Analysis of Linear and Nonlinear Relative Orbit Dynamics for Satellite Formation Flying

Relative dynamic models of satellites which describe the relative motion between two satellites is fundamental for research on the formation flying. The accuracy of various linearized or nonlinear models of relative motion is analyzed and compared. A `Modeling Error Index (MEI)` is defined for evaluating the accuracy of models. The accuracy of the relative dynamic models in various orbit circumstance are obtained by calculating the modeling error with various eccentricities of the chief orbit and distances between the chief and the deputy. It is found that the modeling errors of the relative dynamic models have different values according to the eccentricity, J2 perturbation, and the distance between satellites. Since the evaluated accuracy of various models in this paper means the error of dynamic models of the formation flying, the results of this paper are very useful for choosing the appropriate relative model of the formation flying mission