On the formation flying of satellite constellations

From the viewpoint of orbit dynamics, the formation flying of the satellites of a constellation and the accompanying flying in satellite-satellite tracking are affected by the following dynamical mechanisms: (1) The main characteristics of the variations of disturbed orbits determine the space configuration of the satellites. (2) When the distances among the satellites are small, conditional periodic motion near the collinear equilibrium points in the degenerate restricted three-body problem (actually, the restricted two-body problem) can also constrain, within a certain time interval, the satellite configuration. In this paper, we will clarify the principles of these two dynamical mechanisms and the corresponding satellite configurations, and we will verify their applicable range by simulative calculations, so providing a theoretical and practical basis for orbit control in the formation flying of satellite constellations.