Active detumbling technology for noncooperative space target with energy dissipation

Space debris is generally a kind of tumbling noncooperative space target which poses a serious threat to human space activities. In active debris removal (ADR) missions, capturing a space target directly may cause damage to space manipulator and chaser satellite, so it is a feasible strategy to reduce the angular velocity of space target to an acceptable range in the pre-capture phase. In this paper, an active detumbling technology for a free-floating tumbling space target with energy dissipation is studied, and an effective detumbling method utilizing intermittent contact impact between the space target and despin mechanism is proposed. First, the dynamic model of the space target is set up by the Jourdain’s velocity variation principle. Then, a contact model between the space target and despin mechanism is established based on the Hertz contact theory and the method of computer graphics. Finally, the detumbling method is validated by numerical simulations. Simulation results show that our method can reduce the angular velocity of the space target effectively without causing large nutation.