Abstract
This paper studies the safety control problem for rotating spacecraft proximity maneuver in presence of complex shaped obstacles. First, considering the attitude change of the target spacecraft, a dynamic model of close-range relative motion in a body-fixed coordinate system is derived using a novel approach. Then, the Gaussian mixture model (GMM) is utilized to reconstruct the complex shape of the spacecraft, and a novel GMM-based artificial potential function (APF) is proposed to represent the collision avoidance requirement. By combining GMM-based APF with fixed-time stability methodology, a fixed-time control (FTC) is designed for close-range proximity operation to a rotating spacecraft having a complex shape. The presented GMM-FTC scheme can guarantee the convergence of relative state errors, and ensure that no collision occurs. Finally, simulation results are provided to illustrate the feasibility of the proposed control approach.
Highlights
Nowadays, because of factors like solar panels that fail to unfold, communication failure, exhaustion of thruster fuel, collision, etc., many spacecraft have decayed and become non-cooperative target like space debris
The Cubesat Proximity Operations Demonstration (CPOD) implemented an on-orbit demonstration of rendezvous, proximity operations and docking of two 3U Cubesats [1]; MEV-1 completed the proximity operation to IS-901 satellite, and inserted the docking mechanism into the throat of IS-901 engine nozzle to realize rendezvous and docking; the RemoveDebris mission has successfully demonstrated on-orbit net and harpoon capture and the whole sequence of operations like vision-based navigation for the purpose of Active Debris Removal (ADR) [2]; the e.Deorbit project has planned to testing technology to clear out space debris [3]
This paper proposed Gaussian Mixture model (GMM)-based artificial potential function (APF), which combines the characteristics of the two methods
Summary
Because of factors like solar panels that fail to unfold, communication failure, exhaustion of thruster fuel, collision, etc., many spacecraft have decayed and become non-cooperative target like space debris. In order to overcome the adverse effects of disturbances and uncertainties in the space environment, a method that combines APF with sliding mode control (SMC) was proposed to ensure collision avoidance in proximity and docking maneuvers with strong robustness and fast convergence [6,7,8,9]. The study of this paper focuses on control design for safe proximity to a rotating spacecraft with complex shape so that superior features including collision avoidance and fixed-time convergence property. A compound controller is designed for ultra-close-range safe proximity based on GMM and FTC method, which can guarantee collision avoidance, and fixed-time convergence to the desired state.
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