Low-Thrust Proximity Operation Design via Terminal-Constraint Model Predictive Control

A terminal-constraint model predictive control strategy is presented for low-thrust proximity operations of formation-flying spacecraft. Relative orbital elements are used to describe the motion state, and the state variation induced by the linear thrust under the J2 perturbation model is derived. The continuous-time state equations are discretized to construct a constrained optimization model, and a dual-mode control strategy is designed to satisfy the terminal constraints. The simulation demonstrates that the control law effectively reduces the fuel consumption while ensuring the proximity operation accuracy, which verifies its application prospect in proximity operation design.