Research on asteroid motion simulation based on robot arm

Abstract To meet the testing requirements of asteroid exploration spacecraft during the ground development phase, an industrial robot arm is used to simulate the relative motion between the scaled simulation asteroid and the spacecraft. The simulation asteroid manufactured through 3D printing is installed at the end of a 6-degree-of-freedom robotic arm. By controlling the 6th joint of the robotic arm to rotate continuously, the simulation of asteroid rotation motion is achieved. Furthermore, by synchronously controlling the first five joints of the robotic arm, the simulation of the relative position between the asteroid and the spacecraft is achieved. The asteroid motion simulation device-based robot has been applied in the ground experiments of China’s Tianwen-2 Mission.