Optimal nonlinear feedback control of spacecraft rendezvous with finite low thrust between libration orbits

Abstract

This paper presents the nonlinear closed-loop feedback control strategy for the spacecraft rendezvous problem with finite low thrust between libration orbits in the Sun–Earth system. The model of spacecraft rendezvous takes the perturbations in initial states, the actuator saturation limits, the measurement errors, and the external disturbance forces into consideration from an engineering point of view. The proposed nonlinear closed-loop feedback control strategy is not analytically explicit; rather, it is implemented by a rapid re-computation of the open-loop optimal control at each update instant. To guarantee the computational efficiency, a novel numerical algorithm for solving the open-loop optimal control is given. With the aid of the quasilinearization method, the open-loop optimal control problem is replaced successfully by a series of sparse symmetrical linear equations coupled with linear complementary problem, and the computational efficiency can be significantly increased. The numerical simulations of spacecraft rendezvous problems in the paper well demonstrate the robustness, high precision, and dominant real-time merits of the proposed closed-loop feedback control strategy.