Spacecraft rendezvous and docking using measurements from satellite navigation equipment combined with the optical subsystem for final approach

Abstract

The paper discusses an integrated system for spacecraft rendezvous docking using measurements from satellite navigation equipment combined and with the optical final approach subsystem (OFAS) which generates high-precision relative 2Space Research Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences (SRI RAS) 84/32 Profsoyuznaya str., Moscow, 117997, Russian Federation, e-mail: iki@cosmos.ru position vector during final approach. It addresses issues involved in designing an an on OFAS which has to operate in an environment exposed to sunlight and provides estimate for the accuracy of the relative position measurements depending the current range and OFAS configuration. Simulations have been run of the final approach involving simultaneous control from the satellite navigation equipment and OFAS. It was shown that at the moment of initial contact the approach accuracy of 2–5 cm for relative position, and of 1 cm/s for velocity is achieved.