Guidance and control for powered descent and landing of launch vehicles: Overview and outlook

The cost of entrance into space can be significantly reduced by the application of reusable launch vehicle，which is an important component of the next-generation space transportation system. For reusable launch vehicles，the powered descent and landing phase is the key to successful recovery. Existing guidance and control methods for powered descent and landing are reviewed. Based on the analysis of existing methods，an intelligent modular integration method for guidance and control is proposed，and an outlook on the application of artificial intelligence methods in guidance and control of powered descent and landing is presented. Firstly，a complete model for guidance and control of powered descent and landing，along with the widely considered objectives and constraints，is established，and the main difficulties for guidance and control design are analyzed. Thereafter，existing guidance and control methods for powered descent and landing，i. e. ，the analytical guidance method，trajectory optimization based guidance method，learning based guidance method，the attitude control method，and the guidance and control integration method，are reviewed，and a comprehensive comparison of these methods is made by analyzing the considered equations of motion model，constraints，and objectives. Furthermore，a modular intelligent integration method is proposed for optimizing comprehensive objectives in guidance and control under uncertain models and disturbances. Finally，the development trends of guidance and control methods of powered descent and landing are summarized，and an outlook on the combination of artificial intelligence methods and guidance and control methods of powered descent and landing is given. © 2023 AAAS Press of Chinese Society of Aeronautics and Astronautics. All rights reserved.