Minimum-Learning-Parameter-Based Fault-Tolerant Control for Spacecraft Rendezvous With Unknown Inertial Parameters

In this paper, robust control strategies are explored to solve the problem of rendezvous maneuver for rigid spacecraft exposed to the external disturbance, actuator faults and unknown inertial parameters. To pursue the control objective, two adaptive controllers are constructed via the sliding mode control (SMC) technology. Firstly, a basic control scheme is designed in the event of unknown inertial parameters and external disturbance, where the Minimum-learning-parameter (MLP) algorithm is adopted for approximating the unknown system dynamics. Though effective, the basic controller is not applicable in the actuator fault scenarios. Considering this drawback, adaptive laws are designed in the second controller to tackling the actuator faults. It is illustrated that the proposed controllers will endow tracking errors with asymptotic stability and strong robustness to actuator faults. Finally, the effectiveness of the control strategies is verified by numerical simulations.