From Orbit Matching to Docking: A Hierarchical Reinforcement-Learning Approach to Multiphase Rendezvous Trajectory Design

Abstract

As the complexity of space missions increases, autonomous spacecraft guidance must accommodate transitions between mission phases with distinct dynamics, objectives, and constraints. Rendezvous and proximity operations (RPO) are particularly challenging because they span multiple operating regimes, from orbital-scale matching and far-range approach to close-range maneuvering and terminal docking. Existing reinforcement-learning approaches generally address only a subset of this sequence or rely on manually defined switching conditions between controllers. This study presents a hierarchical reinforcement-learning framework for autonomous, three-degree-of-freedom RPO that spans the complete trajectory from orbit matching to docking. Five specialized policies are trained for orbit matching, far-range approach, mid-range approach, close-range approach, and docking. A learned high-level manager policy then selects among these phase-specific controllers based on the evolving spacecraft state. The hierarchical approach is evaluated over the full end-to-end rendezvous sequence and compared with a fixed sequential-invocation heuristic to assess trajectory performance and transition behavior. Training and inference metrics are also analyzed for the individual phase policies and the complete hierarchical system.