Distributed adaptive prescribed-time orbit containment control for satellite cluster flight

The distributed prescribed-time orbit containment control for the satellite cluster flight with multiple dynamic leaders is investigated. The directed information communication topology between followers is taken into account in the overall paper. When the satellite mass is assumed to be constant, a distributed prescribed-time orbit containment controller is, firstly, presented to drive the followers into the dynamic convex hull produced by multiple leaders. Then, the parameter uncertainty is considered, and a prescribed-time sliding mode estimator is introduced to estimate the desired velocity of each follower. Based on the estimated state, a novel distributed adaptive prescribed-time orbit containment control scheme is proposed. The Lyapunov stability theory is utilized to prove the prescribed-time stability of the closed-loop system. Finally, several numerical simulations and comparison of different control methods are provided to verify the effectiveness and superiority of the proposed control method.