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Pseudospectral method for optimal propellantless rendezvous using geomagnetic Lorentz force

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Abstract

A charged spacecraft is subject to the Lorentz force when it orbits a central body with a magnetic field. The induced Lorentz force provides a new mean of propellantless electromagnetic propulsion for orbital control. Modeling the Earth magnetic field as a tilted dipole that co-rotates with the Earth, this paper develops a nonlinear dynamical model that describes the relative motion of the Lorentz spacecraft about an arbitrary reference orbit. Based on the proposed dynamical model, feasibility of Lorentz-propelled rendezvous with no restrictions on the initial states is investigated. The rendezvous problem is then formulated as an optimal control problem, and solved with the Gauss pseudospectral method (GPM). Numerical simulations substantiate the validity of proposed model and method, and results show that the propellantless rendezvous is achieved at both fixed and free final time.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Aerospace Science and Engineering, National University of Defense Technology, Changsha, 410073, China

    Xu Huang, Ye Yan & Yang Zhou

  2. Department of Communication, Beijing Aerospace Control Center, Beijing, 100094, China

    Hua Zhang

Authors
  1. Xu Huang
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  2. Ye Yan
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  3. Yang Zhou
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  4. Hua Zhang
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Xu Huang.

Additional information

Project supported by the Fund of Innovation by Graduate School of National University of Defense Technology (No. B140106)

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Huang, X., Yan, Y., Zhou, Y. et al. Pseudospectral method for optimal propellantless rendezvous using geomagnetic Lorentz force. Appl. Math. Mech.-Engl. Ed. 36, 609–618 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10483-015-1936-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10483-015-1936-7

Key words

Chinese Library Classification

2010 Mathematics Subject Classification

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