论绳系小卫星的应用与技术可行性

借助空间系绳的作用,绳系小卫星增强与扩大了现代小卫星的能力,在空间探测与航天技术中具有独特的功能,可承担一般小卫星不能承担或难以承担的太空使命。本文阐述绳系小卫星在太空使命(空间开发与应用,空间环境探测,以及航天新技术试验与演示等)中的应用及其原理,包括建造微重力空间平台,实现机动变轨,进行空间环境探测,以及利用导体系绳装置生成电能、贮存能量、提升轨道等。通过对小型绳系系统SEDS-1、SEDS-2、PMG、TiPS飞行试验的综述与分析,论述绳系小卫星技术可行性与成熟性,包括系绳的伸展,子星的控制,系绳的切断,子星的再入,导体系绳的电动力学应用,以及长系绳生存能力等。对中国绳系小卫星的应用与技术发展提出方案设想。     

绳系卫星系统复杂模型研究

对绳系卫星系统提出一种仿真度更高的动力学模型，着重研究状态保持阶段的子星的振荡与姿态运动。主星设为质点，与系统质心相合，作圆轨道运动；子星取为三维刚体，系绳采用株式模型。除绳系统动能、引力位能及系绳弹性势能外，还考虑了系绳的结构阻尼，以及由系绳外皮包引起的弯曲力矩与扭转力矩。计算机辅助推导参与模拟计算程序设计。     

电动绳系在低极轨卫星中的应用研究

低极轨卫星具有轨道周期短、对地观测分辨率高等优点,但由于所在轨道大气阻力大,其使用寿命受到较大限制。文章提出采用水平结构电动绳系抵消低极轨卫星大气阻力的方法,通过系绳电流与地球磁场相互作用产生洛仑兹力进行推进,进而在无燃料消耗的情况下实现对低极轨卫星轨道高度的维持。初步分析了该方法在低极轨不同尺寸卫星中的应用潜力,计算了160 、400 和800 km 典型高度低极轨卫星所经历的地球磁场、电离层和高层大气环境相关参数变化,比较了不同条件下电动绳系推力与大气阻力大小随轨道位置的变化。分析结果表明,该方法适用于400 km 轨道高度以上大卫星;在满足一定系绳长度和轨道高度的条件下,电动绳系可以有效延长低极轨卫星的轨道寿命。     

绳系卫星系统交会对接的应用与设计

文章介绍了绳系系统交会对接这项新技术在空间中的应用。主要包括:空间站利用系绳与航天器交会对接,实现为空间站提供各种供给;利用绳系系统与空间碎片对接,可回收或转移空间碎片,保护空间环境;利用一级或多级的绳系系统组成轨道转移系统,实现向地球同步轨道或火星轨道上转移和运送有效载荷。文章还介绍了绳系交会对接系统的设计,包括系统的一般控制方法和算法以及系统的结构设计。随着各项相关技术的发展,绳系卫星系统交会对接将发挥更大作用。     

美国家侦察办准备再发射一颗系绳卫星

去年6月20日，美国国家侦察办公室向空间部署了一颗系绳卫星。这颗卫星称为系绳物理与生存能力卫星（TIPS），到去年11月初已在轨运行了20周而不折断，创下了系绳的生存纪录。它提供了有关系绳空间运行规律的最新数据，使该办公室的管理人员看到了系绳的生存能力，证实了他们的     

在轨服务中空间系绳的应用及发展

针对空间系绳在空间在轨服务中的应用与发展问题，在简述空间系绳传统应用及试验情况的基础上，综述了空间绳系机器人、空间绳网机器人两类新在轨应用方式的研究和发展，主要包括动力学建模、结构设计、相对状态测量、逼近/抓捕控制、拖曳变轨等。最后进一步讨论了空间系绳未来的研究方向。     

