US 12,286,241 B2
Eigenmotion control for near rectilinear halo orbits
Avishai Weiss, Boston, MA (US); Purnanand Elango, Seattle, WA (US); Stefano Di Cairano, Newton, MA (US); and Uros Kalabic, Nashua, NH (US)
Assigned to Mitsubishi Electric Research Laboratories, Inc., Cambridge, MA (US)
Filed by Mitsubishi Electric Research Laboratories, Inc., Cambridge, MA (US)
Filed on Jul. 25, 2022, as Appl. No. 17/873,078.
Claims priority of provisional application 63/365,813, filed on Jun. 3, 2022.
Prior Publication US 2023/0391477 A1, Dec. 7, 2023
Int. Cl. B64G 1/24 (2006.01); B64G 1/64 (2006.01)
CPC B64G 1/242 (2013.01) [B64G 1/244 (2019.05); B64G 1/646 (2013.01)] 20 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A controller for maintaining a spacecraft near an orbit, the controller comprising:
a memory configured to store executable instructions; and
a processor configured to execute the executable instructions to cause the controller to:
detect that a distance from the spacecraft to the orbit is greater than a spacecraft threshold;
in response to detecting that the distance from the spacecraft to the orbit is greater than the spacecraft threshold:
linearize dynamics of the spacecraft from a current time over a time horizon with respect to a high fidelity reference trajectory to produce a state transition matrix (STM) for an uncontrolled motion of the spacecraft within the time horizon, wherein the state transition matrix includes non-expanding eigenvectors with magnitudes less than or equal to one and expanding eigenvectors with magnitudes greater than one;
determine a control action that changes an upcoming state of the spacecraft to a linear combination of the non-expanding eigenvectors of the state transition matrix; and
generate a control command to an actuator of the spacecraft causing correction of the upcoming state of the spacecraft along a direction corresponding to at least one of the non-expanding eigenvectors of the state transition matrix.