Solar radiation pressure used for formation flying control around the Sun-Earth libration point

Solar radiation pressure is used to control the formation flying around the L2 libration point in the Sun-Earth system. Formation flying control around a halo orbit requires a very small thrust that cannot be satisfied by the latest thrusters. The key contribution of this paper is that the continuous low thrust is produced by solar radiation pressure to achieve the tight formation flying around the libration point. However, only certain families of formation types can be controlled by solar radiation pressure since the direction of solar radiation pressure is restricted to a certain range. Two types of feasible formations using solar radiation pressure control are designed. The conditions of feasible formations are given analytically. Simulations are presented for each case, and the results show that the formations are well controlled by solar radiation pressure.