Successive Convexification for Passively-Safe Spacecraft Rendezvous on Near Rectilinear Halo Orbit

Abstract: We present an optimization-based approach for fuel-efficient spacecraft rendezvous to the Gateway, a space station that will be deployed on a near rectilinear halo orbit (NRHO) around the Moon. The approach: i) ensures passive safety and satisfies path constraints at all times, ii) meets the specifications for critical decision points along the trajectory, iii) accounts for uncertainties that are common in real-world operation, such as due to orbital insertion, actuation, and navigation measurement, via chance constraints and utilizes a stabilizing feedback controller to bound the effect of uncertainties. We leverage sequential convex programming (SCP) and isoperimetric reformulation of path constraints, including passive safety, to eliminate the risk of inter-sample constraint violations that is common in existing methods. We demonstrate the proposed approach on a realistic simulation of a rendezvous to the Gateway.