Reachable Relative Motion Design of Space Manipulator Actuated Microgravity Platform

摘要

This paper investigates the concept of the space manipulator-based microgravity platform. The system is composed of a spacecraft, a manipulator with an isolating shield as the end effector, and a testbed floating inside the shield. Assuming that the orbit of the spacecraft is circular, this paper focuses on the reachable relative motion design problem. Based on the analytical solution to the Clohessy-Wiltshire equation and the inverse kinematics of the manipulator, the relationship between the initial variables of the manipulator and the relative trajectory is presented. In both the zero-velocity releasing case and the nonzero-velocity releasing case, by investigating the boundaries of the relative motion, the criteria for the reachable relative motion are obtained. In the case in which the initial residual speed is adjustable, the routine solving for the largest elliptical trajectory is developed. Numerical simulations demonstrate the effectiveness of the criteria for the reachable motion in multiple cases.