Modeling of large scale relative motion of two satellite in elliptical orbit

For formation flying of two satellites in a satellite constellation, the relative motion and attitude determination algorithms are the key components that affect the quality of flight and mission efficiency. In this paper orbital relative motion of two satellites with arbitrary Keplerian elliptic orbit and in large distance will be analyzed and also exact and efficient solution for relative motion of the satellite with j2 perturbation which is one of the important perturbation in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) using spherical geometry is proposed. Direct geometric method using spherical coordinates are utilized to achieve this solution. In this method relative position and relative velocity of two satellites are calculated in the satellite constellation based on orbital elements. The obtained results from simulation with STK software, comparison of results with extracted results from equations for satellite with different eccentricity and analysis of the proposed method’s accuracy and fault show that the solution obtained from the geometric method presents the relative motion of the satellite with high accuracy. Thus, the proposed solution will be applicable and effective for relative motion of constellation satellites in space missions.