Rapid orbital maneuver control of satellite using finite single axis thruster

A Gauss pseudo-spectral method is proposed to solve optimal control problem for satellite rapid orbital maneuver, in which only one axis thruster is provided under the finite thrust. The concept of "virtual satellite" transforms the orbital maneuver of satellite into the soft rendezvous of the satellite and virtual satellite. The relative motion equations are then formulated and the maneuver time is selected as cost function for the optimal control problem, which is transformed to a nonlinear programming problem by using the Gauss pseudo-spectral method. This approach avoids the difficulties in solving boundary value problem. Finally, the optimal trajectory is solved by using MATLAB optimization toolbox. The results show that the Gauss pseudo-spectral method is very effective for solving the multiple constrained nonlinear strongly coupled equations, and it isn't very sensitive to initial data and has certain robustness.