The control of a spacecraft-mounted robotic arm presents a challenging engineering problem. Due to conservation of linear and angular momenta, the dynamic interaction of the satellite base and the manipulator must be accounted for during maneuver execution. While robotic manipulation and spacecraft control are independently well-understood, the literature of combining the two is lacking. In this work, we provide a simple strategy to dynamically and kinematically interface the two systems in order to provide precise end-effector pose tracking of a time-dependent reference trajectory. We use conventional fixed-base robotics tools for the control of the robotic arm, such as the standard Jacobian, and widely-known inverse kinematics approaches. For control of the satellite base, we use a realistic thruster model with a PWM scheme, and provide a novel analysis of the multibody system that uses a cluster of Variable Speed Control Moment Gyroscopes (VSCMGs) capable of running in one of three different modes. We demonstrate the successful use of different combinations of the available actuators for efficient tracking of complex spatial trajectories.
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