Progress in Satellite Formation Flying Technologies
A special issue of Aerospace (ISSN 2226-4310). This special issue belongs to the section "Astronautics & Space Science".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 September 2026 | Viewed by 809
Special Issue Editors
Interests: satellite formation flying; relative guidance; navigation and control; attitude control; space robotics; elastic-attitude dynamics interaction; vibration control; visual navigation; HIL experiments; free floating platforms
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Interests: spacecraft guidance; navigation and control; spacecraft relative navigation; pose determination; electro-optical sensors; LIDAR; star tracker; unmanned aerial vehicles; autonomous navigation; sense and avoid; visual detection and tracking
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
After decades of research and conceptual development, formation flying is finally transitioning from a visionary concept to a concrete capability. Technological advances are now enabling the design and implementation of missions based on coordinated spacecraft formations and distributed satellite systems. These missions promise transformative benefits in fields such as Earth observation, astronomy, telecommunications, and space science. Moreover, distributed systems are expected to play a critical role in future mission concepts, including in-orbit servicing, on-orbit assembly, and deep space exploration. Despite this progress, significant technological challenges remain, particularly in the development of robust guidance, navigation, and control (GNC) subsystems. These systems must ensure high levels of autonomy, resilience, and precision to allow multiple spacecraft to operate cooperatively with minimal ground intervention. Achieving such autonomy demands advanced algorithms, reliable sensors, and sophisticated control strategies. Moreover, the performance of GNC subsystems must be validated extensively before deployment. This can be accomplished through dedicated in-orbit demonstrations or through rigorous ground-based testing in laboratory environments that simulate space dynamics. This Special Issue aims to collect recent advancements, numerical and/or experimental results, and novel approaches in the field of formation flying, with a particular focus on enabling technologies and validation methodologies that will drive the next generation of autonomous space missions.
Dr. Marco Sabatini
Dr. Roberto Opromolla
Guest Editors
Manuscript Submission Information
Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.
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Keywords
- formation flying
- distributed satellite systems
- proximity operations
- autonomous GNC
- relative dynamics modeling
- formation design
- formation control
- relative navigation
- visual, LIDAR, RF, and GNSS navigation
- in-orbit operations
- mission design
- technology demonstrators
- low-thrust actuators
- HIL experiments
- artificial intelligence
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