Abstract
This paper discusses formation deployment for a spinning tethered formation flying system. The proposed control method is based on a virtual structure approach, that is one of various strategies and approaches for conventional multi-spacecraft formation control. We consider two types of formation deployment; spin angular velocity is in advance calculated 1) using an angular momentum profile determined, and 2) using a tether tension profile determined. We discuss results of numerical simulations in terms of maximum thrust and tether tension. The simulation model consists of three spacecrafts and tethers represented using a lumped mass model. We also introduce an experimental set-up using two-dimensional micro-gravity simulators to evaluate the proposed control methods, and refer to the current status of the experiment.
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