Efficient search of optimal Flower Constellations
Name
2003.11970.pdf
Description
Submitted version
Size
141.3 KB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
92130fbb64169b84b47d0a15b2fcb3f2
Author(s)
Avendaño, Martín
Arnas, David
Linares, Richard
Lifson, Miles
Date Issued
2021
Journal
Acta Astronautica
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Version
Original manuscript
Abstract
We derive an analytical closed expression to compute the minimum distance (quantified by the angle of separation measured from the center of the Earth) between any two satellites located at the same altitude and in circular orbits. We also exploit several properties of Flower Constellations (FCs) that, combined with our formula for the distance, give an efficient method to compute the minimum angular distance between satellites, for all possible FCs with up to a given number of satellites.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Media Laboratory
Terms of Use
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License
Persistent DSpace Link
DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actaastro.2020.10.026
