Development of Space Tethered Autonomous Robotic Satellite

Abstract

Space tethered autonomous robotic satellite (STARS) is being developed for technical verification of tethered space robot (TSR), which is a new type of space robot system proposed in the previous work. The STARS consists of mother and daughter satellites connected by tether. The mother satellite deploys tether having the daughter satellite at its end. The daughter satellite is TSR, and has one arm link, whose end is attached to tether. Then, attitude control by arm link motion is possible under condition that tether tension is applied. Main mission of the STARS follows sequence as: the mother satellite release the daughter satellite; attitude of the daughter satellite is controlled by arm link motion; the camera mounted on the daughter satellite takes a picture during deployment; the daughter satellite docks with the mother satellite. The system of the STARS consists of power, data handling, communication, camera, attitude control, structure, deployment, and robotic subsystems. Deployment and robotic subsystems are specific compared to other pico-satellite. Main objective of the deployment subsystem is to deploy and to retrieve tether. On the other hand, main objective of the robotic subsystem is to control attitude of the daughter satellite.