Nonlinear model predictive control of spacecraft relative motion

This investigation deals with the problem of spacecraft relative motion control, which is typically associated with the spacecraft rendezvous and proximity maneuvers. Relative position and linear velocity are considered. A distinguishing attribute of the presented approach is consideration of definitely larger relative distance between the satellites than it is commonly addressed in the literature. The presented control method is applicable in the case where the chief satellite moves in a known, highly elliptical orbit. A quasi-optimal control is found by a model predictive control algorithm, where the nonlinear optimization problem is reduced to quadratic optimization by preliminary estimation of the future control trajectory. Significance of the method has been verified using a computer simulation.