Research About Strategies of Mars Probe Capture

Abstract

Aiming at the Mars probe capture，the three direct capture strategies，including fixed、constant and tangential angular velocity starategies are compared and analyzed through dynamic modeling and numerical simulation of typical conditions. The merits and demerits of three strategies are summarized，and the results show that the tangential angular velocity strategy uses low fuel，but needs real-time velocity. Also，it discovers that the optimal ignition time point corresponds to the half of total capture time. In order to implement specific transition track，a closed-loop guidance strategy is proposed based on the Zero Effort Miss/Zero Effort Velocity. Comparing with the tangential angular velocity strategy，the proposed strategy achieves equivalent effort and can satisfy terminal position and velocity constrains. It can provide an alternative strategy for the practical mission.

Keywords

Mars exploration / Mars capture / optimal ignition time point / ZEV / ZEM/ZEV