Analysis and simulation of satellite orbital control maneuvers

Rendezvous and docking missions in spacecrafts consist of a series of maneuvers that involve the chaser spacecraft's ability to dock near the target and eventually contact it in a controlled manner. With the accelerating space race, it is critical for countries to develop technologies that can provide ways to orbital altitude and tilt change maneuvers, close-range guidance methods and attitude control requirements for docking. In the literature, while spacecrafts are within docking distance, there are many control methods applied for the docking phase. But the real problem is the rendezvous of these two spacecraft, that is, how to reach the distances for docking. In this thesis, it is systematically studied how the maneuvers that may be required to bring two different orbiting spacecraft with parameters together and how to develop all the algorithms that may be used for these maneuvers. The accuracy of these algorithms has been demonstrated by simulation studies. In these scenarios, the suitability of orbital maneuvers, that each of which requires a different formulation and development, was first shown in separate simulation studies, then a rendezvous simulation study was carried out on two orbiting spacecraft by combining the orbital maneuvers described.