  With the ever growing number of space debris in orbit, the need to prevent
further space population is becoming more and more apparent. Refueling,
servicing, inspection and deorbiting of spacecraft are some example missions
that require precise navigation and docking in space. Having multiple,
collaborating robots handling these tasks can greatly increase the efficiency
of the mission in terms of time and cost. This article will introduce a modern
and efficient control architecture for satellites on collaborative docking
missions. The proposed architecture uses a centralized scheme that combines
state-of-the-art, ad-hoc implementations of algorithms and techniques to
maximize robustness and flexibility. It is based on a Model Predictive
Controller (MPC) for which efficient cost function and constraint sets are
designed to ensure a safe and accurate docking. A simulation environment is
also presented to validate and test the proposed control scheme.
