Robust reliable control for autonomous spacecraft rendezvous with limited-thrust

This paper investigates the problem of robust reliable control for the spacecraft rendezvous with limited-thrust. Based on the Clohessy–Wiltshire (C–W) equations and by considering the uncertainties and the possible failures, the dynamic model for spacecraft rendezvous is proposed, and the orbital transfer control problem is transformed into a stabilization problem. Then, by a Lyapunov approach, the existence conditions for admissible controllers are formulated in the form of linear matrix inequalities (LMIs), and the controller design is cast into a convex feasibility problem subject to LMI constraints. With the obtained controllers, the rendezvous can be accomplished with the limited-thrust in spite of the possible thruster failures. The effectiveness of the proposed approach is illustrated by simulation examples.