Robust rendezvous maneuver point conditions

Abstract

This study develops rendezvous maneuver point conditions that are robust to one dimensional errors in state estimation and burn execution. Allowing small deviations in the time of intercept provides a degree of freedom that can be used to compensate for these errors. The direction of allowable burn deviation is developed for errors in state estimation and burn execution. The maneuver points for which the error is aligned with the insensitive direction provide excellent rendezvous initiation points. The method is applied to sample rendezvous for vehicles in circular and elliptic orbits. Robust maneuver points are selected and the vehicles' relative motion plotted, demonstrating the validity of the maneuver points. Finally, a graphical illustration of the error focusing effect is demonstrated by means of a Monte Carlo simulation.