Three Dimensional Microgravity Experiments of Approaching/ Grasping Phase of Docking Mechanism for Nano-Satellite with Air Thruster

This paper describes 3-dimensional microgravity experiments of a new docking mechanism for nano-satellite at Japan Microgravity Center (JAMIC). The proposed docking sequence is divided between approaching/grasping phase and guiding phase. In the approaching/grasping phase, the docking mechanism grasps the nano-satellite even though the nano-satellite has some control errors in a docking space. In the guiding phase, the docking mechanism guides the nano-satellite to a docking port while adjusting its attitude in order to transfer electrical power and fuel to the nano-satellite. We design and fabricate an experimental model of the docking mechanism which has the grasping and guiding functions for each phase. The objective of the experiments is to verify the grasping function because 3-dimensional microgravity environment is very important in the approaching/grasping phase. In this paper, we introduce the docking mechanism and the daughtership satellite model and explain the microgravity experimental setup and its results.