Mapping a chaser satellite's feasibility space for soft docking

Sternberg, David; Miller, David W.

doi:10.1109/aero.2017.7943720

Cited by 1 publication

(1 citation statement)

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“…This paper considers the need for balancing computational efficiency with the fuel cost associated with the approximation of the fuel optimal trajectory for the scenario of a Chaser satellite conducting an approach and docking maneuver with a Target satellite. Additionally, it is based on the work presented in the doctoral thesis by the first author (Sternberg, 2017 ), and it assumes that the docking falls within the feasibility space for the Chaser to dock with the Target (Sternberg and Miller, 2017 ). The Chaser satellite is taken to have accurate state estimation and control.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Parameterization of Fuel-Optimal Synchronous Approach Trajectories to Tumbling Targets

Sternberg

Miller

2018

Front. Robot. AI

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Docking with potentially tumbling Targets is a common element of many mission architectures, including on-orbit servicing and active debris removal. This paper studies synchronized docking trajectories as a way to ensure the Chaser satellite remains on the docking axis of the tumbling Target, thereby reducing collision risks and enabling persistent onboard sensing of the docking location. Chaser satellites have limited computational power available to them and the time allowed for the determination of a fuel optimal trajectory may be limited. Consequently, parameterized trajectories that approximate the fuel optimal trajectory while following synchronous approaches may be used to provide a computationally efficient means of determining near optimal trajectories to a tumbling Target. This paper presents a method of balancing the computation cost with the added fuel expenditure required for parameterization, including the selection of a parameterization scheme, the number of parameters in the parameterization, and a means of incorporating the dynamics of a tumbling satellite into the parameterization process. Comparisons of the parameterized trajectories are made with the fuel optimal trajectory, which is computed through the numerical propagation of Euler's equations. Additionally, various tumble types are considered to demonstrate the efficacy of the presented computation scheme. With this parameterized trajectory determination method, Chaser satellites may perform terminal approach and docking maneuvers with both fuel and computational efficiency.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%