A pair of spacecraft just launched to create hundreds of artificial solar eclipses in orbit. The European Space Agency mission, called Proba-3, will allow scientists “to see an eclipse on demand,” as ...

Generally speaking, space missions are being performed with lone spacecraft heading out into the void to achieve the desired goal of their makers. Sure, these machines might release other, smaller ...

The two Proba-3 spacecraft will build on the historic first to simulate and study a total solar eclipse. A pair of spacecraft have demonstrated ultra-precise formation flying in orbit for the first ...

Electrostatic control utilises charge manipulation to influence the dynamics of spacecraft without relying on traditional propellant-based systems. This approach enables precise manoeuvring and ...

In the past few years, rapid development has been witnessed in spacecraft formation to complete complex missions instead of the traditional single spacecraft. Spacecraft formation refers to a spatial ...

First, authors introduce the spacecraft relative orbit dynamics model, the spacecraft formation relative orbit error dynamics model, and basic theory and lemmas. For ...