The Rendezvous Mission of Two in-Orbit Sattelites Using Numerical Simulation

Abstract

In this work, a rendezvous of two satellites is considered. The active satellite approaches the passive satellite for a remote partial recharge of the passive spacecraft’s dead battery. In the first case, the active and passive spacecraft are in geocentric circular orbits, having an altitude of 499.9 km and 500 km, respectively. It is assumed that the rendezvous is unperturbed and the rendezvous plane coincides with the plane of the passive satellite’s orbit. Close-range guidance starts as soon as the sensor on the active spacecraft recognizes the passive spacecraft. A method implementing the line of sight is used for the close-range guidance process. A mathematical model of the relative motion is formed and numerically solved to investigate the rendezvous parameters against time. For solving the model, different values of 499.9, 499.8, 499.7 km are considered as the initial orbit altitude of the active spacecraft, assuming that the angle between state vectors of the spacecraft has a small value of 0.01 degrees. The results show that the active spacecraft with an initial altitude of 499.7 km approaches the passive spacecraft to a distance of 80 meters in less than 50 seconds, where a final velocity impulse is needed to maintain this distance.