An introductory review of swarm technology for spacecraft on-orbit servicing

This review paper presents a comprehensive evaluation and forward-looking perspective on the underexplored topic of servicing target objects using spacecraft swarms.Such targets can be known or unknown,cooperative or uncooperative,and pose significant challenges in modern space operations due to their inherent complexity and unpredictability.Successfully servicing space objects is vital for active debris removal and broader on-orbit servicing tasks such as satellite maintenance,repair,refueling,orbital assembly,and construction.Significant effort has been invested in the literature to explore the servicing of targets using a single spacecraft.Given its advantages and benefits,this paper expands the discussion to encompass a swarm approach to the problem.This review covers various single-spacecraft approaches and presents a critical examination of the existing,although limited,body of work dedicated to servicing orbital objects using multiple spacecraft.The focus is also broadened to include some influential studies concerning the characterization,capture,and manipulation of physical objects by general multiagent systems,a subject with significant parallels to the core interest of this manuscript.Furthermore,this article also delves into the realm of simultaneous localization and mapping,highlighting its application within close-proximity operations in space,especially when dealing with unknown uncooperative targets.Special attention is paid to the benefits that this field can receive from distributed multiagent architectures.Finally,an exploration of the promising field of swarm robotics is presented,with an emphasis on its potential to revolutionize the servicing of orbital target objects.Concurrently,a survey of general research directly engaging swarms in the orbital context is conducted.This review aims to bridge the knowledge gap and stimulate further research in the underexplored domain of servicing space targets with spacecraft swarms.

Efficient cache replacement framework based on access hotness for spacecraft processors

A notable portion of cachelines in real-world workloads exhibits inner non-uniform access behaviors.However,modern cache management rarely considers this fine-grained feature,which impacts the effective cache capacity of contemporary high-performance spacecraft processors.To harness these non-uniform access behaviors,an efficient cache replacement framework featuring an auxiliary cache specifically designed to retain evicted hot data was proposed.This framework reconstructs the cache replacement policy,facilitating data migration between the main cache and the auxiliary cache.Unlike traditional cacheline-granularity policies,the approach excels at identifying and evicting infrequently used data,thereby optimizing cache utilization.The evaluation shows impressive performance improvement,especially on workloads with irregular access patterns.Benefiting from fine granularity,the proposal achieves superior storage efficiency compared with commonly used cache management schemes,providing a potential optimization opportunity for modern resource-constrained processors,such as spacecraft processors.Furthermore,the framework complements existing modern cache replacement policies and can be seamlessly integrated with minimal modifications,enhancing their overall efficacy.

An impact sensitivity assessment method of spacecraft based on virtual exterior wall

The impact sensitivity assessment of spacecraft is to obtain the probability of spacecraft encountering the OD/M(orbital debris or meteoroid),which is a prerequisite for survivability assessment of on-orbit spacecraft.An impact sensitivity assessment method of spacecraft based on virtual exterior wall was proposed to improve the computational efficiency.This method eliminates determination of the outermost surface elements of the spacecraft before generating the debris rays,which are assumed to originate from a non-concave virtual wall that completely wraps the spacecraft.The Dist Mesh method was adopted for the generating of the virtual wall to ensure its mesh quality.The influences of the sizes,mesh densities,shapes of the virtual wall on the efficiency and accuracy were considered to obtain the best combination of the size and mesh density of the wall and spacecraft.The results of this method were compared with those of S3DE(Survivability of Spacecraft in Space Debris Environment),BUMPER,MDPANTO,ESABASE2/Debris to verify the feasibility of the method.The PCHIP(Piecewise Cubic Hermite Interpolating Polynomial)was used to fit the size vs.flux relationship of the space debris to acquire the impact probability of OD/M with arbitrary size on the spacecraft.

Decoupling Algorithms for the Gravitational Wave Spacecraft

The gravitational wave spacecraft is a complex multi-input multi-output dynamic system.The gravitational wave detection mission requires the spacecraft to achieve single spacecraft with two laser links and high-precision control.Establishing one spacecraftwith two laser links,compared to one spacecraft with a single laser link,requires an upgraded decoupling algorithmfor the link establishment.The decoupling algorithmwe designed reassigns the degrees of freedomand forces in the control loop to ensure sufficient degrees of freedomfor optical axis control.In addressing the distinct dynamic characteristics of different degrees of freedom,a transfer function compensation method is used in the decoupling process to further minimize motion coupling.The open-loop frequency response of the systemis obtained through simulation.The upgraded decoupling algorithms effectively reduce the open-loop frequency response by 30 dB.The transfer function compensation method efficiently suppresses the coupling of low-frequency noise.

