Abstract: Aerocapture is one of the key technologies for low-cost transportation，with high demands of autonomy，accuracy，and robustness of guidance and control，due to its high reliability requirements for only one chance of trying.A unified numerical predictor-corrector guidance method based on characteristic models for aerocapture is proposed.The numerical predictor-corrector guidance method is used to achieve autonomy and high accuracy，and the characteristic model control method is introduced to achieve robustness.At the same time，by transforming path constraints，characteristic model equations including apogee deviation and altitude differentiation are established.Based on the characteristic model equations，a unified guidance law which can satisfy path constraints and guidance objectives simultaneously is designed.In guidance problems，guidance deviation is not directly obtained from the output of the dynamics at present，but is calculated through integral and algebraic equations.Therefore，the method of directly discretizing differential equations cannot be used to establish characteristic models，which brings great difficulty to characteristic modeling.A method for characteristic modeling of guidance problems is proposed，and convergence analysis of the proposed guidance law is also provided.Finally，a joint numerical simulation of guidance and control considering navigation deviation and various uncertainties is conducted to verify the effectiveness of the proposed method.The proposed unified method can be extended to general aerodynamic entry guidance designs，providing theoretical and methodological support for them.

Key words: aerocapture, path constraint, characteristic model, unified numerical predictor-corrector guidance, convergence