Abstract:

The rendezvous precision analysis is an important task in rendezvous mission design and execution. The currently employed Monte Carlo method is time-consuming, and the covariance analysis method has poor precision for nonlinear rendezvous problems with big initial navigation errors or long-time flight. In order to overcome these problems, a new method for nonlinear rendezvous error propagation and analysis is proposed. Based on the covariance analysis description equation technique (CADET), the models of error propagating and analyzing are deduced, which include the J₂ perturbation, navigation errors and actuation errors. The proposed method is testified by two examples including a homing rendezvous problem and a multi-revolution noncoplanar rendezvous problem and compared with Monte Carlo method and covariance analysis method. The results show that for the precision analysis of nonlinear rendezvous problem with big initial navigation errors or long-time flight, the CADET based method has advantages such as higher precision and low time-cost compared with Monte Carlo method and the covariance analysis. It has better engineering application value.