Fiscal Year	2015
Division	Graduate School of Engineering & Applied Science
Department	Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering
Investigator(s)	Romano, Marcello
Sponsor	Department of Defense Space (DoD)
Summary	We will investigate the Dynamics, Guidance and Control of a spacecraft equipped with one or multiple robotic manipulators for the physical interaction with a Resident Space Object. An innovative space asset of this kind may enable several critical missions including, for instance, servicing, debris removal and defensive counter-measures in a mother-daughter spacecraft scenario, and on-orbit assembly of larger system starting from modular un its. Two main possible approaches for the Guidance and Control of such a system will be studied: 1) an autonomous control approach based on optimal control and non-linear control theories, 2) a hybrid autonomous/tele-operation approach, which may be preferable, in particular, for low-earth-orbit operations. The proposed research, which is the continuation of a previously funded Phase II effort, will involve an original combination of analytical-numerical research together with experimental testing on a floating spacecraft simulator test bed at NPS. In particular, during the proposed phase III effort the integration of a unique custom designed space manipulator simulator will be concluded. Furthermore, comparative experimental tests and simulation tests will be conducted regarding dynamic modeling, and guidance and control of a spacecraft plus manipulator system.
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Publications	Publications, theses (not shown) and data repositories will be added to the portal record when information is available in FAIRS and brought back to the portal
Data	Publications, theses (not shown) and data repositories will be added to the portal record when information is available in FAIRS and brought back to the portal