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Trajectory analysis of a CubeSat mission for the inspection of an orbiting vehicle

  • Corpino, Sabrina (Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering (DIMEAS) Politecnico di Torino) ;
  • Stesina, Fabrizio (Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering (DIMEAS) Politecnico di Torino) ;
  • Calvi, Daniele (Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering (DIMEAS) Politecnico di Torino) ;
  • Guerra, Luca (Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering (DIMEAS) Politecnico di Torino)
  • Received : 2020.03.07
  • Accepted : 2020.04.10
  • Published : 2020.05.25
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Abstract

The paper describes the analysis of deployment strategies and trajectories design suitable for executing the inspection of an operative spacecraft in orbit through re-usable CubeSats. Similar missions have been though indeed, and one mission recently flew from the International Space Station. However, it is important to underline that the inspection of an operative spacecraft in orbit features some peculiar characteristics which have not been demonstrated by any mission flown to date. The most critical aspects of the CubeSat inspection mission stem from safety issues and technology availability in the following areas: trajectory design and motion control of the inspector relative to the target, communications architecture, deployment and retrieval of the inspector, and observation needs. The objectives of the present study are 1) the identification of requirements applicable to the deployment of a nanosatellite from the mother-craft, which is also the subject of the inspection, and 2) the identification of solutions for the trajectories to be flown along the mission phases. The mission for the in-situ observation of Space Rider is proposed as reference case, but the conclusions are applicable to other targets such as the ISS, and they might also be useful for missions targeted at debris inspection.

Keywords

Acknowledgement

Supported by : European Space Agency

The research described in this paper was financially supported by the European Space Agency through TRP programme, project title "Space Rider Observer Cube" (ESA contract no. 4000126281/18/NL/KML/ig).

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  1. Tracking Model Predictive Control for Docking Maneuvers of a CubeSat with a Big Spacecraft vol.8, pp.8, 2020, https://doi.org/10.3390/aerospace8080197