Differential Drag Estimation and Autonomous Control for Non-Cooperative Rendezvous

Active Debris Removal (ADR) missions are essential to mitigate the danger of satellite collisions. This paper considers low-cost ADR missions using a small satellite to deorbit large debris. Differential drag is a critical factor as it causes position drifts and operation delays; however, it is difficult to estimate due to the variation in atmospheric density and the sensor noise. We propose an onboard differential drag estimator, an autonomous trajectory correction method, and an efficient guidance algorithm. These methods achieve autonomous rendezvous, reducing the ground operation load. The effectiveness of the methods is verified via simulations.