Crew Space Transportation System (CSTS) Rendezvous and Docking in Low Lunar Orbit
- Paper number
IAC-08.C1.5.11
- Author
Mr. Rafael Contreras, SENER Ingeneria y Sistemas, S.A., Spain
- Coauthor
Mr. Antonio Ayuso, SENER Ingeneria y Sistemas, S.A., Spain
- Coauthor
Mr. Daniele Gherardi, SENER Ingeneria y Sistemas, S.A., Spain
- Year
2008
- Abstract
The new Crew Space Transportation System (CSTS) will be one of the first next generation manned exploration vehicles, developed in collaboration by Europe and Russia. Its mission will be to transport crew to the ISS in Low Earth Orbit (LEO), as well as to Low Lunar Orbit (LLO). In order to reach the Moon, CSTS will have to dock in LEO to the Earth Departure Stages (EDS) that will supply delta-v for the Earth-Moon trajectory. Once in LLO, CSTS will automatically perform Rendezvous and Docking (RvD) with lunar infrastructures (e.g. Lunar Descending Modules), allowing thus manned lunar landings. The purpose of this paper is to analyse the CSTS RvD subsystem, addressing specially the configuration designed for lunar exploration missions. Many technical challenges will have to be overcome for several reasons. The first one is that docking with elements of the size of EDS has never been performed before. As a second reason, while LLO RvD operations were carried out manually by crew during Apollo missions, it will be the first time they will be performed automatically in lunar orbit. In addition to this, Rendezvous and Docking subsystem will have to cope with operations that will be done in different orbits and with different vehicles, being subjected thus to different constraints and conditions. For all these reasons, the design of the RvD subsystem will be a highly challenging task, since new sensors principles will have to be developed and employed, as well as a new docking mechanism and dedicated guidance, navigation and control algorithms. Subsystem requirements for exploration configuration will be assesed and specific constraints of lunar RvD operations will be studied, taking into account orbital perturbations, failure tolerance requirements and sensor performace. Sensors principles will be analyzed, compared and selected, and a specific approach strategy will be proposed, analyzing the interaction between both elements. Further studies will be carried out to take into account the strong influence of LLO RvD design on EDS docking operations. In addition to all this, a suitable new docking mechanism will be proposed. As a result of this study, a preliminar Rendezvous and Docking subsystem design will be selected, including sensors, actuators, trajectory and docking mechanism. Rationale behind each decision will be shown and a development roadmap will be outlined to identify future steps that will have to be taken.
- Abstract document
- Manuscript document
IAC-08.C1.5.11.pdf (🔒 authorized access only).
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