Station-keeping guidance

Abstract

The station-keeping guidance system is described, which is designed to automatically keep one orbiting vehicle within a prescribed zone fixed with respect to another orbiting vehicle. The active vehicle, i.e. the one performing the station-keeping maneuvers, is referred to as the shuttle. The other passive orbiting vehicle is denoted as the workshop. The passive vehicle is assumed to be in a low-eccentricity near-earth orbit. The primary navigation sensor considered is a gimballed tracking radar located on board the shuttle. It provides data on relative range and range rate between the two vehicles. Also measured are the shaft and trunnion axes gimbal angles. An inertial measurement unit (IMU) is provided on board the orbiter. The IMU is used at all times to provide an attitude reference for the vehicle. The IMU accelerometers are used periodically to monitor the velocity-correction burns applied to the shuttle during the station-keeping mode. The guidance system is capable of station-keeping the shuttle in any arbitrary position with respect to the workshop by periodically applying velocity-correction pulses to the shuttle