The minimum fuel rendezvous problem between several power-limited low-thrust spacecraft neighboring either a circular or an elliptic orbit is investigated. Both cooperative and non cooperative maneuvers are studied. The maximum principle of Pontryagin is applied to the optimal control rendezvous problem of several spacecraft. The gravitational field models investigated are the Clohessy-Wiltshire field and the inverse-square gravity field. Numerical solutions using a shooting method and the finite difference method are used in order to determine the trajectories of the spacecraft. Unlike previous investigations, this work is not restricted to a rendezvous of two spacecraft around a circular orbit, but a few vehicles will be able to rendezvous in space at a fixed-final time, both about a circular orbit and about an elliptic orbit.
","abstract_html":"<p>The minimum fuel rendezvous problem between several power-limited low-thrust spacecraft neighboring either a circular or an elliptic orbit is investigated. Both cooperative and non cooperative maneuvers are studied. The maximum principle of Pontryagin is applied to the optimal control rendezvous problem of several spacecraft. The gravitational field models investigated are the Clohessy-Wiltshire field and the inverse-square gravity field. Numerical solutions using a shooting method and the finite difference method are used in order to determine the trajectories of the spacecraft. Unlike previous investigations, this work is not restricted to a rendezvous of two spacecraft around a circular orbit, but a few vehicles will be able to rendezvous in space at a fixed-final time, both about a circular orbit and about an elliptic orbit.</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Guerre, Virginie"],"institution":null,"degree_name":"Master of Science in Aerospace Engineering","degree_level":"Thesis - Open Access","degree_discipline":"Aerospace Engineering","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Yechiel J. Crispin","Habib Eslami","Seenith Sivasundaram"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":1997,"date_issued":"1997-04-01T08:00:00Z","date_published":"1997-04-01T08:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-27T19:25:23Z","subjects":["rendezvous","spacecraft","cooperative","optimal","Aerospace Engineering","Space Vehicles"],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://commons.erau.edu/db-theses/74","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Yechiel J. Crispin","Habib Eslami","Seenith Sivasundaram"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Guerre, Virginie"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Aerospace Engineering"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Thesis - Open Access"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Master of Science in Aerospace Engineering"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["rendezvous","spacecraft","cooperative","optimal","Aerospace Engineering","Space Vehicles"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://commons.erau.edu/db-theses/74"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["The minimum fuel rendezvous problem between several power-limited low-thrust spacecraft neighboring either a circular or an elliptic orbit is investigated. Both cooperative and non cooperative maneuvers are studied. The maximum principle of Pontryagin is applied to the optimal control rendezvous problem of several spacecraft. The gravitational field models investigated are the Clohessy-Wiltshire field and the inverse-square gravity field. Numerical solutions using a shooting method and the finite difference method are used in order to determine the trajectories of the spacecraft. Unlike previous investigations, this work is not restricted to a rendezvous of two spacecraft around a circular orbit, but a few vehicles will be able to rendezvous in space at a fixed-final time, both about a circular orbit and about an elliptic orbit.
"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Cooperative Power-Limited Optimal Rendezvous Between Many Spacecraft"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Yechiel J. Crispin","Habib Eslami","Seenith Sivasundaram"],"dc:creator":["Guerre, Virginie"],"dc:description.abstract":["The minimum fuel rendezvous problem between several power-limited low-thrust spacecraft neighboring either a circular or an elliptic orbit is investigated. Both cooperative and non cooperative maneuvers are studied. The maximum principle of Pontryagin is applied to the optimal control rendezvous problem of several spacecraft. The gravitational field models investigated are the Clohessy-Wiltshire field and the inverse-square gravity field. Numerical solutions using a shooting method and the finite difference method are used in order to determine the trajectories of the spacecraft. Unlike previous investigations, this work is not restricted to a rendezvous of two spacecraft around a circular orbit, but a few vehicles will be able to rendezvous in space at a fixed-final time, both about a circular orbit and about an elliptic orbit.
"],"dc:identifier":["https://commons.erau.edu/db-theses/74"],"dc:subject":["rendezvous","spacecraft","cooperative","optimal","Aerospace Engineering","Space Vehicles"],"dc:title":["Cooperative Power-Limited Optimal Rendezvous Between Many Spacecraft"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Aerospace Engineering"],"thesis:degree_level":["Thesis - Open Access"],"thesis:degree_name":["Master of Science in Aerospace Engineering"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-27T19:25:23Z"}