AbstractA decentralized architecture is proposed for autonomous establishment and maintenance of satellite formations. Such an architecture does not require a central supervisor, as the spacecraft can cooperatively track planned maneuvers and trajectories in the face of disturbances and uncertainties, while processing only local measurement information. If the planned maneuvers and trajectories are themselves optimal, the decentralized framework generates a neighbouring optimal control. Use of such a controller simplifies and improves the robustness of formation operations, since it distributes an autonomous capability for orbit determination and relative navigation, formation maintenance, and maneuver trim among all of the spacecraft. In an example formation flying scenario, the decentralized approach successfully maintains the formation in the face of uncertainties and nonlinear perturbations, and produces identical results to those of a corresponding centralized controller. Published in 2002 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.