Propagation of the Relative Satellite Motion in a Formation in the Presence of Gravitational Perturbations

The paper presents an analytical model of a satellite formation motion that enables propagation of the relative spacecraft motion. The model is based on the analytical theory of satellite relative motion that was presented in the previous authors papers (Wnuk and Golembiewska 1,2 ). This theory takes into account the influence of the following gravitational perturbation effects: 1) zonal and tesseral harmonic geopotential coefficients up to arbitrary degree and order, 2) Lunar gravity, 3) Sun gravity. Using this propagator we calculated relative orbits and future relative satellite positions for different types of formations: in plane, out of plane, cartwheel and others. We analyzed the influence of particular parts of perturbation effects and estimated the accuracy of predicted relative spacecrafts positions.