• Dr. Andrew Sinclair
  • Auburn University
  • 110 Holden Hall
  • 4:00 p.m.
  • Faculty Host: Dr. Craig Woolsey

Modern spacecraft missions increasingly call for multiple, agile spacecraft interacting in a local environment.  Over the past decades, multiple descriptions of the relative-motion dynamics for spacecraft formations have been developed using a variety of state representations, and considering both nonlinear and linearized equations of motion.  This talk will focus on two recent advancements in spacecraft relative motion.  The first is a calibration technique that greatly improves the domain of validity for linearized solutions.  The second shows how the Clohessy-Wiltshire equations, originally derived for relative motion in circular orbits, can actually be extended to elliptic orbits.  These insights enable further development of guidance, navigation, and control of spacecraft formations.