Argon is a flight-ready sensor suite with two visual cameras, a flash LIDAR, an onboard flight computer, and associated electronics. Argon was designed to provide sensing capabilities for relative navigation during proximity, rendezvous, and docking operations between spacecraft. A rigorous ground test campaign assessed the performance capability of the Argon navigation suite to measure the relative pose of high-fidelity satellite mockups during a variety of simulated rendezvous and proximity maneuvers facilitated by robot manipulators in a variety of lighting conditions representative of the orbital environment. A brief description of the Argon suite and test setup are given as well as an analysis of the performance of the system in simulated proximity and rendezvous operations.

The feasibility and benefits of various spacecraft servicing concepts are currently being assessed, and all require that servicer spacecraft perform rendezvous, proximity operations, and capture operations with the spacecraft to be serviced. There are many high-value commercial and military spacecraft located in geosynchronous orbit (GEO) which may be candidates for servicing, but GEO is a regime in which rendezvous and capture operations are not commonplace; further, most GEO spacecraft were not designed to be cooperative rendezvous targets, and some may even be completely nonfunctional and therefore potentially tumbling. In this work we present elements of a guidance and navigation strategy for rendezvous and proximity operations with a noncooperative spacecraft in GEO. Translationalllv is assessed for a passively safe co-elliptic rendezvous approach sequence that is followed by injection into a safety ellipse about a noncooperative tumbling spacecraft and, ultimately, final approach to capture. Covariance analysis is presented for a simulation of range and bearing measurements throughout the rendezvous and proximity operations sequence.

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