Robust Linear Quadratic Regulator via Sliding Mode Guidance for Spacecraft Orbiting a Tumbling Asteroid

Aiming to ensure the stability of the spacecraft with multiuncertainties and mitigate the threat of the initial actuator saturation, a Robust Linear Quadratic Regulator (RLQR) via sliding mode guidance (SMG) for orbiting a tumbling asteroid is proposed in this paper. The orbital motion of the spacecraft near a tumbling asteroid is modelled in the body-fixed frame considering the sun-relative effects, and the orbiting control problem is formulated as a stabilization of a nonlinear time-varying system. RLQR based on the adaptive feedback linearization is proposed to stabilize the spacecraft orbiting with the uncertainties of the asteroid’s rotation and gravitational field. In order to avoid the initial actuator saturation, SMG is applied to generate the transition process trajectory of the closed-loop system. The effectiveness of the proposed control scheme is verified by the simulations of orbiting the asteroid Toutatis 4179.