Study on Forced Straight-Line Guidance for the Final Translation Phase of Spacecraft Rendezvous

Aimed at the problem of final translation of space rendezvous for the applications such as docking,inspection and tracking,optimal straight-line guidance algorithm based on pulse/continuous low-thrust in the context of Clohessy-Wiltshire dynamics is proposed.Two modes of guidance strategy:varying-speed and fixed-speed approaching scheme for V-bar and R-bar approach by using constant/finite low-thrust propulsion respectively are studied,and the corresponding fuel-optimal conditions are obtained.Numerical simulation is conducted to verify and test the proposed algorithms.The results show that there is generally no different between the fuel consumptions by using the two different approaching modes for V-bar case.However,the conclusion for Rbar case is different that the using of continuous low-thrust cost more fuel and transfer time.