Project Orion: Carrier phase differential GPS navigation for formation flying

Franz D. Busse*, Gokhan Inalhan, Jonathan P. How

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

10 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

This paper describes the guidance, navigation, and control algorithms that are being developed for the Orion-Emerald Project. The Orion-Emerald Project at Stanford University is a mission designed to demonstrate key technologies required for formation flying, which is a critical technology for many planned space missions. This paper presents a general description of the Orion-Emerald mission and the satellite design. The primary focus of this mission is to demonstrate carrier-phase differential GPS (CDGPS) as the primary relative navigation sensor for controlling the formation. A GPS receiver has been developed to provide absolute state, relative state, and attitude data. Note that this receiver has been extensively tested on ground testbeds with multiple vehicles. Simulation results are presented in this paper to demonstrate the estimation and control for multiple vehicles on-orbit (e.g. the Orion mission). These results show reliable relative position estimation with a 5-10cm accuracy, and relative velocity estimation with 0.5 mm/sec accuracy.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)197-212
Number of pages16
JournalAdvances in the Astronautical Sciences
Volume104
Publication statusPublished - 2000
Externally publishedYes

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