The Massachusetts Institute of Technology Space Systems Laboratory is exploring this concept by developing dynamics and control models as well as an experimental testbed for their validation.
Combined with reaction wheels, any desired maneuver can be performed as long as the formation’s center of mass is not required to change.
Vehicles are suspended on a frictionless air carriage and are completely self-contained using RF communications, microprocessors, and a metrology system.
Liquid Nitrogen maintains cryogenic temperatures and batteries provide the power to the high-temperature superconductive (HTS) coils.
Former Space Systems Lab associate director Dr. Raymond Sedwick (now at the University of Maryland, College Park) has been awarded the first Bepi Colombo Prize for a paper on electromagnetic formation flight.