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Completed TRL 5 (started at 4, targeting 5)
Over the past decade, research has been conducted on the technology of Electromagnetic Formation Flight (EMFF), which uses the local generation of electromagnetic fields by the vehicles of a spacecraft cluster to control their relative degrees of freedom without consuming propellant. RINGS, which stands for Resonant Inductive Near-field Generation System, provides a hardware implementation of EMFF that will operate as a payload on SPHERES, the formation flight test facility onboard the International Space Station (ISS). To maximize productivity during the planned ISS test sessions, we will use a parabolic flight campaign to conduct preliminary formation flight testing and begin the control algorithm refinement process.
Problem Statement
Spacecraft formation flight is a potentially enabling technology for any mission where the desired operational size of the structure exceeds the existing launch shroud capacity. This will very likely be the case for future on-orbit telescopes. Examples include the synthesis of very large apertures by a sparse array of smaller apertures, or the assembly of a large segmented aperture from a highly compact stowed configuration, such as might be done for a larger version of the James Webb Space Telescope.
Technology Maturation
The parabolic flight tests of RINGS will act as a bridge between extensive 2D ground testing and long duration 3D testing onboard the ISS, whereby an array of control approaches can be evaluated in a realistic dynamics environment. Any major control implementation issues can be addressed in the intervening periods between flights over the four-day campaign, and the solutions could prevent the loss of valuable testing time on-orbit.
NASA, DoD, NRO, ESA – Benefits any entity utilizing formation flight for on-orbit assembly or aperture synthesis
Future Customers
Propellantless formation flight could benefit or enable any mission where a large degree of reconfiguration is necessary, either during the construction phase of a system that is too large or complex to be deployed from a stowed configuration, or during the operations phase when filling in the u-v plane of sparse aperture. Future space telescopes such as Terrestrial Planet Finder, Stellar Imager and Constellation-X, could have their operational lifetimes greatly extended from this technology.
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