Platform Overview:

Imagine trying to test the delicate dance of a spacecraft docking, or the complex coordination of satellite swarms, without ever leaving Earth. That is exactly what the Air-Bearing Space Simulation System is built to do. Designed to bring the cosmos down to the ground, this platform serves as a premier testing environment for spacecraft control, zero-gravity simulation, space formation flying, and ultra-precision measurement.

At the heart of the system lies a massive 3-by-6-meter ultra-flat granite bed. Equipped with advanced leveling and vibration isolation accessories, this foundation hosts an impressive array of hardware: six satellite simulators, a dual-arm space robot, and a specialized space tether winding mechanism. To top it off, the platform is integrated with a High-Speed Target Optical Tracking System. This unlocks an omniscient "God's-eye" view, capturing every millimeter of movement to rigorously verify experimental results.

Key Experiments Conducted:

5-DOF Attitude and Orbit Control Verification: Ground-based validation of both standalone attitude control algorithms and integrated attitude/orbit control strategies for spacecraft. 

On-Orbit Rendezvous and Docking: Testing and verifying the intricate, high-stakes control sequences required for spacecraft to successfully meet and link up in orbit.

On-Orbit Separation: Safely confirming the precise control processes involved when a spacecraft detaches its modules or payloads.

Deployment and Retrieval of Three-Body/Multi-Body Tethered Satellites: Validating the complex algorithms that govern tension-based deployment, retrieval, and tether-guided formation flying of connected satellites.

Coordinated Flexible Capture by Dual-Arm Space Robots: Putting space servicing robots to the test by verifying their robotic arm trajectory planning and hybrid force/position control algorithms while operating in a free-floating state.

Equivalent Scaled-Down Control Verification for Space Structures: Using physically scaled-down models to confidently validate the deployment, attitude control, and active vibration suppression of massive space structures.

Multi-Satellite Formation Verification: Proving the effectiveness of formation-keeping algorithms designed to maintain the geometry of multiple satellites flying in a constellation.

ND GROUP offers custom engineering solutions for clients: We can tailor-make ultra-large, seamlessly spliced air-bearing microgravity simulation testbeds, guaranteeing an extreme surface flatness of better than 5µm for any given square meter.

Article Source: Harbin Institute of Technology (HIT)