Space Robot Performance During Tangent Capture of an Uncontrolled Target Satellite

This paper presents an analysis of the capture of an uncontrolled target satellite by a manipulator mounted on a chaser spacecraft. We compare our novel technique, called tangent capture , with two other well-known approaches: free-floating and forced synchronous motion. In the proposed approach, the chaser has only initial linear velocity. The analysis takes the form of a numerical simulation performed on a three-dimensional system. Performance is evaluated using three parameters: (i) control torques in the manipulator’s joints; (ii) time to eventual collision between system components; and (iii) reaction torque and force in the gripper. The evaluation demonstrates that the tangent capture scenario improves the values of all analyzed parameters.