Tether-tossed Mars mission examples

Nordley, Gerald D.; Consultant,; Ca, Sunnyvale

doi:10.2514/6.2001-3375

Cited by 8 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 1 publication

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“…One of the most tantalizing aspects of space tethers is the possibility of providing transportation in space without the use of "traditional" propellants (such as chemical or ion propulsion). The use of both MXTs and EDTs are proposed to this end, with mission applications ranging from simply attitude control [47] to the grander scope of interplanetary transfer [48]. Much research is also being done towards the dynamics of tethers in space [46].…”

Section: Current Trends In Space Tether Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

Tether Dynamics Analysis and Guidance and Control Design for Active Space-Debris Removal

Linskens

Mooij

2016

Journal of Guidance, Control, and Dynamics

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Since before I can remember, I have had a near-obsession with everything related to outer space. Whether it was in the form of astronomy, science fiction, or actual space flight, something about the vast universe beyond the frail atmosphere of our home planet has always been able to capture my imagination. Therefore, I like to see this thesis not only as the final result of my six years of study at the Delft University of Technology, but also as the culmination of a life-long fascination with the topic.Sentimental reminiscing aside, I would like to spend a few words on the background of this thesis. When ESA released a call for proposals for the design of a GNC system for deorbiting the derelict Envisat in early 2013, it was originally envisioned that the Delft University of Technology would join forces with Dutch Space, now Airbus Defence & Space Netherlands, to submit such a proposal. Furthermore, such a proposal would permit room for an MSc thesis topic, and the MSc coordinator of our department, Ron Noomen, suggested me as a candidate. While the actual proposal itself unfortunately fell through, the thesis topic remained, along with the cooperation with Dutch Space, who graciously allowed me to use the GGNCSIM simulator libraries. With the actual mission to deorbit Envisat well underway, now is an exciting time to be working in the field of active debris removal! Of course, I could not have tackled this challenging thesis topic on my own, and owe a debt of gratitude to a great many people. First, and foremost, I would like to thank my direct supervisor at the Delft University of Technology for this thesis research, Erwin Mooij, for being an outstanding tutor as well as a great sounding board for my ideas. The discussions we had, both on and off topic, proved invaluable for the successful completion of the research and for the preservation of my peace of mind. I would also like to thank Ron Noomen, also of the Delft University of Technology, for proposing me as a candidate for this research in the first place. Furthermore, I would like to thank Marc Oort, Marcel Ellenbroek, and Lex Meijer, all of Dutch Space (forgive my use of the old name), for allowing me to use GGNCSIM, as well as attentively discussing my findings. Remaining in the space industry, I would like to thank Alexander Cropp, of ESA ESTEC, for patiently answering all my questions on the topic. To all my fellow graduate students in the MSc rooms at the faculty, thank you all for making the time I spent there unforgettable. Finally, I would like to thank my family, friends, and girlfried for supporting (and putting up with) me over the course of the past year: I wouldn't have been able to do it without you. ABSTRACTRecent years have seen a steep increase in research being performed towards active space debris removal: space debris has proven to be a very real threat to operational spacecraft, and studies indicate that the frequency of collisions will only increase if nothing is done to remove large pieces of debris. In particular, ESA has done stud...

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Section: Current Trends In Space Tether Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

Tether Dynamics Analysis and Guidance and Control Design for Active Space-Debris Removal

Linskens

Mooij

2016

Journal of Guidance, Control, and Dynamics

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“…The proposed system consists of two rapidly spinning tether systems in highly elliptical orbits: one at Earth, which picks up a payload near perigee and releases it a half rotation later on an escape trajectory towards Mars, and one at Mars, which is capable of rendezvousing and capturing the incoming payload. Nordley (2001) presented several examples of the benefits that can be accrued by using such an architecture. For example, with 3 km/sec tether tip speeds, trip times of the order of 84 days can be attained.…”

Section: Review Of Literature On Tether Transportationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Dynamics and Control of Spinning Tethers for Rendezvous in Elliptic Orbits

Williams¹

2006

Journal of Vibration and Control

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The dynamics and control of spinning tethers in elliptical orbits for payload rendezvous is studied. The required rendezvous conditions for the tether tip are derived for the case where the tether system center of mass and payload are in coplanar elliptic orbits. It is proposed that rendezvous control can be achieved by tracking the unique tip trajectory generated by propagating the rendezvous conditions backwards in time. The range of suitable combinations of tether system orbit eccentricity, tether length, and payload orbit eccentricity are studied numerically. It is shown that certain combinations of parameters lead to non-spinning capture requirements and slack tethers. Control of the tether motion through tether reeling is examined using a nonlinear model predictive control strategy. Numerical results illustrating the effectiveness of the controller are presented.

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“…The cargo exchanges between space stations and ground were the first initiated missions using STSs (Colombo, 1983). Transportations to Mars, Moon, Jupiter or other planets by STS were proposed soon after (Hoyt, 2001;Nordley, 2001;Charro et al, 2012). Among all inspiring tossing schemes, schemes for Earth missions are the most studied ones.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Impact analysis and adaptive sliding mode control for cislunar payload transportation using spinning tether system

Yuriy

2018

AEAT

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Purpose This paper aims to present the impact analysis of payload rendezvous with tethered satellite system and the design of an adaptive sliding mode controller which can deal with mass parameter uncertainty of targeted payload, so that the proposed cislunar transportation scheme with spinning tether system could be extended to a wider and more practical range. Design/methodology/approach In this work, dynamical model is first derived based on Langrangian equations to describe the motion of a spinning tether system in an arbitrary Keplerian orbit, which takes the mass of spacecraft, tether and payload into account. Orbital design and optimal open-loop control for the payload tossed by the spinning tether system are then presented. The real payload rendezvous impact around docking point is also analyzed. Based on reference acceleration trajectory given by optimal theories, a sliding mode controller with saturation functions is designed in the close-loop control of payload tossing stage under initial disturbance caused by actual rendezvous error. To alleviate the influence of inaccurate/unknown payload mass parameters, the adaptive law is designed and integrated into sliding mode controller. Finally, the performance of the proposed controller is evaluated using simulations. Simulation results validate that proposed controller is found effective in driving the spinning tether system to carry payload into desired cislunar transfer orbit and in dealing with payload mass parameter uncertainty in a relatively large range. Findings The results show that unideal rendezvous manoeuvres have significant impact on in-plane motion of spinning tether system, and the proposed adaptive sliding mode controller with saturation functions not only guarantees the stability but also provides good performance and robustness against the parameter and unstructured uncertainties. Originality/value This work addresses the analysis of actual impact on spinning tether system motion when payload is docking with system within tolerated docking window, rather than at the particular ideal docking point, and the robust tracking control of deep-space payload tossing missions with the spinning tether system using the adaptive sliding mode controller dealing with parameter uncertainties. This combination has not been proposed before for tracking control of multivariable spinning tether systems.

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Tether-tossed Mars mission examples

Cited by 8 publications

References 1 publication

Tether Dynamics Analysis and Guidance and Control Design for Active Space-Debris Removal

Tether Dynamics Analysis and Guidance and Control Design for Active Space-Debris Removal

Dynamics and Control of Spinning Tethers for Rendezvous in Elliptic Orbits

Impact analysis and adaptive sliding mode control for cislunar payload transportation using spinning tether system

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