A Tracking Backstepping Sliding-Mode Control for Spacecraft Rendezvous with a Passive Target

Abstract

This paper addresses the design of sliding-mode control (SMC) laws for a chaser spacecraft for a rendezvous mission on a circular orbit around Earth. The controllers for attitude and translational motions are based on SMC combined with state feedback linearization in a backstepping setup. Simulations from a high-fidelity benchmark reveal promising results.