De-tumbling control of uncooperative targets through space tether system

Abstract

Due to the increase in launch missions and the cascade effect of debris collision, space debris already starts to threaten the space activities. Active debris removal is the only choice to mitigate the debris level, in which the tumble of debris objects is one of the most challengeable part. This paper proposes a new de-tumbling method for the uncooperative target through space tether system, by releasing the tether after capture of the target at short range, the fast rotation of the target evolves into the slow rotation of the whole space tether system, and thus tumbling mitigation is realized. The dynamics model considers the elastic of the tether and attitude motions are derived, and friction release law and attitude damping control strategy is then designed. Simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness of the de-tumbling strategy.