

Faculty Publications

Separated spacecraft interferometry missions will require spacecraft to move in a coordinated fashion to ensure minimal and balanced consumption of fuel. This paper develops strategies for determining interferometry mission plans that result in significant fuel savings over standard approaches. Simulation results demonstrate that valuable reductions in fuel consumption can be realized by combining the retargeting and imaging maneuvers required to image multiple stellar sources. Fuel-optimal imaging strategies have been developed for two-spacecraft interferometry missions similar to the proposed Space Technology 3 mission using chained local optimization methods. Based on these strategies, sampling pattern guidelines for space-borne interferometry missions have been …