Thales

Roland Frenkiel

Christian Mehlen

Thierry Dargent

A control device (D) for a spacecraft of a group of spacecraft intended to travel in a chosen formation comprises i) a set of at least three send/receive antennas (A-A) installed on at least three differently oriented faces of its spacecraft and adapted to send/receive radio-frequency signals, ii) first measuring means (M) responsible for determining the power of the signals received by each of the antennas (A-A) and for delivering sets of powers each associated with one of the other spacecraft of the group, iii) storage means (BD) responsible for storing sets of cartographic data each representative of the normalized powers of the signals received by each of the antennas (A-A) as a function of chosen send directions, and iv) processor means (MT) responsible for comparing each set of powers delivered by the first measuring means (M) to the stored sets of cartographic data in order to estimate each send direction of the signals sent by the other spacecraft of the group with respect to a system of axes fixed with respect to their spacecraft.

Device for control of relative position(s) by measurements of power, for a spacecraft of a group of spacecraft in formation

A system is dedicated to the control of the deployment of at least two spacecraft (ES, ES) which are provided with maneuvering means (MD, MD) and are intended to move according to a chosen formation. This system includes a control device (MM, MM, MT, MC) comprising i) first measurement means (MM, MM, MT) responsible for determining substantially simultaneously and with high precision the orbital positions of the spacecraft (ES, ES), and ii) first calculation means (MC) responsible for determining for each of the spacecraft, as a function of their orbital positions, maneuvers intended to position each of them at a chosen instant substantially in a chosen position with respect to a reference trajectory, having regard to the time law of a reference craft (ES) on this reference trajectory (TR), so as to place the formation in a chosen configuration.

Growing community of inventors

Toulouse, France

Roland Frenkiel