The invention relates to a formation 
satellite configuration containment control method, in particular, a formation 
satellite finite-time configuration containment control method. The objective of the invention is to solve the problem of low robustness of an existing multiple-
satellite system formation control method and the problem of incapability of completely adapting to a practical application environment which is caused by a situation that inter-satellite communication topology is an 
undirected graph in the existing multiple-
satellite system formation control method. The formation satellite finite-time configuration containment control method includes the following steps that: a 
relative orbit dynamic model of formation satellites i of a satellite formation 
system and relative reference points is established according to an established 
relative motion dynamic equation of reference satellites and accompanying satellites, and is simplified as an expression described in the descriptions; a weighted adjacent matrix A and a 
Laplacian matrix in the 
graph theory of a 
directed graph in the satellite formation 
system are provided according to the formation types of the formation satellites i; and a distributed finite-time configuration containment control laws of the multi-dynamic-
pilot-satellite satellite formation system are designed, and therefore, each following satellite can achieve at a configuration convex 
hull formed by 
pilot satellites in 
finite time, and formation satellite finite-time configuration containment control can be realized. The formation satellite finite-time configuration containment control method of the invention is applicable to the control field of formation satellite configuration.