面向空间目标相对轨道确定的编队优化方法

针对提高空间目标相对轨道确定精度的问题，研究了在主航天器轨道运动受限时，通过设计和优化辅航天器相对轨道要素的航天器编队优化方法。首先，介绍了基于扩展卡尔曼滤波的双视线测量相对轨道确定方法；之后，通过研究双视线测量下的空间目标定位误差变化规律，得到了减小定位误差的角度条件；然后，通过分析该角度条件和辅航天器相对轨道要素的关系，设计并采用遗传算法优化了辅航天器相对轨道；最后，数学仿真结果表明，设计的编队可保证目标相对位置估计误差收敛，优化后的编队可使目标相对位置估计误差减小至0.3 km且不超过1.2 km。     

Modularity,reconfigurability, and autonomy for the future in spacecraft: A review

The shape of a spacecraft is transitioning from monolithic, manual, and static to modular, autonomous, and dynamic. Modular Reconfigurable Spacecrafts (MRSs) offer better solutions than traditional monolithic spacecrafts in several aspects, and may become the next generation of spacecraft systems with efficient design, fast deployment, flexible application, and convenient management. This paper reviews the development and technology of MRS from three aspects: Modularity, reconfigurability, and autonomy. Despite the progress of research on MRS, there is still a lack of unified standards and little understanding of related concepts. Based on the understanding of basic concepts, the studies conducted on MRS are reviewed to identify technical requirements and solutions. Aiming at the future development trend of MRS, a novel modular self-reconfigurable spacecraft, referred to as MagicSat, is proposed. Furthermore, the MagicSat system composition, advantages, and application prospects are studied. The enabling technologies and major challenges of MRS are further analyzed in terms of modularization, integrated management, and self-reconfiguration technologies. Finally, the future development trend of MRS technology is predicted, and corresponding suggestions are provided.     

Reachable set estimation for spacecraft relative motion based on bang-bang principle

For spacecraft formation flight, the information of relative motion reachable set is very important, which can be used to predict the operating boundary of adjacent spacecraft and thus to ensure the safety of spacecraft operation. In this paper, we aim at developing a numerical method to approximate the reachable set for spacecraft relative motion. In particular, we focus on the quality of the approximation and the computational cost. Based on the bang-bang control principle, a polyhedral approximation algorithm is proposed to compute the reachable set of a relative motion spacecraft system. An inner approximation and an outer approximation of the reachable set for the system can be obtained. We prove that the approximation quality measured in Hausdorff distance can be guaranteed. The method is easy to implement and has low computational cost. Finally, the effectiveness of the algorithm is demonstrated by experimental simulation.     

航天器卷筒式伸杆机构的发展与展望

从概念、构成特点、应用范围与使用方式等方面阐述了卷筒式伸杆机构。从卷筒式伸杆机构成形原理探索、数值模拟、成形工艺、产品测试等方面综述了卷筒式伸杆机构的研究进展；介绍了卷筒式伸杆机构在航天器上的应用状况；指出了航天器卷筒式伸杆机构小型化、轻量化、大收纳比和高精度的发展趋势；提出了航天器卷筒式伸杆机构结构材料、成形工艺和性能评价方面亟需攻克的关键技术,旨在为航天器卷筒式伸杆机构创新发展提供参考。     

航天器可展开薄膜遮光罩机械设计的发展与展望

从可展开薄膜遮光罩的几何构型、展开驱动技术、薄膜折痕设计和薄膜褶皱动力学分析四个方面论述了航天器可展开薄膜遮光罩机械设计的发展现状和特点，在分析比较的基础上对可展开薄膜遮光罩机械设计的发展趋势进行了展望，旨在为航天器可展开薄膜遮光罩的创新发展提供参考。     

Multi-agent Q-Learning control of spacecraft formation flying reconfiguration trajectories

This paper presents a novel approach based on multi-agent reinforcement learning for spacecraft formation flying reconfiguration tracking problems. In this scheme, spacecrafts learn the control strategy via transfer learning. For this matter, a new generalized discounted value function is introduced for the tracking problems. Due to the digital nature of spacecraft computer systems, local optimal controllers are developed for the spacecrafts in discrete-time. The stability of the controller is proven. Two Q-learning algorithms are proposed, in each of which the optimal control solution is learned on-line without knowledge about the system dynamics. In the first algorithm, each agent learns the optimal control independently. In the second one, each agent shares the learned information with other agents. Next, the collision avoidance capability is provided. The effectiveness of the presented schemes is verified through simulations and compared with each other.     

