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CEAS EuroGNC 2022

Hopping Maneuver between Two Satellites: Simulations, Laboratory, and Flight Experiments on the International Space Station
Daniel Watanabe Graduate student, Naval Postgraduate School, MAE Department, 93943, Monterey, CA, USA.
Stephen Kwok-Choon National Research Council Postdoctoral Research Associate, Naval Postgraduate School, MAE Department, 93943, Monterey, CA, USA.
Jennifer Hudson Research Associate Professor, Naval Postgraduate School, MAE Department, 93943, Monterey, CA, USA.
Marcello Romano Professor , Naval Postgraduate School, MAE Department, 93943, Monterey, CA, USA.
Abstract:
Hopping maneuvers offer a novel approach to propellantless maneuvering of small robotic spacecraft operating in the vicinity of other spacecraft. The ongoing Astrobatics project, using NASA's Astrobee free-flyer as a test platform, seeks to develop methodology by which the Astrobee robot can maneuver on-board the International Space Station using its robotic arm and gripper. This paper elaborates on the third experimental session of the Astrobatics project, which involves a self-toss maneuver in which a primary, active Astrobee performs a hopping maneuver off of a secondary, passive Astrobee. A MATLAB simulation of the maneuver was developed to analyze the hopping maneuver, and the results are compared with experimental maneuvers conducted on the Naval Postgraduate School's POSEIDYN testbed, as well as at the NASA Ames Intelligent Robotics Group granite-table laboratory. From experimental results, the magnitude and direction of the launch velocity of the primary Astrobee appear to be correlated to the release angle and are consistent with simulation results.
Keywords: Astrobee; Astrobatics; Propellantless Self-Toss Maneuvers; Lagrangian Equations of Motion; Space Robotics; TORO
 View PDF CEAS-GNC-2022-061


Daniel Watanabe, Stephen Kwok-Choon, Jennifer Hudson, Marcello Romano: Hopping Maneuver between Two Satellites: Simulations, Laboratory, and Flight Experiments on the International Space Station. Proceedings of the 2022 CEAS EuroGNC conference. Berlin, Germany. May 2022. CEAS-GNC-2022-061.
BibTeX entry:

@Incollection{CEAS-GNC-2022-061,
    authors = {Watanabe, Daniel and Kwok-Choon, Stephen and Hudson, Jennifer and Romano, Marcello},
    title = {Hopping Maneuver between Two Satellites: Simulations, Laboratory, and Flight Experiments on the International Space Station},
    booktitle = {Proceedings of the 2022 {CEAS EuroGNC} conference},
    address = {Berlin, Germany},
    month = may,
    year = {2022},
    note = {CEAS-GNC-2022-061}
}