Attitude coordination of multiple spacecraft for space debris surveillance

This paper discusses the attitude coordination of a formation of multiple spacecraft for space debris surveillance. Off-the-shelf optical sensors and reaction wheels, with limited field of view and control torque, respectively, are considered to be used onboard the spacecraft for performing the required attitude maneuvers to detect and track space debris. The sequence of attitude commands are planned by a proposed algorithm, which allows for a dynamic team formation, as well as performing suitable maneuvers to eventually point towards the same debris. A control scheme based on the nonlinear state dependent Riccati equation is designed and applied to the space debris surveillance mission scenario, and its performance is compared with those of the classic linear quadratic regulator and quaternion feedback proportional derivative controllers. The viability and performance of the coordination algorithm and the controllers are validated through numerical simulations.