Flyaround maneuvers on a satellite orbit by impulsive thrust control

Close circumnavigation is an important function indispensable for servicing satellites. We discuss the bielliptic flyaround maneuver by impulsive thrust control for a small and low cost servicing satellite flying around a target satellite. An optimal feedback control scheme for the thrust is proposed to maintain this trajectory in the presence of disturbances. The extended Kalman filter is employed to estimate state variables which are not available for measurement. Simulation results that verify the trajectory keeping capability of the proposed thrust control are presented.