Abstract
TED (Tethered Electromagnetic Docking) is a system proposed by a group of researchers and students of the University of Padova for close rendezvous and docking between spacecraft. It consists in a small tethered probe ejected by the chaser, reaching the proximity of the target with a controlled deployment, and then magnetically guided by a receiving electromagnet mounted on it. Because of the generated magnetic field, alignment and mating are possible; then, as the tether is rewound, the chaser is able to dock with the target. To perform a preliminary verification of TED, three groups of students have been involved in the project and contributed to the evaluation of its critical technologies in reduced gravity: in the framework of ESA “Drop your Thesis!” 2014 and 2016 campaigns the experiments FELDs and STAR focused on the test of the tether deployment and control, while PACMAN, in the framework of ESA “Fly Your Thesis! 2017” parabolic flights campaign, tested proximity operations by means of electromagnetic interactions. In this paper, a description of TED concept and its development roadmap is presented, introducing the critical technologies tested by FELDs, STAR, and PACMAN experiments. The second part of the paper focuses on the educational outcomes of the three experiments, introducing statistics on (1) student participation, (2) scientific publication production, and (3) influence of the educational programs on the students’ career.
Highlights
Since the beginning of the space era, the procedures for cooperative rendezvous and mating of large manned and autonomous spacecraft have been deeply investigated [1], while research on small satellite docking and uncooperative bodies capture is still under development
It is worth pointing out that the benefits of this novel docking strategy with respect to the standard docking procedures are not limited to fuel savings and GNC accuracy [18,20]: first, a remarkable advantage can be envisaged in the negligible impulsive force transmitted by the small probe to the target during the soft docking connection; second, Tethered Electromagnetic Docking (TED) would increase the docking
The launch system was tested in the FELDs experiment [24], the microgravity five drop tests at ZARM drop tower; three were completely successful, while the last two drops failed verification consisted in five drop tests at ZARM drop tower; three were completely successful, while due to malfunctions during the release, which caused the tether to snag into the internal mechanism, the last two drops failed due to malfunctions during the release, which caused the tether to snag into increasing friction and slowing the probe
Summary
Since the beginning of the space era, the procedures for cooperative rendezvous and mating of large manned and autonomous spacecraft have been deeply investigated [1], while research on small satellite docking and uncooperative bodies capture is still under development. TED concept aims to be a competitive solution to standard close-range rendezvous and mating operations, allowing the reduction of proximity navigation and guidance requirements between chaser operations, allowing the reduction of proximity navigation and guidance requirements between and target spacecraft. It is worth pointing out that the benefits of this novel docking strategy with respect to the standard docking procedures are not limited to fuel savings and GNC accuracy [18,20]: first, a remarkable advantage can be envisaged in the negligible impulsive force transmitted by the small probe to the target during the soft docking connection; second, TED would increase the docking. TargetTED during the soft docking connection; TED would increase docking maneuver and reliability demonstration is subjected tosecond, the development of somethe critical technologies their allowing the tether retrieval in case of unsuccessful deployment and subsequent docking attempts [21].
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