Constant thrust fuel-optimal control for spacecraft rendezvous

Abstract In this paper, constant thrust rendezvous is studied and the optimal rendezvous time is calculated by using continuous genetic algorithm. Firstly, the relative position parameters of the target spacecraft are obtained by using the vision measurement and the target maneuver positions are calculated through the isochronous interpolation method. Then, the results of the calculation of constant thrust rendezvous is founded by processing with multivariate linear regression method. Next, a new switching control law is designed based on the thrust acceleration sequence and the on time of thrusters which can be computed by the time series analysis method. The perturbations and fuel consumptions are addressed during the computation of the on time of thrusters. At last, a monte carlo analysis is performed to calculate the relative velocities at which the rendezvous maneuvers can be carried out and simulation examples are given to illustrate the validity of the method presented in this paper. The simulation results show that with the switching control law can ensure the success of the rendezvous.

[1]  Charles F. Lillie,et al.  On -Orbit Servicing for Future Space Observatories , 2005 .

[2]  Thomas Carter,et al.  Optimal Power-Limited Rendezvous with Upper and Lower Bounds on Thrust , 1996 .

[3]  Kamesh Subbarao,et al.  Adaptive Output Feedback Control for Spacecraft Rendezvous and Docking Under Measurement Uncertainty , 2006 .

[4]  Steven G. Tragesser,et al.  GUIDANCE FOR RELATIVE MOTION OF LOW EARTH ORBIT SPACECRAFT BASED ON RELATIVE ORBIT ELEMENTS , 2004 .

[5]  Ya-zhong Luo,et al.  Hybrid Approach to Optimize a Rendezvous Phasing Strategy , 2007 .

[6]  Enrico S. Canuto,et al.  Drag-Free and Attitude Control for the GOCE satellite , 2005, Proceedings of the 44th IEEE Conference on Decision and Control.

[7]  G. Rauwolf,et al.  Near-optimal low-thrust orbit transfers generated by a genetic algorithm , 1996 .

[8]  Mathieu Boutillier,et al.  CoRoT Satellite: Analysis of the In-Orbit CCD Dark Current Degradation , 2010, IEEE Transactions on Nuclear Science.

[9]  Jonathan P. How,et al.  Safe Trajectories for Autonomous Rendezvous of Spacecraft , 2006 .

[10]  Christopher D. Hall,et al.  Minimum-Time Orbital Phasing Maneuvers , 2003 .

[11]  Yingmin Jia,et al.  Active collision avoidance maneuver under constant thrust , 2011 .

[12]  Douglas J. Zimpfer,et al.  Autonomous Rendezvous, Capture and In-Space Assembly: Past, Present and Future , 2005 .

[13]  N. K. Philip,et al.  Relative position and attitude estimation and control schemes for the final phase of an autonomous docking mission of spacecraft , 2003 .

[14]  Yingmin Jia,et al.  Forming and keeping fast fly-around under constant thrust , 2011 .

[15]  K. Yamanaka,et al.  New State Transition Matrix for Relative Motion on an Arbitrary Elliptical Orbit , 2002 .

[16]  Zachary James Folcik,et al.  Orbit determination using modern filters/smoothers and continuous thrust modeling , 2008 .

[17]  Wigbert Fehse,et al.  Automated Rendezvous and Docking of Spacecraft , 2003 .

[18]  M. Guelman,et al.  Optimal Bounded Low-Thrust Rendezvous with Fixed Terminal-Approach Direction , 2001 .

[19]  Sabine Van Huffel,et al.  Consistency of elementwise-weighted total least squares estimator in a multivariate errors-in-variables model AX=B , 2004 .

[20]  Hari B. Hablani,et al.  Guidance and Relative Navigation for Autonomous Rendezvous in a Circular Orbit , 2002 .

[21]  Ya-zhong Luo,et al.  Optimal robust linearized impulsive rendezvous , 2007 .

[22]  Derek F Lawden,et al.  Optimal trajectories for space navigation , 1964 .

[23]  David K. Geller,et al.  Linear Covariance Techniques for Orbital Rendezvous Analysis and Autonomous Onboard Mission Planning , 2005 .

[24]  James R. Wertz,et al.  Space Mission Analysis and Design , 1992 .