Strategies and schemes for rendez-vous on geostationary transfer orbit

Various strategies for achieving rendezvous on high eccentric orbits, including the geostationary transfer orbit, are discussed, and simulation results are presented. Four phases are distinguished in the rendezvous procedure. The first is the guided phase, that is, the ground-controlled 'phasing' strategy. Here, the relative distance reduction is from tens of thousands of km down to about 500 km, the acquisition range. The second phase is the homing phase, where there is autonomously controlled transfer and where the range is reduced to about 5 km. The third phase is the final approach. Here, the trajectory is autonomously controlled on the basis of the channel guidance of proportional navigation. The range is reduced to about 10 m. The last phase is docking, where the trajectory is autonomously controlled up to physical contact.