AAS 97-185

GENERAL FORM OF THE SPACECRAFT TERMINAL RENDEZVOUS EQUATIONS AND STATE TRANSITION MATRIX

T. E. Carter, Eastern Connecticut State University

Abstract

Linearized equations of motion are useful in describing the terminal rendezvous phase of a mission or in satellite stationkeeping. This paper presents a brief survey of the types of linear models in rendezvous studies, followed by a new general model that incorporates much previous work as special cases. The work combines some ideas in nineteenth century celestial mechanics with some recent discoveries. Because of the generality of this new model, much of the clutter is avoided in designing a relatively simple state transition matrix that is applicable to a variety of problems.