Survey on spacecraft orbital pursuit-evasion differential games

Abstract

Orbital pursuit-evasion (PE) of spacecraft has drawn increasingly significant attention from the research community in recent years. This paper surveys the state-of-the-art advances in solutions to the PE problem, particularly focusing on differential game theory methods. First, general mathematical descriptions of the PE game are presented and recent theoretical developments are discussed. Further, major results on spacecraft orbital PE differential games under a wide range of formulations are reviewed, including qualitative, linear quadratic, and free-time games, as well as a game with incomplete or imperfect information and one with impulsive thrust. Finally, we conclude with a discussion of open challenges and directions for future research on spacecraft orbital PE.