Mission Planning for Formation-Flying Satellite Cluster

May 2001

Proceedings of the Fourteenth International Florida Artificial Intelligence Research Society Conference (FLAIRS 2001)

Volume

Proceedings of the Fourteenth International Florida Artificial Intelligence Research Society Conference (FLAIRS 2001)

All Papers

The formation-flying satellite cluster is a new paradigm for space-based surveillance and remote sensing. In this paradigm, several small satellites fly in close formation and coordinate their activities so that through sparse-array interferometric and synthetic aperture techniques the cluster can effectively operate as though it were a much larger monolithic satellite. Management of such clusters will require increased automation for planning and scheduling, both in pre-flight mission planning and during operations. This paper describes work aimed at defining and meeting the special planning and scheduling requirements of the formation-flying cluster.