Techniques of accurate analytic terminal rendezvous in near-circular orbit

Abstract The analytic treatment of the problem of impulsive terminal rendezvous in near-circular orbit is presented. The velocity change imparted to the active maneuvering vehicle is determined with high accuracy such that the error in intercepting the passive spacecraft in a given time is negligible. This error is evaluated by numerically integrating both spacecraft orbits by accounting for the second zonal harmonic J2. A typical large transfer where the two vehicles are initially separated by 2000 km is achieved with an interception error of 5 km.