Lightweight Compact Optical Correlator For Spacecraft Docking

摘要

Spacecraft docking, landing and star tracking are critical operations in various space missions, Docking provides the opportunity to joint two vehicles in order to change crews and deliver resources to a spacecraft. One of the main challenges in docking is to perform real-time tracking of the docking point for a precise and rapid feedback to the control system in order to achieve reliable operations. The same requirements are found for landing operations and star-tracking with main difference that the ground or sky is used for position and attitude tracking.