The material presented in this book provides a general overview of the major issues related to the development of automatic rendezvous and docking systems, without restricting the discussion to any particular project. It is intended to explain the general principles, and examples of actual developments are included only to demonstrate these general principles. Because of the large number of aspects to be discussed, the depth of discussion of each single issue will necessarily be limited and cannot go further than an introduction.

The information presented is based on the experience of the author, gained during his work with the European Space Agency (ESA), where, between 1981 and 1998, he was responsible for the development of rendezvous and docking technology. ESA has conducted a comprehensive development programme, within which it has awarded to European industry a large number of study and development activities to prepare the rendezvous and docking techniques and technology, first for the Hermes–Columbus Free-Flyer scenario, which was abandoned in 1992, and thereafter for the ATV–ISS scenario. The Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) is one of Europe's contributions to the International Space Station (ISS) Programme. In this context, the two largest technology development activities, among many others, were:

• the Rendezvous and Docking Pre-Development Programme for Hermes–Columbus (1989–1993),

• the ATV Rendezvous Pre-Development (1994–1998).

The design and development of the automatic rendezvous control system of the ATV, for which these two activities formed the basis, are driven to a large extent by the interfaces and requirements given by the ISS.