Rotating Object Specific Tracking Based on Orbit-Attitude Coordinated Adaptive Control

Abstract

Close-proximity tracking control of a rotating space object is investigated in this paper. The control objectives are relative position and attitude tracking and keeping, which include keeping the spacecraft stay at a certain distance above the specific face of the object, and keeping the spacecraft’s certain body-fixed axis pointing to the object during the process. This problem is challenging because the desired motion of the tracking spacecraft is determined by both the object’s attitude status and the relative motion between the spacecraft and the object. A nonlinear orbit-attitude coordinated adaptive tracking controller is developed to fulfill the tracking mission. The sufficient condition for the asymptotic stability is investigated. The influences of the uncertainties including the mass and inertial matrix of the spacecraft and disturbance are taken into consideration. Numerical simulations demonstrate the effectiveness of the tracking control.