Touchless Electrostatic Three-dimensional Detumbling of Large Axi-symmetric Debris

Abstract

Touchless detumbling of space debris is investigated to enable orbital servicing or active debris removal. Using active charge transfer between a servicer and debris object, control torques are created to reduce the debris spin rate prior to making any physical contact. In this work, the servicer shape is spherical and the debris is assumed to be cylindrical and tumbling. The attitude control goal is to reduce the debris tumbling motion while maintaining a fixed position ahead of the debris object. Prior work has identified the feasibility of electrostatic detumble for one degree of rotational freedom. This work extends the theory to three-dimensional tumbling motion. Using the previously developed Multi-Sphere modeling method for electrostatic forces and torques on non-spherical objects, detumble behavior is predicted and Lyapunov control theory and numerical simulations are used to demonstrate a stabilizing attitude control.