Guidance and Control for Spacecraft Autonomous Rendezvous and Proximity Maneuvers using a Geometric Mechanics Framework

Autonomous rendezvous and proximity operations between a chaser spacecraft and a target space object, consist of autonomous controlled approach and controlled docking with or controlled capture of the target by the chaser. Guidance, navigation and control problems during autonomous rendezvous and proximity maneuvers between spacecraft are challenging, particularly when the target spacecraft or space object is not cooperating with the chaser spacecraft. In this work, we present a guidance scheme and a control scheme for a chaser spacecraft that is tasked to synchronize its motion with a target space object during close proximity maneuvers. The guidance scheme generates a desired state trajectory based on remote measurements of the motion states of the target from the chaser and motion prediction of the target. The tracking control scheme for the chaser results in asymptotic tracking of the desired state trajectory with an almost global domain of convergence on the state space. These schemes are applied to the situation where the chaser spacecraft synchronizes its attitude motion with the target, while maintaining a constant relative position with respect to the target at the end of the maneuver. Numerical simulation results are presented to show the performance of these guidance and tracking control schemes.