Adaptive Sliding Mode Control for Spacecraft Autonomous Rendezvous With Elliptical Orbits and Thruster Faults

This paper investigates the problem of spacecraft autonomous rendezvous control for elliptical target orbits with external disturbance and thruster faults. The Clohessy-Wiltshire equation of elliptical target orbits without linearization is employed to describe the relative dynamic model as a linear time-varying system, such that the model errors in traditional linearization modeling methods are avoided. By on-line estimating the thruster faults and external disturbance, an adaptive sliding mode control scheme is designed to eliminate the effects of the thruster faults and external disturbances, such that the reachability of the proposed integral sliding surface is ensured. Finally, a simulation example is provided to demonstrate the effectiveness of the controller design approach.