Spacecraft Relative Motion Control

Spacecraft relative motion control solutions stabilize the spacecraft relative to another spacecraft. This is useful control the approach prior to docking, to circumnavigate while inspect the target object, or to remain in a bounded vicinity about the target. This course covers the basics of nonlinear control theory to apply Lyapunov's direct method to the relative motion control problem. Feedback control strategies using inertial coordinates, differential orbit elements and Hill frame coordinates are studied. Reference relative motions are considered that are either naturally occurring or…