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The purpose of this paper is to present a method to conduct small satellite rendezvous mission by using the differential aerodynamic forces under J2 perturbation in low earth orbit (LEO).

Each spacecraft is assumed to be equipped with two large flat plates, which can be controlled for generating differential accelerations in all three directions. Based on the kinetic theory, the aerodynamic lift and drag generated by a flat plate are calculated. To describe the relative dynamics under J2 perturbation, a modified model is derived from the high-fidelity linearized J2 equations proposed by Schweighart and Sedwick.

Simulation results demonstrate that the proposed method is valid and efficient to solve satellite rendezvous problem, and the modified model considering J2 effect shows better accuracy than the Horsley’s Clohessy–Wiltshire-based model.

Because aerodynamic force will reduce drastically as orbital altitude rises, the rendezvous control strategy for small satellites presented in this paper should be limited to the scenarios when satellites are in LEO.

The rendezvous control method in this paper can be applied to solve satellite rendezvous maneuver problem for small satellites in LEO.

This paper proposes a modified differential aerodynamic control model by considering J2 perturbation, and simulation results show that it can achieve higher rendezvous control accuracy.

The purpose of this paper is to present a method to achieve small satellite formation keeping operations by using the differential lift and drag to control the drift caused by J2 perturbation in circular or near-circular low earth orbits (LEOs).

Each spacecraft is equipped with five large flat plates, which can be controlled to generate differential accelerations. The aerodynamic lift and drag acting on a flat plate is calculated by the kinetic theory. To maintain the formation within tracking error bounds in the presence of J2 perturbation, a nonlinear Lyapunov-based feedback control law is designed.

Simulation results demonstrate that the proposed method is efficient for the satellite formation keeping and better accuracy advantage in comparison with classical approaches via the fixed maximum differential aerodynamic acceleration.

Because the aerodynamic force will reduce drastically as the orbital altitude increases, the formation keeping control strategy for small satellites presented in this paper should be limited to the scenarios when satellites are in LEO.

The formation keeping control method in this paper can be applied to solve satellite formation keeping problem for small satellites in LEO.

This paper proposes a Lyapunov control strategy for satellite formation keeping considering both lift and drag forces, and simulation results show better performance with high accuracy under J2 perturbation.

This paper aims to fast predict vibration responses of specific locations in the satellite subject to acoustic environment. It proposes a set of vibro-acoustic simulation methods of satellite components to represent their conditions in the whole satellite during the ground tests or launching. This study aims to use vibro-acoustic models of satellite components to replace that of hard modeling and time-consuming whole satellite when only local responses are concerned.

This paper adopted experimental and numerical studies, with the latter based on the finite element (FE), statistical energy analysis (SEA) and FE-SEA hybrid theories. The vibro-acoustic model of the whole satellite was built and verified by experimental data. Based on the whole satellite model and experimental results, the fast vibro-acoustic simulation methods of all kinds of typical satellite components were discussed.

This paper shows that the models about satellite components not only show high consistency but also reduce 61.6% to 99.8% times compared with the whole satellite model. The recommended fast simulation methods for all kinds of typical satellite components were given in comprehensive consideration of the model accuracy, time required and response accessibility.

This paper fulfils an identified need to perform fast vibro-acoustic prediction of the local positions in satellites.

This paper aims to present an attitude determination and control system for a nano‐astrometry satellite which requires precise angular rate control. Focus of the research is methods to achieve the requirement.

In order to obtain astrometry data, the satellite attitude should be controlled to an accuracy of 0.05°. Furthermore, attitude spin rate must be controlled to an accuracy of 4×10⁻⁷ rad/s during observation. In this paper the following unique ideas to achieve these requirements are introduced: magnetic disturbance compensation and rate estimation using star blurred images.

This paper presents the feasibility of a high accurate attitude control system in nano‐ and micro‐satellite missions.

This paper presents a possibility of the application of nano‐satellites to remote‐sensing and astronomy mission, which requires accurate attitude control.

Originalities of the paper are the methods to achieve the high accurate attitude control: magnetic disturbance compensation and angular rate estimation using star images.

The aim of this paper is twofold: first, to provide further insights into the challenges and opportunities that arise from simultaneously being an entrant and an incumbent and, second, to help these firms effectively use supply chain management capabilities to respond to disruptive threats.

