Angular-Momentum Management of Spacecraft Electromagnetic Docking Considering the Earth's Magnetic Field

作者:Zhang, Yuan wen*; Yang, Le ping; Zhu, Yan wei; Huang, Huan; Cai, Wei wei
来源:Journal of Guidance, Control, and Dynamics, 2013, 36(3): 860-869.
DOI:10.2514/1.57723

摘要

The spacecraft electromagnetic docking technique has distinct advantages, which could enable soft docking for more-frequent on-orbit servicing missions. When electromagnets are used, two kinds of magnetic torque exist: one due to the electromagnet and the other due to the Earth's magnetic field. These affect the attitude motion, which may results in angular-momentum saturation and attitude control-system failure. In this paper, based on the requirements of relative trajectory control, an effective and robust angular-momentum management approach is proposed to mediate the effects caused by these two kinds of magnetic torque. This approach, including two operating modes: a "normal mode" and an "angular-momentum-reduction mode", uses the Earth's magnetic field to counteract the effect of inter-satellite electromagnetic torque and applies the extended state observer to estimate the combined disturbance for feedback control. The angular-momentum management of three spacecraft docking scenarios (V-bar, R-bar, and H-bar) are studied, and the resulting magnetic-moment solutions are also given. At last, some simulation results are presented to validate the feasibility of this proposed robust angular-momentum management approach, and several useful conclusions follow.