ASTROBATIC: a hopping-maneuver experiment for a spacecraft-manipulator system on board the International Space Station

Paper number

IAC-19,C1,8,7,x50514

Author

Prof. Marcello Romano, United States, Naval Postgraduate School

Coauthor

Dr. Stephen Kwok Choon, United States, Naval Postgraduate School

Coauthor

Mr. Jonathan Chitwood, United States, Naval Postgraduate School

Coauthor

Mr. Conor Safbom, United States, Naval Postgraduate School

Coauthor

Mr. Patrick Leary, United States, Naval Postgraduate School

Year

2019

Abstract

Hopping is proposed as an alternative mobility approach for intra and extravehicular orbital robotic activities by a spacecraft-manipulator system. 
In a hopping maneuver a spacecraft uses a robotic manipulator to execute a hop between two locations on the surface of a host spacecraft. A hopping maneuver is composed of three distinct phases: a manipulator-assisted push, a free-flying or free-floating coast, and a manipulator-assisted soft-landing. 
A detailed formulation of the dynamics, guidance and control of a three-dimensional hopping maneuver for a spacecraft-manipulator system is here presented. By using this formulation, a hopping maneuver for the NASA Astrobee platform free-flyer is designed, simulated and experimentally validated on a floating spacecraft simulator test-bed. Finally, the on-orbit experiment ASTROBATIC, manifested to fly on the ISS during 2019, is presented here which will test a spacecraft-manipulator hopping maneuver in microgravity on the International Space Station by using the NASA Astrobee platform.

Abstract document

IAC-19,C1,8,7,x50514.brief.pdf

Manuscript document

IAC-19,C1,8,7,x50514.pdf (🔒 authorized access only).

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