绳系卫星系统研究概况

绳系卫星系统已成为近几年美、欧等国航天研究的几大热点之一。本文简单介绍了绳系卫星系统的概念,综述了从最初尝试到目前为止的一系列研究工作,较深入地分析了绳系卫星系统研究中的三个方面的基本内容;最后,文章还介绍了绳系卫星系统的应用与发展前景。     

空间非合作目标物柔性捕获技术进展

分类探讨了近年来出现的多种空间柔性捕获技术的原理及性能特点，给出了一些具有代表性的案例，结果表明：空间绳系捕获技术在理论及试验研究方面都相对成熟，是未来行之有效、可工程实现的柔性捕获方式之一。重点针对空间非合作目标物捕获中容易出现的翻滚问题，对比分析现有的几种常用的接触式消旋方法，分析表明能同时实现捕获+消旋的一步式消旋法更具有应用前景。以空间绳系捕获技术作为空间柔性捕获的代表，对其捕获后的空间绳系组合体动力学模型建立过程中的系绳模型进行了综述，指出了各种系绳模型的优缺点及适用条件。对系绳控制机构进行了分类综述，给出了设计系绳控制机构需重点关注的问题。最后对空间绳系捕获技术的发展方向做了展望。     

绳系卫星系统中的周期运动

在椭圆轨道上飞行的绳系卫星系统的重要特征是系绳的方向角具有周期性运动，称为驻环。不稳定的驻环导致全系统的不稳定性。本文给出系统运动的数学模型、距离速率控制方法、求解驻环的数值迭代算法、驻环的稳定性和吸引域以及控制参数平面上驻环存在的区界和计算机仿真结果     

空间绳系机器人抓捕非合作目标的质量特性参数辨识

针对空间绳系机器人抓捕非合作目标/空间垃圾后需要对其进行回收/拖曳的精确控制问题,提出了一种利用抓捕后保持阶段的振动特性辨识目标参数的方法。首先,根据质量特性参数辨识的需要,推导了系统的动力学模型。不同于以往将本体卫星和被抓捕目标简化为质点的动力学模型,本文针对任意的目标抓捕位置,在考虑重力梯度影响的基础上,利用拉格朗日法获得系统各广义坐标的动力学公式。然后,分析非合作目标和系绳在后抓捕保持阶段的姿态运动。最后,在非合作目标与本体卫星没有任何信息交互的情况下,利用后抓捕阶段目标卫星和系绳特有的振动,并使用具有鲁棒性可遗忘因子的递推最小二乘法,提出了包括转动惯量和质心到任意抓捕点距离在内的质量特性参数辨识算法。     

Safety implications of unscheduled situations in the operation of tethered satellite systems from the international space station

Space based experiments involving the use of tethers were examined with a view to identifying the implications of unscheduled events such as tether severance and interference between the tether and other hardware. It is the authors opinion that these type of events, which have important consequences for the operation of tethers in space, have received insufficient consideration in the extensive literature on the subject. In particular, the investigation of the interference event appears to be completely new. The examination focussed on tether experiments planned for the forthcoming International Space Station (ISS). Results were obtained through the use of a highspeed, non-linear, computer simulation model specifically designed for use with tethered satellite systems. Simulations showed that both severance and interference were possible during retrieval of the tether, particularly if ‘skip-rope’ motion is initiated. The motion following each of these incidents is predicted and shows that these unscheduled events are potentially very hazardous for the ISS. While the results of these simulations are not directly applicable to specific operations on the ISS, they fulfill the primary purpose of this paper which is the demonstration of this new technology.     

Satellite pitch and roll attitude maneuvers through very short tethers

Explored here is the feasibility of achieving satellite pitch and roll attitude maneuvers through tethers. The proposed tethered satellite system (TSS) comprises of four identical tethers connecting the auxiliary mass to the satellite at its four distinct off-centered and equiangularly spaced points. The open-loop tether length control laws have been developed in order to achieve arbitrary pitch and roll attitude slewing maneuvers. Numerical simulation of the nonlinear governing equations of motion for these tether length variations establishes the feasibility of executing fixed as well as chase-slewing maneuvers. Nearly passive nature of the proposed mechanism using very short tethers along with small auxiliary mass needed makes the concept particularly attractive for future space missions.     

