Estimating Feasibility of Taking Quadratic Terms into Account During Guidance Error Analysis for the Case of Interplanetary Spacecraft

We compared two guidance error analysis algorithms for interplanetary spacecraft. The first one uses a linearised differential equation of spacecraft motion, the second one adds linear and quadratic terms found in the Taylor series expansion of the right-hand side of the equation. We used the Monte Carlo method to analyse guidance errors. In order to evaluate the algorithms, we solved a test problem of guidance error analysis for the case of a spacecraft on a flight to Venus. We compared the results obtained for each algorithm to the results of the analysis that used a non-linearised equation of motion. The comparison led to the conclusion stating whether it is feasible to use the algorithms presented to analyse guidance errors at certain stages of interplanetary spacecraft development

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