Automated Orbital Transfer and Hovering Control Using Artificial Potential

On-orbit servicing for GEO targets has attracted great attention due to particular significance. In this study, the GEO nearby flying is considered, which denotes that the servicing spacecraft approaches GEO targets within tens of meters. Based on the analysis of differential spherical Earth gravity, perturbation, third-body perturbation, and solar radiation pressure (SRP) between two spacecraft, a relative dynamics of GEO nearby flying is built, in which the differential SRP has great influence on relative motion. Therein, considering the differential SRP, an analytical solution to relative dynamics is obtained, which is an extension to CW equation’s solution. Based on the derived relative dynamics, a novel control method utilizing feedback compensation and artificial potential is developed for spacecraft orbital transfer and hovering at the desired position. During orbital transfer, a bounded space is constrained with maximum and minimum relative distance between two spacecraft. An improved repulsive potential based on Gauss function is designed to drive the servicer off the bound and guarantee the potential value converge to zero at the desired position. Meanwhile, a novel attractive potential about relative distance that drives the servicer to the desired position and to hover with high accuracy against perturbations is designed. Besides, a velocity potential with variable gain is designed to ensure that the servicer achieve the desired position without overshoot. The stability of the system is proved with Lyapunov theory, and the feasibility of the proposed control law is verified through numerical simulations with obvious advantages.