Multi-Feature Fusion Based Relative Pose Adaptive Estimation for On-Orbit Servicing of Non-Cooperative Spacecraft

On-orbit servicing, such as spacecraft maintenance, on-orbit assembly, refueling, and de-orbiting, can reduce the cost of space missions, improve the performance of spacecraft, and extend its life span. The relative state between the servicing and target spacecraft is vital for on-orbit servicing missions, especially the final approaching stage. The major challenge of this stage is that the observed features of the target are incomplete or are constantly changing due to the short distance and limited Field of View (FOV) of camera. Different from cooperative spacecraft, non-cooperative target does not have artificial feature markers. Therefore, contour features, including triangle supports of solar array, docking ring, and corner points of the spacecraft body, are used as the measuring features. To overcome the drawback of FOV limitation and imaging ambiguity of the camera, a "selfie stick" structure and a self-calibration strategy were implemented, ensuring that part of the contour features could be observed precisely when the two spacecraft approached each other. The observed features were constantly changing as the relative distance shortened. It was difficult to build a unified measurement model for different types of features, including points, line segments, and circle. Therefore, dual quaternion was implemented to model the relative dynamics and measuring features. With the consideration of state uncertainty of the target, a fuzzy adaptive strong tracking filter( FASTF) combining fuzzy logic adaptive controller (FLAC) with strong tracking filter(STF) was designed to robustly estimate the relative states between the servicing spacecraft and the target. Finally, the effectiveness of the strategy was verified by mathematical simulation. The achievement of this research provides a theoretical and technical foundation for future on-orbit servicing missions.

Sensitivity analysis of spacecraft in micrometeoroids and orbital debris environment based on panel method

To reduce the risk of mission failure caused by the MM/OD impact of the spacecraft,it is necessary to optimize the design of the spacecraft.Spacecraft survivability assessment is the key technology in the optimal design of spacecraft.Spacecraft survivability assessment includes spacecraft impact sensitivity analysis and spacecraft component vulnerability analysis under MM/OD environment.The impact sensitivity refers to the probability of a spacecraft encountering an MM/OD impact while in orbit.Vulnerability refers to the probability that each component of a spacecraft may fail or malfunction when impacted by space debris.Yet this paper mainly analyzes the impact sensitivity and proposes a spacecraft sensitivity assessment method under the MM/OD environment based on a panel method.Under this panel method,a spacecraft geometric model is discretized into small panels,and whether they are impacted by MM/OD or not is determined through the analysis of the shielding or shadowing relationships between panels.The number of impacts on each panel is obtained through calculation,and accordingly the probability of each spacecraft component encountering MM/OD impact can be acquired,thus generating the impact sensibility.This paper extracts data from the NASA’s ORDEM2000,the ESA’s MASTER8 as well as the SDEEM2015(Space Debris Environmental Engineering Model developed by HIT),and uses the PCHIP(Piecewise Cubic Hermite Interpolating Polynomial)method to interpolate and fit the size-flux relationship of space debris.Compared with linear interpolation and cubic spline interpolation,the fitting results through the method are relatively more accurate.The feasibility of this method is also demonstrated through two actual examples shown in this paper,whose results are close to those from ESABASE,although there are some minor errors mainly due to different debris data input.Through the cross-check by three risk assessment software-BUMPER,MDPANTO and MODAOST-under standard operating conditions,the feasibility of this method is again verified.

Sliding-Mode-Based Attitude Tracking Control of Spacecraft Under Reaction Wheel Uncertainties

The attitude tracking operations of an on-orbit spacecraft with degraded performance exhibited by potential actuator uncertainties(including failures and misalignments) can be extraordinarily challenging. Thus, the control law development for the attitude tracking task of spacecraft subject to actuator(namely reaction wheel) uncertainties is addressed in this paper. More specially, the attitude dynamics model of the spacecraft is firstly established under actuator failures and misalignment(without a small angle approximation operation). Then, a new non-singular sliding manifold with fixed time convergence and anti-unwinding properties is proposed, and an adaptive sliding mode control(SMC) strategy is introduced to handle actuator uncertainties, model uncertainties and external disturbances simultaneously. Among this, an explicit misalignment angles range that could be treated herein is offered. Lyapunov-based stability analyses are employed to verify that the reaching phase of the sliding manifold is completed in finite time, and the attitude tracking errors are ensured to converge to a small region of the closest equilibrium point in fixed time once the sliding manifold enters the reaching phase. Finally, the beneficial features of the designed controller are manifested via detailed numerical simulation tests.

