Autonomous navigation of a formation of spacecraft in the proximity of a binary asteroid

The paper presents a study on the navigation of a formation of spacecraft in the proximity of a binary asteroid. A specific scenario is considered in which the spacecraft are orbiting at one of the triangular libration points under the assumption of a quasi circular orbit of the secondary with respect to the primary. This work investigates the use of an Unscented H in f ty Filter and a data sharing mechanisms among spacecraft, plus the use of a novel polynomial algebra to replace the Unscented Transformation. The paper will show that the spacecraft can be maintained at the desired location using a combination of optical and LIDAR measurements shared across the formation.