Fuel Optimization for Unconstrained Rotation of Spacecraft Formations

This paper considers the problem of rotating a formation of spacecraft from one orientation to another, using an optimal amount of fuel. The formation is constrained to have the same shape at the beginning and end of a maneuver. However, the shape is unconstrained throughout the maneuver. This implies that to optimize fuel, each spacecraft travels in a straight line, from its beginning to end position. A cost function, motivated by the entropy function from information theory, is used to trade oo fuel minimization verses equalizing the fuel across the constellation to avoid fuel starvation.