Validation results of satellite mock-up capturing experiment using nets

Medina, Alberto Martin Gago; Cercos, Lorenzo; Stefanescu, Raluca M.; Benvenuto, Riccardo; Pesce, Vincenzo; Marcon, Marco; Lavagna, Michèle; Gónzalez, Iván; López, Nuria Rodríguez; Wormnes, Kjetil

doi:10.1016/j.actaastro.2017.02.019

Cited by 40 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 8 publications

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“…After the achievement of soft docking, the tether provides the low stiffness connection between the two spacecraft; finally, after (3) the two-body dynamics has been stabilized; (4) the tether allows to safely join chaser and target by rewinding it. The employment of tethered systems for close approach and docking/capture phases has been proposed to simplify or integrate the procedures currently under investigation; interesting contribution have been proposed by the Polytechnic of Milano [12][13][14][15][16] and the University of Padova [17][18][19]. Such systems allow to create low-stiffness connections between the involved bodies, reducing the risk of undesired collision by allowing safe-distance operations; furthermore, under certain well described conditions, the dynamics of tethered system is stable [20], allowing slow and safe proximity operations.…”

Section: Ted Concept and Advantagesmentioning

confidence: 99%

TED Project: Conjugating Technology Development and Educational Activities

Olivieri

Sansone²,

Duzzi

et al. 2019

Aerospace

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TED (Tethered Electromagnetic Docking) is a system proposed by a group of researchers and students of the University of Padova for close rendezvous and docking between spacecraft. It consists in a small tethered probe ejected by the chaser, reaching the proximity of the target with a controlled deployment, and then magnetically guided by a receiving electromagnet mounted on it. Because of the generated magnetic field, alignment and mating are possible; then, as the tether is rewound, the chaser is able to dock with the target. To perform a preliminary verification of TED, three groups of students have been involved in the project and contributed to the evaluation of its critical technologies in reduced gravity: in the framework of ESA “Drop your Thesis!” 2014 and 2016 campaigns the experiments FELDs and STAR focused on the test of the tether deployment and control, while PACMAN, in the framework of ESA “Fly Your Thesis! 2017” parabolic flights campaign, tested proximity operations by means of electromagnetic interactions. In this paper, a description of TED concept and its development roadmap is presented, introducing the critical technologies tested by FELDs, STAR, and PACMAN experiments. The second part of the paper focuses on the educational outcomes of the three experiments, introducing statistics on (1) student participation, (2) scientific publication production, and (3) influence of the educational programs on the students’ career.

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Section: Ted Concept and Advantagesmentioning

confidence: 99%

TED Project: Conjugating Technology Development and Educational Activities

Olivieri

Sansone²,

Duzzi

et al. 2019

Aerospace

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show abstract

“…For the case of small space debris, whose radium is in range of 1 –10 cm, the totally closed soccer-like sphere caging configuration is developed to capture the debris. The soccer-like caging configuration consists of 12 regular pentagonal blades and 20 regular hexagonal blades, in which the regular pentagon and regular hexagonal edges are equal in length, as shown in Figure 3.…”

Section: Envelop Capture Using Multimodel Capture Mechanismmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In addition, because the net captured the space target can hardly be removed, it is difficult to manipulate the wrapped target for the orbital servicing. 10 Other researchers studied the continuum manipulator to capture the space target. A continuum manipulator named OctArm is proposed by McMahan et al, 11 which contains three sections connected by the endplates.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Adaptive space debris capture approach based on origami principle

Sun

Wan

Deng

2019

International Journal of Advanced Robotic Systems

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Space debris capture is the base of the on-orbit servicing and space debris removal. Due to the lack of fixed grasping points and the uncertainty of motion parameters, the traditional spacecraft manipulator approach cannot be applied in the space debris capture. In this article, a novel adaptive capture approach based on origami principle is developed. Main advantages of the proposed method are as follows: (1) it can capture target without fixed points. Through multimodule unfolding, the capture mechanism can form a suitable configuration for the space debris, restrict its motion, and capture it. (2) As the caging configuration of the capture device can be changed through different module unfolding, it can satisfy different size of the space target. (3) It can save the launch space of the capture mechanism. The multimodule capture mechanism has small volume after folding, which can greatly save the storage space in launch stage. The structure of the capture mechanism based on origami principle is developed, and the grasping configuration design is proposed for different size of the space debris target. In addition, considering the disturbance in process of capture is nonlinear and is hard to obtain accurately, a novel extended state observer-based sliding control is developed for the capture process control. The simulation results demonstrate the efficiency of the control algorithm.

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“…For the net capture method, it has in total three phases to deorbit a space debris object, that is the deployment, capture and post-capture phases. Numerous research studies focused on the first two phases, e.g., the sensitivity analysis [9], simulator design [9][10][11][12], parabolic flight experiments [12][13][14], and even on-orbit experiments [15]. Shan et al have analyzed the initial conditions, such as the bullet mass, shooting velocity and the shooting angle's influence on the output parameters, the net opening area, the deployment time and the travelling distance during the net deployment phase [9].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Golebiowski et al have developed a simulator based on the Cossrat rod theory and validated their model using a zero-gravity parabolic flight experiment [12]. Another parabolic flight experiment has been carried out by the GMV company in Spain, where the mass-spring model has been verified [13]. The University of Surrey performed an on-orbit experiment in 2018 and successfully tested the feasibility of both the net capture method and harpoon system [22,23].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Comparison of Tethered Post-Capture System Models for Space Debris Removal

Shan

Shi

2022

Aerospace

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The space debris problem poses a huge threat to operational satellites and has to be addressed. Multiple removal methods have been proposed to keep Earth’s orbit stable. Flexible connection capturing methods, such as the harpoon system, tether–gripper system and the net system, are potential candidate methods for space debris removal in the future. However, the tethered system is usually assumed as a dumbbell model where two end masses are connected by a rigid bar. This traditional model is not accurate enough to predict the motion of the target, neither the whole system. In this paper, three models, namely the modified dumbbell model, lumped-mass model and the ANCF model, to describe a tethered post-capture system for space debris removal are described and compared. Moreover, modal analysis of the tethered system is performed, and an analytical solution of the system’s natural frequency is derived. In addition, two configurations of the tethered system, namely the single tether configuration and the sub-tether configuration are simulated and compared based on three models, respectively. Finally, the influence on the chaser satellite by the initial angular velocity of the target is analyzed.

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Validation results of satellite mock-up capturing experiment using nets

Cited by 40 publications

References 8 publications

TED Project: Conjugating Technology Development and Educational Activities

TED Project: Conjugating Technology Development and Educational Activities

Adaptive space debris capture approach based on origami principle

Comparison of Tethered Post-Capture System Models for Space Debris Removal

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