The Aerospace Corporation

James E Pollard

Siegfried W Janson

Chia-Chun Chao

A deployment method maintains a cluster of subsatellites within a rigid formation relative to and orbiting about a real or fictitious center satellite that in turn orbits the earth in a frozen inclined eccentric reference orbit by determining the subsatellite reference orbits of the each of the subsatellites based upon position and velocity vectors of the center satellite. The determined subsatellite reference orbits can then be maintained through fuel efficient microthrusting so as to maintain the rigid formation for coherently combining communication signals within a very large sparse antenna array formed by the cluster having improved beam directionality for improved signal communications.

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Manhattan Beach, CA, United States of America

James E Pollard