A Constant-Thrust Guidance Method with Yaw Maneuver for Pinpoint Landing

Abstract

To realize all the six components of terminal position and velocity control for pinpoint landing, throttleable engines are usually needed. In order to reduce economic cost and technique risk, a constant thrust guidance method with yaw maneuver for pinpoint landing was proposed in this paper. The range in the flight line was controlled by yaw maneuver which regulated the in-plane component of the thrust. And a strategy to change the sign of heading angle was performed to eliminate the position and velocity errors in the cross direction, which made the trajectory in horizon plane resemble the letter “W”. This method steered the spacecraft to a given target point with a little more fuel consumption. Simulation results show that the method proposed in this paper is easy to use and efficient.

Keywords

power descent / pinpoint landing / constant thrust / explicit guidance