This is an “insights from industry” paper. It is based on a retrospective analysis of rich data obtained at the SIRIUS Chair in Toulouse, France, from an important cluster of aerospace firms and the authors’ accumulated experience.

The authors found that under conditions of disruptive change, the ability to make the final customer the focal point and to build a comprehensive understanding of the overall supply network are key in shaping and taking advantage of future opportunities. These abilities enable firms to analyze different scenarios and identify the roles they want to play, the collaborations they need to establish and the possible internal changes required.

This paper offers several new perspectives from practice. The authors analyze two types of space industry innovations: individual small satellites (or “smallsats”) and smallsat constellations. Three types of capabilities are focused on: inside-out, outside-in and spanning. Disrupt-or-be-disrupted does not fully describe the dynamics the authors observed; cooperative competition and complementarity provide a better framework for ideas on how to cope with disruptive opportunities.

Attitude determination and control subsystem (ADCS) is a vital part of earth observation satellites (EO-Satellites) that governs the satellite’s rotational motion and pointing. In designing such a complicated sub-system, many parameters including mission, system and performance requirements (PRs), as well as system design parameters (DPs), should be considered. Design cycles which prolong the time-duration and consequently increase the cost of the design process are due to the dependence of these parameters to each other. This paper aims to describe a rapid-sizing method based on the design for performance strategy, which could minimize the design cycles imposed by conventional methods.

The proposed technique is an adaptation from that used in the aircraft industries for aircraft design and provides a ball-park figure with little engineering man-hours. The authors have shown how such a design technique could be generalized to cover the EO-satellites platform ADCS. The authors divided the system requirements into five categories, including maneuverability, agility, accuracy, stability and durability. These requirements have been formulated as functions of spatial resolution that is the highest level of EO-missions PRs. To size, the ADCS main components, parametric characteristics of the matching diagram were determined by means of the design drivers.

Integrating the design boundaries based on the PRs in critical phases of the mission allowed selecting the best point in the design space as the baseline design with only two iterations. The ADCS of an operational agile EO-satellite is sized using the proposed method. The results show that the proposed method can significantly reduce the complexity and time duration of the performance sizing process of ADCS in EO-satellites with an acceptable level of accuracy.

Rapid performance sizing of EO-satellites ADCS using matching diagram technique and consequently, a drastic reduction in design time via minimization of design cycles makes this study novel and represents a valuable contribution in this field.

Keeping satellite position within close tolerances is key for the utilization of satellite formations for space missions. The presence of perturbation forces makes control inevitable if such mission objective is to be realised. Various approaches have been used to obtain feedback controller parameters for satellites in a formation; this paper aims to approach the problem of estimating the optimal feedback parameter for a leader–follower pair of satellites in a small eccentric orbit using nature-based search algorithms.

The chaotic artificial bee colony algorithm is a variant of the basic artificial bee colony algorithm. The algorithm mimics the behaviour of bees in their search for food sources. This paper uses the algorithm in optimizing feedback controller parameters for a satellite formation control problem. The problem is formulated to optimize the controller parameters while minimizing a fuel- and state-dependent cost function. The dynamical model of the satellite is based on Gauss variational equations with J2 perturbation. Detailed implementation of the procedure is provided, and experimental results of using the algorithm are also presented to show feasibility of the method.

The experimental results indicate the feasibility of this approach, clearly showing the effective control of the transients that arise because of J2 perturbation.

This paper applied a swarm intelligence approach to the problem of estimating optimal feedback control parameter for a pair of satellites in a formation.

The purpose of this paper is to propose an attitude determination and control scheme for a low‐cost Micro‐satellite with defective inertia. Restricted by the payload design, the z‐axis inertia of this satellite is larger than the x and y axes, which is unstable for natural attitude dynamics.

An original operation mode is designed to avoid z axis from long‐time pointing to the sun during damping, which avoids some unexpected damage. In attitude determination design, EKF and UKF algorithms are compared on estimation accuracy, convergence time and computation complexity in attitude estimation design, which is referred to determine the final estimation scheme. A DSP‐based hardware solution is achieved and a semi‐physical testing and simulation system is built.

Simulation results show the 3‐axis stable mode can be built with the proposed scheme, and the unprotected facet of the satellite can be kept away from long‐time pointing to the sun.

The proposed ADCS scheme can be a reference for the future Micro‐satellite programs which share the similar configuration.