Formation flying for magnetic sails around artificial equilibrium points

This paper investigates the problem of magnetic sail-based spacecraft formation control around the artificial equilibrium points (AEPs), which can eliminate the requirement of the propellant. The thrusts are achieved by utilizing the interaction between the solar wind and the artificial magnetosphere generated by superconducting current coil onboard. The circular restricted three-body problem (CRTBP) of magnetic sail is discussed including the allowed regions and linear stability of AEPs, the locations of collinear AEPs and the possibility of existence of periodic orbits around the collinear AEPs. Next, the dynamical models of magnetic sail formation around the collinear AEPs are established. A novel fast fixed-time nonsingular terminal sliding mode controller (FFNTSM) based on fixed-time disturbance observer (FTDO) is developed to account for external disturbances. Several numerical simulations are conducted to substantiate that spacecraft formation can be precisely controlled by the proposed propellantless propulsion method in the presence of external disturbances.     

Close relative motion on distant retrograde orbits

Distant Retrograde Orbits (DROs) in the Earth-Moon system have great potential to support varieties of missions due to the favorable stability and orbital positions. Thus, the close relative motion on DROs should be analyzed to design formations to assist or extend the DRO missions. However, as the reference DROs are obtained through numerical methods, the close relative motions on DROs are non-analytical, which severely limits the design of relative trajectories. In this paper, a novel approach is proposed to construct the analytical solution of bounded close relative motion on DROs. The linear dynamics of relative motion on DRO is established at first. The preliminary forms of the general solutions are obtained based on the Floquet theory. And the general solutions are classified as different modes depending on their periodic components. A new parameterization is applied to each mode, which allows us to explore the geometries of quasi-periodic modes in detail. In each mode, the solutions are integrated as a uniform expression and their periodic components are expanded as truncated Fourier series. In this way, the analytical bounded relative motion on DRO is obtained. Based on the analytical expression, the characteristics of different modes are comprehensively analyzed. The natural periodic mode is always located on the single side of the target spacecraft on DRO and is appropriate to be the parking orbits of the rendezvous and docking. On the basis of quasi-periodic modes, quasi-elliptical fly-around relative trajectories are designed with the assistance of only two impulses per period. The fly-around formation can support observations to targets on DRO from multiple viewing angles. And the fly-around formation is validated in a more practical ephemeris model.     

Target localization method of non-cooperative spacecraft on on-orbit service

With the explosion of the number of meteoroid/orbital debris in terrestrial space in recent years, the detection environment of spacecraft becomes more complex. This phenomenon causes most current detection methods based on machine learning intractable to break through the two difficulties of solving scale transformation problem of the targets in image and accelerating detection rate of high-resolution images. To overcome the two challenges, we propose a novel non-cooperative target detection method using the framework of deep convolutional neural network.Firstly, a specific spacecraft simulation dataset using over one thousand images to train and test our detection model is built. The deep separable convolution structure is applied and combined with the residual network module to improve the network’s backbone. To count the different shapes of the spacecrafts in the dataset, a particular prior-box generation method based on K-means cluster algorithm is designed for each detection head with different scales. Finally, a comprehensive loss function is presented considering category confidence, box parameters, as well as box confidence. The experimental results verify that the proposed method has strong robustness against varying degrees of luminance change, and can suppress the interference caused by Gaussian noise and background complexity. The mean accuracy precision of our proposed method reaches 93.28%, and the global loss value is 13.252. The comparative experiment results show that under the same epoch and batchsize, the speed of our method is compressed by about 20% in comparison of YOLOv3, the detection accuracy is increased by about 12%, and the size of the model is reduced by nearly 50%.     

航天器材料应用验证特点及其指标体系设计与优化

“材料应用验证”是为适应复杂工程研制任务而建立的一种材料多参数指标在特定服役需求下应用适用度评估的综合评价方法，也是通过一系列的试验、测试与表征手段获得材料各项性能数据、曲线、图谱，并通过综合分析确定材料应用可行性的分析方法。文章从航天器发展对高性能、多样化材料快速应用转化需求出发，阐释材料应用验证任务具有指标体系的综合性、通用性、短周期、低成本以及闭环式验证特点，进而提出了覆盖性、关重性、精准性、独立性、经济性的指标体系设计原则，以及材料应用验证的三层级五要素即材料批次稳定性、工艺适用性、环境适应性、服役安全性及组件健壮性指标体系设计及优化方法。