Feedback Control for Directional Rendezvous Using Constant-Magnitude Low Thrust

What is it about?

One of the most intricate orbital maneuvers is rendezvous, wherein a chaser satellite connects with a target satellite, including applications such as docking with the International Space Station, debris removal and in-orbit servicing. Feedback control for close-range orbital rendezvous, which permits choosing the direction of the final approach, is beneficial for numerous space missions. However, developing such a feedback controller for satellites operating with constant-magnitude low thrust, without introducing chattering, is non-trivial. This paper develops a feedback control law for rendezvous with a target on a nearly-circular orbit, assuming that the chaser satellite utilizes constant-magnitude low thrust. The proposed scheme also allows choosing the approach direction.

Featured Image