Dynamic air-bearing hardware-in-the-loop testbed to experimentally evaluate autonomous spacecraft proximity maneuvers

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Author
Zappulla, Richard II
Virgili-Llop, Josep
Zagaris, Costantinos
Park, Hyeongjun
Romano, Marcello
Date
2017Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
Ground-based testbeds are critical to develop and test different elements of spacecraft guidance,
navigation, and control subsystems. This paper provides an in-detail description of a
state-of-the-art air-bearing testbed used to develop guidance, navigation, and control methods for
close-proximity operations. Test vehicles, representing spacecraft, float via air bearings over a
horizontally leveled granite monolith and move with two translational degrees of freedom and one
rotational degree of freedom under the effect of thrusters and reaction wheel actuators. This setup
achieves a quasi-frictionless and low residual acceleration dynamic environment. The testbed
experimental setup as well as the vehicle hardware and software architectures are discussed in
detail. Characterization of different testbed elements is provided. Finally, a test campaign is
used to showcase its capabilities and to illustrate the testbed operations.
Description
The article of record as published may be found at http://dx.doi.org/10.2514/1.A33769
Rights
This publication is a work of the U.S. Government as defined in Title 17, United States Code, Section 101. Copyright protection is not available for this work in the United States.Collections
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