RESEARCH ON RANDOMIZATION-BASED ACCURATE MOTION PLANNING FOR AUTONOMOUS SERVICING SPACECRAFT ON NON-PARABOLIC ORBIT

Paper number

IAC-11,B6,2,12,x10372

Author

Mr. Ping Wang, China Academy of Space Technology (CAST), China

Coauthor

Mrs. Linli Guo, Northwestern Polytechnical University, China

Coauthor

Dr. Ming Li, China Academy of Space Technology (CAST), China

Year

2011

Abstract

Applying autonomous on-orbit servicing spacecraft to performing complicated space on-orbit servicing missions is not only an inevitable trend of the development of space on-orbit servicing technology, but also the objective demand of the industrialization of aerospace in the future. There are at least two aspects of the basic ability for the servicing spacecraft to be qualified to meet the requirement. One is a preferable capability of autonomous motion planning. The other is the ability of accurate and punctual motion. Future industrialized aerospace will make it stricter with the maneuvering space and time of spacecraft; as a result, accurate motion is becoming the necessity of the large-scale industrial space system oriented on-orbit servicing.
Most of the previous studies have paid much attention to the orbital relative motion planning algorithms for spacecraft with no consideration of the flight time and restriction on the flight efficiency. It will no longer be able to meet the requirements of the large-scale industrial space system oriented on-orbit servicing for the time effectiveness. In addition, all these researches take the Hill equations as the model of orbital relative motion. It is difficult to satisfy the universality of on-orbit missions by handling the problems in that way.
This article models the problems on the background of the impulse-thrust-mode autonomous servicing spacecraft. According to the proximity operations motion that is the main form of the motions in space on-orbit servicing, we make a thorough study on the problem of proximity operations accurate motion planning for autonomous on-orbit servicing spacecraft. On the basis of the randomization-based planning algorithms, a combinatorial motion planning algorithm (combination of the RRT and PRM) is given to meet the requirements of on- and off-line planning for spacecraft impulse motion and coordinated motion. The time factor is considered as a state, so that the objective of accurate motion planning is achieved. The explicit equations of orbital relative motion are used to compute the required velocity impulses in the relative motion of spacecraft on non-parabolic orbits. There are various constraints taken into account in this article, including geometric obstacle avoidance, collision avoidance between spacecrafts, violation of attitude pointing, the constraints of impulse thrust and attitude motion ability. At last, mathematical and 3D visual simulations of coordinated motion planning for single and multiple spacecraft are conducted to validate the effectiveness of the algorithm.

Abstract document

IAC-11,B6,2,12,x10372.brief.pdf

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