Spacecraft Trajectory Planning for Optimal Observability using Angles-Only Navigation

<p>This work leverages existing techniques in angles-only navigation to develop optimal range observability maneuvers and trajectory planning methods for spacecraft under constrained relative motion. The resulting contribution is a guidance method for impulsive rendezvous and proximity operations valid for elliptic orbits of arbitrary eccentricity.</p> <p>The system dynamics describe the relative motion of an arbitrary number of maneuvering (chaser) spacecraft about a single non-cooperative resident-space-object (RSO). The chaser spacecraft motion is constrained in terms of the 1) collision bounds of the RSO, 2) maximum fuel usage, 3) eclipse avoidance, and 4) optical sensor field of view restrictions. When more than one chaser is present, additional constraints include 1) collision avoidance between formation members, and 2) formation longevity via fuel usage balancing.</p> <p>Depending on the type of planetary orbit, quasi-circular or elliptic, the relative motion dynamics are approximated using a linear time-invariant or a linear time-varying system, respectively. The proposed method uses two distinct parameterizations corresponding to each system type to reduce the optimization problem from 12 to 2 variables in Cartesian space, thus simplifying an otherwise intractable optimization problem.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Doctor of Philosophy in Aerospace Engineering

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation - Open Access

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Aerospace Engineering

Year

2019

Author dc:creator

• Franquiz, Francisco José

• spacecraft
• trajectory
• observability
• angles-only
• navigation
• Aerospace Engineering
• Navigation, Guidance, Control and Dynamics
• Space Vehicles

Repository record dc:identifier

https://commons.erau.edu/edt/464

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:commons.erau.edu:edt-1464