Satellite Relative Motion SDRE-based Control for Capturing a Noncooperative Tumbling Object

The paper considers the problem of relative motion control for a docking to the noncooperative tumbling object. The translational motion is assumed to be controlled by the thrusters; the attitude control system is based on the reaction wheels. The SDRE-based coupled motion control algorithm is proposed and its performance is studied. The misalignment of the thrusters and the reaction wheels saturation are taken into account in the numerical simulations. The area of acceptable the control system parameters for successful docking is obtained. The influence of the tumbling object angular velocity and its inertia moment ratio to the reaction wheels saturation is studied using multiple simulations.