CubeSat Interaction Dynamics Simulation Using a Mobile Manipulator System

Interaction dynamics are a crucial aspect of many space missions, such as the capture of orbital debris or spacecraft rendezvous or docking. The motion resulting from dynamic interactions in space varies significantly from that of objects on Earth, which makes it essential to test and emulate spacecraft dynamics on the ground before launching a mission. Several ground-based space emulation systems, such as air-bearing tables and robotic-arm-based hardware-in-the-loop simulations, are already used to test spacecraft attitude and control prior to launch. However, these emulation platforms often lack sufficient degrees of freedom or are limited in the number of scenarios that they can accurately model. This paper presents the development of a new type of ground-based spacecraft testbed that uses a mobile manipulator to simulate the motion of a CubeSat in response to dynamic interactions. A control system incorporating noise was designed to use feedback from embedded force sensors on the CubeSat to calculate and track the CubeSat’s state and was validated using a hardware-in-the-loop setup. Two case studies using the hardware-in-the-loop simulation platform were conducted, leveraging a real-time simulation environment to evaluate the ground-based spacecraft dynamics testbed limitations and potential applications.