A Guidance and Navigation Strategy for Rendezvous and Proximity Operations with a Noncooperative Spacecraft in Geosynchronous Orbit

The feasibility and benefits of various spacecraft servicing concepts are currently being assessed, and all require that servicer spacecraft perform rendezvous, proximity operations, and capture operations with the spacecraft to be serviced. There are many high-value commercial and military spacecraft located in geosynchronous orbit (GEO) which may be candidates for servicing, but GEO is a regime in which rendezvous and capture operations are not commonplace; further, most GEO spacecraft were not designed to be cooperative rendezvous targets, and some may even be completely nonfunctional and therefore potentially tumbling. In this work we present elements of a guidance and navigation strategy for rendezvous and proximity operations with a noncooperative spacecraft in GEO. Translational Ay is assessed for a passively safe co-elliptic rendezvous approach sequence that is followed by injection into a safety ellipse about a noncooperative tumbling spacecraft and, ultimately, final approach to capture. Covariance analysis is presented for a simulation of range and bearing measurements throughout the rendezvous and proximity operations sequence.