Spaceflight Formation Flying Test Bed Takes Off

coondoggie writes "Getting complicated systems onboard a single spacecraft to operate as one integrated unit can be hard enough, but some space agencies are trying to address the challenges of getting multiple spacecraft to fly in formation and operate together as one unit. Such challenges are exactly what a new European Space Agency lab in the Netherlands is set to address. The test bed addresses crucial operational factors for formation flying, including mission and vehicle management, guidance navigation, dealing with faults and communicating between satellites."

Comments

It will be a critical ability.

[Jane Q. Public]

Traveling in formation is essential if you want multiple spacecraft to travel together. It's not like airplanes which can each have a pilot at the controls. Automatic formation will be absolutely necessary to avoid collisions.

But I want to berate the author of TFA, because the issue is traveling in formation, not "flying". Spacecraft do not "fly". I'm not nitpicking; there is a pretty big difference. It's just plain intellectual laziness on his part.

Re:It will be a critical ability.

[AJWM]

Spacecraft do not "fly". I'm not nitpicking; there is a pretty big difference. It's just plain intellectual laziness on his part.

Nope, ignorance on yours. Spacecraft do indeed fly. Flying has nothing to do with wings or aerodynamic forces, it has to do with moving without touching the ground. There are certainly other terms for how spacecraft move -- which depend on the particular spacecraft and what they're doing -- but even pure ballistic flight (aka "orbit") is still flight.

Re:It will be a critical ability.

[Sulphur]

So when swimming under water, you're actually flying under water?

Especially Penguins fly under water.

Re:formations

[geekoid]

it's incredibly complex, and will be needed for robotic swarms. Imagine trying to keep 1000 robots in formation with each other without have an unexpected event start to cascade thought the swarm and cause a formation collapse.