Trajectory Design of the Aeroassisted Orbital Rendezvous with Strict Time Constraint by Sequential Convex Programming

Compared to traditional impulse maneuvers,aeroassisted maneuvers significantly reduce fuel consumption. Due to strict terminal position constraints, research on aeroassisted rendezvous predominantly focuses on same-plane maneuvers. This paper employs sequential convex porgramming to determine optimal aeroassisted rendezvous trajectories from initial to target orbits. To address strict time constraint, a constraint management and iterative technique is developed in the sequential convex optimization framework. Additionally, by giving the waiting time before deorbit, the initial state constraints at the deorbit point, as well as other constraints-such as atmospheric entry and rendezvous points-are derived. Simulation results for Phobos detection demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.