Cooperative Power-Limited Optimal Rendezvous Between Many Spacecraft

<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>

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Science in Aerospace Engineering

Level thesis:degree_level

Thesis - Open Access

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Aerospace Engineering

Year

1997

Author dc:creator

• Guerre, Virginie

Contributors dc:contributor

• Yechiel J. Crispin
• Habib Eslami
• Seenith Sivasundaram

• rendezvous
• spacecraft
• cooperative
• optimal
• Aerospace Engineering
• Space Vehicles

Repository record dc:identifier

https://commons.erau.edu/db-theses/74

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:commons.erau.edu:db-theses-1105