Relative Navigation and Orbit Control Strategy on Shift between Far and Near Field of Orbital Rendezvous

Target catching and tracking should be accomplished by the OTV(Orbit Transfer Vehicle) at the shift process between far and near field of orbital rendezvous, limited by the far-field guidance and relative navigation, the dependability is in doubt. Analysis indicates that this problem could be resolved effectively when the shift point is far away from the target. Relative navigation and control of far-distance shift is studied in this paper. Relative navigation strategy is designed to realize the transition of two navigation mode. Orbit control strategy is designed to shorten the distance and guarantee the LS (line of sight) angles stay to be small during the whole shift process. With these two strategies, high dependability shift at far distance is realized.