Orbital and relative motion of a tethered satellite system

A simplified model for the orbital and relative motion of a tethered satellite system is presented. The tether acts as a light elastic string with small structural damping but without bending stiffness. Its mass is taken into account in the calculation of the total kinetic and potential energies of the tethered system. This formulation allows the inclusion of the complete gravity gradient influence on the dynamics of the system. The resulting three-dimensional motion is separated in the centre of mass orbital motion on the one hand and the relative motion of the end-bodies on the other. No restrictions on length of the tether or on mass ratio of the end-masses are imposed. It is found that the frequencies and amplitudes of the longitudinal tether oscillations are realistic as long as the tether mass is less than that of the subsatellite.     

绳系太阳能发电卫星姿态机动的主动振动控制

针对绳系太阳能发电卫星大角度回转机动时太阳能板的振动抑制问题,提出了主姿态控制和基于绳中张力的主动振动控制技术相结合的复合控制方法。建立了绳系太阳能发电卫星系统的动力学方程,并基于任务函数控制算法设计了主控制器保证卫星姿态的渐近稳定和挠性结构振动的衰减性;考虑到绳的非线性特性,基于任务函数控制算法设计了绳系卫星系统的主动振动抑制辅助控制器来抑制挠性结构的振动。设计的同时证明了系统的稳定性。将该方法应用于绳系卫星的大角度单轴回转机动的仿真研究,结果表明:该方法不仅能够使绳系卫星完成姿态机动,而且能够有效地抑制太阳能板的振动。     

Refined dynamical analysis of multi-tethered satellite formations

The dynamics of a multi-tethered satellite formation is considered here, in order to derive a minimum complexity model that successfully represents its dynamics under the action of gravity gradient force and tether tension, where tethers are modeled by means of a sequence of point-masses and massless springs (bead model). The results thus obtained are compared with those derived for a simple, massless tether model, in order to highlight the effects of tether mass on the resulting open-loop behavior. The analysis is performed by means of numerical simulation of the considered models. Once the dynamic behavior of the formation is identified for the nominal values of tether characteristics, the problems raised by the presence of tether mass are highlighted and possible solutions are outlined, when possible. A parametric analysis with respect to the tether linear mass, damping and stiffness is also discussed.     

TETHERED SATELLITE SYSTEM ANALYSIS (1) — TWO-DIMENSIONAL CASE AND REGULAR DYNAMICS

The study on tethered satellite system (TSS) in two-dimensional in-planar motion is restricted in that the tether is assumed to be massless. The equations of motion are given in a spherical coordinate system to describe the magnitude (tether length) and direction angle of the position vector between the satellites. A length rate control algorithm is adopted, and the controlled motion of the directional angle by the algorithm will have a stable equilibrium state. The equilibrium state is a fixed point if the orbit of the base-satellite is circular, and a limit cycle if the orbit is elliptic. The value and stability of the equilibrium state are determined by the parameters of the control algorithm, and the bifurcation analysis is also given. Two typical TSS missions have been simulated.     

Modifying the atlas of low lunar orbits using inert tethers

For long enough tethers, the coupling of the attitude and orbital dynamics may show non-negligible effects in the orbital motion of a tethered satellite about a central body. In the case of fast rotating tethers the attitude remains constant, on average, up to second order effects. Besides, for a tether rotating in a plane parallel to the equatorial plane of the central body, the attitude–orbit coupling effect is formally equal to the perturbation of the Keplerian motion produced by the oblateness of the central body and, therefore, may have a stabilizing effect in the orbital dynamics. In the case of a tethered satellite in a low lunar orbit, it is demonstrated that feasible tether lengths can help in modifying the actual map of lunar frozen orbits.