AUTOMATIC SPACECRAFT DOCKING USING COMPUTER VISION AND NONLINEAR CONTROL TECHNIQUES.

A guidance plan which satisfies the spacecraft soft docking requirement provides the desired input commands to the spacecraft control loops. We propose a guidance plan based on an "N% Rule" according to current NASA space shuttle docking mission design. Nonlinear rotational velocity estimation and attitude control loops are designed to track the desired rotational guidance commands to keep the camera, fixed on the spacecraft, always pointed at the rhombus mark on the space station. Linear translational