A guidance and navigation system for two spacecraft rendezvous in translunar halo orbit

This research considers the design of a representative end-to-end guidance and navigation system for the terminal phase rendezvous of two spacecraft in the circular restricted three-body problem. It assumes the target vehicle is in a small radius translunar halo orbit; the target vehicle remains passive with respect to the rendezvous profile. The chaser vehicle is in an independent small radius translunar halo orbit and executes all rendezvous maneuvers. First, the halo orbit guidance problem is formulated in the frequency-domain from which an output feedback guidance law is developed using {dollar}{lcub}cal H{rcub}sb2{dollar} control theory. Linear simulation results validate the guidance law and provide data which quantify the effect of control inputs, noise characteristics and halo orbit characteristics on the steady state halo orbit station-keeping costs. Secondly, a two space-craft terminal phase rendezvous targeting law is derived; nonlinear simulation results validate the targeting law. Using these results, the three-body terminal phase rendezvous problem is further characterized and contrasted with the two-body problem. Thirdly, a rendezvous navigation filter is constructed to supply the targeting law with chaser vehicle state information. Nonlinear simulation results validate the filter design and provide data to assess the filter performance. Lastly, two rendezvous scenarios are examined to demonstrate the complete system design.