Spacecraft Rendezvous and Docking with Obstacle Avoidance using Model Predictive Control

View Video Presentation: https://doi.org/10.2514/6.2023-2501.vid This paper addresses the problem of spacecraft rendezvous and docking to a rotating and non-rotating target spacecraft using a model predictive control approach. With this approach, the chaser is guided to the target by the relative position control, approaching in the direction of the target docking port. At the same time, the constraints on thrust, obstacle avoidance, and spacecraft positioning within the line-of-sight cone from the docking port are systematically incorporated. Numerical simulations are presented to illustrate the effectiveness and preciseness of the proposed method, along with the comparison of linear and nonlinear versions of the model predictive controller.