An anomaly detection method for spacecraft solar arrays based on the ILS-SVM model

Solar arrays are important and indispensable parts of spacecraft and provide energy support for spacecraft to operate in orbit and complete on-orbit missions.When a spacecraft is in orbit,because the solar array is exposed to the harsh space environment,with increasing working time,the performance of its internal electronic components gradually degrade until abnormal damage occurs.This damage makes solar array power generation unable to fully meet the energy demand of a spacecraft.Therefore,timely and accurate detection of solar array anomalies is of great significance for the on-orbit operation and maintenance management of spacecraft.In this paper,we propose an anomaly detection method for spacecraft solar arrays based on the integrated least squares support vector machine(ILS-SVM)model:it selects correlated telemetry data from spacecraft solar arrays to form a training set and extracts n groups of training subsets from this set,then gets n corresponding least squares support vector machine(LS-SVM)submodels by training on these training subsets,respectively;after that,the ILS-SVM model is obtained by integrating these submodels through a weighting operation to increase the prediction accuracy and so on;finally,based on the obtained ILS-SVM model,a parameterfree and unsupervised anomaly determination method is proposed to detect the health status of solar arrays.We use the telemetry data set from a satellite in orbit to carry out experimental verification and find that the proposed method can diagnose solar array anomalies in time and can capture the signs before a solar array anomaly occurs,which reflects the applicability of the method.

Cooperative Angles-Only Relative Navigation Algorithm for Multi-Spacecraft Formation in Close-Range

As to solve the collaborative relative navigation problem for near-circular orbiting small satellites in close-range under GNSS denied environment,a novel consensus constrained relative navigation algorithm based on the lever arm effect of the sensor offset from the spacecraft center of mass is proposed.Firstly,the orbital propagation model for the relative motion of multi-spacecraft is established based on Hill-Clohessy-Wiltshire dynamics and the line-of-sight measurement under sensor offset condition is modeled in Local Vertical Local Horizontal frame.Secondly,the consensus constraint model for the relative orbit state is constructed by introducing the geometry constraint between the spacecraft,based on which the consensus unscented Kalman filter is designed.Thirdly,the observability analysis is done and the necessary conditions of the sensor offset to make the state observable are obtained.Lastly,digital simulations are conducted to verify the proposed algorithm,where the comparison to the unconstrained case is also done.The results show that the estimated error of the relative position converges very quickly,the location error is smaller than 10m under the condition of 10−3 rad level camera and 5m offset.

Spacecraft Pose Estimation Based on Different Camera Models

Spacecraft pose estimation is an important technology to maintain or change the spacecraft orientation in space.For spacecraft pose estimation,when two spacecraft are relatively distant,the depth information of the space point is less than that of the measuring distance,so the camera model can be seen as a weak perspective projection model.In this paper,a spacecraft pose estimation algorithm based on four symmetrical points of the spacecraft outline is proposed.The analytical solution of the spacecraft pose is obtained by solving the weak perspective projection model,which can satisfy the requirements of the measurement model when the measurement distance is long.The optimal solution is obtained from the weak perspective projection model to the perspective projection model,which can meet the measurement requirements when the measuring distance is small.The simulation results show that the proposed algorithm can obtain better results,even though the noise is large.

Spacecraft potential variations of the Swarm satellites at low Earth orbital altitudes

