6533b7d8fe1ef96bd126a56c
RESEARCH PRODUCT
Optimal Starting Conditions for the Rendezvous Maneuver, Part 1: Optimal Control Approach
Marco CiarciàAngelo Mielesubject
Control and OptimizationElliptic orbitSpacecraftbusiness.industryApplied MathematicsThrust reversalRendezvousThrustComputer Science::Computational GeometryManagement Science and Operations ResearchComputer Science::RoboticsControl theoryPhysics::Space PhysicsAstrophysics::Earth and Planetary AstrophysicsCircular orbitOrbital maneuverbusinessSpace rendezvousMathematicsdescription
We consider the three-dimensional rendezvous between two spacecraft: a target spacecraft on a circular orbit around the Earth and a chaser spacecraft initially on some elliptical orbit yet to be determined. The chaser spacecraft has variable mass, limited thrust, and its trajectory is governed by three controls, one determining the thrust magnitude and two determining the thrust direction. We seek the time history of the controls in such a way that the propellant mass required to execute the rendezvous maneuver is minimized. Two cases are considered: (i) time-to-rendezvous free and (ii) time-to-rendezvous given, respectively equivalent to (i) free angular travel and (ii) fixed angular travel for the target spacecraft.
year | journal | country | edition | language |
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2008-01-03 |