Highlights Detumbling the conductive target with rotating magnets is practical. The rotational speed and air gap width have significant impact on the detumble. The inertial parameters of non-cooperative target can be identified while detumble.
Abstract As human continue to make progress in space, more and more failed satellites and spacecraft have become obstacles to future space exploration. Therefore, space agencies across the world are making significant efforts on developing On-Orbit Servicing (OOS) technologies to revive some failed but still valuable satellites and clean up the low-Earth orbits. One crucial step of an OOS mission is to capture a target. However, the capturing step can be a hazardous operation in space as in many cases, the to-be-served targets are uncooperative or even tumbling with unknown dynamic parameters. In this paper, a novel method using eddy current for contactlessly detumbling an uncooperative target is proposed. With this method, the full inertial parameters can be obtained while detumbling the target, which can significantly reduce the risks of such an OOS operation. In this research, finite element simulations are carried out to evaluate the effectiveness of electromagnetic force on a non-cooperative target. Experiments conducted on an air bearing platform are presented to validate the proposed method.
Identify the full inertial parameters of a non-cooperative target with eddy current detumbling
Advances in Space Research ; 66 , 7 ; 1792-1802
2020-05-28
11 pages
Aufsatz (Zeitschrift)
Elektronische Ressource
Englisch