In this study, we provide the first detailed analysis of variations in the spacecraft potential (Vs) of the three Swarm satellites, which are flying at about 400-500 km. Unlike previous studies that have investigated extreme charging events, usually with spacecraft potentials as negative as −100 V, this study is focused on variations of Swarm Vs readings, which fall within a few negative volts. The Swarm observations show that spacecraft at low Earth orbital (LEO) altitudes are charged only slightly negatively, varying between −7 V and 0 V, with the majority of recorded potentials at these altitudes clustering close to −2 V. However, a second peak of Vs data is found at −5.5 V, though the event numbers for these more-negative observations are less, by an order of magnitude, than for incidents near the −2 V peak. These two distinct Vs peaks suggest two different causes. We have thus divided the Swarm spacecraft Vs data into two categories: less-negatively charged (−5 < Vs < 0 V) and more-negatively-charged (−6.5 < Vs < −5 V). These two Vs categories exhibit different spatial and temporal distributions. The Vs observations in the first category remain relatively closer to 0 V above the magnetic equator, but become much more negative at low and middle latitudes on the day side;at high latitudes, these first-category Vs readings are relatively more-negative during local summer. Second-category Vs events cluster into two bands at the middle latitudes (between ±20°-50° magnetic latitude), but with slightly more negative readings at the South Atlantic Anomaly (SAA) region;at high latitudes, these rarer but more-negative second-category Vs events exhibit relatively more-negative values during local winter, which is opposite to the seasonal pattern seen in the first category. By comparing Vs data to the distributions of background plasma density at Swarm altitudes, we find for the first category that more-negative Vs readings are recorded at regions with higher background plasma density, while for the second category the more-negative Vs data are observed at regions with lower background plasma density. This can be explained as follows: the electron and ion fluxes incident on Swarm surface, whose differences determine the potential of Swarm, are dominated by the background “cold” plasma (due to ionization) and “hot” plasma (due to precipitated particles from magnetosphere) for the two Vs categories, respectively.

Reinforcement⁃Learning⁃Based Appointed⁃Time Prescribed Performance Attitude Control for Rigid Spacecraft

This paper addresses a geometric control algorithm for the attitude tracking problem of the rigid spacecraft modeled on SO(3).Considering the topological and geometric properties of SO(3),we introduced a smooth positive attitude error function to convert the attitude tracking issue on SO(3)into the stabilization counterpart on its Lie algebra.The error transformation technique was further utilized to ensure the assigned transient and steady state performance of the attitude tracking error with the aid of a well⁃designed assigned⁃time performance function.Then,using the actor⁃critic(AC)neural architecture,an adaptive reinforcement learning approximator was constructed,in which the actor neural network(NN)was utilized to approximate the unknown nonlinearity online.A critic function was introduced to tune the next phase of the actor neural network operation for performance improvement via supervising the system performance.A rigorous stability analysis was presented to show that the assigned system performance can be achieved.Finally,the effectiveness and feasibility of the constructed control strategy was verified by the numerical simulation.

On-orbit Geometric Calibration and Preliminary Accuracy Evaluation of GF-14 Satellite

GF-14 satellite is a new generation of sub-meter stereo surveying and mapping satellite in China,carrying dual-line array stereo mapping cameras to achieve 1∶10000 scale topographic mapping without Ground Control Points(GCPs).In fact,space-based high-precision mapping without GCPs is a challenging task that depends on the close cooperation of several payloads and links,of which on-orbit geometric calibration is one of the most critical links.In this paper,the on-orbit geometric calibration of the dual-line array cameras of GF-14 satellite was performed using the control points collected in the high-precision digital calibration field,and the calibration parameters of the dual-line array cameras were solved as a whole by alternate iterations of forward and backward intersection.On this basis,the location accuracy of the stereo images using the calibration parameters was preliminarily evaluated by using several test fields around the world.The evaluation result shows that the direct forward intersection accuracy of GF-14 satellite images without GCPs after on-orbit geometric calibration reaches 2.34 meters(RMS)in plane and 1.97 meters(RMS)in elevation.

Coupled Dynamics and Integrated Control for Position and Attitude Motions of Spacecraft:A Survey

Inspired by the integrated guidance and control design for endo-atmospheric aircraft,the integrated position and attitude control of spacecraft has attracted increasing attention and gradually induced a wide variety of study results in last over two decades,fully incorporating control requirements and actuator characteristics of space missions.This paper presents a novel and comprehensive survey to the coupled position and attitude motions of spacecraft from the perspective of dynamics and control.To this end,a systematic analysis is firstly conducted in details to show the position and attitude mutual couplings of spacecraft.Particularly,in terms of the time discrepancy between spacecraft position and attitude motions,space missions can be categorized into two types:space proximity operation and space orbital maneuver.Based on this classification,the studies on the coupled dynamic modeling and the integrated control design for position and attitude motions of spacecraft are sequentially summarized and analyzed.On the one hand,various coupled position and dynamic formulations of spacecraft based on various mathematical tools are reviewed and compared from five aspects,including mission applicability,modeling simplicity,physical clearance,information matching and expansibility.On the other hand,the development of the integrated position and attitude control of spacecraft is analyzed for two space missions,and especially,five distinctive development trends are captured for space operation missions.Finally,insightful prospects on future development of the integrated position and attitude control technology of spacecraft are proposed,pointing out current primary technical issues and possible feasible solutions.

