Related papers: A Minimum-propellant Pontryagin-based Nonlinear MP…
This paper addresses an optimal guidance problem concerning the vertical landing of a lunar lander with the objective of minimizing fuel consumption. The vertical landing imposes a final attitude constraint, which is treated as a final…
This work presents a robust Model Predictive Controller (MPC) to solve the problem of spacecraft rendezvous in the context of the restricted three-body problem (R3BP) as will be required to dock with space stations in cislunar space. The…
A Model Predictive Controller for Tracking is introduced for rendezvous with non-cooperative tumbling targets in active debris removal applications. The target's three-dimensional non-periodic rotational dynamics as well as other state and…
This work introduces two lightweight model predictive control (MPC) approaches for attitude tracking with reaction wheels during spacecraft rendezvous synchronization. Both approaches are based on a novel attitude deviation formulation,…
This paper delves into a rendezvous scenario involving a chaser and a target spacecraft, focusing on the application of Model Predictive Control (MPC) to design a controller capable of guiding the chaser toward the target. The operational…
Due to the complexity and inconstancy of the space environment, accurate mathematical models for spacecraft rendezvous are difficult to obtain, which consequently complicates the control tasks. In this paper, a linearized time-variant plant…
We propose a method to compute approximate solutions to the minimum-fuel far-field rendezvous problem for thrust-vectoring spacecraft. It is well-known that the use of linearized spacecraft rendezvous equations may not give sufficiently…
This paper discusses translation and attitude control in spacecraft rendezvous and soft docking. The target spacecraft orbit can be either circular or elliptic. The high fidelity model for this problem is intrinsically a nonlinear system…
In this paper, we consider a trajectory planning problem arising from a lunar vertical landing with minimum fuel consumption. The vertical landing requirement is written as a final steering angle constraint, and a nonnegative regularization…
The paper develops a Model Predictive Controller for constrained control of spacecraft attitude with reaction wheel actuators. The controller exploits a special formulation of the cost with the reference governor like term, a low complexity…
A Pontryagin-based approach to solve a class of constrained Nonlinear Model Predictive Control problems is proposed which employs the method of barrier functions for dealing with the state constraints. Unlike the existing works in…
This paper presents the design, implementation, and flight test results of two novel 3D path-following guidance algorithms based on nonlinear model predictive control (MPC), with specific application to fixed-wing small uncrewed aircraft…
A control optimization approach is presented for a chaser spacecraft tasked with maintaining proximity to a target space object while avoiding collisions. The target object trajectory is provided numerically to account for both passive…
The growing number of noncooperative flying objects has prompted interest in sample-return and space debris removal missions. Current solutions are both costly and largely dependent on specific object identification and capture methods. In…
The Gateway will represent a primary space system useful for the Artemis program, Earth-Moon transportation, and deep space exploration. It is expected to serve as a staging location on the way to the lunar surface. This study focuses on…
A model predictive control (MPC) framework is developed for station-keeping in spacecraft formation flight along libration point orbits. At each control period, the MPC policy solves a multi-vehicle optimal control problem (MVOCP) that…
In this paper, we study the minimum time planar tilting maneuver of a spacecraft, from the theoretical as well as from the numerical point of view, with a particular focus on the chattering phenomenon. We prove that there exist optimal…
This work presents an event-triggered controller for spacecraft rendezvous hovering phases. The goal is to maintain the chaser within a bounded region with respect to the target. The main assumption is that the chaser vehicle has impulsive…
Recent studies of optimization methods and GNC of spacecraft near small bodies focusing on descent, landing, rendezvous, etc., with key safety constraints such as line-of-sight conic zones and soft landings have shown promising results;…
In this paper, we consider the problem of minimum-time optimal control for a dynamical system with initial state uncertainties and propose a sequential convex programming (SCP) solution framework. We seek to minimize the expected terminal…