Abstract: Thetechnologyofsatelliteformationflyingisanewtechnologyinthefieldofspace.Multiplelowcostsmallsatellitesareabletocompletemoredifficultspacemissions,butatthesametimetherearemorefaultdiagnosis.Aimingattheproblemsthatthesatelliteformationmayoccurincomplexspaceenvironment，adistributedswarmsystemofsatellitesforfaultdiagnosismethodbasedonElmanneuralnetworkwasproposed.Theexperimentalresultsshowthattheproposedschemecandetectthefaultofthereactionwheels,andtheadjacentsatellitecanalsodetectthefaults,whichisverygoodandrealtimeandiseffectiveandfeasibleinpracticalapplication.

Key words: satelliteformation, neuralnetwork, faultdiagnosis, attitudecontrol, reactionwheel