Rendezvous in Low-Lunar-Orbit from Gateway via Low-Thrust Nonlinear Control
Edoardo Maria LEONARDI, Mauro PONTANI, Paolo TEOFILATTO
Abstract. This research investigates low-thrust nonlinear control for rendezvous in lunar orbit, in a high-fidelity dynamical model and in the presence of nonnominal conditions. The feedback control law is based on Lyapunov stability theory and is capable of tracking time-varying orbital elements, including the true anomaly. Monte Carlo campaigns are run to assess the performance of the control strategy, with regard to both a controlled and an uncontrolled target vehicle (i.e. subject to free dynamics). Results show that the proposed low-thrust feedback controller is capable of driving the spacecraft to a safe distance from the target vehicle, with minimal residual velocity, without relying on any reference trajectory nor numerical integration, making it suitable for onboard implementation.
Keywords
Rendezvous, Gateway, Moon Exploration, Low-Thrust, Nonlinear Control
Published online 7/20/2026, 6 pages
Copyright © 2026 by the author(s)
Published under license by Materials Research Forum LLC., Millersville PA, USA
Citation: Edoardo Maria LEONARDI, Mauro PONTANI, Paolo TEOFILATTO, Rendezvous in Low-Lunar-Orbit from Gateway via Low-Thrust Nonlinear Control, Materials Research Proceedings, Vol. 69, pp 1036-1041, 2026
DOI: https://doi.org/10.21741/9781644904251-179
The article was published as article 179 of the book CEAS – AIDAA Conference 2025
Content from this work may be used under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 license. Any further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the title of the work, journal citation and DOI.
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