基于STFT-AOK的星箭力学环境等效频谱分析

星箭力学环境的频谱特性研究对于力学试验环境条件设计非常重要。工程上通常基于冲击响应谱变换获得力学环境参数等效频谱,然而该方法受稳态放大系数Q取值的影响较大。为此,文章提出一种基于短时傅里叶变换–自适应优化核函数(STFT-AOK)融合技术的星箭力学环境等效频谱分析方法。研究结果表明:STFT-AOK方法可在AOK准确定位频率成分和瞬态特征时频区域的基础上,结合STFT的准确幅值,构造出频率分辨率高且幅值准确的时频分布,实现力学环境等效频谱的有效获取,适用于各种复杂瞬态星箭力学环境参数的频谱分析。

航天器复合材料桁架连接增强方法与验证

大型航天器主承载复合材料桁架局部承受过大的轴向拉伸载荷时,存在接头与杆件拉脱破坏的风险。基于胶接桁架碳纤维分层破坏机理,提出了外套管增强胶接、锥面配合增强胶接和组合增强胶接3种连接增强方案,通过优化传力路径达到降低层间应力的目的。针对3种连接增强方案,投产了相应的试件开展性能测试。经试验验证,胶接增强设计方法能够有效提高承载能力33%~66%,极限拉脱力达到200 kN,可为大型航天器主承载桁架研制提供参考。

航天器用界面导热填料应用状态接触传热系数分析

为解决航天器用RKTL-DRZ-2型导热脂及RKTL-DRNJ-1型导热凝胶2种新开发导热填料无实际应用状态下接触传热系数数据的问题,采用试验方法对其接触传热系数进行研究,得到在航天器上设备典型尺寸及不同固定螺钉分布情况下的接触传热系数。试验结果表明:在相同安装状态下,与目前常用的RKTL-DRZ-1型导热脂相比,RKTL-DRZ-2型导热脂对界面接触传热性能改善效果较好,RKTL-DRNJ-1型导热凝胶较差。此外,获取了保证导热填料填充效果的实施经验,并给出了导热填料的选用建议。试验分析结论可应用于选用导热填料时的航天器热设计及热控实施。

一种航天器在轨环境下结构变形的反演方法

为实现航天器在轨结构变形高效计算,提出一种基于神经网络的结构变形反演方法:借助有限元分析法获得结构在不同温度载荷作用下的变形分布特征,并利用获取的数据对输入和输出间神经网络进行训练,获取高精度的代理模型。利用该模型,可以在轨测量的温度作为输入,实现对航天器结构全场变形的快速反演;可通过引入合适参数的高斯噪声,增强神经网络对于输入误差的适应能力;可用改进的连接权值分析方法,给出确定传感器数量下,实现变形反演精度最高的结构温度测点的布局优化方案。综上,该反演方法具有精度高、实时性强、受输入误差影响小等优点,其应用对于提升遥感卫星的成像质量具有重要意义。

一种空间微型质谱仪的芯片级离子源研究

设计了一种空间微型质谱仪用三电极场芯片级离子源结构,该离子源由5层电极板构成气体电离区和离子引出区。采用MEMS技术制备了芯片级离子源原理样机,测试了其电子流、离子流和稳定性。结果表明:该芯片级离子源能够产生0.357 mA以上的电子流,接收到的离子流可以达到527 pA,满足空间探测任务中微小型质谱仪离子源的功能要求。

超大型航天结构动力学与控制的保辛方法

超大型航天器是空间资源探索和利用的重要空间基础设施,也是实现航天强国目标的重大战略性航天装备。由于这类结构的质量和尺寸巨大,将带来在轨运行中的姿-轨-结构耦合和在轨姿态控制问题。同时,结构的超大尺度、构型变化与空间环境相互作用将产生极复杂的结构振动和大型结构特有的波动现象。这些为其动力学建模与数值求解、在轨精确姿态控制、低频结构振动抑制和振动波动耦合的特性调控等提出了新的挑战。本文介绍了本团队近十年基于保辛方法针对上述问题取得的研究进展,包括超大型航天结构在轨耦合动力学与姿态控制、超大型航天结构波动力学行为与控制、可展开结构设计以及变刚度主动控制方法等。