High Precision Relative Position Sensing System for Formation Flying Spacecraft

We seek to advance the technological readiness of an optical sensing system that provides high precision relative position sensing for formation flying spacecraft. A high precision optical ranger provides longitudinal position sensing to 0.1 mm precision for distances ranging from under one meter to hundreds of meters while an optical centration sensor provides transverse position sensing with 10 micron or better sensitivity. This effort is based on earlier work executed by our team at Goddard Space Flight Center.

Relative position sensing is a critical technology to enable precision formation flying spacecraft missions such as distributed telescopes with focal lengths in excess of 50 meters. Large space telescopes could be constructed from two or more small spacecraft rather than a single large spacecraft like the Hubble and James Webb Space Telescopes. Such telescopes could be developed in a matter of 3-5 years rather than two decades and at substantially lower cost. The shorter development time for large telescopes would also accelerate the pace at which science advances. Other applications for precision formation flying include precise rendezvous & docking and in-space assembly.

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