Patent ID: 8412391

Claim:
A method of relative spacecraft maneuvering implemented aboard a maneuvering spacecraft that includes a computer device coupled with a camera capable of capturing video and still images, a memory on which are stored a plurality of three-dimensional models of target spacecraft and the maneuvering spacecraft, and a processor, the method comprising: generating, by the processor, a maneuvering grid that comprises a plurality of maneuvering nodes around at least one three-dimensional model, the maneuvering nodes correspond to points in space through which the maneuvering spacecraft can safely traverse around each target spacecraft corresponding to the at least one three-dimensional model; computing, by the processor, a trajectory for the maneuvering spacecraft comprising a plurality of waypoints, each of the plurality of waypoints is a maneuvering node, wherein the trajectory is computed to minimize the amount of fuel and the amount of time required to complete the trajectory; firing, by the processor, one or more thrusters of the maneuvering spacecraft to move the maneuvering spacecraft toward a first waypoint according to the computed trajectory; measuring, by the processor, the present position and velocity of the maneuvering spacecraft relative to the first waypoint by comparing images from the camera of each target spacecraft with the at least one three-dimensional model.