A Concept for In-space, System-level Validation of Spacecraft Precision Formation Flying

A number of international space agencies and organizations, to include the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the European Space Agency (ESA), and the Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales (CNES), to name a few, have embraced the concept of spacecraft formation flying to revolutionize the capabilities of astronomy and Earth remote sensing from space. The concept has been around well over a decade and a wide array of technologies and capabilities have been developed to enable multiple spacecraft to collaborate in a highly-coupled manner as would be required for a formation flying mission. Furthermore, many relevant capabilities for formation flying have been demonstrated in the area of rendezvous and docking, loosely-controlled formations, and in missions with collaborating spacecraft with very precise metrology. .However, in considering the case of precision formation flying (PFF), i.e, when the relative geometry of multiple vehicles must be controlled on-board in a continuous and precise manner, there have been several missions proposed, but the realization in space has not yet occurred due to a range of issues. This paper will briefly examine those issues and present a concept for demonstrating a core capability for performing PFF, necessary for virtually any PFF mission concept, that will help to overcome the problems encountered in prior attempts and help to allay the risks to enable future PFF science missions.