Capturing dynamics of a space manipulator end-effector with snare capture and retract operations

Abstract

Due to the importance of space manipulators in on-orbit servicing tasks, capturing operations by using a space manipulator, which involves complicated contact has been widely studied. The complicated contact feature brings great challenges to the analysis of the capturing operations. A capturing dynamics model of an end-effector with snare capture and retract operations is developed in this work. The proposed model is validated by comparisons with experimental results of a hardware-in-the-loop facility. Validation results indicate that the presented model can be used in simulations for on-orbit capturing tasks. Therefore, simulation cases of tasks for capturing a floating target and a fixed one are conducted. Finally, practical suggestions for on-orbit operations are proposed according to the simulation results.