Autonomous formation flying based on GPS — PRISMA flight results

This paper presents flight results from the early harvest of the Spaceborne Autonomous Formation Flying Experiment (SAFE) conducted in the frame of the Swedish PRISMA technology demonstration mission. SAFE represents one of the first demonstrations in low Earth orbit of an advanced guidance, navigation and control system for dual-spacecraft formations. Innovative techniques based on differential GPS-based navigation and relative orbital elements control are validated and tuned in orbit to fulfill the typical requirements of future distributed scientific instruments for remote sensing.

► We describe the PRISMA formation flying mission and its motivations.
► We describe the Spaceborne Autonomous Formation Flying Experiment (SAFE).
► We provide early flight results from the GPS-based relative navigation system.
► We provide flight results from the early harvest of the SAFE experiment.
► We describe one of the first autonomous formation-flying demonstrations in LEO.